Revealing hidden structures in organizational transformation–a case study

Abstract

EA initiatives are usually spanning the entire enterprise on high level. While, a typical development organization (could be a business unit within a larger enterprise) often has detailed models describing their product, the enterprise architecture on the business unit level is handled in an ad hoc or detached way. However, research shows that there is a tight link between the product architecture and its developing organization. In this paper we have studied an organization within Ericsson, which focuses on the development of large software and hardware products. We have applied the hidden structure method, which is based on the Design Structure Matrix approach, to analyze of organizational transformations. The to-be scenarios are possible alternatives in trying to become more agile and lean. Our analysis shows that one scenario likely increases the complexity of developing the product, while the other two suggestions are both promising to-be scenarios.