The original works looking at people issues associated with software were
Brooks's The MythicalManMonth; before that, there was HarlanMills's ChiefProgrammerTeam paper. These were followed by GeraldWeinberg[A], TomDeMarco & TimLister[B], and LarryConstantine[C].
But the "people side of objects" has been hidden in workshops and papers
for quite some time. Only recently have we begun to see it addressed
explicitly.
SteveFrasier lead a panel session at OOPSLA '94 titled something like
"Do Objects Structure Organizations or Do Organizations Structure
Objects." Hidden in that discussion was the reality that the health of
the organization needs to be addressed before you can answer the
questions.
JimCoplien's and WardCunningham's pattern languages [D], [E] explicitly
discuss how people can be organized to produce object-oriented systems.
NormKerth and EileenAndreason [F] applied family systems theory to
explain the behavior we see from people as they move through the process
of mastering objects.
At OOPSLA '95, NormKerth offered a Birds-Of-A-Feather session titled,
"The Psychology of OO Folk." The room was packed, many people had to
stand. The variety of interests in various psychological and
sociological issues was rich and interesting. During the wrap-up, we
agreed to propose a day long workshop for OOPSLA '96 (PeopleSideOfObjectTechnology).
[A] ThePsychologyOfComputerProgramming
[B] PeopleWare
[C] SoftIssuesAndOtherHardProblems
[D] http://www.bell-labs.com/cgi-user/OrgPatterns/OrgPatterns
[E] http://c2.com/ppr/episodes.html
[F]