The Role of Business Processes and Enterprise Architectures in the Development of Organizational Self-Awareness

M. Rodrigo Magalhães^[1], Pedro Sousa¹, José Tribolet¹  

rmagalhaes@ceo.inesc.pt, pedro.sousa@link.pt, jose.tribolet@inesc.pt

 

 

Abstract. This paper is about a partnership between two disciplines: organizational studies and information systems engineering. It is argued that organizational studies has much to benefit from the conceptual development that has been taking place in the representation of organizational processes and enterprise architectures (EA) and that systems engineering can greatly expand its execution capability by absorbing a variety of messages coming from social or organizational theory. The concept of Organizational Self-Awareness (OSA) is offered as the contextual framework for the discussion. OSA is a process which involves, firstly, the efforts of the individual organizational member in getting to know his/her work environment, through sensemaking. Sensemaking is influenced by a number of factors, some related to the individual’s psychological makeup, others related to the individual’s work environment. EAs can play a relevant role in sensemaking. From activity theory the paper highlights the process of consciousness formation in human beings as well as the mediating artefacts that shape and constrain the acquisition, accumulation and development of knowledge and self-knowledge. Among the many mediating artefacts in the work environment EAs are a special type. EAs are also boundary objects due to their distinctive ability to influence perspective making and perspective taking in the process of organizational sensemaking. The paper concludes that the design and use of EAs can play a crucial role in the formation of a collective mind about the state of the organizational processes and therefore about the state of the organization.

Keywords: Organizational Design and Engineering (ODE); Enterprise Architectures (EA); Business Processes, Organizational Self-Awareness (OSA), Sensemaking, Structuration, Organizational Constructionism, Autopoiesis, Organizational Intelligence, Organizational Complexity.

 

 

Resumo. Este artigo foca a parceria entre duas áreas disciplinares: a dos estudos organizacionais e a da engenharia dos sistemas de informação. Argumenta-se que os estudos organizacionais têm muito a ganhar com os desenvolvimentos conceptuais decorrentes da representação dos processos organizacionais e das arquitecturas empresariais (AE) e que a engenharia dos sistemas pode aumentar significativamente a sua capacidade de execução se absorver a variedade de mensagens emanadas pelas teorias sociais e organizacionais. O conceito de Consciência Organizacional - (CO) - é proposto como o enquadramento contextual adequado para a discussão. A CO resulta de um processo que envolve, em primeiro lugar, os esforços de cada membro individual de uma organização em conhecer a sua envolvente, usando os seus sentidos e o seu “sensemaking”. Esta capacidade pessoal de apreender e compreender o meio ambiente é influenciada por vários factores, uns relacionados com o perfil psicológico de cada indivíduo, outros relacionados com o ambiente de trabalho individual. As AEs podem desempenhar um papel muito relevante no suporte à capacidade individual de “sensemakig”. Partindo da “Activity Theory” este artigo enfatiza o processo de formação de consciência nos seres humanos, bem como o papel dos artefactos que medeiam, conformam e restringem a aquisição, acumulação e desenvolvimento do conhecimento e do autoconhecimento. Entre os múltiplos artefactos que medeiam o ambiente de trabalho, as AEs constituem uma classe à parte. As AEs são objectos fronteiriços (boundary objects) dada a sua capacidade diferenciadora de influenciar a formação de perspectivas do meio ambiente por parte dos indivíduos, e consequentemente de condicionar as perspectivas que estão na base dos processos de formação da consciência colectiva sobre uma dada organização, que designamos por “organizational sensemaking”. O artigo conclui que o desenho e o uso das AEs podem desempenhar um papel relevante na formação da consciência colectiva sobre o estado dos processos organizacionais e em última análise, sobre o estado presente da própria organização, como um todo.

Palavras-chave: Organizational Design and Engineering (ODE); Enterprise Architectures (EA); Business Processes, Organizational Self-Awareness (OSA), Sensemaking, Structuration, Organizational Constructionism, Autopoiesis, Organizational Intelligence, Organizational Complexity.

 

 

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^[1] Department of Information Systems and Computer Science, Instituto Superior Técnico, Technical University of Lisbon; Organizational Engineering Center, INESC, Portugal.