The essential premise of the human-centered technology paradigm was clearly formulated by Howard Rosenbrock in the 1970s: technology should enrich rather than impoverish people’s work and life conditions. The increasing influence of technology in modern societies has been seen by some as offering great promise for the future, but by others as creating the electronic surveillance and/or manipulation of human genes, minds and beliefs. This paper approaches technological worlds as cultural visions in order to discuss and reflect the paradoxical process (...) of viewing technology as part of a hope for a more sustainable and human-centered future as well as part of an apocalypse of surveillance, violence and catastrophes. (shrink)

This article focus on paradigms, methods and ethics of action research in the Scandinavian countries. The specific features of the action research paradigm are identified. a historical overview follows of some main action research projects in Norway, Sweden and Denmark. The tendency towards upscale action research projects from organisational or small community projects to large-scale, regional based network approaches are also outlined and discussed. Finally, a synthesised approach of the classical, socio-technical action research approach and the large-scale network and holistic (...) approaches is suggested as a promising approach for the future. (shrink)

Scenarios are flexible means to integrate disparate ideas, thoughts and feelings into holistic images, providing the context and meaning of possible futures. The application of narrative scenarios in engineering, development of socio-technical systems or communities provides an important link between general ideas and specification of technical system requirements. They focus on how people use systems through context-related storytelling rather than abstract descriptions of requirements. The quality of scenarios depends on relevant assumptions and authentic scenario stories. In this article, we will (...) explore how the narrative approach may enrich the scenario ‘skeleton’ with ‘flesh and blood’, that is, living, detailed and consistent storytelling. In addition, criteria are suggested for evaluation of the quality of scenario storytelling. (shrink)

For a variety of reasons, learning should be studied as a cultural phenomenon. The task of the first part of this article is to clear up the terminological questions about various ideal types of learning cultures, and how ideal type analysis may be used to study value and knowledge transfer and knowledge acquirement in various types of organisations. The important task of the second part is to analyse how implementation of environmental management systems, like BS-7750, contribute to a certain learning (...) practice. Moreover the task is to evaluate and discuss supplementing or alternative modes of learning to just formalisation of knowledge transfer. (shrink)

Historically, the Italian and Scandinavian institutionalisation of action research has developed along different tracks. The question is, if there are any promising prospects to combine different action research experiences and methodologies across European regions? Alternatively, should we conclude that action research is mainly a local activity firmly rooted in a special culture in the different European countries?

The aim of this article is to analyse entrepreneurship from an action research perspective. What is entrepreneurship about? Which are the fundamental capabilities and processes of entrepreneurship? To answer these questions the article includes a case study of a Danish entrepreneur and his networks. Finally, the article discusses how more long term action research methods could be integrated into the entrepreneurial processes and the possible impacts of such an implementation.

The emergence of the virtual network enterprise represents a dynamic response to the crisis of the vertical bureaucracy type of business organisation. However, its key performance criteria—interconnectedness and consistency—pose tremendous challenges as the completion of the distributed tasks of the network must be integrated across the barriers of missing face-to-face clues and cultural differences. The social integration of the virtual network involves the creation of identities of the participating nodes, the building of trust between them, and the sharing of tacit (...) and explicit knowledge among them. The conventional organisation already doing well in these areas seems to have an edge when going virtual. The paper argues that the whole question of management and control must be reconsidered due to the particular circumstances in the ‘Network Society’. The paper outlines a suggestion for an exploratory, socio-technical research approach combining the dimensions of context, subject and action with the twin objectives of contributing to the enhancement of collaborative capabilities in virtual teams as well as improving the insights into the nature of virtual work. (shrink)

This paper decribes the theoretical and methodological issues involved in the social shaping of technology and work, with particular reference to human centred computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems. Conventional approaches to the understanding and shaping of the relationship between technology, work and human development are criticised, and an alternative, human centred approach is outlined. The methods and processes whereby the design of human centred CIM systems may be shaped and evaluated are then described and appraised.

Identity building in organisations is often viewed as legitimacy of value systems of the organisation. Based on empirical studies the task of this article is to argue that such a legitimacy approach risks failing in the longer perspective, if the proactive capability development is neglected. The participatory scenario method presented in this article is one of the possible methods to enhance identity building based on proactive capability development.

The cornerstone of the human-centred tradition lies in two notions: socially useful production and human machine symbiosis. However, only the latter became in focus in the successive user-centred design approaches. The paper makes a critical ‘flash-back’ to various human centred design approaches since the 1970s. In addition, it explores the sustainability challenges facing the current situation and suggests that ‘human-centredness’ should be extended to ‘human-context centred’ approach in order to recognize the challenges of the sustainability. Finally, the paper discuss the (...) possibilities to develop and use narrative and modelling simulation methods including both qualitative and quantitative tools in a combined approach to meet the challenges of sustainable development within such a human-context centred approach. (shrink)

Various economic, social and technological developmental trends have induced new challenges to intra- and inter-organisational cooperation. The facilitator, defined as a process guide of creative cooperation, is becoming more and more in focus to assist groups, teams and networks to meet these challenges. The author defines and exemplifies different levels of creative cooperation. Core capabilities of facilitation are defined and explained at each level. Finally, possible societal and ethical aspects of facilitation are discussed as well as future perspectives of disseminating (...) facilitative values and methods. (shrink)