This research argues that Lean management is a complex sociotechnical phenomenon, but existing research has largely examined its social ("soft") and technical ("hard") subsystems in isolation. The authors address this gap by employing a sociotechnical system (STS) theoretical lens and process theorising to examine the dynamic interaction between these subsystems at individual, group, and organisational levels. The core argument is that a balanced interplay between the social and technical subsystems is crucial for effectively managing inherent tensions within Lean and achieving sustained performance gains.

Main Themes:

• The Underexplored Interaction between Social and Technical Subsystems: Existing literature has primarily focused on the technical aspects of Lean, neglecting the dynamic and mutually constitutive relationship between the social and technical subsystems.
• The Importance of a Balanced STS: The authors highlight that for Lean to maximise performance, neither the social nor the technical subsystem should dominate. Achieving a "balanced sociotechnical system" is essential.
• Paradoxical and Dialectical Tensions: The paper identifies inherent tensions within Lean systems, particularly arising from the technical subsystem. These include paradoxical tensions (opposing yet complementary features) and dialectical tensions (inherent contradictions).
• The Role of the Social Subsystem in Managing Tensions: The social subsystem, encompassing aspects like employee empowerment, training, work design, cross-functional collaboration, and management involvement, is presented as crucial for addressing and mitigating the paradoxical and dialectical tensions created by the technical subsystem.
• Synergistic Outcomes of Balanced Interaction: A key finding is that the symbiotic relationship between balanced social and technical subsystems fosters synergies that enhance operational performance, bolster dynamic capabilities, and drive process innovation.
• Lean, as a symbiotic STS, fosters synergies: The balanced and interacting subsystems lead to outcomes that are greater than the sum of their individual parts. This "symbiotic relationship... fosters synergies that enhance operational performance, bolster dynamic capabilities, and drive process innovation." (Proposition 3)
• Multilevel Performance: The impact of Lean's sociotechnical interaction is analysed at the individual, group, and organisational levels. Examples of positive outcomes include increased job satisfaction (individual), enhanced psychological safety in teams (group), and customer-centric innovation (organisational).
• Managerial Role: Managers play a "critical strategic role in shaping the adoption of social subsystems" and tailoring them to the specific context of their organisations. This includes fostering training, leadership engagement, and collaboration.

Source: Gamage, Isuru, Mohsin Malik, Amir Andargoli, and Roberto Chavez Clavijo. "Theorizing Lean as a Socio-Technical System: Examining the Reciprocal Interactions between Lean Social and Technical Subsystems." IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management (2025). Available at https://figshare.swinburne.edu.au/articles/journal_contribution/Theorizing_Lean_as_a_Socio-Technical_System_Examining_the_Reciprocal_Interactions_between_Lean_Social_and_Technical_Subsystems/29115758

This research addresses a gap in the existing understanding of digital transformation by focusing on the impact of the human-technology dynamic on human agency, specifically employee cognitions and behaviours. Utilising socio-cognitive and role theories, the study investigates how employee cognitive trust and innovative behaviour influence digital transformation outcomes and how role conflict, arising from the evolving human-technology dynamic, moderates these relationships. Based on survey data from 256 participants involved in digital transformations in Australia, the study confirms that employee cognitive trust directly and indirectly (through innovative behaviour) contributes to successful digital transformation. Crucially, the research demonstrates that role conflict significantly weakens the positive relationships between cognitive trust and both innovative behaviour and digital transformation. These findings provide important theoretical insights into the social construction of digital transformation and offer practical guidance for managers seeking to foster trust and minimise conflicting demands on employees during digital initiatives.

Main Themes and Most Important Ideas/Facts:

1. Focus on Human Agency in Digital Transformation: The study highlights a gap in current theorising of digital transformation, which has often overlooked the "micro-level explanations" that focus on "employees’ behaviours and actions" and human agency. The authors define human agency as "the capacity to exert control over the progression of events and functions via actions."
2. Integration of Socio-Cognitive and Role Theories: To address the theoretical gap, the research integrates perspectives from socio-cognitive theory and role theory. Socio-cognitive theory provides a framework for understanding how employees' cognitions and behaviours influence digital transformations, while role theory helps to contextualise the social environment and potential conflicts arising from the human-technology dynamic.
3. Cognitive Trust as a Driving Mechanism: Employee cognitive trust is identified as a pivotal cognition influencing both employee innovative behaviour and organisational digital transformation. Cognitive trust is defined as "a psychological state characterised by several components, the most important of which is some sort of positive expectation regarding others’ behaviour."
4. Innovative Behaviour as a Mediator: Innovative behaviour, described as a "unique blend of ideating, experimenting, problem solving and searching skills," is proposed and found to mediate the relationship between cognitive trust and digital transformation. This means that cognitive trust influences digital transformation partly by fostering innovative behaviour among employees.
5. Role Conflict as a Moderator: Role conflict, arising from "competing or contradictory expectations and demands related to their role or position in an organisation or group," is identified as a crucial factor influencing the human-technology dynamic and the effectiveness of cognitive trust and innovative behaviour. This conflict is particularly relevant in digital transformation due to "role conflation, where individuals’ roles and responsibilities become blurred or overlapping because of the shifting human technology dynamic."

Excerpts from "Towards explaining the effects of the human-technology dynamic on human agency in digital transformations" by Mohsin Malik et al in International Journal of Information Management, Vol. 84, 2025 available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0268401225000477?via%3Dihub

This briefing document summarises the key themes and findings of a research paper that investigates the influence of employees' cognitions (specifically, psychological safety) and behaviours (employee-led process improvement) on data-driven digital transformation and ultimately, operational productivity.

• Socio-Cognitive Theory as a Framework: The study employs socio-cognitive theory, which posits a "triadic relationship between social environment, human cognitions (personal processes) and behaviours (outcomes)" to explain how employees' psychological safety (a cognition) influences their engagement in employee-led process improvement (a behaviour), leading to organisational attainments like data-driven digital transformation and improved operational productivity.
• Psychological Safety as a Key Driver: The research defines psychological safety as a "'shared belief held by employees that their work environment values their contributions and talent, and is safe to ask questions, ask for help, share views, knowledge and concerns, and admit making mistakes without the risk of being penalised'" . The authors argue that a psychologically safe environment encourages mutual respect, trust, and the willingness to share ideas, crucial for collaboration and continuous improvement.
• Employee-Led Process Improvement as a Behavioural Outcome: The study defines employee-led process improvement in a hospital setting as a "'set of social practices that encourage team-work, empowerment and process/quality improvement in a hospital environment'" (adapted from Narayanan et al., 2022).
• Data-Driven Digital Transformation as an Organisational Attainment: This is described as the "use of digital technologies and the data these digital technologies produce to introduce significant improvements and changes to operations, strategies, and customer experiences" (Papanagnou et al., 2022).
• Operational Productivity as the Outcome of Interest: Defined as the "ratio of the total output about the total input in any transformation process" (Ong et al., 2021), operational productivity in a hospital setting reflects "'operational capabilities that target the efficient use of resources and the input-output ratio'" (adapted from Shah and Ward, 2007).
• Managerial Implications: The findings underscore the importance of viewing employees as key stakeholders in digital transformation initiatives, shifting the focus beyond purely technological solutions.
• Management should prioritise creating a social environment that fosters psychological safety to encourage employee engagement, risk-taking, and open communication, which are vital for both process improvement and successful digital transformation.
• The identification of different pathways (individual and serial mediations) guides resource allocation and strategic interventions to enhance operational productivity. Implementing strategies to improve psychological safety can lead to operational benefits through fostering employee-led improvements and facilitating the adoption and effectiveness of data-driven digital transformation.
• The study suggests that a holistic approach, considering both employee-led initiatives and data-driven technologies within a psychologically safe environment, will maximise the positive impact on operational productivity.

Source: Excerpts from Malik et al. 2024 "A socio-cognitive theorisation of how data-driven digital transformation affects operational productivity?" Free version available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0925527324002603

Main Theme: This paper explores how organisations develop digital-enabled strategic agility through the lens of organisational sensemaking. It argues that existing dynamic capability perspectives are insufficient and proposes a novel framework based on intertwined "actions" and "meaning" to remove equivocality in responding to environmental dynamism.

Digital-Enabled Strategic Agility: This is defined as extending strategic agility by incorporating digital technologies essential for sensing and responding to environmental dynamism. It involves remaining flexible, adjusting strategic direction, and developing innovative ways to create value, all enhanced by a "digitally enabled backbone." "

Organisational Sensemaking: The research uses organisational sensemaking theory to explain how firms interpret and act upon environmental cues. This involves two key elements: external sensing and equivocality removal. Sensemaking is not simply about shared meaning but a "discourse" that shapes how people make sense of themselves and the world around them. The discourse then translates into routinized actions.

Digital Orientation: This is conceptualised as a high-level discourse representing organisational actors' collective cognitive framework for digital technologies. It's a strategic positioning to leverage digital opportunities, driving organizational plans, behaviour and performance. It represents the shared cognitive frameworks and interpretive structures that guide how organizational actors perceive and respond to environmental signals.

Information Governance: This is theorized as providing the organisational routines and structures required for action, structuring how organizations manage, process, and act upon information. It serves as a process facilitator, enabling sensemaking by managing information flows. Ineffective information governance can negatively impact digital agility.

Digital Transformation: Defined as a qualitative change in how an organisation operates, enabled by digital technologies (SMACIT: Social, Mobile, Analytics, Cloud, and Internet of Things). It's a focal point for operational meaning and action.

Theoretical Implications:

• Extends the literature on strategic agility by introducing a sensemaking-informed perspective.
• Highlights the importance of information governance in interpreting environmental cues.
• Provides an empirically supported framework explaining how digital transformation affects digitally enabled strategic agility.
• Demonstrates the collective impact of digital orientation, information governance, and digital transformation on digitally enabled strategic agility.
• Show that firms gain strategic agility either by investing in information governance or digital transformation.

Practical Implications:

• Provides managers with a blueprint for achieving digital-enabled strategic agility.
• Highlights the importance of fostering a digital-oriented mindset.
• Suggest a sequential approach: invest in digital orientation and information governance first, then digital transformation.
• Emphasizes the complementarity of the three pathways (H1, H2 and H3) in achieving digital-enabled strategic agility.

Source: Malik et al 2025 "An organisational sensemaking theorising of how firms construct digital-enabled strategic agility" at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378720625000333

Key Theme: The research investigates how social capital contributes to successful digital transformations in Australian healthcare organisations, specifically focusing on the development of dynamic capabilities.

Key Takeaways:

Successful digital transformations require organisations to look beyond their internal resources and leverage their social capital to access and integrate valuable external knowledge.

• Cultivating strong network relationships and strategically engaging in collaborative ecosystems are critical for acquiring non-generic complementarities.
• Focusing on developing dynamic capabilities such as absorptive capacity, integration effort, and big data analytics is crucial for achieving positive digital transformation outcomes.
• The findings offer a new perspective for practitioners in the healthcare sector, highlighting the importance of a digital business ecosystem view and a shift from inward-looking approaches.

Social Capital as the Source of External Complementarities: The research posits that social capital, defined as "the aggregate of resources embedded within, available through, and derived from the network of relationships possessed by an organisation", is crucial for accessing the non-generic and non-substitutable external complementarities necessary for digital transformation.

"Social capital refers to this ability of a firm to source such non-generic complementarities from network relationships."

Dynamic Capabilities as Mediators: The study argues that social capital facilitates the development of crucial dynamic capabilities including absorptive capacity, integration effort, and big data analytics. These capabilities, in turn, directly influence positive digital transformation outcomes.

"Dynamic capabilities provide the mechanisms to continually alter the ordinary capabilities of a firm to cope with digital disruptions, therefore, building dynamic capabilities is essential for effective digital transformation outcomes."

Focus on the Australian Healthcare Sector: The research focuses on the Australian healthcare sector as a context where digital transformation is both advanced and presents unique challenges, including regulatory constraints and data privacy concerns.

Detailed Breakdown of Key Mediators:

Absorptive Capacity: The ability to identify, acquire, assimilate, and apply external knowledge related to digital technologies is crucial. This allows organisations to internalise valuable knowledge from their network and translate it into practical applications for their transformation.

Integration Effort: Effective digital transformations require a strategic alignment of digital technologies with existing organisational resources and processes. This involves reshaping structures, managerial mindsets, and collaborative efforts to achieve synergy between transactional and digital aspects.

"Integration effort is one such attempt by the management to create synergies between digital technologies and transactional resources."

Big Data Analytics Capability: Leveraging the abundance of data available within and beyond the organisation's boundaries is vital. This requires developing strong big data analytics capabilities, encompassing both the technical infrastructure and the expertise to extract actionable insights and business value.

Sources: Excerpts from "A relational view of how social capital contributes to effective digital transformation outcomes": Malik et al. (2024). Journal of Strategic Information Systems 33 (2024) 101837

Briefing Document: Project Monitoring and Evaluation in International Development Projects

Document: Project monitoring and evaluation (M&E) to engage stakeholders of international development projects for community impact Authors: Humera Amin, Helana Scheepers, and Mohsin Malik Date: 2023

Key Takeaways:

• M&E is not merely a reporting requirement but a critical management tool for improving ID project outcomes.
• Engaging all stakeholders, especially the community, in M&E is vital for project success and impact.
• M&E can play a key role in aligning project objectives, improving information flow, and fostering shared responsibility.
• Agency theory is a useful lens for understanding stakeholder dynamics in ID projects.
• Further research is needed to understand the community perspective and to test these findings across different contexts.

Link to the free version of this published research https://scholar.google.com/citations?view_op=view_citation&hl=en&user=EjY2oaEAAAAJ&sortby=pubdate&citation_for_view=EjY2oaEAAAAJ:JV2RwH3_ST0C

Executive Summary: This briefing explores the crucial role of project monitoring and evaluation in achieving impactful outcomes in international development (ID) projects. Drawing on agency theory, the research examines how these supervisory mechanisms mitigate information asymmetry and goal incongruence between project funders (principals) and implementing partners (agents). Key findings highlight the significant influence of monitoring on both information asymmetry and goal congruence, directly and indirectly impacting ID project success. While evaluation demonstrates a strong effect on aligning goals, its impact on information asymmetry requires further investigation.

Main Themes:

• The Primacy of ID Project Impact: ID projects uniquely aim to alleviate poverty and generate positive, lasting impacts for target communities. Achieving this impact is the paramount measure of success, surpassing mere project management success (time, scope, and budget).

• Agency Theory in ID Projects: Agency theory provides a lens to understand the complex relationships between funders and IPs. Information asymmetry, arising from unequal access to project information, and goal incongruence, stemming from misaligned objectives, are key challenges addressed by monitoring and evaluation.

"The Multifaceted Role of Project Monitoring: Monitoring, as a continuous process of data collection and feedback, plays a crucial role in:

• Reducing information asymmetry: It provides funders with timely insights into project progress and IP activities, enhancing transparency and accountability.
• Resolving goal incongruence: By tracking activities and outputs, monitoring encourages IPs to collaborate and work towards shared goals, aligning their actions with funder objectives.
• Project Evaluation as a Goal Alignment Tool: Project evaluation, encompassing various forms and timings, contributes significantly to goal congruence by:
• Assessing relevance: Evaluations determine the alignment of project activities with beneficiary needs and priorities.
• Promoting learning and corrective action: Evaluations provide valuable feedback for adjusting project strategies and ensuring alignment with overall objectives.

Key Findings:

• Project monitoring demonstrates a statistically significant direct and indirect impact on ID project impact, mediating both information asymmetry and goal incongruence.
• Project evaluation significantly impacts ID project impact through full mediation of goal incongruence. However, its effect on information asymmetry was not statistically supported.

Practical Implications:

• Investing in robust monitoring and evaluation systems is essential for achieving impactful ID projects.
• Funders and IPs should prioritize continuous monitoring to ensure transparency, accountability, and goal alignment.
• Project evaluations should be strategically timed (ex-ante, interim, ex-post) and actively used to address goal incongruence and promote learning.

Sources: Amin, H., Malik, M., & Scheepers, H. (2024). An agency theory unpacking of how monitoring and evaluation affect international development project impact. International Journal of Project Management, 42, 102654. Available at https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786324000966

Main Themes:

• Agile development as a sociotechnical system: The article explores the application of sociotechnical systems theory to agile development, demonstrating how agile teams operate through the interaction of social (actors and structures) and technical (technology and tasks) subsystems.
• Conjunctural causation and equifinality in agile development: The research highlights the complex interplay of agile components, arguing that specific configurations are necessary for successful outcomes while acknowledging multiple paths can lead to the same result.
• Asymmetry in agile development: The study investigates the asymmetrical relationship between agile components and work outcomes, recognizing that the absence of a particular component does not necessarily preclude success.

Key Ideas and Facts:

• Agile development, increasingly adopted for new product development and digital servitisation, faces inconsistent performance outcomes. This study investigates the underlying mechanisms influencing these variations.
• Sociotechnical systems theory, emphasizing the balance between social and technical subsystems, provides a framework for understanding the complex interactions within agile development.
• The study uses fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) to examine data from 202 agile team members. This method enables the identification of complex, equifinal, and asymmetrical relationships within the data.
• The analysis reveals two configurations leading to successful work outcomes:
• Configuration 1: High task autonomy, high team diversity, and high incremental iterative development.
• Configuration 2: High task autonomy, high communication, and high incremental iterative development.
• Notably, successful outcomes are achievable even with the absence of one agile component, highlighting the compensatory nature of these configurations.
• Conversely, unsuccessful work outcomes are associated with the lack of either a social or technical subsystem component.

Important Quotes:

• "Agile teams may function as a sociotechnical system and these sociotechnical mechanisms may cause the performance variation."
• "The presence of both agile technical and agile social subsystems was required for successful work outcomes, indicating that agile does operate as a balanced sociotechnical system."
• "Individual agile components were also found to interact with and compensate for the absence of other agile components, confirming that the theory of constrained sociotechnical systems applies to agile development."
• "Multiple arrangements of social and technical subsystems' constituent agile components may provide the functional equivalence for similarly successful work outcomes."

Implications for Practice:

• Understanding the sociotechnical nature of agile development allows managers to better implement and manage agile teams.
• Recognizing the compensatory nature of agile components enables organizations to tailor their agile implementations based on specific contextual factors.
• Emphasizing both social and technical aspects is crucial for successful agile development, fostering collaboration, communication, and effective use of technology.

Source: Malik, M., & Orr, S. (2022). A configurational examination of agile development as a sociotechnical system. Industrial Marketing Management, 104, 325–339.