The mini-company: a specification of sociotechnical business systems

Sociotechnical systems theory (STS) does not address in full the implications of the team-context relations, despite its open systems character. There is a need to open STS into a sociotechnical business systems (STBS) theory and practice. We observe three interrelated aspects that are important for STBS. First, the design of the production structure is a traditional STS aspect. Second, the design of the control structure on the team level needs an elaboration compared with STS. The third aspect is the social-dynamic alignment. We describe the mini-company concept and argue that this concept is a specification of STBS covering the three aspects. The case of the implementation of mini-companies in a Dutch manufacturing plant illustrates the strengths of the concept.