Sarah Philipson håller seminarium den 19 mars kl 16:00-18:00.
Plats: https://meet.google.com/zef-hzwb-ges
Diskutant: Per Flensburg
Ämnet beskrivs såhär:
Architectural Authority: Organizational Governance Through High-Level Functional Specification
By Sarah Philipson, Associate Professor Emerita, affiliated to Linnaeus University, Sweden, and University of Gävle, Sweden. Email: sarahscphilipson@mac.com
Abstract
Contemporary organizations increasingly rely on standardized enterprise systems and externally defined “best practices” to structure core processes. While prior research has examined technology enactment and the structural properties of work systems, comparatively little attention has been given to high-level functional specification as an organizational mechanism that embeds strategic intent, allocates transformation rights, and structures learning.
This paper introduces the concept of architectural authority to capture how firms govern the transformation logic of work systems through the specification of decision rights, algorithmic domains, and information flows. Building on a layered model distinguishing algorithmic, routinized interpretive, and learning-based transformation, the paper argues that sustained competitive distinctiveness depends on retaining internal authority over transformation logic, while selectively standardizing non-distinctive domains.
The framework integrates strategic perspectives on firm-specific productive knowledge, systemic activity fit, and dynamic reconfiguration, and is illustrated through cases of large-scale system redesign in industrial contexts. By foregrounding high-level functional specification, the paper clarifies how organizational systems can simultaneously support operational control and structured learning under contemporary pressures toward standardization.