Findings in paper 1 and 2
This chapter presents the findings of the two papers that constitute this Kappa. The chapter is organized into two sections based on each paper and each section includes the paper abstracts and a clarification on how each paper relates to the five main topics in accordance with this research model shown in figure 2. Finally, a brief summary of the paper is given.
Paper 1
Title: The Enterprise Architect profession: A literature survey
Authors: Terese Besker and Rolf Olsson
Supervisor: Kalevi Pessi
Publication: No publication (yet)
The abstract of this paper reads:
The purpose of this paper is to contribute to a mapping and understanding on how scholars depict the Enterprise Architect as a profession. In addition, how researchers describe the matters related to the profession and what kind of subjects that is provided for discussion in relation to the Enterprise Architect as a profession.
The method used in this literature survey is based on studying available publications in general but also studying the Basket of Eight within in the Association of Information Systems (AIS) senior Scholars’ journals. For each identified publication, five topics regarding the Enterprise Architect as a profession was analyzed; the role, the competence, the responsibility/empowerment/authorization, pro/reactiveness approach and mindset. Other analyzing criteria for the publications are the distribution in time, type of publications and domain inherency.
The result of this survey shows that although a good deal of research has been done in the Enterprise Architectural field, this analysis points out that not have much been written about the Enterprise Architect as profession. This study depicts a requisite for further research in the field of the Enterprise Architect as a profession. By this learning, we encourage an opening for further research.
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Paper 1 is the result of an initial literature survey with the aim of studying how scholars depict the Enterprise Architect as a profession. The study described in this paper is based on an inventory of the existing academic literature within the Enterprise Architect profession’s work field. The returned result is mapped and presented with different groupings and contexts. The surveyed five topics of the paper are based on the research model described in figure 10.
| Research topics in Paper 1 | Retitled in Paper 2 & Kappa | Comment |
| Role | Role | Unconverted |
| Competence | Competence | Unconverted |
| Authorization, empowerment, responsibility | Power | Converted to a generic topic name |
| Proactive and reactive approach | Style of acting | Converted to a generic topic name |
| Mindset | Main Focus | Converted to a generic topic name |
Table 4. Retitled research topics from Paper 1.
The research topics from Paper 1 have been retitled in this Kappa to a generic naming convention of the topics used in Paper 2 and the Kappa. The Role and Competence topics have been left unconverted while Authorization, empowerment, responsibility has been converted to “Power”, Proactive and reactive approach has been converted to “Style of Acting”, and Mindset to “Main Focus”.
In the surveyed publications, the following observations regarding the occurrence of each topic were found:
| Research topics | Occurrence of topics in surveyed publication | Generally finding |
| Role | Relatively well described and discussed in the surveyed publications | Numerous publications describe the role with a focus on collaboration among different stakeholders and organizational units to obtain strategic goals. |
| Competence | Relatively well described and discussed in the surveyed publications | Several surveyed publications describe the competence including a holistic approach to the pluralistic enterprise and in addition, to have extensive communication skills. |
| Power | Less is written and discussed in the surveyed publications | The responsibility of the profession is often described as having full responsible within the entire Enterprise Architecture development area and to empower the business users to work in their supported area. |
| Style of acting | Less is written and discussed in the surveyed publications | No consistent description regarding the mindset of pro/reactiveness could be found in the surveyed publications. |
| Main Focus | Less is written and discussed in the surveyed publications | This survey describes some publications having a balance towards the IT domain area whereas others see EA as the top node for the organizational balance between business and IT. |
Table 5. Research topics and summary of findings in paper 1.
This paper is summarized by the observation that limited research has been performed in the field of studying the Enterprise Architect profession but by studying the date of the surveyed publications, an increasing trend can be observed in a growing number of publications in present time.
Paper 2
Title: The Enterprise Architect profession: An empirical study
Authors: Terese Besker, Rolf Olsson, and Kalevi Pessi
Publication: Posted to ECIME 2015 on April 20, 2015.
The abstract of this paper reads:
The field of Enterprise Architecture (EA) is rapidly evolving why there is a need for increased professionalization of the discipline. Therefore, understanding the profession of the Enterprise Architects in enterprise transformation and development becomes important. However, there are very few empirically based studies which have reflected these professionals within their work domain of an every-day business. The purpose of this paper is to increase our understanding of how the Enterprise Architect’s practice their profession and in addition, to study how these professionals describe their occupation. Five different topics are of particular interest to portraying the occupation of the Enterprise Architect’s profession; the role, competence, power, style of acting and main focus. The study is based on interviews with Enterprise Architects in ten large Swedish organizations. In conclusion, the architect is considered as a proud individualist with an entrepreneurial vein who endeavor consideration, reflection and the guidance capability.
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Paper 2 concludes the current dimensions of the Enterprise Architect as profession, revealed from interviews with 10 Enterprise Architects in 10 large Swedish organizations considered from the analytical lens of the role, competence, power, style of acting and main focus from this occupation.
| Research topics | Aspect | Generally finding |
| Role | Expectations of the role and the base of the role description | This study confirms that the main purpose of the role of the Enterprise Architect is to understand and articulate the capabilities derived from EA to the organization as well as the capabilities required to implement the goal of the business. |
| Competence | Required skills and for what purpose | The single most important core competence for the Enterprise Architect’s profession is communication. The skill is considered essential to promote the EA as a strategic capability of the organization while certification is not reflected as essential. |
| Power | Scope of power and decision rights | The architect has a large degree of freedom and full mandate to make decisions concerning architectural issues but less power to implement their recommendations. |
| Style of Acting | Desired style of acting and actual outcomes of work. | Aiming for proactivity, organizational circumstance force the architect reactive. Considerable part of the working time consist of hands-on assignments for the architect, which for some organizations is encouraging, while more time could be spent on consideration and reflection in an effort to act more proactively. |
| Main Focus | Balance between IT and business. | A good balance between IT and business desirable. Meanwhile less evidence about IT and business fusion is obvious. |
Table 6. Research topics and summary of findings in paper 2.
Paper 2 is summarized by the observation that the Enterprise Architect’s main ambition at work is to promote EA where the architects uphold the communication skills as key to success in their missionary work to promote the EA’s strategic capability. The study interprets this as an indication of that the Enterprise Architect profession is still under development.