Authors:
Philip Huysmans
;
David Bellens
;
Dieter Van Nuffel
and
Kris Ven
Affiliation:
University of Antwerp, Belgium
Keyword(s):
Normalized systems, Design science research, Enterprise architecture, Method engineering.
Related
Ontology
Subjects/Areas/Topics:
Artificial Intelligence
;
Business-It Alignment
;
Communication and Software Infrastructure
;
e-Business
;
Enterprise Architecture
;
Enterprise Engineering
;
Enterprise Information Systems
;
Enterprise Ontologies
;
Formal Methods
;
Ontologies
;
Simulation and Modeling
;
Symbolic Systems
;
System Architectures
Abstract:
Contemporary organizations are operating in increasingly volatile environments. Hence, organizations must be agile in order to be able to quickly adapt to changes in its environment. Given the increasing complexity of organizations, it has been argued that organizations should be purposefully designed. Enterprise architecture frameworks provide guidance for the design of organizational structures. Unfortunately, current enterprise architecture frameworks have a descriptive, rather than a prescriptive nature and do not seem to have a strong
theoretical foundation. In this paper, we explore the feasibility of extending the prescriptive design principles of the Normalized Systems theory to the field of enterprise architecture. Our results show that such approach is feasible and illustrate how the systems theoretic concept of stability can be used on the organizational level.