The Role of Organizational Culture for Grounding, Management, Guidance and Effectiveness of Enterprise Architecture Principles

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) has become a widely acknowledged approach for guiding the continuous change of increasingly complex organizations. While methods and models for describing and analyzing enterprise architectures (EA) have been extensively discussed, principles guiding an EA's design and evolution are hardly covered in existing research. The paper at hand therefore analyzes the mechanisms of EA principles (EAP), that is EAP grounding, EAP management, and EAP guidance and their effects on EA consistency and EAM utility. Specifically we aim at understanding the role of organizational culture for the mechanisms and effects of EAP. Based on empirical data we find that all relations describing EAP mechanisms and their effects are significantly moderated by organizational culture. Based on our findings we give recommendations on how to deal with selected design decisions when introducing and developing EA principles in an organization

The Benefits of Enterprise Architecture in Organizational Transformation

Today, as organizations constantly adjust their activities to meet ever-changing circumstances, continuous business transformation is taking place. However, planning and steering this transformation can be a daunting task as complexity has been built into the organization over the years. Enterprise Architecture (EA) has been widely adapted as a planning and governance approach to manage the complexity and constant change, and to align the organization toward a common goal. This article studies the EA benefit-realization process by clarifying how EA benefits are realized. Specifically, the focus is on the strategies, resources, and practices which the EA benefits stem from. The findings, derived from an in-depth case study, show that the EA benefit-realization process con- stitutes a long, intertwined chain of activities. Organiza- tions benefit from EA through various means: from the initiation, when comprehensive understanding starts to form, until years later, when measurable outcomes such as cost savings materialize. Suggestions on what to incorpo- rate into EA programs are presented

THE IMPACT OF CULTURAL DIFFERENCES ON ENTERPRISE ARCHITECTURE EFFECTIVENESS: A CASE STUDY

We study how differences between organizational subcultures influence the effectiveness of the Enterprise Architecture (EA) function for steering the enterprise. In this paper, we contribute findings from a case study in a governmental organization. We derive seven propositions concerning the relation between cultural differences and EA effectiveness. For one, we suggest that cultural differences among the architects have a negative impact on the architects’ communication towards the management. In addition, our data suggest that the influence of cultural differences is indirect: communication defects and disagreement within the architecture board act as important intermediary factor

Research Perspective in Enterprise Architecture

The challenges of aligning IT with business triggered the attention towards Enterprise Architecture (EA). Despite the increase interest of academic scholars in EA, there is scarcity of studies that provide an up to date comprehensive research perspective view. The purpose of this study is to examine the research methodologies and theories utilized in EA studies from 2010 to 2016. The study employed Systematic Literature Review (SLR) as method to explore and analyze the literature of EA. The study revealed the research approaches and data collection methods utilized in EA. It shows that case study approach and interviews are the highly used compared to other research approaches and data collection instruments. Furthermore, it pointed out the low employment of theories in EA studies. The study is contributing to the body of knowledge by providing a foundation for novice researchers in the area of EA through detailed discussions of research methodologies and theories which are expected to support them in designing future studies

Exploring the Role of Enterprise Architecture in IS-enabled Ot: An EA Principles Perspective

© 2016 IEEE. Although EA principles have received considerable attention in recent years, there is still little known about how EA principles can be used to govern the transformation of the Information Systems enabled organization. In this research-in-progress paper, we communicate our initial step towards answering the sub-question: how do enforcing EA principles contribute to IS-enabled OT? Based on a comprehensive literature review, we initially propose five testable hypotheses and a research model, which is a pre-requisite to developing a data-driven theory for this important area of research. It is anticipated that the ensuing theory will provide a basis for further research studying the impact of EA on IS-enabled OT. The tested research model will also provide guidance to practitioners on how to effectively design and use EA principles in managing transformative changes caused by IS within their organizations and overall industry sectors

Understanding the Role of Organizational Culture for Design and Success of Enterprise Architecture Management

Enterprise architecture management is considered a valuable means to guide the consistent design and evolution of increasingly complex information systems. Despite existing research on EAM methods and models, organizations often face serious difficulties making EAM effective. The paper proposes to take organizational culture as a highly aggregated construct describing the context of EAM initiatives for building situational - or for that matter culture sensitive EAM methods - into account. We find that organizational culture significantly moderates the impact of EAM’s design on EAM’s success. In group culture, hierarchical culture and developmental culture it is essential to develop EAM from a passive into an actively designing approach to make it effective. Particularly in group culture it is rewarding to strive for an EAM approach that impacts stakeholders outside the IT department

Why and How do Large-scale Organizations Operationalize DevOps

An essential part of organizational efforts is to provide products to customers. To sustain competitive positions on existing markets, and to expand into new markets, firms utilize and continuously optimize approaches to efficiently provide effective products. Meanwhile, applying agile practices is a commoditized way for organizations to better adapt to changes during the development of their products. For bringing products to customers, more than their development is required. Typically, multiple organizational functions, all with individual goals and practices, are included in the development and delivery of products. This is often associated with friction points between those functions, and hinders the optimization of effectiveness and efficiency in providing products to customers. In retrospective, not all firms were able to recalibrate themselves and find back to former success after they had once missed to (again) innovate by timely addressing changes on their existing markets, discovering unmet or changed customer needs, and providing new products that bring together emerging technology with evolving customer demands. This potential threat now appears to be omnipresent with the ongoing proliferation of digitalization through the practical world of all of us. The emerging phenomenon of DevOps, a portmanteau word of “development” and “operations”, describes approaches to streamline development and delivery of products across organizational functions, to efficiently provide effective products, and to enable organizational digitalization efforts. This dissertation sheds light on reasoning, configurational factors, and dynamics behind DevOps implementations in large-scale. The composition of four independent yet interrelated scientific papers, the cornerstones of this dissertation, answers why and how large-scale organizations operationalize DevOps. In sum, this dissertation adds systematic and foundational knowledge, presents new applications and nuanced concretizations of scientific empiric approaches, connects allied but distinct research communities, and provides guidance for practitioners acting in this timely, relevant and interesting domain

A Learning Perspective on Enterprise Architecture Management

Enterprise architecture management (EAM) has long been propagated in research and practice as an approach for keeping local information systems projects in line with enterprise-wide, long-term objectives. EAM literature predominantly promotes strictly governed and centralized coordination mechanisms to achieve the promised alignment contributions. Notwithstanding the increasing maturity levels in practice, organizations still struggle with the successful establishment of EAM, mainly due to the inherent challenges of a firmly centralized approach in complex organizational settings. This study opts for cooperative learning as a theoretical lens to afford a distinctive, non-centralized conceptualization of EAM. We empirically demonstrate EAM as a stage-wise learning process in which knowledge acquisition and cooperative interactions among individuals contribute to project performance on the local level. Projects that benefit from this particular learning process, in turn, are found to significantly leverage enterprise-wide performance

Special Issue Editorial – Accumulation and Evolution of Design Knowledge in Design Science Research: A Journey Through Time and Space

Sir Isaac Newton (1676) famously said, “If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” Research is a collaborative, evolutionary endeavor—and it is no different with design science research (DSR), which builds upon existing design knowledge and creates new design knowledge to pass on to future projects. However, despite the vast, growing body of DSR contributions, scant evidence of the accumulation and evolution of design knowledge has been articulated in an organized DSR body of knowledge. Most contributions rather stand on their own feet than on the shoulders of giants, and this continues to limit how far we can see, curtailing the extent of the broader impacts that can be made through DSR. In this editorial, we aim at providing guidance on how to position design knowledge contributions in wider problem and solution spaces. We propose (1) a model conceptualizing design knowledge as a resilient relationship between problem and solution spaces, (2) a model that demonstrates how individual DSR projects consume and produce design knowledge, (3) a map to position a design knowledge contribution in problem and solution spaces, and (4) principles on how to use this map in a DSR project. We show how fellow researchers, readers, editors, and reviewers, as well as the IS community as a whole, can make use of these proposals, and also illustrate future research opportunities

Institutional Logics and Their Influence on Enterprise Architecture Adoption

Enterprise architecture adoption (EAA), often ironically known as “ineffective adoption,” is frequently marked by poor utilization and signals of failure. To date, comprehensive examinations of which factors influence EAA are lacking. This study aims to address this knowledge gap. The paper uses an interpretive multiple case-study approach using an institutional theory lens to conduct the research. The findings show that three institutional logics dominate EAA: managerialism, professionalism, and user logic. These logics drive stakeholder activities and behaviors and ultimately influence EAA processes and outcomes. The paper contributes to the literature by explaining how these three logics influence the adoption process. Practitioners will be able to use the logics discussed in this study to assess and prevent potential challenges to adoption by carefully examining the stakeholder behaviors and activities embedded in these logics.© 2019 Taylor & Francis. This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Computer Information Systems on 17 Jan 2019, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/08874417.2018.1564632fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed