Ulbo de Sitter (sociologist)

Lamoraal Ulbo de Sitter (April 2, 1930 – December 18, 2010) was a Dutch sociologist and Professor of business administration at the Radboud University Nijmegen, known for his seminal work in the field of sociotechnical system in the Netherlands.

Born in Jönköping, Sweden, Ulbo de Sitter was named after his father Ulbo de Sitter (1902–1980), a geologist working at the Leiden University. He studied sociology at the University of Amsterdam, and obtained his PhD in 1970 at the University of Leiden with the thesis, entitled "Leiderschapsvorming en leiderschapsgedrag in een organisatie" (Leadership formation and leadership behavior in an organization).

De Sitter had started working as engineer in the merchant navy for four years before he started his studies in Amsterdam. After graduation in Amsterdam he worked as sociologist at the head office of the Koninklijke PTT Nederland, nowadays KPN. Sequentially he was research assistant at the Sociografische Werkgemeenschap (Socio Graphic Work Association) of the University of Amsterdam. In 1971 he was appointed professor at Eindhoven University of Technology. From 1986 to 1988 he was also director of the Koers consulting group in 's-Hertogenbosch. In 1990 he was appointed Professor of Sociotechnical System at the University of Nijmegen, where he retired March 31, 1995.

De Sitter is best known for introducing the sociotechnical system approach in the Netherlands. This approach involves redesign of organization and change management theory, which was initially developed at the British in the late 1950s. De Sitter combined in his work the systems theory fundamentals of the Delft Systems Approach, developed by Jan in 't Veld and Pierre Malotaux. With scientists as Björn Gustavsen, Fred Emery, Eric Trist, De Sitter is considered among the foremost social systems scientists in their field.

Benders et al. (2010) recalled the development of socio-technical systems design since its initiation at the British coal mines in the late 1940s, and the development of Modern Socio-technology (MST) by De Sitter and others:

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