Building More Meaning into the Organizational Modeling Process

The documentation that is generated during systems analysis and design is the basis for the development of new information systems. The contents of that documentation are determined, to a large extent, by the methodology and models used by the systems analyst/designer. The systems analyst/designer will define system characteristics as identified by these models, and exclude any organizational or system characteristics not identified by these models. In the past several years much attention has been given to the inclusion of social, cultural, and psychological characteristics of the users and user environment into the Information System modeling process. The organizational modeling process needs to be expanded to include these aspects in our system models if we are to consciously address them during the SA&D process and to therefore enrich the organizational model. We present social, political, behavioral, and cultural factors that have a profound impact on the organization and that need to be included in the modeling process and present techniques for integrating these factors in the modeling process.