ABSTRACT
Information technology is transforming work and has many implications for organisations and people at work. It is increasingly common for people at work to be given the opportunity to contribute to the development of future work systems by making early evaluations of socio-technical systems options. This paper discusses the difficulties that people have in making effective contributions to future planning and identifies some of the cognitive processes involved. It presents a range of ways that have been found in practice to help people make an effective contribution. These include the creation of realistic and concrete socio-technical systems scenarios, the engagement of people in role play exercises in the scenarios and the systematic review of implications from stakeholder perspectives.
