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Realizing the Benefits of Enterprise Architecture: An Actor-Network Theory Perspective

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Complex Systems Design & Management

Abstract

There is growing interest among IT practitioners and academics in Enterprise Architecture (EA) as an effective response to increasingly rapid business, economic, and technological change. EA has been proposed as a path towards better achieving and sustaining stronger business-IT alignment and integration, cost reductions, greater agility, reduced time to market, and other important objectives. Yet there is little theoretical basis to explain how EA work can lead to such achievements; moreover, the creation of a holistic and resilient EA remains an elusive goal for most enterprises. In this paper we use concepts from Actor- Network Theory to highlight some important socio-political and socio-technical aspects of EA work in the context of complex organization situations. Specifically, we focus on such challenges as actor identification in EA negotiations, the importance of soft skills, integration and reconciliation of multiple EA representations, discovering hidden interests and reflecting them in EA representations, dealing with misalignments of interests, as well as creating an environment for continuous EA, and thereby enterprise, improvement.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Information Technology and Decision Sciences Department College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, USA

    Anna Sidorova & Leon Kappelman

Authors
  1. Anna Sidorova
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  2. Leon Kappelman
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Correspondence to Anna Sidorova .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. ENSTA ParisTech, Bvd Victor 32, Paris, 75739, France

    Omar Hammami

  2. Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau Cedex, 91128, France

    Daniel Krob

  3. Thales Systèmes Aéroportés, avenue de la 1ère DFL / CS 93801 10, Brest, 29238, France

    Jean-Luc Voirin

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Sidorova, A., Kappelman, L. (2012). Realizing the Benefits of Enterprise Architecture: An Actor-Network Theory Perspective. In: Hammami, O., Krob, D., Voirin, JL. (eds) Complex Systems Design & Management. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25203-7_23

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-25203-7_23

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