Chapter 2
Organizational and Business
Context
HCI: Developing Effective Organizational Information
Systems
Dov Te’eni
Jane Carey
Ping Zhang
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Chapter 2 sets the stage by giving the
context of HCI
Context
Foundation
Application
4
1
Physical
Introduction
Engineering
7
8
Evaluation
Principles &
Guidelines
3
2
5
Interactive
Cognitive
Technologies
Engineering
Org &
Business
Context
11
Methodology
9
6
Affective
10
Organizational
Componential
Tasks
Design
Engineering
12
13
Relationship, Collaboration,
Social &
& Organization
Global Issues
14
Changing Needs of IT
Development & Use
Additional Context
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Learning Objectives
 Understand the difference between the levels
of individual, work group, and organization.
 Define and discuss individual-level systems.
 Define and discuss work group–level systems.
 Define and discuss organizational-level
systems.
 Define and discuss inter-organizational-level
systems.
Why study HCI?
 To help make IS users more productive,
 To help IS professionals develop more
usable and successful systems,
 To enhance organizational effectiveness,
 To provide researchers with cohesive and
cumulative knowledge for theory building,
and,
 To apply this theoretical knowledge to
enhance real information systems.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Organization of this chapter
 This chapter sets the stage for the study of human–




computer interaction (HCI) in organizations.
The levels of interaction (task, syntax, semantics, and
lexical) help to organize the different sections of this
chapter.
Tasks are categorized as structured, semi-structured,
or unstructured.
We introduce the various levels of systems which are
individual, work group, organizational, and interorganizational.
HCI as a means for overcoming human limitations.
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Individual Level Systems
External
Systems
Customers
Self Service
Ordering systems
Recruits
Resume self- service
Benefits enrollment
Internal Systems
Executives
Decision Support Systems
Executive Support Systems
Middle Managers
Decision Support Systems
Knowledge Workers
Computer Assisted Design and
Manufacturing systems
Systems development environments
Office Support Staff
Document preparation systems
Data entry systems
Customer service systems
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Individual Level Systems:
Office Automation Systems
 Office Automation Systems: Systems
designed to automate and support the work
of white-collar support staff members.
Interface consistency is critical to the success
of these systems.
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Individual Level Systems:
Document Preparation Systems
 Document Preparation Systems: Office
Automation systems that are designed to
support document preparation such as word
processors, presentation software,
publication software, and others.
 Examples: word processors, spreadsheets,
presentation and desktop publishing
software.
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Document Preparation Systems (Multilayer Model – task, semantic, syntactic,
lexical)
 Tasks
Create useful, meaningful, and aesthetically pleasing
documents
 Easy and accurate input
 Management and output of unstructured data and some
structured data such as tables
 Semantics and Syntactical
 Documents or Files (open, save, print)
 Blocks of text (cut, paste, copy, move, find)
 Objects (pictures, tables, charts)
 Tools (spell check, Thesaurus)
 Lexical
 Menus
 Dialog boxes
 Message boxes
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 Icons

Document Preparation Systems
Figure 2.2 Screen shot of File Menu and text in Microsoft® Word®
Figure 2.3 Screen shot of Edit Menu in Microsoft® Word ®
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Individual Level Systems:
Data Entry Systems
 Data Entry Systems: Systems used to
support the manual processes of data entry.
These systems are generally proprietary and
developed in-house specifically to accomplish
data entry tasks.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Data Entry Systems (TSSL)
 Task:
to support entry of data
 to give the user control
 to eliminate redundant entries
 support natural navigation of the screens
 Semantic:







save,
open,
update,
delete,
create, and
append.
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Data Entry Systems (TSSL)
 Syntactical:

Form fields:






Labels,
Text-boxes,
Check boxes,
List boxes,
Combo boxes,
Command buttons, etc.
 Lexical:




Short-cut keys
Tab keys
Mouse clicks
Interfaces that are easy to read and easy to learn.
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Data Entry Systems
Figure 2.5 Screen Shot from a Self-serve Internet Order Form
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Individual Level Systems:
Customer Account Management Systems
 Customer Account Management Systems:
These systems support the management of
customer accounts. They may be purchased
as part of an “off-the-shelf” system.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Customer Account Management
Systems (TSSL)
 Task:
transfer funds,
 make payments,
 check balances,
 apply for new accounts, etc.
 Semantic:
 Login
 Retrieval of accounts
 Payments
 Transfers
 Syntactical:
 Submitting a parameter (like an account number)
 Retrieving information
 Lexical:
 Mouse clicks
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 Keystrokes
 List selection

Individual Level Systems:
Decision Support Systems
 Decision Support Systems: Single-user
systems designed to support decision making.
DSS components include: database, modelbase and user interface. The user interface is
critical to the success of a DSS.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Decision Support Systems (TSSL)
 Tasks:


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Sales forecasting,
Resource allocation,
Scheduling,
Routing,
Cost minimization,
Profit maximization, etc.
 Semantic:
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

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Problem definition,
Data selection,
Model selection,
Execution.
 Syntactical:


Tables
Mathematical functions
 Lexical:



Input - Q&A
Output - graphical format
Help
Decision Support Systems
Figure 2.8 Sales Forecasting
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Individual Level Systems:
Executive Support Systems
 Executive Support Systems: Strategic
systems designed to support executives.
These systems give executives the capability
of viewing data from an aggregate level and
they allow “drill down” to the more detailed
level of data to help executives understand
the nature of the aggregate level of data.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Executive Support Systems (TSSL)
 Tasks: monitor the critical success factors
 Semantic:
information retrieval
 Find
 Open
 Extract
 Summarize etc.
 Syntactical:



SQL (Structured Query Language)
Predefined reports
 Lexical:
 Natural language interface
 Query-by-Example
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Executive Support Systems
Figure 2.9 An ESS Interface
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Table 2.1 Summary Table for Individual User Level
in the Organizational Context
Task Nature
Routine,
repetitive,
Highly
structured
Intermittent,
Semi- or
unstructur
ed
User Type
System
Organizational Concern
Interface Focus
Office support staff
Document
Preparation
Technology Acceptance
User Productivity
User Satisfaction
Document
Data entry staff or
Customer selfentry via
Internet forms
Data Entry
User Productivity
User Satisfaction
Flow
Trust
Technology acceptance
Data entry form
Customer service
representative
s or
Customer selfservice via
Internet
Customer
Account
Managem
ent
Technology acceptance
Trust
Motivation to use
Account
Decision
Support
Systems
Technology acceptance
Trust
Motivation to use
Graphs and charts
Executive
Support
Systems
Technology acceptance
Trust
Motivation to use
Graphs Charts
Visualization
Upper or middlelevel
managers
Work Group Level Systems
 Work Group Level: Groups of people who
work together such as departments and
project teams.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Work Group Level Systems:
Project Management Systems (PMS)
 Project Management Systems: Systems
designed to support the management of
projects. These systems include
mechanisms for decomposing large tasks into
smaller, more manageable subtasks. They
also include modules that help to manage
resources including time, labor, and money.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Work Group Level Systems:
Project Management Systems (TSSL)
 Tasks:

Manage



Time,
Cost,
Resources, etc.
 Semantic:
Activities,
 Durations,
 Dependencies,
 Work break down structures.
 Syntactical:
 Rules
 Cells
 Lexical:
 Similar to a spreadsheet.

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Work Group Level Systems:
Project Management Systems
Figure 2.10 GANTT CHART and Work Breakdown Structure
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Work Group Level Systems:
Work Flow Management Systems
 Work Flow Systems: Systems that are
designed to manage the flow of work. These
systems include routing information (the path
that work follows from person-to-person or
department-to-department). Other
components of work flow systems include
version control and work specification.
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Work Group Level Systems:
Work Flow Management Systems (TSSL)
 Tasks:
 Discrete activities
 Computer operations
 Rules
 Semantic:
 Workflow type definition
 Activity
 Transition conditions
 Invoked application
 Syntactical:
 Symbols
 Terms
 Lexical:
 Selection (drag and drop)
 Build diagrams
Work Group Level Systems:
Work Flow Management Systems
Figure 2.13 Work flow diagram chart.
Work Group Level Systems:
Group Support Systems (GSS)
 Group Support Systems: Systems designed
to support group processes including:
decision making, communication, meetings,
document control, calendaring, and others.
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Work Group Level Systems:
Group Support Systems (GSS) Summary Table
Tasks
Duration
User type
System
Technical
staff
Work Flow
Systems
Organizational
Concern
Shared
Workspace
Interface
Focus
Tasks
Flow diagrams
Project
Management
Ad hoc
User reps
Project
Management
Systems
Group
Satisfaction,
Coordination,
Leadership,
Motivation
Work
Breakdown
Structures
Gantt charts
PERT charts
Managerial
Strategic
Decision
Making
On-going
Managers
Group
Support
Systems
Coordination,
Anonymity,
Leadership
Graphs
Charts
Organization
Charts
Table 2.2 Summary Table of Work Group Level in the Organizational Context
Organizational Level Systems
 Organizational Level: These systems are
designed to support the entire organizational
entity and include communications, personnel
management, and organizational learning.
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Organizational Level Systems:
Communication Systems
 Enterprise Communication Systems:
Systems designed to support enterprise-level
communications including email systems and
conferencing systems.
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Organizational Level Systems:
Communication Systems
 Task:





Messaging
Threaded discussions
Chatting
Asynchronous communication
Calendar-related functions
 Semantic:

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
Send
Open
Reply
Organize
Delete, etc.
 Syntactical:

time and/or date related
 Lexical:


Mouse-clicks
Keystrokes
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc
Organizational Level Systems:
Communication Systems
Figure 2.15 Screen for Outlook Calendar.
Organizational Level Systems:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
 Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
Systems: Systems designed to support all
the functions and activities of an organization
including marketing, production management,
order fulfillment, accounting, personnel
management, and financial management.
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Organizational Level Systems:
Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
 Customer relationship management (CRM)
systems enable organizations to better serve
their customers via software in contrast to
customer service systems (mentioned
above). The term CRM can be used to
describe either the software itself or the
whole business strategy.
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CRM
Figure 2.16 Customer recommendations from e’Gourmet.
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Table 2.3 Summary of Organizational Levels
in the Organizational Context
User Type
System
Organizational
Considerations
Interface
Focus
Communication
effectiveness
Anthony’s pyramid
E-mails
Documents
Calendars
Communication
E-mail
systems
and document
management
systems
Personnel
management
Intranet
human
resource
portal
Locus of control
Forms
Announcements
Policies
E-training
Organizational learning
Training
modules
Functional
systems
ERP
Organizational
effectiveness and
efficiency
Reports and
data retrieval
Extraorganizational
CRM
Revenue generation and
customer service
Customer
service
Organizational
learning
All levels
and types
of users
Inter-organizational Systems
 Inter-organizational systems are those
systems that link companies with external
organizations (not individual customers).
Usually this link is a B2B (business-tobusiness) link between suppliers and
business customers.
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Supply Chain Management Systems
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Summary
 This chapter is structured around four levels
of information systems: the individual, the
work group, the entire organization, and the
inter-organizational level.
 At each level, various systems that support
the level are presented along with the four
levels of HCI (task, semantic, syntactic, and
lexical).
Copyright 2006 - John Wiley & Sons, Inc