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Sofie Pilemalm
Linköping 2002
ISBN 91-7373-318-0
ISSN 0345-7524
Printed in Sweden by UniTryck, Linköping 2002
Abstract
The conditions for the third, non-profit sector, such as grassroots organisations
and trade unions, have changed dramatically in recent years, due to prevailing
social trends. Non-profit organisations have been seen as early adopters of
information technology, but the area is, at the same time, largely unattended by
scientific research. Meanwhile, the field of information systems development is,
to an increasing extent, recognising the importance of user involvement in the
design process. Nevertheless, participatory development approaches, such as
Participatory Design are not suited to the context of entire organisations, and
new, networked organisational structures, such as those of non-profit
organisations. This reasoning also applies to the theoretical framework of
Activity Theory, whose potential benefits for systems development have been
acclaimed but less often tried in practice.
The thesis is based on six related studies complemented with data from work in
a local design group working according to the principles of Participatory Design.
The first study was aimed at investigating and comparing trade union
management’s view of the new technology and the actual needs of shop
stewards. The second study investigated the situation, tasks and problems of
shop stewards, as a pre-requisite for finding information technology needs. The
third study merged the previous findings into an argumentative design of an
information systems design proposal. The fourth study collected the voices from
secondary user groups in the organisation, and presented an Activity theoretical
analysis of the union organisation and a modified design proposal in the form of
a prototype. The fifth study presented an Activity theoretical framework,
modified for organisational application, and used it for producing hypotheses on
possible shop steward tasks and organisational consequences of the
implementation of the information system. The sixth paper was aimed at the
initial testing of the hypotheses, through the evaluation of information
technology facilities in one of the individual union affiliations. The
complementary data was used to propose further modifications of the integrated
Participatory, Argumentative, and Activity Theory design approach.
The major contributions of the study are, first, a modified Participatory Design
approach to be applied at three levels; in general as a way of overcoming
experienced difficulties with the original approach, in the context of entire, large
organisations, and in the specific non-profit organisation context. The second
contribution is generated knowledge in the new research area of information
technology in the non-profit, trade union context, where for instance the
presented prototype can be seen as a source of inspiration. Future research
directions include further development and formalisation of the integrated
Participatory Design approach, as well as actual consequences of implementing
information technology in non-profit organisations and trade unions.
Acknowledgements
There are so many people who have contributed to the accomplishment of this
thesis, directly and indirectly. I want to express my sincerest gratitude to all of
them.
I have had the luck to have great supervisors. First of all, I want to thank
Toomas Timpka, for the invaluable support he has provided me with, for always
believing in my capability to work things out, and for being able to lift my texts
one level just by re-constructing them. I don’t know how you do it! I want to
thank Henrik Eriksson for giving useful, thoughtful, and intelligent comments
on my texts, as well as providing strategic advice and for guiding me through
the scientific publishing jungle. Thanks also to Yrjö Engeström for support, for
providing a great quantity of valuable Activity theoretical articles and
publications, and not the least for giving me the opportunity to visit San Diego.
Being a member of the research group of People, Computers and Work (MDA)
these past years has been interesting, challenging, scientifically rewarding, and
not the least, fun. I want to thank Niklas Hallberg for always having the time, for
our excellent collaboration in performing research, as well as in writing
scientific publications, and through his continuous guidance, for contributing
significantly to my development as a researcher. Niklas, I remember the first
time we met; you said that it was good for me that you were at the end of your
PhD student period, so that you could help me when needed and share your
experience. You have indeed lived up to that! Vivian Vimarlund, thanks for your
support and not the least for being the one who made me join the MDA group.
You believed in me before I did myself. Anneli Hagdahl, thanks for sharing
ideas and references in the writing process. During the past year we have
experienced a similar situation, struggling with our theses in combination with
day-care adjustment, and childhood illnesses. Sharing joys and grievances with
you has helped a lot. I further want to express my gratitude to Magnus Irestig
and Leni Ericson, Magnus for working in the design group with me, and Leni,
for taking over when I left for maternity leave, doing an excellent job with the
the design work and the prototype. I also want to thank Kia Ölvingsson for
always being supportive and ready to listen, and for awakening a positive and
encouraging spirit in me, and I think, the whole group. Thanks also to Magnus
Bång and Anna Andersson, “the philosophers” in the group; discussing things
with you always triggers my own reflection and self-criticism, which is, indeed,
needed. Finally, I would like to thank our “newcomers” Linda Hassling and
Gabriella Graspemo, for adding even more perspectives and vitality to the
group, thus, creating the best atmosphere to work in.
Nothing is as important as family. Mum and dad, I want to thank you for always
being there, for your enormous support, and for believing in me when I
abandoned my plans of becoming a Swedish and English Teacher for the less
safe road of research. I am also grateful to my brother Anders and my sister
Annie, who are my friends and supporters, while not hesitating to abruptly bring
me down to earth if I soar too far up in the blue. Finally, but by no means the
least, I am indebted to Jörgen and Hanna. Jörgen, thank you for sharing my
research, as well as my life. You compiling your licentiate thesis at the same
time I was writing my thesis is a combination that I can honestly say that I could
have lived without. But, in retrospect I want to cite the song played at our
wedding; “I am so glad we made it through”. And Hanna, my wonderful
daughter, thanks for being you and continuously making me realise what is
important in life. This thesis is dedicated to Jörgen and Hanna. I love you both.
Sofie Pilemalm
Linköping, 2002
To Jörgen and Hanna
Contents
1. Introduction……………………………………………………………….…1
1.1 Non-profit organisations and trade unions…………………………………..2
1.2 Information technology as part of trade union strategies……………………3
1.3 Systems development in non-profit organisations…………………………..3
1.3.1 Information systems for change…………………………………………………...4
1.3.2 Activity Theory for systems development and for
analysing organisational change…………………………………………....…….5
1.4 Research needs………………………………………………………………5
1.5 Research objectives………………………………………………………….6
1.6 Delimitation………………………………………………………………….8
2. Background…………………………………………………………………..9
2.1 Information systems and information technology…………………………...9
2.1.1 Information systems and technology in an organisational context………..10
2.2 Information systems development………………………………………….11
2.2.1 Software engineering……………………………………………………………...12
2.2.2 Requirements engineering and process and user
orientation in systems development…………………………………………...…12
2.2.3 Participatory Design………………………………………………………………13
2.2.4 Action Design.………………………………………………………………………15
2.2.5 Design Rationale and Argumentative Design…………………………………16
2.2.6 Prototyping and scenarios………………………………………………………..17
2.3 Study context...……………………………………………………………..18
2.3.1 Non-profit non-governmental organisations………………………………….18
2.3.2 Trade union organisations……………………………………………………….20
2.3.3 Trade unions and information technology…………………………………….21
2.3.4 The Swedish Trade Union Confederation……………………………………..22
2.3.5 The Distance supported learning for Local Knowledge needs project…...22
2.4 Summary of background…………………………………………………...24
IX
3. Theoretical framework and empirical research approaches……………25
3.1 Organisational theory………………………………………………………25
3.2 Activity Theory…………………………………………………………….26
3.2.1 Activity Theory in need of renewal..……………………………………………28
3.2.2 Voices………………………………………………………………………………...29
3.3 Empirical research approaches……………………………………………..29
3.3.1 Case studies…………………………………………………………………………30
3.3.2 Participatory Action Research…………………………………………………..31
4. Methods……………………………………………………………………..33
4.1 Methods for data collection and analysis…………………………………..33
4.2 Literature review…………………………………………………………...34
4.2.1 Application of Literature review in the thesis…………………………………35
4.3 The Critical Incident Technique...………………………………………….35
4.3.1 Application of the Critical Incident Technique in the thesis………………..36
4.4 Future Workshop…………………………………………………………...37
4.4.1 Application of Future Workshop in the thesis…………………………….…..38
4.5 Participant observation……………………………………………………..39
4.5.1 Application of Participant observation in the thesis…………………………40
4.6 Scenarios, evaluations and prototyping – application in the thesis………...40
4.7 Interviewing………………………………………………………………...41
4.7.1 Application of semi-structured interviews in the thesis………………….…..42
4.8 Focus groups………………………………………………………………..43
4.8.1 Application of focus groups in the thesis…….…………………………….…..43
4.9 Design, work procedures and data collection in the design group…………44
4.10 Summative data analyses………………………………………………….45
5. Results……………………………………………………………………….47
5.1 Summary of appended papers……………………………………………...47
5.1.1 Trade union management and shop steward perspectives
on information technology (Paper I)…………...…………………………….…48
5.1.2 The situation and tasks of union shop stewards (Paper II)…………………49
5.1.3 Organisational policy and shop-floor requests in design (Paper III)…….49
5.1.4 Capturing the voices in design (Paper IV)…………………………………….50
5.1.5 Activity Theory as a framework for systems development
in entire organisations (Paper V)...……………………………..………………51
5.1.6 Anticipated and actual organisational consequences (Paper VI)..………..52
5.2 Participatory Design, Argumentative Design and Activity Theory
– an integrated design approach.……………………………………...……55
5.2.1 Participatory Design, Action Design and Argumentative Design…………55
5.2.2 Argumentative Design in the theoretical framework of Activity Theory…57
5.3 The work in the design group – additional modifications
to the integrated approach………………………………………………...58
X
5.3.1 The double function of the design group – performing design locally
while not excluding an organisational perspective………….....…………….58
5.3.2 Increasing flexibility……………………………………………………………….60
5.3.3 Reduction of work procedures…………………………………………………...61
5.3.4 A focus on practical design practices…………………………………………..62
5.3.5 Parallel focus on needs and technical solutions……………………………...62
5.4 Summary of results…………………………………………………………63
5.5 The Swedish Trade Union Confederation and information technology……64
5.5.1 An information system for union shop stewards……………………………...65
5.6 Systems development in a large NP/NGO...…………..…………………...67
6. Discussion…………………………………………………………………...69
6.1 Participatory Design – in need of renewal?………………………………...69
6.2 Participatory Design for large organisations……………………………….71
6.2.1 Argumentative Design for merging of voices………..………………………...72
6.2.2 Activity Theory for providing an organisational overview……………...….73
6.3 Participatory Design in NP/NGOs and trade unions – pre-requisites……...76
6.3.1 Implications for design……………………………………………………………77
6.4 Information technology and NP/NGOs...………………….……………….79
6.4.1 Information technology and organisational change in NP/NGOs………...80
6.5 Information technology and trade unions…………………………………..81
6.5.1 Information technology and organisational change in trade unions……...82
6.6 Limitations of the studies…………………………………………………..84
6.7 Methodological reflections…………………………………………………85
6.8 Generalisation………………………………………………………………87
7. Conclusions…………………………………………………………………89
7.1 An extended approach to Participatory Design………………………….....89
7.2 NP/NGOs and information technology………………….…………………90
References……………………………………………………………………..93
Papers I-VI…………………………………………………………………...123
XI
XII
The following papers are included in the thesis:
IV. Pilemalm, S., Hallberg, N. & Timpka, T. (2000) From Utopia to DLK
– Management of External Voices in Large Participatory Design
Projects, in Cherasky, T., Greenbaum, J., Mambrey, P. & Kaaber Pors,
J. (Eds.) Proceedings of the Participatory Design Conference, CPSR,
Pao Alto, CA, pp. 156-165.
XIII
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Chapter 1
Introduction
It has been questioned previously whether unions and the labour force can act upon
the development of new technology. Research has shown that unions themselves,
as well as workers, are little involved in the development of the new technology,
which thereby falls outside their social control (Leyersdorff & van den Besselar,
1987). An exception has been the Scandinavian trade unions, which during the
1970s and 1980s were active in using the technology for deploying “the good
work” and the multi-skilled worker (Sandberg et al, 1992). As regards the
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Non-profit organisations are often referred to as the ‘third sector’, voluntary or non-
profit, non-governmental organisations (NP/NGOs) (Anheier & Kendall, 2001;
Giddens, 1998). They are usually divided into those belonging to the social
midfield and those which are private initiatives. Trade unions belong to the former
category, being situated between the individual and the state (Dekker, 2001). Trade
union organisations show a wide variety of characteristics seen from an
international, comparative perspective, e.g., with regard to union density, collective
versus voluntary affiliation, and the extent of the role they play in negotiations
between employers and employees (Sisson, 1987; Kassalow, 1969). In
Scandinavia, trade unions hold a comparatively strong position with the majority of
the workforce being unionised. The Swedish blue-collar trade unions have long
collaborated with the Social Democracy Party, which has contributed to labour
relations stability and the formation of a series of laws, acts, and agreements,
regulating the labour rights (Sandberg et al, 1992). Even today, Swedish unions are
comparatively well off, and characterised by high union density (approximately
80%) with a focus on collective bargaining (Sandberg et al, 1992). They are
thereby relatively well equipped for dealing with implementations of the new
information technology. Swedish unions thus provide good breeding-ground for
generating knowledge in the emerging area of information technology and
information systems in a non-profit, trade union context.
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The aims of this thesis are, first, to study the context of NP/NGOs, 1 unions and
information technology needs, solutions and consequences in general, and second,
to study the context of developing information systems for large organisations with
heterogeneous user groups, especially NP/NGOs and trade unions. In relation to the
latter, how aspects of potential organisational consequences and change as a result
of the introduced system are incorporated into the development process, are also
considered. The case under study is the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and its
shop stewards, through the DLK project. In detail, the objectives are:
1
In the thesis the abbreviation NP/NGOs, and the terms non-profit organisations and the third
sector are used interchangeably.
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- exploring the use of Argumentative Design (ArD) for aiding the early phases
in Participatory Design of information systems through addressing
organisational problem identification and argumentation of needs, design
issues, design solutions and their potential organisational impact;
- exploring whether and how Activity Theory can be modified for an overall
organisational context, and subsequently used to support an integrated
Participatory and Argumentative Design approach by providing an
organisational overview and foreseeing potential consequences of the system
under design;
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1.6 Delimitation
The work presented in this thesis suggests how a proposed information system
solution will likely affect and change the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. The
hypotheses are grounded on empirical data and initially tested through an
investigation of an implementation of a to some extent similar but smaller-scale
system in one of the Confederation’s 16 union affiliations. However, actual large-
scale implementation and thereby wider evaluation of the information system for
shop stewards and the organisational changes that may follow the implementation
are beyond the scope of the thesis. The presented results refer to a prototype and
requirements specification of a proposed system solution. Whether and how the
system will actually be implemented is for the individual union affiliations to
decide upon.
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Chapter 2
Background
This chapter presents the research settings and various scientific and engineering
areas that are of relevance for the thesis. First, the concepts of information systems
and information technology are presented and explained in the context they will be
used throughout the thesis. Second, information technology and information
systems in an organisational context will be discussed with specific reference to
organisational change. Following this, the area of software and requirements
engineering, and different engineering approaches will be discussed. Finally, the
research settings, including the specific project context and non-profit organisations
and trade unions in a more general sense, will be described.
The concept of information systems (IS) can be applied to all systems that process
and transfer information (Avison & Fitzgerald, 1995). However, the concept is
most often used to denote computer-based information systems. When information
systems in the 1950s, 60s and 70s began to be implemented in organisations, the
focus was on the technology itself, on data transfer and processes for administrative
purposes (Dahlbom, 1999). The recent decades have, however, seen an extension of
the concept to include human, organisational, and social aspects as well (Dahlbom,
1999; Lewis, 1994). Information systems have even been viewed as technical
implementations of social systems (Hirschheim et al, 1995).
The concept information technology (IT) has been described as the use of
computers for the processing, storage, transmission and presentation of
information, with a focus on satisfying user needs (Jayaratna, 1994). In recent
years, the term information and communication technology (ICT) has increasingly
been used to denote the merging of computer, telecommunication and media
technology (Bradley, 2001). In the 1990s, Scandinavian researchers likewise
introduced the term informatics to denote a broader perspective relating to the
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Information technology and information systems are, thus, powerful tools for
change. Since organisations must “adjust to the imperatives of technology” it is of
great importance to foresee what those imperatives will or can be, even in the
systems development process.
Up until the 1960s, methods, structures and standardisation for information systems
development were in the main non-existent. Contact with the end-users was
infrequent and documentation of the development process low (Avison &
Fitzgerald, 1995). The lack of structure and co-ordination of activities resulted in
frequent systems development project delays, exceeded budgets, and error-prone
systems (Brooks, 1995). As a response, the area of information systems
development saw an emergence and continual growth of formalised systems
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what the system should accomplish without saying how (Siddiqi & Shekaran,
1996). There are numerous approaches to requirements engineering, ranging from
the early steps in the Waterfall model to combinations with Object-orientation and
Rapid Development, to Prototyping and Evolutionary Development, to the Socio-
technical approach (Kotonya & Sommerville, 1998; Graham, 1998; Dorfman,
1997; Mumford, 1995).
From the beginning, requirements engineering was still strongly focused on the
technical requirements of the product to be delivered, i.e., the requirements
specification as a sub-component of the implementable system. However, this
focus has gradually expanded to embrace the requirements specification process,
social and organisational aspects as well (Johansson, 1999). Today, there exist a
wide variety of approaches to systems development in the borderland of
requirements engineering and more process, organisation, and social aspects
oriented alternatives (Avison & Fitzgerald, 1995)
The extent to which users are actively involved in the systems development process
varies significantly, from a mere consultation to more active contributions and
consensus participation, as is the case in the Socio-technical approach (Mumford,
1995). However, systems development in general has been criticised for not paying
sufficient attention to the actual needs and active involvement of users in the entire
design process (Schuler & Namioka, 1993). It has further been criticised by
approaches like Design Rationale and Argumentative Design, for failing to
document and reflect on the potential impact of different design solutions, i.e.,
failing to foresee the social and organisational consequences of the technology
(Buckingham Shum, 1996; Sjöberg, 1994).
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uses a range of techniques that are supposed to be easy-to-learn and put low
demand on the users’ beforehand knowledge. Commonly used are mock-ups,
Future Workshops and PICTIVE (a paper based toolbox for users to create their
own interfaces), applied to the formulation, visualisation and realisation of design
solutions (Ehn et al 1996; Muller, 1993). In the context of organisational change, it
can be said that Participatory Design is applied to directing the imperatives of
technology towards increasing the independence and emancipation of the users,
often at the shop-floor organisational level.
Since the 1970s and 1980s, the Participatory Design approach has been extended
and applied also outside its immediate ideological context (Reich et al, 1996;
Anderson & Crocca, 1992). It has been argued that Participatory Design results in
better systems than other approaches, since the systems are designed together with
the users instead of merely using the users as information sources (Bravo, 1993).
Thereby, the systems’ usability increases. Nevertheless, Participatory Design has
also been criticised for lack of formalisation, resulting in increased overall
complexity of implementation (Hirschheim, 1983) It has further been stated
Participatory Design’s conceptual framework is in need of renewal if it is to be
applied outside the academic context (Kensing, 2000). It has been claimed that
while the approach extensively deals with the early design phases, the later, more
technical stages are less well covered, and that few reports of the concrete use of
Participatory Design are actually available (Tollmar, 2001). This results in that
actual implementations in use are infrequent; and that those products delivered are
almost exclusively small stand-alone information technology applications (van den
Besselar, 1998). Criticism may thereby be directed towards Participatory Design’s
pro-longed focus on consensus reaching and democratic processes, which
sometimes tend to hamper efficiency and a coherent architecture. It has been
questioned whether its worthy set of principles is actually agreeable with busy co-
participants at a workplace (Trigg, 2000). Further, Participatory Design has mostly
been applied to small-scale projects in parts of organisations (van den Besselar
1998; Graham et al, 1998). Due to its characteristics, the approach seems difficult
to apply when designing for large organisations with a wide range of diverse user
groups that are to have influence on the resulting system. In the last few years,
several researchers have pointed out Participatory Designs’ need for modification
and renewal, if it is to extend beyond individual, traditional workplaces and to
large-scale strategic projects (van den Besselar, 1998; Greenbaum, 1996). It has
been suggested that this modification involves interplay between local settings and
organisation-wide exchange for the generalisation of local developments (Törpel,
2000).
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The work procedure begins with establishing a design group in which both systems
developers and representatives from the different areas of competence in the
organisation are included. A project contract is set up and a project plan initiated.
The design group then gathers in recurrent meetings throughout the design process.
The group works through three design phases: organisational analysis, iterative
prototyping, and writing the requirements specification. In the organisational
analysis phase, present work routines, goals, problems and needs for change are
analysed and documented. In the iterative prototyping phase, prototypes are
constructed based on the previous analysis, evaluated and successively modified
within the group. When the group has agreed upon a final prototype version that
they all find acceptable, a requirements specification of the system can be
established and documented. The specification should cover content, as well as
organisational, interface and technical aspects of the system (Johansson, 1999).
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Design Rationale mostly applies to the software engineering process, i.e., the late,
technically oriented design phases (see, e.g., Moran & Carroll, 1996b).
Argumentation often relates to system performance, allocation of resources, speed,
flexibility, interface issues, cost and so forth. Argumentative Design (ArD) was
developed in the 1980s and 90s as a corresponding technique to be applied to the
early design phases which focus on information system content and organisational
problems, needs and consequences (Sjöberg, 1994). In other words, Argumentative
Design sets out to design systems that from the very beginning are grounded in and
well integrated with the organisational context in which they will exist.
Argumentative Design draws on five core components: need, measure,
consequence, goal, and decision (Figure 1).
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Consequence Goal
Measure
Consequence Goal
Need
Consequence Goal
Measure
Consequence Goal
Need
Figure 1. The graphic notation used in ArD. The additional Need box indicates that the process
is iterative, for instance that a taken measure can generate new needs.
The interest in Design Rationale and Argumentative Design seemed to reach its
peak in the mid 1980s to the mid 90s but has since declined. One explanation could
be that these techniques are time-consuming. Current Design Rationale research is
faced with solving problems with indefinite rules as how to select from an infinite
number of design issues thereby avoiding overdoing the rationale instead of doing
the design, and with the formalisation of the structuration process of information,
including the fact that information is gained from heterogeneous data sources
(Wang & Guanleng, 2001). It has been argued that rationale representation schemes
are needed in order to make argumentation serve design (Fischer et al, 1996).
Nevertheless, the techniques are, even though they are perhaps in need of
modification, useful when designing complex systems for large organisations in
which the need for capturing rationale and structure is especially essential. It has
also been argued that Design Rationale and Argumentative Design are clearly
compatible with the Participatory Design approach since they all include
argumentative processes and the reconciliation of conflicting interests
(Buckingham Shum et al, 1997; Buckingham Shum & Hammond, 1994).
Argumentative Design has also been integrated as part of the Action Design
methodology (Johansson, 1999; Timpka et al, 1993). Argumentative Design is also
in agreement with many principles of Activity Theory, when applied to work re-
design and analysis of change.
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of users and to identify and remove weaknesses in the emerging systems. The
benefits of prototyping have in recent years been recognised in requirements
engineering as a useful tool for requirements elicitation, aiding users in the process
of visualising written requirements into executable software systems (Kotonya &
Sommerville, 1998). In general, prototyping is divided into rapid and evolutionary
prototyping. Rapid prototyping focuses on quick development of models, often by
means of computer-aided design. These models are successively discarded after
having been used for the elicitation of user requirements (Cooper, 2001; Crinnion,
1991). Evolutionary prototyping, in comparison, is an iterative process focussed on
the gradual modification and improvement of one prototype, which may in the end
be used as a basis for the operational system (Avison & Fitzgerald, 1995).
Prototypes may, furthermore, provide a broad overview of the entire system or
explore certain aspects of the system more in depth. In the first case, functionality
is often low; in the second case functionality is usually higher (Avison &
Fitzgerald, 1995).
When evaluating prototypes, user scenarios are often used (Kotonya &
Sommerville, 1998). Scenarios are essentially stories; constructed user situations
aimed to replicate those which take place in a real life context; a description of an
activity defined as a sequence of actions (Carroll, 2000; Kuutti, 1995). The most
often used form is the textual narrative, however even storyboards and video mock-
ups may be used (Carroll, 1995). User scenarios have in recent years become
extensively used in systems development as a way of capturing the social aspects of
computer use, and the real life context in which systems will be used (Carroll 2000;
Kuutti, 1995).
In this section, the various settings of relevance for the thesis will be described,
ranging from the characteristics of NP/NGOs and trade unions in general to the
Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the specific project context.
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sector grew by an average of 24% in the OECD countries (Anheier & Kendall,
2001). Non-profit organisations have been described as possessing the following
characteristics (Butler & Wilson, 1990):
The term ‘non-profit organisation’ is, however, an umbrella term that incorporates
a variety of organisations. Generally, the term ‘third sector’ is used to denote both
non-profit organisations emerging out of private initiative and those belonging to
the ‘social midfield’, situated between the individual and the state (Dekker, 2001).
The former category includes those cases in which people rally together in
voluntary associations in order to pursue extra-individual interests. Typical
examples can be neighbourhood mutual support associations, or charity as it is
often practised in the United States (Dekker 2001; Anthony & Young, 1999). The
latter category refers to a wide range of organisations including, e.g., those which
provide services to the public and different interest groups. Typical examples are
voluntary associations which fight for environmental or human rights issues, such
as Greenpeace or Amnesty International, sports associations and trade unions.
That which many non-profit organisations have in common is that they are
presently facing a crisis. Recent social, developmental, and labour market trends
have resulted in a major re-appraisal of the third sector (Anheier & Kendall, 2001).
In many countries, there has been a tendency on the part of municipalities to let the
third sector take over some of the public services they previously provided
themselves, for instance, parts of elderly and child care by means of co-operatives
(Lundström & Wijkström, 1997). At the same time, non-profit organisations have
to deal with governmental obstacles, as well as insufficient resources for handling
their expansion. The experienced crisis in the western countries relates, e.g., to
governmental financial retrenchment, the infiltration of market interests into a
previously non-competitive sector, insufficient effectiveness, and a lack of
legitimacy regarding prevailing misunderstanding of the sectors’ resource base
(Anheier, Carlson & Kendall, 2001; Lundström and Wijkström, 1997).
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Information technology is one way to face those aspects of the perceived crisis that
relate to lack of effectiveness. Information systems, if well functioning, have been
used to increase organisational output and efficiency (Iacono & Kling, 2001).
Further, information systems can be targeted towards the specific context and
characteristics of non-profit organisations, aiding them in organising themselves,
pursuing their interests and counteracting potential threats. This fact is also
beginning to be recognised. Today, an almost unlimited number of non-profit
organisations, from international associations to local grassroots organisations have
published themselves on the Internet, marketing themselves, providing services for
their members, using the Net for quick retrieval and distribution of information,
and often initiating contact between activists through discussion forums (Lee et al,
2001). It has further been noted how non-profit organisations have begun to make
use of electronic technologies for the creation of networks (Burt & Taylor, 1999). It
has also been argued that some of the best examples of using technologies for
strengthening the democratic role played in society can be found in voluntary
campaign organisations that often have high quality information and contact links
on their Web sites (Taylor & Burt, 2001). What the new technology will have for
implications for non-profit organisations remains yet to be seen. The research area
is, thus far, mostly unattended and scientific studies have just emerged. It has been
claimed that while many information systems theories and frameworks are for
information systems in profit-organisations, they can be modified for application to
the third sector, in order to increase its competitive advantage (Lee et al, 2001).
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freedom and sphere of action in reality vary according to, e.g., political climate, the
employment rate, union density, legislation and resource intensity (see, e.g.,
Deutsch, 1986; Wallerstein, 1983). In the western world, e.g., the British, French
and American trade unions have traditionally had a weaker position in their
respective countries, than that of trade unions in Canada, Germany and Scandinavia
(Sandberg et al 1992; Deutsch, 1986). In Scandinavia, high union density, previous
low unemployment rates and, in Sweden in particular, the blue collar unions’ close
collaboration with the Social Democracy Party, have contributed to a relative
welfare and a programme of action exceeding regular wage issues by incorporating
issues of work environment and technology contributing to ‘the good work’
(Sandberg et al, 1992). Nevertheless, while non-profit organisations are generally
experiencing an increase in popularity, the situation is actually the reverse for trade
unions, specifically. Not even the Scandinavian trade unions have completely
escaped a worldwide decline in union density and power as a result of current
societal and labour market trends (Giddens, 1998). In Sweden, the fluctuation of
density is pronounced, with young people and immigrants being less inclined to
unionise (Kjellberg, 2000). Trade unions have partly responded to the new
challenges by extending their concept of ‘the good work’ to include the overall life
situation of people in order to attract new members (Pilemalm et al, 1998; Utbult,
1997).
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2.3.5 The Distance supported learning for Local Knowledge needs project
The Distance supported learning for Local Knowledge needs project (DLK) was a
large collaborative project between the Swedish Trade Union Confederation
through 17 of its then 18 individual union affiliations and Linköping University
through the Department of Computer and Information Science (IDA) and the
Centre for Adult Education (Vuxenutbildarcentrum). The project was financed by
The Swedish Board for Development of Competence in the information technology
domain (KK-stiftelsen). It was a four-year project, running from 1997 to 2001. The
project is one in a series of projects aimed at renewing union strategies and work,
partly by means of information technology (Utbult, 1997). The overall purpose of
the DLK project was to extend and renew traditional forms of union learning, and
the target group was all trade union shop stewards. When the project started, the
Confederation had for many years faced a difficult situation in which these shop
stewards received a limited amount of or no union training, and the organisation
did not have the resources to sustain their knowledge needs by traditional means.
The project attempted to partially replace face-to-face, top-down directed, all-cast-
in-the-same-mould oriented union training, taking place through study circles or
courses at the union folk high schools2. This was to be substituted with training that
2
A union folk high school is a school which runs different courses for union members as well as
for those with a union assignment. There are presently three LO folk high schools in Sweden.
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to its character is continuous, integrated with the everyday work and life of the
shop stewards, and information technology supported. Moreover, the needs for
training, information and knowledge were to be formulated locally and
individually, by the shop stewards themselves and be connected to their everyday
reality (Jägare, 2001). The project had several different approaches:
• First, it was based on approximately 150 local projects, the content of which
was decided upon by the participating shop stewards themselves, and related
to their local workplaces. The local projects were to their character strongly
focussed on the exchange of experience in networks supported by
technology, e.g., by the FirstClass conference system
(http://www.runo.net/runo/it-distans/index_it.html, May 2002). The
experience generated from the local projects is to be further passed on to the
entire organisation.
• Third, a local design group consisting of user representatives from the union
organisation, through the individual affiliations and their different levels, and
representatives from IDA and the Centre for Adult Education, worked with
the design of an information system to support shop stewards in their day-to-
day work. The design work took as its point of departure Action Design, user
participation and the everyday practices, problems and needs of shop
stewards, and was thus extensively bottom-up oriented.
In the context of trade unions and information technology the DLK project was
unique in its kind, initiating work with change for all shop stewards and extensive
information technology support far out in the own organisation. In this thesis the
third approach to the project, the work in the design group and the design of an
information system for the shop stewards, in which the researcher has also actively
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participated, is the object of study. The other approaches are beyond the scope of
the thesis.
While NP/NGOs and trade unions, to an increasing extent, are exploring the
potential of the Internet and other information technology facilities, scientific
studies in the area have only begun to emerge. Needs for and the consequences of
information technology implementations in the third sector appear as strong
candidates for study. As regards information systems development in particular, the
trend has been towards increased attention to system requirements, social and
organisational aspects, and to the needs of end-users (Kotonya & Sommerville,
1998; Egger, 1998). Participatory Design is a systems development approach and
Action Design a design methodology that consider active user participation to be a
fundamental basis for designing well-functioning systems. However, both are
restrictive in the sense that they are formalised for application to small-scale
systems development projects involving a limited, reasonably homogeneous user
group. Meanwhile, large organisations world-wide introduce extensive systems that
co-ordinate the activities of many user groups. (Katsikides, 1998). If such
organisations are to benefit from Participatory Design as well, modifications are
needed. Non-profit organisations and, in particular trade unions, are organisations
in which the user group is often of a marked heterogeneous character (Zielstra,
1999) and perhaps also geographically distributed. This situation may have further
implications for the development of information systems, implications that need to
be looked into if development approaches should be further targeted towards use in
the third sector and trade unions.
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Chapter 3
Theoretical framework and empirical research approaches
In this chapter, the theoretical framework for the thesis work is presented, followed
by the choice of the empirical research approach informing the overall design and
thesis work. First, some trends in organisational theory are described briefly.
Second, Activity Theory, which is at the core of the final analysis in the thesis work
and the development of which constitutes part of the results, is described more in
depth. As for empirical research methods, Participatory Action Research and case
studies are described.
Within the research area of organisational theory, a wide range of approaches and
classification schemes can be found. Starting out with Max Weber’s late 19th and
early 20th century concept of organisations as bureaucracies (Weber, 1971), they
are viewed from a variety of perspectives and with many different metaphors.
Organisations have been described as machines, as brains, as cultures, as political
systems, as instruments of domination, and even as physical prisons (Morgan,
1997). This thesis draws on the classification undertaken by Phersey (1993), in her
overview of contemporary research of organisational behaviour with a focus on
organisations as cultures. To view organisations as cultures seems proper in this
case, since the Swedish Trade Union Confederation is an organisation where
culture has a strong hold, and since the organisation is presently moving between
cultures by initiating major change work and re-invention of the organisation,
partly through the DLK project. According to Phersey’s view, there are four types
of cultures governing organisational behaviour; role cultures which are
characterised by hierarchy and clearly defined tasks, achievement cultures
characterised by people working out of their own interest and everybody knowing
something about what is going on in the organisation, power cultures in which
some people are dominant and others are sub-ordinates and in which social order is
significant, and support cultures that are characterised by solidarity, a sense of
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membership, and a joint belief in what one is doing. Cultures may also be mixed.
Seen through Phersey’s classification, the Swedish Trade Union Confederation is
presently a mixed culture, drawing on the notion of role culture and support culture
simultaneously.
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Tool
Subject Object
Figure 2. Model of an activity system. The subject directs its actions towards the object by
means of tools, and in a community with a certain labour division and rules.
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Likewise, even though it has repeatedly been pointed out how Activity Theory with
its pronounced contextual focus has great potential for information systems
development (Spasser, 2002; Ditsa & Davies, 2000; Bødker, 1991), actual
experience from concrete systems development projects are only occasional
(Kuutti, 1999; Kuutti, 1996a) or in the planning stages (see, e.g., Wang, 2000). It
has been argued that the new post-industrial form of work organisations that the
information technology revolution has paved the way for includes ever increasing
needs for collaboration and co-ordination of previously isolated activities with the
broader work context and for networking the organisational collective, and that
Activity Theory can support the process for developing information systems to
sustain such co-ordinated activities (Kuutti & Molin-Juustila, 1998; Kuutti, 1994).
Meanwhile, while there are numerous Activity theoretical studies on information
systems use, a prescriptive theory or methodology guiding concrete design is still
missing (Hasan, 2001a) Activity Theory has several points of contact with
Participatory Design, e.g., they share a common emphasis on context, tensions, and
the subject or end-user. There have also been attempts to apply the theory as a
framework for Participatory Design projects (Bai & Hermanson 2001; Hyysalo,
2000; Kuutti, 1999; Sjöberg, 1996). But more comprehensive endeavours to
integrate the approaches are missing.
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3.2.2 Voices
One theoretical strain at times integrated with Activity Theory is Bahktin’s notion
of voice, utterance and language (Carpay & Van Oers, 1999). Bahktin originally
applied the notion of voice to analysis of dialogicality in novels in which different
voices or speakers use different social languages (Wertsch, 1991). Within the
community of researchers applying Activity Theory, voices have mainly been used
in, e.g., discourse analysis, analysis of group communication, and of classroom
writing (Engeström, 1995; Sjöberg, 1996; Moro, 1999). It has also been explicitly
applied in relation to Participatory Design, in analysis of the discourse that takes
place at design meetings (Timpka & Sjöberg, 1996). But there is also a more
practical sense in which voices can be used in the design of information systems for
large organisations. Voices then become integrated as a part of Argumentative
Design in a process aimed at collecting the different voices, i.e., the opinions of the
different groups of users that in some way will be affected by the introduced
system, as a solid background for an Activity Theory analysis and reasoning about
the system and different design solutions and consequences.
Qualitative research originates from the social sciences and aims at exploring
individual, social, organisational and cultural phenomena in their real life context
(Strauss & Corbin, 1998). In contrast to quantitative approaches, which much rely
on measurements, variables, statistical procedures, testing of hypotheses and
validity, their qualitative counterparts provide no rigid set of rules but put an
emphasis on subjectivity, sense-making and interpretation (Denzin & Lincoln,
2000). The researcher studies representations of the real world in naturalistic
settings and analyses, re-constructs and transforms these representations (Denzin &
Lincoln, 2000; Gubrium & Holstein, 2000). In the past decade, qualitative research
methods have gained acceptance in the area of information systems, as it has been
acknowledged that even computer systems need to be studied in their real-life
environment (Trauth, 2001; Wynn, 2001). In this thesis work, a qualitative research
approach has been used consistently, except for some quantitative distribution of
qualitative data, according to demographic categories, in Paper II. The thesis
focuses on areas, such as information technology and systems development in non-
profit organisations, that are thus far relatively unexplored, and aims at generating
knowledge empirically grounded in a gradually emerging picture of the union
organisation and its relation to technology. Therefore, a qualitative, explorative
approach is suitable.
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Within computer science, Participatory Action Research has been given attention as
way of studying a discipline that has previously partly escaped scientific attention
(Kyng, 1994). Within systems development, Participatory Design and the system
developer-worker collaborative trade union projects of DEMOS and UTOPIA
(Sandberg et al 1992; Ehn & Kyng, 1987) can be said to greatly replicate the
Participatory Action Research Approach. In this thesis context, the application of
Participatory Action Research has informed the design work in the local design
group. Participatory Design principles and the method of Action Design is, with its
focus on active user-participation throughout the design process, clearly in line
with Participatory Action Research.
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Chapter 4
Methods
In this thesis, a distinction is made between the methods applied for data collection
and the design methods applied in the design work. In this chapter, the different
methods that have been applied for data collection are presented, followed by a
description of the design methods applied in the work in the local design group. As
a consequence of the empirical research approach and the theoretical orientation of
the thesis, the aim has been to use a combination of data collection methods, in
order to establish accumulative knowledge of the union organisation, shop
stewards, their need for information technology, information systems, and possible
consequences of implementation.3 The different methods for data collection and
analysis used, and how they relate to different aspects and phases of the thesis work
are summarised in Figure 3.
3
The methods for data collection have been applied by the researcher (the author of the thesis)
alone or in collaboration with other researchers. The work in the design group, the application
and analysis of design methods has been a collaboration of three system developers/researchers,
including the author of the thesis.
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IT /IS solutions to
F uture W o rkshops experienced shop
ste ward problem s
E va luation of em erging
S cenarios system w ith different
user gro ups
Figure 3. The different methods used for data collection and analyses and how they relate to the
gradual establishment of knowledge on shop stewards’ situation, the union organisation,
information technology and information systems, and consequences of implementing information
technology facilities and information systems.
Literature reviews have been defined as the “selection of available documents (both
published and unpublished) on the topic, which contain information, ideas, data and
evidence written from a particular standpoint to fulfil certain aims or express
certain views on the nature of the topic” (Hart, 1998, p.13). It is typically applied in
the first exploratory phase of investigating a certain phenomenon, in order to
receive an initial picture of it. Literature reviews and analysis of documentation and
other written material are also often used in case studies, as one of many
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interdependent data sources (Travers, 2001; Yin, 1994). Literature studies put
certain demands on interpretation, since different texts must be understood in the
context of their production and reading (Hodder, 2000). For instance, some texts
may be written for propaganda purposes or for explicitly displaying a certain view
of something. But taking these interpretative precautions seriously, written material
is a rich data source, considering that much of the interaction that takes place in our
modern society is textually mediated (Travers, 2001).
The Critical Incident Technique (CIT) is a method originating in 1940s and 1950s
psychology for the observation of human behaviour in recurrent critical situations
(Flanagan, 1954). It was soon applied to work psychology, e.g., in studies of factors
leading to a high level of satisfaction or dissatisfaction, respectively, among middle
management personnel (Gardell & Westlander, 1968). It has later been extended to
other disciplines, e.g., to management science, caring sciences, marketing and to
analysing the use of information technology (Dean, 1998; Cheek et al, 1997; Tay &
Ang, 1995; Norman et al, 1992). The Critical Incident Technique relies on the self-
report of incidents, and most often the respondents are encouraged to report both
incidents that lead to satisfaction and the demonstration of efficiency in the
situation, and incidents that lead to perceived dissatisfaction and inefficiency (see,
e.g., Dean, 1998; Tay & Ang, 1995). Interviews and surveys are common
approaches (Dean, 1998). The information gained can then be used to take pre-
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cautions to improve the current situation, through the change of work routines. The
Critical Incident Technique has a relatively detailed procedure for analysing
respondent data, including the steps of establishing a frame of reference of
relevance for the sought knowledge, the initial clustering of some incidents and
forming tentative categories, testing additional categories against the categories and
their potential change and modification, until saturation is reached (Flanagan, 1954;
Bradley, 1992). The Critical Incident Technique is extremely effective in isolating
variables for analysis, and also in collecting real-life examples from those specific
persons the research is aimed to benefit (Dean, 1998). On the one hand, the
technique has also been criticised, e.g., for whether the observed factors really are
representative of the whole attitudinal variation of the respondents, and for paying
insufficient attention to frequency and reconstruction of incidents (Hultåker, 1977).
On the other hand, it has been argued that the results from Critical Incident studies
have been in line with studies using other approaches for studying the same
phenomena, e.g., questionnaire-based attitude studies (Hultåker, 1977).
1) give a description of the most recent problem they had experienced in their
union assignment;
2) describe what consequences the problem had had for them;
3) describe how they had handled the situation;
4) tell if they could think of something that could prevent or solve the problem in
the future;
5) estimate how often the problem occurred.
In the first analysis phase, approximately 50 incidents were initially clustered and
basic categories formed. In the subsequent analysis, all the remaining incidents
were categorised and some modifications made to the initial categories. Two
researchers undertook the categorisation process independently and then compared
their categories. Further, another researcher, external to the project, scrutinised the
categories before they were finally settled, in order to enhance validity. In Paper I,
the initial categories and their incidents were used as input to a Future Workshop
with shop stewards on their needs for information technology. Paper II is entirely
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based on the complete categorisation and analysis of 201 reported incidents, and
also on likewise categorisation and analysis of the consequences of incidents in
describing shop stewards’ experienced work situation. In addition, distribution of
the categories with regard to age, experience, gender and affiliation was
investigated. In Paper III, the solutions to and potential remedies of incidents were
classified according to the same procedure as the incidents, with the exception of
external scrutinisation. The solutions and remedies were used for investigating shop
stewards’ needs for information technology and potential corresponding
information system solutions, to be used as input in Argumentative Design. Papers
IV and V refer to the previous studies for the purpose of visualising the
organisation and contrasting the perspectives of shop stewards with those of other
organisational layers. The survey approach helps to overcome some of the
objections to the Critical Incident Technique in that it reaches a relatively large
sample of respondents, making it easier to control uniformity of results. This
Critical Incident survey differs from many others in that it focuses only on
problematic situations, not on situations leading to perceived satisfaction. The
focus was deliberate to find those cases in which shop stewards may benefit from
information technology support, and to avoid focusing on the technology itself
from the beginning. The approach is in line with approaches taken in many Activity
Theory oriented studies, in recording breakdowns in work activities as a starting
point for the re-design of the work activities (see, e.g., Engeström, 1999b).
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A separate Future Workshop was also held in the design group, stretching over two
design meetings and including about six hours of design work. In this Future
Workshop, eight (fourth design meeting) respectively seven (fifth meeting) user
representatives participated, representing four respectively three shop stewards and
other organisational levels. The procedures in this workshop greatly replicated
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those described above. The Critique phase was not performed from scratched here
either, but included scrutinisation and potential modification of the pre-established
problem categories. The major difference was that this Future Workshop partly
included the Implementation phase in the sense that reasonably comprehensive and
technically feasible solutions that became parts of the prototype were arrived at. In
the workshop, the participants performed the categorisation of solutions
themselves. The Future Workshop was videotaped.
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The data collected at the two affiliation offices provided a picture of the
organisation the relevance and generalisability of which were confirmed by the user
representatives at the local design meetings. Participant observation was also, in a
sense, undertaken at these meetings, since each meeting was videotaped and then
analysed with a focus on systems design issues and the evaluation of the
Participatory design method itself. In the design group, the researchers assumed the
double roles of systems developers and participant observers. Participant
observation finally informed the re-construction of the overall DLK project
narrative in contrast to a conventional design project that took place in an
individual affiliation (Paper VI). This study was undertaken after the DLK project
and built, in the case of participant observation, on re-construction of the
researcher’s participation in and notes from seminars held in relation to the two
projects. A project diary from the DLK project was also available to the researcher.
Scenarios and prototyping were described in Section 2.2.6. In relation to the design
process that the thesis is based upon, prototyping with a broad focus has been done.
The application of prototyping has drawn both from rapid and evolutionary
development. First, three different models were constructed by the
researchers/system developers in the design group by means of different drawing
and prototyping tools. These were concurrently evaluated. The last version was
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modified and refined in a stepwise process. The final prototype version should be
seen as a basis for implementations of an information system aimed at supporting
shop stewards’ day-to-day tasks.
4.7 Interviewing
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categories that had been established as a result of the participant observation were
applied. In Paper VI, the initial interview guide provided for categorisation.
4.9 Design, work procedures and data collection in the design group
In addition to the methods described above, data was collected from the design
work that took place in the DLK design group.4 The group worked according to the
principles of Participatory Design, substantiated by the Action Design
methodology. The group was formed locally and was originally comprised of two
system developers who had the twofold role as researchers (including the author of
this thesis), one pedagogue, and 10 user representatives from the union
organisation. The user representatives included four local shop stewards, two local
full-time ombudsmen, two representatives from the DLK project management, and
two local management representatives from the Swedish Trade Union
Confederation. Six affiliations were originally represented in the group. The group
held 20 half-day meetings for a period of approximately two years, resulting in a
design rationale and a prototype of an information system to be accessed by all
union shop stewards. The design work at the meetings focussed, first, on
organisational analysis including the establishment of shop stewards’ tasks,
problems and needs. The emergent organisational knowledge is partly re-used in
Paper V. Second, the groups’ work focussed on iterative prototyping including
performing different design practices and subsequent evaluations of prototypes and
prototype versions of the system. All design meetings were video recorded and
subsequently analysed and documented with a focus on:
4
In this context, it should be noted that some of the data collection methods, as described in the
sections on data collection, were also applied more informally in the work of the design group
(e.g., the Future Workshop and prototype evaluations), as integrated parts of the design methods
and providing knowledge for the design rationale.
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and re-modification of categories (see Section 5.2.1 for further details). Those
aspects that related to the application of Participatory Design were partly noted in a
project diary by the author of the thesis. An example of the emerging design
rationale is provided in Appendix 1.
In the preliminary data analyses, double perspectives were often used because both
information technology applications in general and systems development in the
third sector context were studied. The Critical Incident survey was analysed first by
the researchers with a focus on finding general information technology needs
among shop stewards, but also was integrated with part of the design groups work
with the organisational analysis phase, for confirmation or modification of results.
The Future Workshops served similar purposes as one was held in the design group
and the other was held with shop stewards external to the group. The participant
observation, interview and focus group data (Paper IV) was first analysed by the
researcher performing the study (the author of the thesis), then evaluated by the
entire design group by integrating the findings with the prototype in the prototyping
phase. The prototype evaluations were mainly undertaken with a focus on
information technology and system solutions, the data being analysed by the
system developers/researchers. However, the emerging results were integrated with
the prototype under construction in the design group, and were seen as an important
part in modifying Participatory Design for organisational use by capturing different
voices in the design process. The data analysis in the final study had as its focus the
consequences of implementations of different information technology applications
at the local trade union level. However, the analysis should also be seen as a partial
evaluation of the modified Participatory Design approach, in that the hypotheses
produced by an Activity Theory analysis in the study preceding it, were initially
tested. The data collected from the design group meetings related both to
information technology and information systems applications in the trade union,
non-profit context and to developing Participatory Design by means of the
researchers analysing the experiences of applying the Participatory Design
approach.
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Chapter 5
Results
This chapter describes the scientific and practical results achieved in the thesis
work. The chapter is divided into three parts. The first part presents the results of
each thesis paper. The main findings and contributions of the papers related to the
thesis are summarised in Figure 4. Following this, the extended Participatory
Design approach, that is partly to be found in the papers, is described in more
detail. The final part presents additional modifications to Participatory Design that
emerged from the design work, and integrates all results into a final modified
Participatory Design approach. In general, the first part of the chapter relates
equally to the subject of information technology in trade unions and non-profit
organisations as to systems development aspects. The second and third part mostly
pertains to systems development, even if knowledge of the first subject has
naturally even been generated.
The papers are described chronologically, in the way they have gradually added to
the knowledge base on shop stewards and the union organisation from the
perspective of information technology and systems development. Papers I, III and
IV treat both the subject of shop stewards, trade unions and information
technology, and the subject of extending Participatory Design to use in large
organisations, especially those with a non-profit, heterogeneous character. Paper II
adds to the knowledge on shop stewards’ work situation as a pre-requisite for
developing information technology support. Paper V discusses the use of Activity
Theory from an overall organisational perspective and for systems development, as
part of the theory’s integration with Participatory Design for foreseeing
consequences of design solutions, but also as to how the introduced system will
influence the specific trade union context. Paper VI is an initial and partial
evaluation of the hypotheses proposed in Paper V, through the investigation of how
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the introduction of information technology has influenced the local union level in
one of the Swedish Trade Union Confederation affiliations.
5
In the study, the term union representative was used to denote persons with a part-time union
assignment in addition to their ordinary job. This term was later substituted with shop steward,
which is used in the subsequent studies. Likewise, the term union federation is used instead of
union affiliate/affiliation in Papers I, III and IV. Finally, the DLK project changed its name
during the project process, substituting the term “distance education” with “distance supported
learning”, as reflected in the papers.
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5.1.2 The situation and tasks of union shop stewards (Paper II)
The study focused on the work situation and tasks of Swedish shop stewards, in the
light of recent years’ changing circumstances for unions, and in comparison with
similar international studies. The aim of the study within the framework of design
in the project was to establish a picture of the situation, tasks and problems the
shop stewards experience in their day-to-day union work, as a pre-requisite for
finding corresponding information technology needs and solutions. 201 reported
Critical Incidents were analysed. It was found that the major problem categories
related to disputes with and relations to the employer (44% of problems), to
relations with members (30%), to personal problems (13%) and to union
organisational problems (9%). The most common consequences of problems
related to experienced dissatisfaction (15% of problems), impaired relations (14%),
time pressure (13%), mental anxiety (11%), and experienced mistrust (6%). As for
categories, differences with regard to, above all, gender and age were found, in
which women and young people related less to traditional workplace disputes and
more to members and personal problems than did their male and older counterparts.
The study concluded that the basic components of union work have remained
relatively stable over time and among nations and pertain to shop stewards working
as negotiators, informants, conflict handlers, knowledge acquistiors and continuous
debaters. Meanwhile, new perspectives are taken by new generations and groups of
shop stewards; and need to be supported. Some supportive measures to aid carrying
out local union work were suggested, including information technology facilities
such as on-line distance learning, support networks through E-mail lists, and
discussion forums and electronic bulletin boards.
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analysis revealed that while the central union level displays some contradictory
objectives for its activities and a narrow concept of what information technology
should supply, in the main related to presently existing, traditional union
information, shop stewards’ needs and proposals are extensive and concrete. They
include both traditional and non-traditional union information and communication,
e.g., case-based information, societal knowledge and horizontal support through
shop steward networks. Critical issues, which need to be considered in the design
process, related to the retaining or empowerment of the present shop steward status,
centralisation versus decentralisation, the strengthening or weakening of union
boundaries and, the extent to which members and employers should be seen as
parts of the information system. Based on the Argumentative Design analysis, a
design proposal of an information system for shop stewards, built on their needs
but also paying attention to the trade union management perspective, was
presented. The design proposal included, e.g., a laws and agreements database, a
case database, discussion forums and electronic bulletin boards to be accessed by
shop stewards, as well as members, an address book and access to on-line
electronic courses. The main conclusions from the study were that Argumentative
Design can bring major benefits to the early phases of the systems development
process by eliciting fundamental organisational issues and by illustrating the impact
selected information technology solutions may have on theses issues. As regards
Participatory Design, the argumentative approach supports a partial extension of
perspective outside the immediate user group, paving the way for system solutions
that have a greater chance to be compatible with an entire organisation.
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was found that shop stewards often use a task-oriented, operative voice, and
middle-level union ombudsmen use an organisational voice, and union federation
management use an ideological voice when relating to information technology.
The Activity Theory analysis showed that the union organisation displays
fundamental inner contradictions in and between activity systems, e.g., related to
long-term goal-oriented activities versus day-to-day operative tasks, workplace
disputes versus total the life-world of members, and formal workplace disputes
versus soft issues. The union organisation presently stands at a crossroads, and the
choice of information technology will directly influence the direction to be taken
by the organisation in the future. Based on the findings, a modified prototype of an
information system for shop stewards was proposed. One conclusion from the
study is that Participatory Design, if it is to be applied to large-scale projects in
entire organisations, must be extended to all parties in the design process. All
parties must be heard, in order to arrive at system solutions that can actually be
implemented, used and administrated. In other words, the design group’s work
must be complemented with data collected externally. Activity Theory can help in
this process, by summarising the disparate voices and providing an organisational
overview.
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systems development context. In the first case, the union organisation was found to
be characterised by a substantial hierarchic character with clearly defined spheres
of action and power structures that were re-produced in the access to information
technology tools. Inherent inner contradictions between different activity systems
relate to, e.g., people living in different sub-communities governed by different
rules. This leads to recurrent breakdowns of various kinds, the most important
being that shop stewards experience an inability to fulfil their assignment and
members become dissatisfied with their own organisation. Likely changes as a
result of the introduced system include an expansion of the object of shop stewards’
work, the creation of shop steward networks and the emergence of a new collective
subject, a changed division of labour with shop stewards taking over certain duties
from the full-time ombudsmen who receive more supervisory and administrative
functions, and power re-distribution in favour of the local level. In the second case,
Activity Theory was found useful in an organisational systems development
context, for providing an organisational overview, structuring voices and foreseeing
the consequences of different design solutions. But the organisational approach also
accentuated known difficulties with Activity Theory, e.g., those related to the
conception of the object, people living simultaneously in different communities, the
networking of activities, and to generalisation, that need to be considered. In the
context of Participatory Design, Activity Theory aided the argumentation parts, and
helped in shifting the focus partly beyond the local design group, on order to
capture an overall organisational perspective.
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Figure 4. The main contributions of each study to the thesis are summarised. The methods
applied in each study are shown to the right.
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The papers all relate in part to the endeavour to extend Participatory Design to suit
the context of large organisations. From the beginning, the researchers in the design
group recognised that Participatory Design as it has most often been applied would
not suffice when designing an information system for an entire trade union
confederation. Therefore, the approach was extended to include elements of
Argumentative Design and Activity Theory. The integrated design approach and
the contributions of its different parts is summarised in Figure 5.
Figure 5. The integrated design approach with the perceived contributions of the different parts
in the middle.
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Figure 6. Example of high level design argumentation on databases, based on the modified ArD
notation.
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Figure 7. Envisioned changes in the overall activity system of shop stewards as a result of
implementing the information system, with the perceived changes in italics.
5.3.1 The double function of the design group - performing design locally while
not excluding an organisational perspective
In the DLK project, the bulk of the concrete design work took place in the local
design group. However, the papers mainly relate to data collected external to the
group. From the beginning, it was felt that the design work had to have a double
focus. The practical design work was to take place in a local design group
consisting of user representatives and system developers, and working according to
6
The quotations are taken directly from the notes from the design meetings but have been
translated. Dotted lines indicate that something has been left out, brackets indicate that text has
been added.
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On several occasions, the design group’s work also functioned the other way round,
in that design meetings were used as a basis for planning and testing practices for
collecting data externally. One example was a practice of mapping out the structure
of the then 18 union affiliations, as part of the organisational analysis phase. This
practice was performed on a small-scale during the third design meeting in which
the present user representatives mapped out the four affiliations they belonged to.
The practice was subsequently modified after discussion in the group and then
applied by the researchers in a large seminar for the entire DLK project, in which
the seminar union participants helped to map out all 18 affiliations. Moreover, the
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Thus, while in Participatory and Action Design the same people are most often the
one that participate in design work throughout the design process, this group was
characterised by some turbulence in turnover of user representatives. This meant
that the group at an early stage had to consider forms for meetings and work
procedures. The final project plan that was commonly agreed upon states; “the
group’s work should be of the character that does not come to a stop when
someone does not attend a meeting”. It was further decided that potential
newcomers should be introduced to the group’s work in beforehand, through the
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design phases to the extent that later design is neglected and end products are not
always delivered (van den Besselar, 1998; Bannon, 1995). In the design group,
potential technological solutions were introduced at a rather early stage and worked
with in parallel to organisational analysis and the establishment of user needs, i.e., a
kind of simultaneous bottom-up/top-down approach. In particular, existing
technologies that might be of use in shop stewards’ work were tried out and
evaluated by the design group. This was partly due to the overall DLK project
structure, in which a technical group worked with the testing and assessment of
new technologies of potential use for the trade union organisation. This meant that
some of the technologies were also available to the design group. At a rather early
stage, the group decided that it should make use of this availability, since it was
deemed important to “design for the future, not only the present” (third design
meeting). One intention of introducing technologies in the design group was to
provide hands-on experience as a complement to the otherwise somewhat abstract,
documentation character of some of the work. More specifically, the group tested
MIMIO (http://www.mimio.com) (the ninth meeting), which is a tool for
transferring whiteboard text to digital form on the computer, and GROOVE
(http://www.groove.net), which is a system for the communicating and sharing
documents between users who use voice input. Also, one researcher and three of
the user representatives tested FreeSpeech (http://www.freespeech.com), a tool for
generating text on the computer by voice input. This was because some of them
also had other functions in the DLK project, and their experience was fed back to
the entire design group. The user representatives appreciated the group’s work with
demonstrating and testing existing technologies. MIMIO, in particular, was
regarded as having great potential for shop stewards, who are often on the run
informing at workplaces, and in need of a tool to quickly transfer their information
from a whiteboard for storage on a laptop computer. FreeSpeech was deemed as
possessing great potential for those shop stewards who experience difficulties in
writing. However, this technology was found less mature, and something for the
future rather than the present.
In the following section, the major results achieved in the thesis work are
summarised. First, the results of relevance to the context of a large trade union
federation and information technology in general, as well as the more practical
results in form of the specific information system solution, are summarised.
Following this, a summary is provided of the results relating to the context of
Participatory Design in a large, non-profit organisation.
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Swedish Trade Union Confederation. An information system used by all its shop
stewards is one such influence.
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The proposed information system solution for shop stewards has a self-supportive
character and further introduces new horizontal communication possibilities
between the stewards. If it is implemented in the union affiliations and used by a
substantial part by the 225 000 shop stewards, the system will, most likely have
consequences for their work situation and for the entire union organisation.
Potential outcomes include an expanded object of shop stewards’ work and their
increased independence, the formation of shop steward networks and a new
collective subject. This, in turn, will likely lead to a change in labour division in the
organisation, in which shop stewards take over certain tasks currently performed on
other levels, for instance, giving the full-time ombudsmen more supervisory and
administrative rather than active support functions. A change in labour division
will, in turn, probably lead to organisational power re-distribution and an
empowerment of the local level. An initial evaluation of the consequences of the
implementation of an extranet for the local union level in one of the affiliations,
showed that extended communication facilities, above all, have the potential to
provide for this development. Even though such facilities were not included in the
extranet, they were used, in many cases on a private initiative for horizontal
communication. The creation of networks had only emerged, and only in one
section had any real change in terms of cross-sectional collaboration, labour and
power re-distribution already taken place. But considering that the trend
experienced an increase in horizontal communication in almost all cases, an
information system that actively promotes such communication will, it is believed,
have more far-reaching consequences.
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In the DLK project, design work took place in the context of a large NP/NGO . The
design process was guided by Participatory Design, substantiated in and more
formalised by the Action Design methodology. Even before concrete design work
started, it was decided that the Participatory Design approach had to be partly
modified and re-conceptualised in order to suit this organisational context. It was
impossible to represent all potential direct and indirect users in the local design
group, since the organisation consists of different levels and different affiliations,
has a geographically dispersed character and a marked heterogeneous user group
with unions organising numerous types of workers. Therefore, additional data had
to be collected external to the group. Some of the data was collected by the system
developers/researchers even before the design group started up. Work in the design
group came to have a double focus; on practical local design, and on evaluating and
merging of externally collected voices into local design work. Design thus became
an interplay between the local design group and the overall organisation, in which
the design group also prepared for design practices held outside it. In addition,
Participatory Design was complemented by an Argumentative Design focus, which
is part of the Action Design methodology, but which here received increased
emphasis. It was felt that this would support the process of merging all the different
voices in the design. The argumentative focus, in the theoretical framework of
Activity Theory, intended to support providing an organisational overview and
foreseeing organisational consequences of different design solutions. The
frameworks’ usefulness in predicting consequences was also initially tested.
However, as design work proceeded, it became clear that the extended Participatory
Design approach had to undergo further modifications in order to suit the large,
NP/NGO, trade union context. First, the approach required increased flexibility as
the trade union organisation in itself entails some rotation of people on
assignments, which means that some people come and go in the group. One
solution to this problem was to make the design group work with modules rather
than longer exercises and design practices, so that work would not be interrupted if
a new person entered the group. Working participatory with the project contract
and project planning became problematic and these procedures where shortened
and partly substituted by concrete design, and hands-on practices. Another reason
for making these substitutions was that the user representatives became impatient
with the early, and as they saw it, prolonged design phases, including the
establishment of work routines and organisational analysis. This way of working
did not comply with union traditions and usual procedures. The modifications were
also made in order to move forward more quickly and secure delivery of the final
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prototype and requirements specification. Finally, the design group started to look
at existing technologies at an earlier stage than is usually the case in Participatory
and Action Design, thereby complementing the bottom-up with a top-down
approach. Also this was done for two reasons; to avoid losing aspects of the future
and technologies that can actually be used to comply with user needs, and because
the technology testing was much appreciated by the user representatives in the
group. The final, modified, extended and integrated design approach is summarised
in Figure 8.
Participatory
Design
Argumentative Hands-on practices
design
Parallel focus on
Activity Theory technical solutions
Figure 8. To the left, the modifications that were decided upon before actual design work started,
are displayed. In the middle, the double focus on design and evaluation in the group, which was
agreed upon in initial design work, is displayed. To the right, additional modifications, emerging
gradually as experience from design work, are displayed. The double arrow indicates the
interplay between Argumentative Design and Activity Theory.
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Chapter 6
Discussion
The contributions of this thesis relate to two areas, information technology in the
third sector and, more specifically, trade unions; and to Participatory Design and its
need for renewal if applied in the design of information systems for large
organisations, especially those with a NP/NGO, heterogeneous character:
In the following, the findings of the thesis as related to Participatory Design are
discussed at three levels, generally, in the context of large organisations, and in the
context of the third sector and trade unions. This is followed by a discussion of
NP/NGOs, trade unions and information technology.
The benefits of Participatory Design have been pointed out repeatedly (see, e.g.,
Cherry & Macredi, 1999; Reich et al, 1996; Bjerknes & Brattetieg, 1994; Schuler
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& Namioka, 1993). It has been claimed that traditional systems development
methods fail to capture the chaotic, dynamic nature of human and organisational
behaviour, and the social factors that are of outmost importance for successful
implementations of information systems; and also that Participatory Design can be
a support in overcoming these failings (Cherry & Macredi, 1999). But the approach
has also been exposed to criticism. As early as the 1980s, Hirschheim (1983)
investigated participative design approaches and found that they were much more
complicated than literature contended, and, even though universally praised by the
participants, were never applied a second time in organisations. Since then, several
particular problems experienced with Participatory Design have been highlighted.
These include obstacles in gaining access to and motivating potential users to
participate in the design process (Grudin, 1993), and in the collaborative design
process itself (Doll & Deng, 1999). In the latter case, studies have shown that full-
user participation when it comes to, e.g., project initiation, information flow
analysis and format design, is neither effective nor appreciated by the users. They
tend to want to leave these issues to the expertise and focus on information needs
(Doll & Deng, 1999). Also, several authors have pointed out that Participatory
Design is actually seldom used in concrete, product-oriented projects; that its
principles are not in agreement with the real life industrial context outside
academia; and that, once it is applied, it only results in small-scale, stand alone IT-
applications (Tollmar, 2001; Trigg, 2000; Kensing, 2000; van den Besselar 1998;
Beynon-Davies & Holmes, 1998).
The experience generated from design work in the DLK project confirms many of
these findings. Even if the focus of this thesis work is on the large organisational
and NP/NGO context, it appears that some experience also relates to applying
Participatory Design in a more general sense. For instance, even though the initial
intention was to provide user representatives with full user participation throughout
the process, it gradually became clear that these intentions were not compatible
with efficiency or user satisfaction. Once changed work routines were decided
upon, design work proceeded much more smoothly, quickly and productively. The
trade-off was a somewhat increased workload for the researchers. Perhaps full user
participation is an utopia that needs to be compromised in order to achieve
functioning design work. In the design group, the user representatives did not feel
that they lost anything with the new work procedures; but rather that they could
contribute more to the concrete design of the information system. Likewise, the
evaluations of existing technologies were greatly appreciated as a complement to
paper exercise and more abstract, paper-oriented design practices. The decision to
map identified needs against technology at a reasonably early stage emerged
gradually in the design process, and was only initially tested with a few
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In relation to the above, it has been argued that Participatory Design should be
merged with other design approaches, such as Rapid Application Development and
Computer Supported Cooperative Work in order to complement social with
practical acceptability of the systems, and to evaluate the technologies developed
using the Participatory Design approach (Beynon-Davies & Holmes, 1998;
Kensing & Blomberg, 1998). An important step in the process of renewing
Participatory Design is to survey present systems development approaches, finding
out where mergers can beneficially be made. Also, Participatory Design was, from
the beginning, a rather loose approach, comprising a wide variety of available
techniques (Kuhn & Muller, 1993), even if some groups have systematically
organised their practices into a coherent approach (Kensing & Blomberg, 1998).
Action Design is one such attempt, aimed at providing more rigidity and a stepwise
procedure with a delivered product as the eventual focus. Also the extended and
modified Participatory Design approach needs documentation and formalisation,
providing the design group with a reasonably clear design agenda from the very
beginning of the process.
Participatory Design has also been criticised for only being used in isolated project
contexts, targeted towards small organisations or parts of organisations, presuming
a limited, rather homogeneous user group (van den Besselar, 1998; Graham et al,
1998; Clement & van den Besselar, 1993). This is probably part of Participatory
Design’s ideological inheritance, in which workers at a single workplace were the
target group, and the one presumed conflict was between workers’ and managers’
perspectives (Törpel, 2000; Greenbaum, 1996). It has been noted how
contemporary organisations move away from traditional co-determination,
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In this thesis, such local and organisational interaction was reached in two ways.
First, data was collected external to the design group from various interest groups
in the union organisation, but integrated with the groups’ work. And the other way
round, local developments were, as suggested by Törpel (2000) above, tested in
different parts of the entire organisation. In particular, the prototype was mainly
developed locally but also evaluated by other user groups in an iterative process,
and modified according to their suggestions. Needless to say, the extension of
external voices to local design work created an extra workload for the researchers,
since they had overall responsibility for data collection and analysis and external
evaluation of prototypes. Still, it was felt that this was a trade-off that could be
reached within the project time limits, if the additional tasks partly replaced some
of the other Participatory Design and Action Design usual early administrative and
somewhat pro-longed consensus reaching procedures. It seems that an overall
organisational approach and design of comprehensive information systems demand
this trade-off, where some tasks are added and some are reduced, as compared to
Participatory Design, as it was originally applied.
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However, even Design Rationale and Argumentative Design, which were actually
added to the Participatory Design framework, are approaches that can be criticised
for being time-consuming. This was partly solved by having the researchers
document the argumentative process between meetings. Design Rationale has also
been criticised for lacking focus, not providing for powerful notations and clear
guidelines as for choosing from easily infinite design issues, and for lacking a
rationale representation scheme that organises information according to its
relevance to the task at hand (see, e.g., Fischer et al, 1996). It has further been
argued that there are no clear guidelines as to how to transform short-term group
argumentation and memory to long-term organisational memory and
documentation (Buckingham Shum et al, 1997). Also the argumentative process at
the meetings, in retrospect, was found to be somewhat prolonged, focusing more on
proposals and argumentation itself, than on motivations behind arguments and
actually reaching a decision, which also rendered the documentation process more
difficult. After about two thirds of the meetings it was evident that criteria for when
the argumentation process must stop had to be defined, and which compromises
with the ideal of full consensus had to be made. It seems as if even Argumentative
Design must define more specified criteria as to what design issues are most
relevant, when is argumentation to be disclaimed in favour of reaching a design
decision and how are group decisions to relate to the long-term organisation
memory and perspective. Probably the original Participatory Design ideal to reach
full consensus must be compromised even here. As for sources of inspiration for
future applications of Argumentative Design, recent work by Conkling et al (2001),
in which they work with a hypertext system aimed to support the transformation of
short-term argumentation to a wider perspective and also to support work across
communities of practice, may be used. A further possible source of inspiration for
calculating and ranking the importance of design issues is Quality Function
Deployment (QFD), which has been used in combination with Participatory Design
(Hallberg et al, 1998).
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In the context of Activity Theory and information systems in general, analyses have
pointed towards the importance of that all members in a community are represented
when designing and implementing the systems for that community, so that the
systems are not rejected due to cultural unfitness (Hill et al, 2001; Gobbin, 1998). It
is mainly in this sense this thesis contributes to the application of Activity Theory
in systems development and overall organisational contexts; through integrating the
framework as part of the systems development approach, in early design phases, for
structuring the community members’ interests and anticipating organisational
effects of the system under design. In the study, the use of voices in a dialogue
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It has been argued that present systems development methods are not suited to the
emerging context of the third sector, and that user participation is especially
important in non-profit organisations (Morgan, 1995). The third sector possesses
certain characteristics that differentiate it from profit-oriented organisations. First,
much of the work is performed by unpaid volunteers who make up the membership
of the organisation in question (Lundström & Wijkström, 1997). It has been noted
that this situation may enforce certain difficulties in carrying out Participatory
Design projects and systems development in general; non-profit groups typically
operate with little money outside their ordinary job and find it hard to allocate time
for design work (Trigg, 2000; Morgan, 1995). Moreover, the user group in non-
profit organisations is often markedly heterogeneous, with different levels of
computer literacy and sometimes with different information technology needs
(Zielstra, 1999; Hallam & Murray, 1998), and in many cases is geographically
distributed over large areas. NP/NGOs occupy a position between the family,
employer, and state, where rather loosely connected people are supposed to
cooperate with each other (Sjöstrand, 1995; Qvarsell, 1995). This is to be compared
to many other organisations and workplaces where most personnel are situated
under one roof, experience a joint work situation, have a similar vocation
background and, to a certain extent, share company culture and ideology (even
though, of course, different perspectives exist here, as well). Even members of non-
profit organisations share a common ideology which is the foundation of their
organisational belonging (Lundström & Wijkström, 1997). But, apart from that,
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they are often found at a multitude of work places differentiating in size, structure
and culture, and have much various demographic backgrounds with regard to, e.g.,
age, gender, education, family situation and computer maturity.
As for the specific case of trade unions, shop stewards can receive some
compensation for absence from work when carrying out parts of their union
assignment. Still, they perform most of their tasks on an unpaid basis, outside their
ordinary jobs. Moreover, the aspect of user group heterogeneity is further
complicated in the particular case of trade union federations. At the time of the
DLK project, The Swedish Trade Union Confederation consisted of 18 union
affiliations, almost giving the organisation an inter-organisational structure. Some
of the affiliations have similar, some very different internal structures,
characteristics and cultures. As an example, in the Construction Workers’ Union,
the sections replace local clubs; the latter is absent in the affiliation, since
construction workers work at temporary workplaces, on buildings under
construction. In addition, it has been noted how occupational and union boundaries
do not always coincide (Trice & Beyer, 1993). A further aspect of trade unions is
that they are often coloured by culture-based action and oral forms, and a tradition
of getting things done and circumventing formal contracts (Trice & Beyer, 1993).
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In retrospect, the modifications made to Participatory Design seem in line with its
use in large, NP/NGOs. Some of the modifications emerged with proceeding design
work, as part of the experienced situation. The modifications should be formalised
in order to establish a more effective approach. Moreover, the problem of recruiting
shop steward representatives to the group enforces a partial rethink for design work
in the non-profit context. There have been attempts to have part of the Participatory
Design work performed on-line in a non-profit organisation, by having the user
representatives gain access to a continually up-dated database design proposal
through their workstations (Trigg, 2000). Even the design group had access to an
on-line version of the successively emerging prototype solution through their work
or home computers. Also, all design documentation was published and continually
up-dated in a document archive on the World Wide Web. Probably even more
aspects of design work can be performed on-line in a more formalised manner,
assuming continuous but not simultaneous interaction among the participants, in
order to enhance the flexibility of Participatory Design in a context in which users
have pronounced difficulties in letting daytime off for design work.
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The third sector comprises organisations ranging from charity to human rights’ and
environment associations, to churches, to sports associations, to trade unions
(Anheier & Kendall, 2001). In recent decades, the third sector has undergone rapid
changes. There has been an increased interest in many non-profit areas greatly due
to prevailing social trends. For instance, the third sector is often seen as having the
potential to complement to the services, care and support usually provided by the
state, and in Sweden, the form of financial state support has tended to become more
directed towards specific engagements at the local level (Lundström & Wijkström,
1997). These changes may result in that the service aspect of voluntary work
becomes more emphasised, and that local members receive increased responsibility
and a greater need for information and support. NP/NGOs, in particular charities
and grassroots organisations, were noted as early adopters of the Internet;
marketing themselves and creating grassroots networks (Shreve, 2002) and today
(March 2000) their presence on the Internet seems innumerable. It has also been
noted that those citizens most negative to contemporary, traditional democratic
institutions are the most frequent Internet users (Taylor & Burt, 2001). The Internet
offers great potential for NP/NGOs to spread their messages, expand their sphere of
activities, linking groups of grassroots in networks and providing for collaboration
and transnational, cultural exchange. The potential that advanced information
technology has for the third sector in terms of change processes and member
services has only recently been noted (Burt & Taylor, 2002). For instance, it has
been claimed that electronic networks and www databases are suitable information
and communication resources that are beginning to be explored by the third sector
(Burt & Taylor, 1999; Hallam & Murray, 1998). Nevertheless, it has also been
claimed that when NP/NGOs make more formal investments in information
technology, they still favour applications used for administrative and operational
routines; not applications that can be used for reconfiguring external networks,
rescoping organisational missions or achieving strategic learning (Burt & Taylor,
2001). Non-profit organisations still lag behind as regards, e.g., access to
computers, hardware as well as software. Having less financial resources than the
private sector, many of them have been dependent on donations of and reuse of
technology (Shreve, 2002). However, this is about to change. In recent years,
several computer companies have been seen to produce software especially
targeted towards the third sector, and non-profit organisations are recommended to
develop technology plans and assess their needs on a regular basis (Shreve, 2002).
As part of this, research efforts, which up to this time are only emerging, are
necessary.
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Since the information system proposal for shop stewards is targeted towards a
geographically widely distributed group of users that perform their assignment on a
voluntary basis outside work hours, many solutions seem to apply to the third
sector, in general, for exploring aspects of renewal beyond administrative and
operational routines. Examples of this are case databases for the dissemination of
real experience among non-profit organisations and their participants, and
communication facilities like discussion forums and E-mail lists for the creation of
networks, within and between organisations. Above all, communication facilities
appear relevant for non-profit organisations in getting their members together. They
can use the communication tools presented in the thesis (see, e.g., Papers III-V,
Section 5.5.1 and Appendix 2.) as a source of inspiration and a base to build on.
Nevertheless, the third sector comprises a wide span of organisations, ranging
from, e.g., small private charity initiatives to international associations like the Red
Cross. It has been noted how local information technology needs may differ among
non-profit organisations (Hallam & Murray, 1998). Information technology
solutions should, of course, be specifically oriented towards the non-profit
organisation in question.
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As for the specific context of trade unions and information technology, Shostak
(1999) has noted how different lines of computer usage can be seen in the labour
movement. First, it is the more regular use of centralised mainframe or midsize
computers that unions have used for their own work, e.g., membership rolls,
payrolls and voting records, for more then 30 years (Shostak, 1999). Second, it is
the networking, on-line activities that in recent years have happened in union
related movements all over the world. For instance, the LaborNet Website of the
AFL-CIO (the American Federation of Trade Unions) provides official information
and informal chat rooms as well as E-Activist Networks to be used by union
activists (http://www.aflcio.org/home.htm, March 2002). And both international,
national, and local union homepages exist all over the world, sometimes providing
specialised list-servers to enable unionists to engage in free-wheeling discussions
on-line (Shostak, 1999). Nevertheless, the union networking trend has but yet
started, and is under continuous construction. Experienced problems so far include,
for instance, limited access to computers on the part of union members. Shostak
(1999) has noted how only a small minority of unionists can be found on-line, and
that even fewer click on other Web pages than that of their local union. He claims
that too many union related Web pages are dull and static; and too many union
leaders and members are content with having it this way (Shostak, 1999). Similarly,
Dator (1999) argues that a major reinvention of the unions themselves; not holding
on to traditional structures and ways of working, must accompany networking
activities and computer usage, if future union prospects are to be bright.
Experience from the DLK project and the thesis confirm the above observations;
and in addition suggest that basic union needs do not differ substantially between
nations or over longer periods of time. Shop stewards, in general, have similar
duties and experience similar problems, related e.g., to negotiating, conflict
handling, and member recruitment. As for information technology, it is above all
the communicative, networking aspects of technology that has shown to be
perceived as most useful on the local union level. Trade unions and information
technology is a new and continually emerging area which thus far has been mostly
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unattended by research. Results suggest that the DLK experience and the prototype
can serve as a learning tool and source of inspiration for other trade unions,
nationally and internationally, which wish to implement technology in a fuller scale
as part of their change efforts. However, it is also important to take into account the
unique history, culture, and vision of every trade union federation or local union in
our world; and target potential information technology applications towards this
uniqueness (Shostak, 1999). Active user participation in design is one way of
capturing the needs of specific trade unions, thereby making information
technology solutions thoroughly grounded and supportive of the future prosperity
of the labour movement. When developing information systems for the local union
level, active user participation should, in the future, also embrace explicit
representation of union members in design, as they are important parts in shop-
floor union work.
The Activity Theory analysis undertaken in the thesis work has suggested that the
planned information system solution for shop stewards, if it is implemented and
extensively used the way it is intended, will result in far reaching organisational
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changes. The evaluation study undertaken in the Construction Worker’s Union has
shown that the current implementation of information technology at the local union
level had thus far only partially had task-related and organisational effects. The
change process was slow and hindered by the technology, in this case, not being
based by user needs, insufficient training and information on and follow-up of the
new technology. In one section, however, a real enthusiast had used the technology
for implementing far-reaching changes in his section. It is believed that the
consequences outlined in the thesis have great potential to take place. First, some
changes in the Construction Worker’s Union had occurred, in spite of the obstacles
described, and second, communication facilities were used and viewed as the real
facilitators of change even though they were not part of the information technology
facilities provided by the affiliation office. The proposed information system for
shop stewards, in contrast, has an explicit focus on horizontal communication
facilities.
The proposed changes are largely in line with that which is happening on the
Internet with reference to virtual communities gathering around issues of common
interest (Bradley, 2001), and in the case of trade unions with the creation of
grassroots horizontal networks, the transcendence of national union boundaries,
collaboration for pursuing questions of common interest and the mutual exchange
of experience and support. If unions manage to successfully use information
technology as part of their efforts too meet present challenges, the efforts must be
accompanied by new processes and forms, not merely the re-arrangement of old,
familiar ones. The evaluation study undertaken in the thesis confirms this, as well
as the importance of follow-ups, information and training in the new technology.
The eventual result will, in this case, be comprehensive trade union organisational
changes, most likely with an increase in emphasis and power on the local union
level. Future research may concentrate on the actual usage of implemented
information technology applications and why certain uses and changes have or
have not occurred. This applies to DLK, as well as future information technology
implementations in trade unions and the third sector in general.
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The design work studied in this thesis took place in the special context of the DLK
project, which must be taken into regard when interpreting the results. The project
ran for four years, which meant that much time (about two years) could be devoted
to work in the design group. It also meant that some technical resources were
available within the scope of the overall project, facilitating, e.g., the evaluation of
existing technologies. The fairly generous amount of time that could be devoted to
early design work made it possible for the system developers to take on the extra
analysis tasks required by the extended Participatory Design approach. Applying
this design approach in another, less time- and resource intensive context would
require that the experience generated from design work be more formalised in
steps, providing the approach with more rigidity and guidelines for how carrying
out each step. On the one hand, the use of Activity Theory in systems development,
in particular, requires extensive data collection using different techniques, and a
research time frame long enough to understand the activity systems under study
(Ditsa & Davies, 2000). On the other hand, reductions to the original Participatory
Design approach were made, which largely compensated for the additional tasks.
Also, some procedures that were taken on solely by the researchers, such as overall
project planning and documentation, will likely not be different in another systems
development project context. In general, it is often hard to delegate to busy user
representatives in design, tasks that are additional to their ordinary jobs (Grudin,
1993). It should also be noted that the delivered product in this case was a
prototype that has been complemented by a requirements specification, and which
has been handed over to the Swedish Trade Union Confederation and the union
affiliations as a basis for possible implementations. If the delivered product on the
other hand is to be a ready-to-use system, as is usually the case in the commercial
context, additional modifications of the methods may be needed to integrate steps
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of coding and implementation within given time limits. Nevertheless, the approach
presented in the thesis may be used as a basis for such modifications.
This thesis has mainly been of a qualitative and explorative nature. Much of the
motivation for this approach lies in the character of the subject under study; namely
scientific studies of non-profit organisations, trade unions, information technology
and information systems development are still rare. Data triangulation, with
different methods giving complementary perspectives, was used to enhance data
validity and the accumulative building of a knowledge base. In particular, the
prototype evaluations served partially as evaluations, confirmations or
modifications of the picture of the union organisation, which had emerged from
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previous data collections. Also, the interplay between externally collected data and
the evaluation of that data as part of the design group’s work served the purpose of
enhancing the validity of the analyses.
The thesis has been carried out as a longitudinal case study in which the separate
studies were performed in sequence, each study providing a knowledge base for
and influencing the subsequent study. This approach entails the risk that previous
results will result in certain presumptions which bias the next study. This risk was,
however, reduced by the continual interplay between the researchers and user
representatives in the design group. Moreover, the Activity theoretical framework
entailed certain presumptions of how reality is constructed in activity systems, thus
guiding analysis of the data. This is, however, an issue that all research, especially
when theory is involved, has to deal with, putting demands of carefulness, requiring
caution, the capability for self-scrutiny and reflection on the part of the researcher.
Some of the methods that have been applied in the thesis have been modified from
their original form. Above all, this applies to the Critical Incident Technique, the
Future Workshops and participant observation at the union affiliation offices (see
Sections 4.3.1 - 4.5.1). The modifications concerned a problem-oriented focus in
the Critical Incident Survey to enable it to serve the purpose of finding potential
needs for information technology in shop stewards’ work, and some compression
of the Future Workshops and the participant observation. As concerns the
compression, which entailed that somewhat less time than usual was spent in
applying the methods, it was felt that this trade-off was necessary to make the
methods serve design. Future Workshops seldom reach through the entire phase of
feasible solutions, and therefore, it seemed unnecessary to devote a lot of time to
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the Critique phase, because the survey had explored exactly the same phenomenon.
Participant observation, which originates from ethnography and anthropology, has
extended for application in the design of information systems (Anderson, 1994).
This gives it somewhat different connotations, as a step in the design process,
rather than it applying for exclusively explorative, descriptive or explanative
purposes. Shorter stays in the field are, thereby, often necessary.
The thesis’ contributions are based on findings emerging in parallel, from the data
collection and analyses, and from the particular experience from applying the
design methods in the local design group. It is important to make a distinction
between those different sources of information. It has, in retrospect, sometimes
been hard to separate the sources from each other, as data was often re-used when
applying the design methods. In general, the external data collection and analyses
have been performed with some more formality and rigidity, than have the analyses
relating to the design methods. However, the sources should be seen as
complementary, and their continuous interplay as adding to the validity of the
accumulatively built knowledge base on large organisations, NP/NGOs, trade
unions, information technology and information systems development.
6.8 Generalisation
The aspects of generalisation of the findings have already been discussed (see
Sections 6.1 - 6.5.1). Generalisation can be made at different levels. As regards
systems development, generalisation in the widest sense applies to the partial
renewal of Participatory Design focusing on increasing efficiency and product
orientation, e.g., by reducing some of the prolonged democratic procedures in the
earliest design phases. Other studies (see, e.g., Doll & Deng, 1999) support these
findings. Some aspects of the extended Participatory Design approach are most
suitable for large design projects for entire organisations, i.e., local and
organisational interaction in data collection and evaluation, aided by
Argumentative Design and Activity Theory for merging voices (even though these
aspects can be beneficially used also when designing smaller applications). And
some aspects, such as increasing flexibility and hands-on practices seem,
specifically relevant for the non-profit, trade union context.
As regards information technology applications in the third sector, the findings are
most relevant for trade union organisations. Basic union duties and problems show
striking similarities from one country to another and have not changed significantly
in spite of new social and labour market trends. Scandinavian trade unions, that
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have similar constitutions and live under similar regulations, can particularly
benefit from the Swedish experience. But also NP/NGOs, in general, may use the
information technology applications suggested in the studies as sources of
inspiration when developing their own applications. Especially the communicative
facilities seem relevant for the networked structure of many non-profit
organisations.
Having made these claims for potential for generalisation; it nevertheless remains
that this thesis is a case study that should be re-produced in similar contexts in
order to qualify for far-reaching generalisations. The thesis is based on studies
targeted towards the specific organisational context of the Swedish Trade Union
Confederation, against a background of Swedish social circumstances, laws, and
regulations, which would make a more in depth, detailed, automatic transformation
to other non-profit, trade union contexts risky. The specific organisational context
always needs to be studied before arriving at information technology solutions in
order to target them towards the particular user groups and needs in question.
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Chapter 7
Conclusions
The main contributions of this thesis relate to two areas that have been in
continuous interaction with each other throughout the work; systems development
in large, NP/NGOs and information technology needs and impact in the third
sector, more specifically, in the trade union context.
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In retrospect, the modified Participatory Design approach has proved useful in the
sense that user representative satisfaction in the design group was high at the time
for terminating the design process. Moreover, the prototype was delivered within
the DLK project time limits and has been acknowledged as well grounded in the
organisation and in user needs’, both by the union affiliations, the overall DLK
project and central management in the Swedish Trade Union Confederation. Some
modifications made to Participatory Design seemed especially relevant for the
NP/NGO context. However, also in general, with an increase in product focus, the
participative aspect is not lost but incorporated into the argumentation process and
design solution itself, in a trade-off between reality and ideology the present
information society and new organisational structures seem to impose on
Participatory Design.
As for NP/NGOs and trade unions, they today occupy an important but exposed
position in our society, regardless if they deal with an increase or decline in
popularity and density. The third sector, in general, has fewer financial as well as
technical resources than business organisations. This means that substantial efforts
must be taken to make information technology applications usable for and targeted
towards the perceived needs of users. In this thesis, it was found that it existed
discrepancy between central union management’s information technology
strategies and vague concept of “information technology for increasing
knowledge” and shop stewards’ concrete, down-to-earth needs. Shop stewards’
work situation is characterised by a conflict situation from several aspects, and they
act as negotiators, conflict handlers, debaters, informants and knowledge seekers.
The experience obtained from this thesis is that it is often the less technically
sophisticated and resource demanding communication facilities for the exchange of
knowledge and support, such as E-mail lists, discussion forums and bulletin boards,
that satisfy user needs and are met with approval. As for the specific case of trade
unions, extending traditional union information with a broader societal scope and
case based experience, and tools for self-support in terms of writing, complement
the communicative aspects in sustaining shop stewards’ needs and empowerment.
As for consequences of information technology implementations, it is believed that
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if extensively used from the above respects, information technology will result in
an increase in shop steward independence and empowerment, probably leading to
fundamental organisational changes in terms of labour and power re-distributions.
Initial evaluation confirms these findings.
At this stage, the prototype has been presented for and handed over to the central
union management and to representatives from the union affiliations. Several
affiliations have expressed an interest to implement the prototype or parts of it, and
acknowledged that, at the least, they will use the information system proposal as
one basis when developing information technology applications. From a broader
perspective, the information proposal presented can also be used by other
NP/NGOs as a source of inspiration, as they continue to expand their present use of
the new technology, providing for a society in which democracy, equity and justice
receive enlarged space.
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Appendix 1.
Examples from the emerging design rationale
In the following, some extracts taken directly from the emerging design rationale
are provided. The rationale version is from February 2001, at a point of time in
which about two thirds of the design work had taken place. One example from each
major category in the rationale is provided for illustrative purposes. These
categories were then further divided into sub-categories.
Communication
There should be discussion forums or mail lists for the exchange of experience.
There, one should be able to contact and tip others, and also discuss current union
issues. Responses must be guaranteed within a certain limit of time. Also members
can be contacted. In this way, it will be possible to reach a “meeting between
meetings”, that, in turn, can increase member interest for the usual meetings
[discussion forum].
Information
In the section on agreements, it need not stand “Show agreement for group” since
the agreements are common (collective agreements) for all if they are not local.
There are a variety of local agreements, depending on what organisation one
works for and where one works. It is not practically feasible to show all local
agreements. Instead, it is possible to have information on the Web page saying that
“If you do not know which agreement is relevant for you, contact your section.”
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The same applies if one wants to know where local agreements can be found [Laws
and agreements database].
Training
It should not be possible to make own reservations of courses but only to send a
notification of interest. One cannot neglect the full-time study ombudsmen. An
alternative can be that one receives a description of the course, then is encouraged
to contact one’s own local study ombudsman, who contacts the department, which
contacts the affiliation office [Union courses for shop stewards].
Design
Roll-over functions in the main menu are good. If one scrolls the mouse over a link,
a short summary, explanation or help text to the link should be provided. The
function should also be provided at other pages, it should for instance be possible
to read summaries of link collections. A description of a discussion forum may also
be shown, without one having to navigate to the description page in order to see
what messages can be found in the forum [Layout].
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Appendix 2.
General overview of the prototype
Decision-
General information Communication Training
making/tools
Surveys On-line
Insurances notification
Netmeeting/
of interest
ICQ
Guide to Computer
Swedish programs IT-school
Audio/
society
Links to videoconference
system Internet -
EU authorities ABC
directives
Search
Union home motors
pages
Figure 9. Overview of the final information system proposal/prototype with the basic facilities
exemplified in the interface for shop stewards. Many of the facilities are also provided for
members, and some for the general public, through two alternative interfaces.
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Figure 10. The main page in the prototype. The interface is targeted towards union affiliation
belonging. In this case, the shop steward belongs to the Swedish Building Maintenance Worker’s
Union.
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