During the nineteen-sixties and seventies sociotechnical theory related to the shop-floor work system, and contingency theory to the organisation as a whole, the two levels being distinct. With the coming of information technology, this distinction became blurred; the term 'socio-structural' is proposed to describe the whole system.
IT sometimes is the operating technology, it sometimes supports the operating technology, or it may sometimes be mistaken for the operating technology. This is discussed with reference to recent air accidents.