The significance of workpractice diagnosis: Socio-pragmatic ontology and epistemology of change analysis

Change analysis (CA) is an investigation of an organisational situation in order to arrive at decisions concerning change measures. This means that CA should precede development of information systems and other change endeavours. The paper takes as its starting points earlier methods for change analysis (ISAC and SIMM). A need for a socio-pragmatic basis for CA is recognised. Such a basis should cover both ontology (what to study during CA) and epistemology (how to create valid CA knowledge). Different possible ontological bases for change analysis are investigated (business processes, human activity systems, workpractices). Preference is given to the concept of workpractice. Different methodological structures for CA are discussed. Workpractice diagnosis is found to be an essential part of CA. An example of a workpractice diagnosis (concerning emergency service in elder care) is used as an illustration. This example shows the application of some focal areas within workpractice diagnosis (as workpractice definition, process & activity analysis, problem analysis and condensed evaluation).