Mesbah Khan
Abstract
Enterprise Architecture (EA), a discipline that emerged from IT with the aim to link ‘strategy to design’ provides frameworks, taxonomies and languages for organisational design. However, it lacks an appreciation of the dynamic relationship between technology and organisational evolution and the complex process of strategy. Systems Thinking (ST), a multidisciplinary science and praxis that evolved from the coming together of social systems theory, second order cybernetics and biology provides holistic and reflexive approaches for intervention into complex situations. Similar to EA, it has a number of modelling tools for describing and diagnosing organizational problems. However, it lacks precise and rigorous modelling approaches for describing technology solutions. This article explores the process and possibility of embedding systemic thinking into enterprise architecture and the practice of organisation design by carrying out theoretical research and practical inquiry in a particular oil and gas independent.
About the author
Mesbah Khan is a Solution Architect at Tullow Oil and a student at the Open University currently completing his MSc in Systems Thinking in Practice. He has been working in the oil industry in various operational and business improvement roles in the Supply Chain Management and Development Project Management functions. He has a deep interest in operationalising systems theory for organisational design and his current focus is to define architectures for interoperability across complex supply chains in the upstream oil and gas development projects and production operations. He is also an active member of the nascent EAST initiative, a group of EA and ST practitioners aiming to integrating the two disciplines.
References
W.M.P. van der Aalst, B. Kiepuszewski, A.P. Barros, Dogac: Workflow Patterns, Distributed and Parallel Databases, pp.5-51 (2003).
Ackermann, Fran, Eden: Using Causal Mapping with Group Support Systems to Elicit an Understanding of Failure in Complex Projects: Some Implications for Organizational Research, Group Decision and Negotiation, 14(5), pp.355-376 (2005); available from: www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s10726-005-8917-6.
Aier, Stephan, Winter: Virtual Decoupling for IT/Business Alignment – Conceptual Foundations, Architecture Design, and Implementation Example, Business & Information Systems Engineering, 1(2), pp.150-163 (2008); available from: www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s12599-008-0010-7 (accessed August 5, 2011).
Assimakopoulos, Nikitas and Dimitriou, Nikolaos (2006) ‘A cybernetic framework for viable virtual enterprises: The use of VSM and PSM systemic methodologies’, Kybernetes, 35(5), pp. 653-667, [online] Available from: http://www.emeraldinsight.com/10.1108/03684920610664681 (Accessed 22 December 2011).
Atkinson, Paul and Coffey, Amanda (2003) ‘Revisiting the Relationship Between Participant Observation and Interviewing. Postmodern Interviewing.’, In Gubrium, J. F. and Holstein, J. A. (eds.), Postmodern Interviewing, Thousand Oaks, SAGE Publications, Inc, [online] Available from: http://srmo.sagepub.com/view/postmodern-interviewing_enhanced_v2/n6.xml.
Bakken, Tore and Herenes, Tore (2003) ‘Introduction: Niklas Luhmann’s autopoietic theory and organization studies – A space of connections’, In Bakken, T. and Hernes, T. (eds.), Autopoietic Organisation Theory, Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School Press, pp. 9-22.
Barton, John, Stephens, John and Haslett, Tim (2009a) ‘Action Research: Its Foundations in Open Systems Thinking and Relationship to the Scientific Method’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 22(6), pp. 475-488, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-009-9148-6 (Accessed 11 September 2011).
Barton, John, Stephens, John and Haslett, Tim (2009b) ‘Action Research: Its Foundations in Open Systems Thinking and Relationship to the Scientific Method’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 22(6), pp. 475-488, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-009-9148-6 (Accessed 11 September 2011).
Bean, Sally (2010) ‘Re-thinking Enterprise Architecture using Systems and Complexity Approaches’, Journal of Enterprise Architecture, 6(4), pp. 7-13.
Beer, Stanford (1994) The Heart of Enterprise, Chichester, John Wiley & Sons.
Bell, Simon and Morse, Stephen (2010) ‘Triple Task Method: Systemic, Reflective Action Research’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 23(6), pp. 443-452, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-010-9171-7 (Accessed 22 December 2011).
Bertalanffy, Ludwig Von (2003) General System Theory: Foundations, Development, Applications, George Braziller Inc.
Brier, Søren (2006) ‘The cybersemiotic model of communication: An evolutionary model of the threshold between semiosis and informational exchange’, Semiotica, 2006(158), pp. 255-296, [online] Available from: http://www.reference-global.com/doi/abs/10.1515/SEM.2006.008.
Brier, Søren, Baecker, Dirk and Thyssen, Ole (2011) ‘Foreword : Luhmann Applied — For What ?’, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 14(c), pp. 5-10.
Britto, Christian Maciel (2011) ‘Sustainable Community Development: A Brief Introduction to the Multi-Modal Systems Method’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 24(6), pp. 533-544, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-011-9206-8 (Accessed 22 December 2011).
Burrell, G. and Morgan, Gareth (1985) Sociological Paradigms and Organisational Analysis, Gower Publishing Ltd.
Burrell, Gibson and Morgan, Gareth (1979) Sociological paradigms and organisational analysis : elements of the sociology of corporate life, Sociology The Journal Of The British Sociological Association, Heinemann, [online] Available from: http://sonify.psych.gatech.edu/~ben/references/burrell_sociological_paradigms_and_organisational_analysis.pdf.
Cardwell, Geoff (2008) ‘The influence of Enterprise Architecture and process hierarchies on company success’, Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 19(1-2), pp. 47-55, [online] Available from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14783360701601959 (Accessed 7 July 2011).
Checkland, Peter and Scholes, Jim (1993a) Soft Systems Methodology in Action, New York, John Wiley & Sons Ltd.
Checkland, Peter and Scholes, Jim (1993b) Soft systems methodology: a 30-year retrospective, John Wiley & Sons Ltd, [online] Available from: http://books.google.com/books?id=R2dQAAAAMAAJ&pgis=1.
Choi, Jae, Nazareth, Derek L. and Jain, Hemant K. (2010) ‘Implementing Service-Oriented Architecture in Organizations’, Journal of Management Information Systems, 26(4), pp. 253-286, [online] Available from: http://mesharpe.metapress.com/openurl.asp?genre=article&id=doi:10.2753/MIS0742-1222260409 (Accessed 1 September 2011).
Ciborra, Claudio U. (2001) From Control to Drift: The Dynamics of Corporate Information Infrastructures, OUP Oxford, [online] Available from: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Control-Drift-Corporate-Information-Infrastructures/dp/0199246637.
Coase, R. H. (1937) ‘The Nature of the Firm’, Economica, New Series, 4(16), pp. 386 – 405.
Davis, Jerome D. (2006) ‘“And then there were four..” A Thumbnail History of Oil Industry Restructuring, 1971-2005’, In Davis, J. D. (ed.), The Changing World of Oil: An Analysis of Corporate Change and Adaptation, Hampshire, Ashgate Publishing Limited, pp. 1-12.
Emery, Merrelyn (2000) ‘The Current Version of Emery ’ s Open Systems Theory’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 13(5), pp. 623-643.
Fez-Barringten, Barie (2009) ‘Metaphor as an Inference from Sign’, Journal of Enterprise Architecture, 5(4).
Flood, R. L. (1990) ‘Liberating Systems Theory: Toward Critical Systems Thinking’, Human Relations, 43(1), pp. 49-75, [online] Available from: http://hum.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/001872679004300104 (Accessed 5 October 2011).
Flood, Robert L. and Carson, Ewart R. (1993) Dealing with Complexity: An Introduction to the Theory and Application of Systems Science, New York, Plenum Press.
Gharajedaghi, Jamshid (2011) Systems Thinking: Managing Chaos and Complexity: A Platform for Designing Business Architecture, Morgan Kaufmann.
Graves, Tom (2010) Everyday Enterprise-Architecture: Sensemaking, Strategy, Structures and Solutions, Colchester, Tetradian Books.
Harvey, David L. (2009) ‘Complexity and Case’, In Byrne, D. and Ragin, C. C. (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Case-Based Methods, Oxford, England, Sage Publications, Inc.
ISO/IEC/IEEE 42010 (2011) Systems and software engineering — Architecture description; refer to:
http://www.iso-architecture.org/42010/
Ison, Ray (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World, Media, Springer, The Open University.
Iyamu, Tiko (2011) ‘Institutionalisation of the Enterprise Architecture’, International Journal of Actor-Network Theory and Technological Innovation, 3(1), pp. 27-38.
Jensen, Anders Østergaard (2010) ‘Government Enterprise Architecture Adoption: A Systemic-Discursive Critique and Reconceptualisation’, Copenhagen Business School.
Jokisch, Rodrigo (2010) ‘Why Did Luhmann’s Social Systems Theory Find So Little Resonance in the United States of America?’, Addressing Modernity: Social Theory and U.S. Cultures, not publis, pp. 240-271.
Langley, Ann and Tsoukas, Haridimos (2010) ‘Introducing “ Perspectives on Process Organization Studies ”’, In Hernes, T. and Maitlis, S. (eds.), Process, Sensemaking, and Organizing, Oxford, England, OUP Oxford, pp. 1-26.
Lankhorst, Marc (2005) Enterprise Architecture at Work: Modeling, Communication and Analysis [Hardcover], Berlin, Springer.
Latour, Bruno (1986) ‘“The Powers of Association”. Power, Action and Belief. A new sociology of knowledge’, 32nd ed. In Law, J. (ed.), Sociological Review Monograph, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 264-280.
Lawrence, Stewart and Botes, Vida (2011) ‘ACCOUNTING AND ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE : AN AUTOPOIETIC VIEW’, Journal of Global Business and Technology, 7(1), pp. 74-86.
Leonard, Allenna (2009) ‘The Viable System Model and Its Application to Complex Organizations’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 22(4), pp. 223-233, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-009-9126-z (Accessed 2 September 2011).
Lindland, Ivar (1994) ‘Understanding Quality in Conceptual Modeling’, IEEE Software, 11(2), pp. 42-49.
Luhmann, Niklas (1995) Social systems, Stanford, Standford University Press, [online] Available from: http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=zVZQW4gxXk4C&pgis=1.
Maturana, Humberto R. and Varela, Francisco (1987) Tree of Knowledge, Boston, Massachusetts, Shambhala.
Miller, James Grier (1978) Living Systems, McGraw Hill Higher Education.
Mingers, John (2002) ‘Can social systems be autopoietic ? Assessing Luhmann ’ s social theory’, Review Literature And Arts Of The Americas.
Mingers, John (2003) ‘Observing organizations: An evalaution of Luhmann’s organisation theory’, In Bakken, T. and Hernes, T. (eds.), Autopoietic Organisation Theory, Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School Press.
Mjøset, Lars (2009) The Contextualist Approach to Social Science Methodology, Byrne, D. and Ragin, C. C. (eds.), Social Science, Oxford, England, SAGE Publications, Inc.
Morecroft, John (2010) ‘System Dynamics’, In Reynolds, M. and Holwell, S. (eds.), Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practicle Guuide, London, Springer, The Open University, pp. 25-86.
Morgan, Gareth (1996) Images of Organization, Sage Publications, Inc, [online] Available from: citeulike-article-id:3955293.
Müller, Karl H (2010) ‘The Radical Constructivist Movement and Its Network Formations’, Constructivist Foundations, 6(1).
Nechansky, Helmut (2010) ‘The Relationship Between : Miller ’ s Living Systems Theory and Beer ’ s Viable Systems Theory’, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 112(December 2008), pp. 97-113.
Nolte, Heike (2011) ‘Reflective Organization’, Cybernetics and Human Knowing, 17(c), pp. 77-91.
Parsons, Talcott (1967) Structure of Social Action: 001, New York, Free Press.
Peters, M. (1984) ‘The Origins and Status of Action Research’, The Journal of Applied Behavioral Science, 20(2), pp. 113-124, [online] Available from: http://jab.sagepub.com/cgi/doi/10.1177/002188638402000203.
Ragin, Charles C. (2007) ‘Comparative Methods’, In Outhwaite, W. and Turner, S. P. (eds.), The SAGE Handbook of Social Science Methodology, London, Sage Publications Ltd.
Reason, Peter and Bradbury, Hilary (2008) The SAGE Handbook of Action Research, 2nd ed. Reason, P. and Bradbury, H. (eds.), London, Sage Publications Ltd.
Reynolds, Martin and Holwell, Sue (2010) Systems Approaches to Managing Change: A Practical Guide, London, Springer, The Open University.
Schwaninger, Markus (2006) ‘ResearchArticle Theories of Viability : a Comparison’, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 347, pp. 337-348.
Schwaninger, Markus (2004) ‘What can cybernetics contribute to the conscious evolution of organizations and society?’, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 21(5), pp. 515-527, [online] Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1002/sres.636.
Seidl, David and Becke, Kai Helge (2005) Niklas Luhmann and Organization Studies, Copenhagen, Copenhagen Business School Press.
Sessions, Roger (2008) Simple Architectures For Complex Enterprises, Washington, Microsoft Press.
Shaw, D, Ackermann, F and Eden, C (2003) ‘Approaches to sharing knowledge in group problem structuring’, Journal of the Operational Research Society, 54(9), pp. 936-948, [online] Available from: http://www.palgrave-journals.com/doifinder/10.1057/palgrave.jors.2601581 (Accessed 5 August 2010).
Stephens, John and Haslett, Tim (2011) ‘A Set of Conventions, a Model: An Application of Stafford Beer’s Viable Systems Model to the Strategic Planning Process’, Systemic Practice and Action Research, 24(5), pp. 429-452, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s11213-011-9194-8 (Accessed 6 October 2011).
The Open Group: TOGAF 9.1 (2011); available at: www.opengroup.org/togaf.
The Open Group: ArchiMate 2.0 (2012); available at www.opengroup.org/archimate
Thomas, Oliver and Fellmann M.A., Michael (2009) ‘Semantic Process Modeling – Design and Implementation of an Ontology-based Representation of Business Processes’, Business & Information Systems Engineering, 1(6), pp. 438-451, [online] Available from: http://www.springerlink.com/index/10.1007/s12599-009-0078-8 (Accessed 10 August 2011).
Wand, Y and Weber, R (1990) ‘An Ontological Model of an Information System’, IEEE Transactions on Software Engineering, Los Alamitos, CA, USA, IEEE Computer Society, 16, pp. 1282-1292.
Weick, Karl E. (2000) Making Sense of the Organization (KeyWorks in Cultural Studies), Wiley-Blackwell.
Zachman, J. a. (1987) ‘A framework for information systems architecture’, IBM Systems Journal, 26(3), pp. 276-292, [online] Available from: http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/lpdocs/epic03/wrapper.htm?arnumber=5387671.
Journal of Enterprise Architecture