Professional Misinterpretation: What is Participative Design?

Abstract

In North America two professional cultures, organizational development and computing, each encompass participative design subcultures. Theory and practice for both subcultures are rooted in socio-technical design theory (STS). However, participative design may connote something quite different to each culture, and the distinctions may contribute to an understanding of why the two professions often adopt different methodologies for STS projects. This paper documents the different connotations and adopts an interpretive research methodology to analyze two case studies illustrating the distinctions. The cases are exemplar models selected to accentuate differences. The intention is not to "prove" the extent or strength of the differences, but rather to illustrate how differences may affect