Leveraging socio-technical systems to tackle grand challenges: Reflections on human-robot teams, hybrid workplaces, med-tech, and digital transformation
本文论证社会技术系统原理可用于应对联合国可持续发展目标等重大挑战，通过人机团队、混合工作场所、医疗技术和警务数字化转型四个案例说明应用方法，并呼吁采用专家促进者角色推动多学科协作。
The world is increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous with global challenges such as the UN's Sustainable Development Goals presenting new design issues. In this paper, we argue that socio-technical systems principles and tools can be applied to address these wicked problems. We illustrate this and consider challenges of applying these ideas using four examples: designing human-robot teams, designing future hybrid workplaces, integration of surgical technologies (med-tech) in public healthcare systems, and digital transformation within policing. We call for socio-technical systems thinking to be applied to grand challenges to foster collaboration, develop shared language, and enable multi-disciplinary solutions. We suggest that this can be effectively supported through adopting the role of expert facilitators. We discuss the extension of socio-technical systems thinking to enable identification of outcomes and impacts relating to SDGs; to broaden the conceptualisation of stakeholders and system boundaries; to utilise project management tools and to integrate socio-digital skills.