Designing Enterprise Information Systems – The Semiotic Approach

Resumo

The present article reviews the work of R. Stamper and his research group on organisational semiotics and presents the resulting information system management model - the organisational morphology model. Semiotics, as the theory that studies signs, defines organisations as information systems and studies them through this particular perspective. The morphology model is an illustration of a possible application of organisational semiotics to information systems’ analysis and design. This model is used to re-engineer the effectiveness of key work processes, as opposed to the smaller efficiency gains of usual automation processes (K. Liu et al, 1997). The critical aspect of this approach is that it is able to link both the human and the technological aspects of information systems, and that is crucial to the design of enterprise information systems that serve real and complex business needs.