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Launching Organisational Semiotics in the Real World: How to Prepare for It?

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Virtual, Distributed and Flexible Organisations

Abstract

Organisational Semiotics has been presented in the academic literature as a promise for system analysts to construct a better understanding of organisational issues, promoting better adherence between the software to be designed and the organisational needs. In this work we focus on how to carry a semiotic-based approach from the academy to the “real world” of systems development. The paper aims at discussing a training approach and investigating the meaning people in the role of developers make for the semiotic-based methods. The work is illustrated with a case study in which three teams of academics with previous experience in software development were exposed to a training situation in which they had to model a problem using methods and techniques from Organisational Semiotics. Findings of the case study inform the design of instructional material for training information system analysts and developers. The results achieved also point out difficulties experienced by the teams that could promote further discussion by the OS community of theorists and practitioners.

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© 2004 Kluwer Academic Publishers

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Simoni, C.A.C., Baranaukas, M.C.C. (2004). Launching Organisational Semiotics in the Real World: How to Prepare for It?. In: Liu, K. (eds) Virtual, Distributed and Flexible Organisations. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2162-3_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-2162-3_4

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-2161-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-2162-6

  • eBook Packages: Computer ScienceComputer Science (R0)

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