Wider Enterprise Research Articles

Towards the integration of organisational culture models into model-based systems engineering approaches for enterprise systems transformation

ABSTRACT Enterprise systems modelling requires integrated views of both technical systems as well as organisational systems that together will deliver the anticipated capabilities. A major challenge in such modelling is the expression of ‘soft’ or human aspects of the organisation where measures seem intangible, behaviour unpredictable or constrained to ad-hoc, qualitative assessment. In particular, although most businesses are concerned with managing organisational culture, how can these cultures be modelled in a manner that enables it to be integrated with the holistic enterprise system model in order to drive assessments and yield insight for managers? Initial modelling efforts showed that many aspects of organisational culture could be modelled and integrated successfully within wider enterprise systems modelling. This paper describes a Model-Based Systems Engineering approach to the development of organisational culture models and demonstrates how changes made to the integrated enterprise model may yield insight into how organisational culture will need to evolve as enterprise systems transform.

Service Orientation Initiative Process Towards Enterprise Services Environment

Enterprises are now seeking to cater the needs of their business change to improve business agility and to increase information technology flexibility. They have transformed with the initiative of implementing service orientation from their existing information technology infrastructure to a managed services environment. This requires a step-by-step process in the implementation of the service orientation initiative. In this paper, the four-phase process of implementing service orientation initiative derived from the related literature is taken to the case study of seven case enterprises to check for its applicability in wider enterprise settings. It has resulted that this four-phase service orientation initiative process has been clearly employed and agreed upon by most of the case enterprises. It is therefore believed that the four-phase process can be a generic initiative process of implementing service orientation for any enterprises to maintain viability in a services environment.

We don't need no education: the role of mentoring in the wider enterprise eco‐system

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the role of mentoring in the wider enterprise eco‐system, with a specific focus on the potential of on‐line mentoring for women's enterprise.Design/methodology/approachThe paper offers insights into the approach adopted in taking mentoring experience and practice into a new field as part of a European Commission‐funded project.FindingsFindings to date highlight the need for support amongst women entrepreneurs, across a range of business sectors, in planning for and pursuing business growth. More specifically, the need for bespoke support and advice is highlighted, given that entrepreneurs are not a homogenous group and in light of the additional barriers that women encounter in business start‐up and growth.Originality/valueThe paper describes what is considered to be a unique programme being delivered in the UK, with findings holding wider applicability for policy makers, business support organisations and practitioners across jurisdictions.

Videoconferencing pioneers: what the wider enterprise can learn from HR

Videoconferencing pioneers: what the wider enterprise can learn from HR

Changing Organizational Forms and the Employment Relationship

This paper draws upon new research in the UK into the relationship between changing organizational forms and the reshaping of work in order to consider the changing nature of the employment relationship. The development of more complex organizational forms – such as cross organization networking, partnerships, alliances, use of external agencies for core as well as peripheral activities, multi‐employer sites and the blurring of public/private sector divide – has implications for both the legal and the socially constituted nature of the employment relationship. The notion of a clearly defined employer–employee relationship becomes difficult to uphold under conditions where employees are working in project teams or on‐site beside employees from other organizations, where responsibilities for performance and for health and safety are not clearly defined, or involve more than one organization. This blurring of the relationship affects not only legal responsibilities, grievance and disciplinary issues and the extent of transparency and equity in employment conditions, but also the definition, constitution and implementation of the employment contract defined in psychological and social terms. Do employees perceive their responsibilities at work to lie with the direct employer or with the wider enterprise or network organization? And do these perceptions affect, for example, how work is managed and carried out and how far learning and incremental knowledge at work is integrated in the development of the production or service process? So far the investigation of both conflicts and complementarities in the workplace have focused primarily on the dynamic interactions between the single employer and that organization’s employees. The development of simultaneously more fragmented and more networked organizational forms raises new issues of how to understand potential conflicts and contradictions around the ‘employer’ dimension to the employment relationship in addition to more widely recognized conflicts located on the employer–employee axis.

A Place in the Sun: Making Room for Media Ethics

A recent issue of Report from the Institute for Philosophy and Public Affairs identifies four ethical issues for the 21st century. By not including media ethics, the Report overlooks a crucial logical priority. That oversight is reflected in greater academe where media ethics (unlike, say, biomedical ethics) is scarcely acknowledged. This article argues that communication ethics, as an integral part of the wider enterprise of media literacy, deserves greater prominence in our town-and-gown communities.