Understanding the roles of signs and norms in organizations - a semiotic approach to information systems design

To apply semiotics to organizational analysis and information systems desig n, it is essential to unite two basic concepts: the sign and the norm. A si gn is anything that stands for something else for some community. A norm is a generalized disposition to the world shared by members of a community. W hen its condition is met, a norm generates a propositional attitude which m ay, but not necessarily will, affect the subject's behaviour. Norms reflect regularities in the behaviour of members in an organization, allowing them to co-ordinate their actions. Organized behaviour is norm-governed behavio ur. Signs trigger the norms leading to more signs being produced. Both sign s and norms lend themselves to empirical study. The focus in this paper is on the properties of norms since those for signs are relatively well known. The paper discusses a number of different taxonomies of norms: formal, inf ormal, technical; evaluative, perceptual, behavioural, cognitive; structure , action; substantive, communication and control. A semiotic analysis of in formation systems is adduced in this paper from the social, pragmatic, sema ntic, syntactic, empiric and physical perspectives. The paper finally prese nts a semiotic approach to information systems design, by discussing the me thod of information modelling and systems architecture. This approach shows advantages over other traditional ones in a higher degree of separation of knowledge, and hence in the consistency, integrity and maintainability of systems.