Enterprise Governance and the Process of Enterprise Design

Abstract

The mechanistic worldview and the ensuing mechanistic perspective on enterprises, outlined in Chap. 2, have likewise strongly affected perspectives on governance and created the planning and control mindset about strategy development and the process of enterprise change. Radically different standpoints are presented in this chapter that acknowledge and explicate the way enterprise change emerges and is effectuated. Through describing a number of strategic desirables, the chapter illustrates that any change initiative of a nontrivial nature is characterized by complexity and initial unclarity. These characteristics have profound implications for conceptualizing enterprise change. It will become clear that the dominant mechanistic viewpoint cannot capture the essence of enterprise change, which is a significant contributing factor in failing change initiatives. Two different phases of change and their incommensurability are discussed. Based on the insights presented, as well as those of the previous chapter, the nature of enterprise governance is sketched. Specifically important is the inquisitive process, wherein enterprise design takes place, as the core facet of enterprise governance and successful enterprise change. Constitutive phases of enterprise realization are drawn, and enterprise governance and enterprise engineering are positioned pertinent to these phases. In sketching the nature of enterprise governance, the importance of distributed governance is argued, and the role of the central enterprise governance function explained, thereby clarifying the difference between traditional governance and the viewpoints presented. The chapter concludes by discussing inadequate concepts often used in enterprise change attempts.