Responsibility Modelling: Basic Concepts

In this chapter we shall describe an enterprise modelling technique based on the idea that to make sense of a socio-technical system in order to design an information and communication technology (ICT) system which is intended to be deployed in the socio-technical context requires an analysis of the responsibilities that exist in that context and the way these responsibilities are mapped on to the various actors. This mapping of responsibilities to actors constitutes the roles of the actors. It is important to realise at the outset that our responsibility modelling concepts and process embody a particular philosophy and that this should permeate the modellers’ approach to the problem. In other words modelling is first and foremost a mental process, and the construction of diagrams representing the models should be regarded solely as a tool or aid to this process. The need for modelling arises because socio-technical systems are very complex. We therefore use models that each describe only a certain aspect of the system. We can then handle the complexity by using one model at a time to give us a simplified view of the system. The strength of our approach to modelling lies however not just in the suite of models that has been developed, but in the fact that the models relate to one another within a conceptual framework based on the idea of responsibility. This framework will be explained in this chapter. There are certainly dozens and possibly hundreds of methods of so-called ‘enterprise modelling’; and to provide yet another certainly needs some justification. Our claim is that because our method starts from the concept of responsibility and proceeds by abstracting away from the way responsibilities are mapped on to actual work roles and structures, it is better adapted to discuss issues of organisational change than any method based on behaviours or task descriptions alone. It is so often the case that organisational change involves rearticulation and reallocation of responsibilities, while keeping the core set of responsibilities themselves intact. What is important for our purposes about responsibility is that it is something laid on, or assumed by, a moral agent who may be an individual, a group or an