Examining the social aspects of Enterprise Architecture Implementation: A Morphogenetic Approach

This paper argues that existing research in Enterprise Architecture (EA) tends to emphasise the technical aspects of implementation and neglects the role of ‘people’. The paper uses Archer’s Morphogenetic Approach (MA) to elaborate the social context of EA. This approach examines the relationships between agency, structure and culture to understand how stakeholders affect and are affected by EA implementation. A university just commencing an EA program is used as a case example. The case example describes the challenging university environment and provides an illustration of the important situational logics that direct agency action within the complex social context of a university.