Institutional Work for Enterprise Architecture

Enterprise architecture (EA) is a systematic approach used for designing and implementing changes in technological systems and processes to improve organizational performance and align technology with business. This paper unpacks the process through which EA moves from strategic-level endorsement to diffusion across organizations. The insights provided are based on a longitudinal case study within the Norwegian hospital sector. An institutional work lens is adopted to analyze the purposeful activities carried out to introduce EA in Norwegian hospitals providing a granular view on diffusion. The paper provides a rich description of the institutional work employed by the key actors involved mapping them to different turns in EA’s trajectory. Drawing from this analysis, we contribute to Information Systems literature with a conceptual model that illustrates how institutional work can mitigate the challenges of moving from the strategic-level endorsement of novelty to its diffusion and institutionalization smoothing downturns along the way. The findings indicate ways to facilitate the introduction of EA within complex organizations, providing insights for practitioners involved in EA initiatives, and advancing extant EA research through an institutional perspective

Socialification: Social Software Elements Analysis and Design

The goal of this paper is to initiate a ‎conversation on the undergraduate teaching of ‎social software analysis and design in applications ‎which are non-social-media specific. This course ‎covers the topics required to strategically ‎‎“socialify” organizational applications to engage ‎users in the most productive way for the ‎organization. To capture this effort, we suggest the ‎term “socialification” which means the use of social ‎software design features in non-social-media ‎applications. We provide some background and ‎course goals and learning objectives as well as a ‎course structure. We then discuss issues to consider ‎when implementing a course in social software ‎elements development. We also cover the theoretical ‎grounding related to the interdisciplinary process ‎and explain how it contributes to the design of the ‎course.

Time, space and constructive capabilities. Translating paradoxical innovation requirements into comprehensive organizational arrangements: a socio-cognitive perspective.

When innovating, interaction is beneficial for (1) exploring problem definition spaces and (2) exploiting them. The social processes in which both activities unfold, display paradoxical characteristics which can be addressed by introducing space and time as (organizational) design variables. Complementary arrangements that connect space and time are needed in order for such organizational forms to be sustainable. Propositions in this respect, which build directly on the specific nature of knowledge creation processes, are elaborated.Characteristics; Design; Innovation; Knowledge; Processes; Requirements; Space; Time; Variables;

An Architectural Framework for Evidence-Based Practice Diffusion, Dissemination, and Institutionalization

Technology, innovation, and a demand for the safest, value-added healthcare have led to the proliferation of research studies. Unfortunately the evidence from most of those studies has yet to be applied to evidence-based practice (EBP) projects. Much of this research and many of EBP projects remain waiting to be retrieved, analyzed, translated, and applied to everyday practice. A finding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is that it takes approximately 10 years to integrate research evidence into practice (Rogers, 2009). Recent studies recognize nurses as a vehicle to shorten the research-to-practice 10-year journey; nurses are realized as the pinnacle for achieving safe and effective patient outcomes (Eggenberger, 2012). In order to maximize nurses’ capability, however, nurse leaders are challenged to identify and create the necessary support to deliver safe, EBP. Astonishingly, nurse leaders, in general, have also been identified as ill-equipped for EBP promotion (Melnyk, Fineout-Overholt, Gallagher-Ford, & Kaplan, 2012). For this reason, nurse leaders are implored to identify a framework and champion support needed for nurses to be successful with engaging team members to understand and utilize EBP. The goal, therefore, of this project was to create an adaptable EBP architectural framework with design elements and resources, which may be utilized and modified by nursing leaders across health care environments, including those incorporating high reliability, project management, continuous improvement, and lean principles. In creating this framework for EBP diffusion, dissemination and institutionalization, clinical outcomes of this organization improved from low to high decile performance

Human Complexity: The Final Frontier

We often take it for granted that architecture is a visual art. We think of it in visual terms. We design and evaluate our producton visually… But do we experience a building or an urban environment exclusively in visual terms

Theoretical and Empirical Challenges in Studying: The HR Practice - Firm Performance Relationship

Over the past 10 years a plethora of research has been conducted seeking to establish a relationship between human resource (HR) practices and firm performance. While this research has demonstrated promising results, a significant number of problems exist. This paper seeks to identify the theoretical and empirical challenges facing researchers who wish to further establish the impact of HR practices on firm performance. We conclude with some recommendations for future research in this area that might more accurately assess this relationship in ways that will be useful for both researchers and practitioners

Unpacking Agile Enterprise Architecture Innovation work practices: A Qualitative Case Study of a Railroad Company

Agile EA is the process for managing enterprise architecture modeling and redesign efforts with principles of agile methods. However, very little work has been done till date on how organizations adopt these methodological innovations such as integration of agile methods with enterprise architecture. This is problematic, because we know that organizations face stiff challenges in bringing new innovations that fundamentally disrupt their enterprise architecture. Hence we ask: How does agile EA get adopted in practice and what are the underlying mechanisms through which teams self-organize and adapt? To this end, we studied a large-scale agile EA development effort to modernize the legacy systems at a top railroad company referred to as “Alpha” (a pseudonym). Our qualitative analysis shows how multi-teams self-organize and adjust the pace of the development efforts by strategically (1) choosing different type of agile methods and (2) embedding resources across teams for increasing communications

ICOT 2018 Proceedings of The 18th International Conference on Thinking

In May 2018, join practitioners and researchers from around the world for the International Conference on Thinking in Miami. This transdisciplinary conference brings together leading world researchers and practitioners who will offer research, insights and experiences that provoke, challenge and foster collegial exchange and educational development around the topic of thinking and its application to solving global problems and creating a better world. ‘Thinking’ is understood broadly to include the use of one’s mind for cognitive processes such as thinking, learning, creativity, reflecting, reasoning, analyzing and deciding while also acknowledging cultural, psychological, historical, and disciplinary diversity and richness. Now more than ever it is imperative to innovate and deal with a deep and wide range of global problems IMMEDIATELY, as the consequences of not doing so are, frankly, dire. Set to marshal and develop the thinking and application of hearts and minds to better serve our fellow global citizens and planet. The conference is emphatically transdisciplinary in trend, drawing from such fields as education, neuroscience, health sciences, the arts, sports, government, business, anthropology, history, cross-cultural studies, architecture, engineering, economics, geography, technology and other areas. Issues like globalization, climate change, demographic changes, mass migration, immigration, technology, the global economy and ethical dilemmas lead us inquire and find solutions from multiple perspectives. With the theme: Cultivating Mindsets for Global Citizens” we aim to create awareness about global issues and the big questions that the next generations will inherit from us. Together we will explore strategies for deeply engaging citizens as young as toddlers up to seniors in understanding world issues from different points of view. We will consider the interdependency of different disciplines in an effort to collaboratively find solutions to global problems in a digital era

Schumpeter’s (1934) influence on entrepreneurship (and management) research

Entrepreneurship research has flourished since de 1980s, following the institutional development that created schools and courses, research centers and dedicated journals. This paper examines the impact of Joseph Schumpeter, one of the main “knowledge producers” whose concepts and ideas on the entrepreneur, entrepreneurship and innovation have shaped the discipline and much of the research on entrepreneurship, and has influenced the thought on other areas of management. Methodologically, we conducted a bibliometric study of the articles published in 16 high stature international journals, over a period of 30 years, between 1981 and 2010. On a sample of 412 articles citing Schumpeter, we analyzed and mapped citations, co-citations and research themes. We further establish distinctions between entrepreneurship and management research. This study presents a manner to examine the influence of a scholar, and a set of conceptualizations he has introduced, on a discipline. Schumpeter has had an imprint in the multidisciplinary and wealth of research themes that entrepreneurship scholars have delved upon but also in other management disciplines, where his perspectives on entrepreneurship, the entrepreneur and innovation have contributed to much of the research conducted to date. Although entrepreneurship has remained largely multidisciplinary and drawing from the main management theories there is a growing body of entrepreneurship-specific literature.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Preservation & sustainability:: The case for ‘realistic' evidence-based design policy

In recent years, partisans of historic preservation have begun arguing "the greenest building is the one already built.” Often voiced in response to a narrowly conceived idea of building envelope energy performance, the statement nevertheless assumes away a proper research agenda. The underlying values appear incommensurate, and the differences between practitioners has appeared in a variety of public policy controversies ranging from conflicts over local preservation and sustainability ordinances, to government building energy performance contracting, to sufficiency of USGBC LEED standards for addressing issues of historic buildings. The potential question for the architectural researcher addressed here, is how to best frame the underlying research question. What metrics and data are relevant to policy and building level analysis? As a means of answering this question, this paper attempts to step-back from the tit-for-tat of the usual arguments by elaborating on how an evidence-based research program might address the problem. Specifically, the paper briefly discusses the genesis of evidence-based decision making in healthcare, and its ensuing extension into both building design and public policy making. The case is made that a discussion occurring among another group of scholars - those in public policy - is directly relevant to how designers might begin to more explicitly address what constitutes evidence in policy setting, as opposed to a more open-ended notion of data. The relevance of this as applied to sustainability and preservation lies in an urgency expressed by preservation advocates such as the National Trust for Historic Preservation and its recent call for "data to make our case.” This reference to data assumes that this will bring about agreement and supportive policy. However, the literature on evidence-based policy is more circumspect of simplistic relationships. It is interested in program logic (why we think an intervention will have the effect we think it will) and causation (how and through whom the effect will be carried out). While this paper addresses methodological issues in research, its abstractions are grounded in particular examples and ongoing dilemmas in the relationship of preservation to sustainability. These examples will be used to illustrate the more abstract points