Enterprise as Social Entity

An enterprise is also a social entity, a mini-society, if you will. It has its own culture, politics, strata of status, winners and losers, factions and support groups. It has the upwardly mobile and those nearing retirement. It has immigrants finding their feet. Like a city, province/state or country, it has neighbours and others that it interacts with from afar. It has a government in the board and executive, and local government in the lines of business and departments. It has a geography (physical or logical).

This is pretty fundamental when we consider change, as we do in Business Architecture. We need to think of the greater good of the various constituencies. We have to think about our trading partners (customers, suppliers, channels).

Like other social entities, we can make plans and devise strategies, but their success will depend upon convincing independent minds to follow the plan and adhere to the rules. This requires that the plan be to the advantage of most participants, defensible in terms of logic and evidence, and achievable in terms of resources available.

We will also have to present our plans in ways that are familiar (in terms of vocabulary, format, medium, world view) to the “government” of the day, i.e. those who take the decisions to proceed, provide the resources and funding and take accountability for delivery.

From an architect’s perspective, this means we need to gather reliable data, do sound analysis, recommend good strategies, leverage all the soft skills of interaction, persuasion, reaching consensus and present our deliverables in accessible and convincing ways to the relevant stakeholders.

A lot of my recent research has been focused on the design of relevant meta models to integrate all the various dimensions in an holistic way; to build useful models that allow us to rapidly gather, analyse, design and share pertinent insights; and the design of compelling visual language(s) to convey these efficiently and effectively. Additionally, we need to support these activities in competent tools that allow rapid progress and collaboration while improving rigour and reuse.

Change is scary for people. We need to identify and ameliorate risks. We need to provide effective programme and project management, change management, mentoring and coaching. We may not be experts in all these dimensions, but we can certainly work on enhancing our soft skills and engaging those whose focus/profession it is.

Enterprise as Organism/Social Entity (4)

At Inspired we use the phrase “Desirable Futures”. When we are doing enterprise architecture, especially business architecture, we are effectively proposing a future. We contend that it should be a desirable one. Let’s define “desirable”:

• The enterprise should survive

• The enterprise should add value to all stakeholders (customers, suppliers, staff, partners, shareholders, unions, society at large)

• The enterprise should do no harm. It should not exploit any group to their disadvantage, pollute, deplete irreplaceable resources or otherwise cause harm

• Ideally:

  • It should provide utility, value, good service and delight in its products and services

  • It should be a great place to work where staff can grow and realise potential while contributing to the value delivered

  • It should be a valued and trusted partner to other enterprises

  • The enterprise should operate legally, ethically and sensitively to the norms and customs of the communities it engages with

  • It should leverage knowledge, skill, technology and industry for these purposes
    Achieving the above demands that we consider the business issues (e.g. financial health, partner relationships, products and services, growth etc.), human issues (e.g. customer journey, staff roles, organisation structure, motivation etc.) and technology opportunities holistically.

Enterprise as Organism (3)

A functioning organism is comprised of systems. In a biological organism these include: respiration, nutrition, circulation, sensory, locomotive, nervous, reproduction, waste elimination, skeletal and so on. In a social entity they include collaboration, competition, regulation, suppression, promotion, etc. In a business they include: financial (capital, revenue, expenses, investment, cash flow), product and service delivery, customer management, skills and capabilities, compliance and risk management, sensing and planning, An enterprise thrives when the systems are working properly and in balance. Like an organism or society, it will become ill if any system is not working properly, or if they are out of balance.

As business architects it is useful to do a “health check” which should include the following aspects: financial, human resources, geographic coverage, products and services, shareholding, partnerships, channels, technology, legal, information, risk management, agility, strategy, architecture. These dimensions can be determined in facilitated workshops (or distributed information gathering from stakeholders) using templates and maturity models. They can be usefully plotted to show a current, competitor benchmark and target for a given time horizon. Big gaps between target or benchmark and current health are obvious candidates for more intensive work.

Enterprise as Organism (2)

An enterprise is not a machine. It cannot be designed and set in motion to perform like a clock. The parts were not engineered to fit the design. The design (architecture) has to be devised to leverage the capabilities of the parts. Since many of these parts are human (or other enterprises), they have their own agendas, goals, capabilities, needs and foibles. The results of their interaction are emergent, i.e. they will emerge from the many interactions of the parts and are very hard to predict ahead of time.

As enterprise architects (especially business architects) we therefore have to accept that we cannot just design what we want. What we can do is to understand the environment and constraints, influence conditions, educate participants, bring knowledge, examples and logic to bear, persuade, influence, coach and guide. We can alert to possibilities. We can warn of risks and show how they can be avoided or ameliorated. We can remove myths and assumed constraints. We can show consequences through scenarios, models and simulations.

In a very real sense our job is to enlighten, to educate, to inform and to communicate persuasively.

Enterprise as Organism (1)

An Enterprise cannot exist without its environment. It is part of an ecosystem. It requires things from its surroundings to survive. These include capital, resources, skills, customers, services. It produces things that are absorbed into the environment. Hopefully these are positive, such as desired products and services which enhance the lives of those around them. Some may be negative, such as pollution, depletion of irreplaceable resources, or impoverishment of people or other enterprises.

A healthy enterprise has systems in balance, which allow it to function well, to grow and to benefit those it touches: staff, customers, partners, society. Since many of the inputs it depends upon require the willing cooperation of other parties (funding from clients, services from providers, sanction to operate from society) it is vital that the outputs produced are positive ones and that negative consequences are minimised. An organism that pollutes its environment will suffer.

Shouldn’t business architecture start with understanding where we live?