Using a Socio-Technical Systems Approach for a Sales Process Improvement

The paper is an experience report on applying a socio-technical approach to business process improvement. The approach is based on an augmented socio-technical matrix (STS-matrix) that differentiates 4 quadrants of socio-technical system: (1) culture/mind set, (2) type of structure, (3) methods/techniques, and (4) type of technology. It was applied in a study related to knowledge creation and sharing in a sales process in a multinational company. The augmented STS-matrix has been used for both holistic analysis of the situation and developing suggestions for organizational intervention.