The impact of organisational structure on enterprise architecture deployment

Abstract

Purpose – In many organisations, the alignment between information technology (IT) and business is viewed as an important catalyst for the organisation's effectiveness and efficiency towards achieving a competitive advantage. Yet, a shared understanding between business and IT (the EA included) remains an issue in many organisations. The organisational structure affects the alignment between business and IT units. Conversely, a lack of alignment of both components (IT and business units) impedes organisations' capacity to increase and improve their productivity. Many studies have been conducted in the area of IT, EA and the organisational structure. There is, however, little evidence of work conducted in exploring the interface between organisational structure and EA prior to this study. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – A case-study research approach was employed to investigate the impact of organisational structure in the deployment of EA in organisations. Qualitative data were collected through semi-structure technique. The analysis was carried out, using structuration theory. Findings – The magnified data revealed some of unforeseen factors impeding the success of the EA deployment in the organisation. Originality/value – The work is original, and it has not been submitted or published anywhere else.