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Chapter 13
Organisational Architecture
and Learning in an InterProfessional Context:
ABSTRACT
Designing an effective organisational architecture for an undertaking can be considered essential to
its success. The way an organisation is designed or otherwise appears to its workers will affect the
extent to which those workers associated with it can be effective at their jobs. This chapter undertakes
a case study into an organisation that is based around contingent working and inter-professionalism.
Important things drawn from the study include the importance of the Cloud to distance working, such as
teleworking; the identity of the organisation and how workers relate to it; as well as what factors assist
on inhibit worker motivation. The study concludes that the organisational structure of the organisation
investigated where different firms perform different tasks, could be seen as best practice in supporting
inter-professional environments.
INTRODUCTION
The design of organisations has often followed
a hierarchical process, where there is a single
leader at the top from whom all others authority
descends. Such a mechanism is lacking in many
regards, particularly in inter-professional contexts.
Indeed, it has been argued that organisational
culture needs to change to accommodate changes
like agile development (Berger, 2007). The idea
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-8637-3.ch013
Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Organisational Architecture
and Organisational Learning
In the same way an architect can describe the entire
building using a blueprint or drawing, organisational architecture is a document that outlines the
holistic works (largely unseen) the organization
(Lee, Venter, & Bates, 2004) . According to most
authors writing about organisational architecture,
the concept is a metaphor, as traditional architecture determines the form of the institutional space
where life will be held. Organisational architecture
is often considered the bridge between the strategy
of an organisation and its workflow processes,
helping to convey a consensus about a unique
picture of the organisation (Coelho, 2010).
Organisational architectures are often thought
of in terms of hierarchies and management paths,
and the idea of businesses being learning communities with worker-led education is often an
alien construct (Plaskoff, 2003).
In France, the expression theory of organisational architecture has already begun to
progressively replace the expression of theory
of corporate governance (Bessire, 2005). In
developing new organisational architectures, it is
considered possible to adopt stakeholder-specific
values, which has particular relevance when organisational architecture is complex and the needs
of significant other stakeholder groups need to be
taken into account (Hudson, 2009). An important
aspect of organizational architecture is where the
organizational structure has been designed and
developed to facilitate the process of knowledge
creation (Durbin, 2011). This is probably no
more important than in organisations dependent
on contingent working, where it is often the case
that the workers that undertake tasks for it depend
on generating their own knowledge and practices
more so than depending on those working for the
organisation engaging them (Durbin, 2011).
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
276
METHODOLOGY
This study presents the views of those who work
for Crocels on the QPress project to attempt to
Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Participants
The study participants were in three groups
users selected to derive scenarios from for the
design of QPress, contingent workers to assist
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Table 1. Asking workers for their opinion the way Crocels does things, such as distance working, using
the Cloud, etc.
Worker
What is
happening in
your life?
What could
you do better
at Crocels or
because of
Crocels?
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
Methods
A Method in this context is a particular action (Suchman, 1987; Suchman, 2007), activity (Engestrm, 1999; Engestrm & Miettinen,
1999) or similar behaviour that can be seen to
be commonplace in a group of people, such as
an organisation. The investigation found that all
those considered said they were getting what they
wanted with working with Crocels, were content
with the reasons why Crocels had the practices
it does, and that working for Crocels will help
them achieve their life goals. Table 1 shows the
responses of the three people inspected as part
of the survey.
Table 1 shows that on the whole all staff are
satisfied with the various Methods used within
Crocels to achieve its aims. Slight differences
exist in the case of Jimmy, who found that the
methods used by Crocels had little impact on
what is happening in life. Equally in the case of
Tom, how the Methods used by Crocels can help
him improve his effectiveness in Crocels was also
not a satisfactory factor. Looking at the workers
explanations for this threw up some unexpected
results. Argies reason for indicating approval was:
Working with the company helps give me a focus
in life, such as meeting deadlines or knowing that
sometimes you cant just walk away from any bad
situation or task and hope it just gets done, with
focus it can be resolved or completed in a timely
manner. Toms reason for indicating approval
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Table 2. Asking workers their thoughts on the way they must do things at Crocels, like the monthly accounting period
Worker
What is happening
in your life?
What could
you do better at
Crocels or because
of Crocels?
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
Rules
In this context a rule refers to the values of a
particular culture that restrict or direct their activities (Bishop, 2011a). Rules at Crocels include
submitting in accounting periods running from
the Tuesday closest to the first Tuesday of the
month through to the money before the Tuesday
of the month. Table 2 shows the responses of the
participants when considering the effect the Rules
associated with Crocels have on them.
As can be seen from Table 2, all the workers
were getting what in terms of why Crocels had the
rules it did, the effect to which it helps them get
what they want from Crocels, as how Crocelss
rules allow them to get what they want from
Crocels. Differences came in terms of the effect
Crocelss rules had on what is happening in the
workers lives and the extend to which Crocels
can help them achieve things in the future.
In the case of Tom, he felt there was little about
the Rules he has to conform to at Crocels can help
him in his future goals. He said: [M]y current
main business work has no relevance to Crocels
and my academic career is really nonexistent at
this time in my life. This might imply that Tom
feels like an invisible employee, where he is
disengaged from the mission, feeling like he is
in a thankless job (Gostick & Elton, 2010) . On
the other hand, Argie, was satisfied with the rules
Amities
Amities in this context are the friendships and
other positive relationships that exist within an
organisation or culture (Bishop, 2011a). In the
case of Crocels, this includes opportunities for
building positive relationships and maintaining a
work-life balance to have out-of-work friendships.
As can be seen from Table 3, almost across
the board those inspected said they had positive
benefits in terms of the social relationships they
had with others within Crocels. The two exceptions
were Jimmy, in the case of what is happening in
their life, and Argie in terms of how they might
achieve future ambitions.
Enmities
Enmities in this context refer to those persons
who have an inhibiting effect on ones ability to
perform effectively in work, living or study, for
instance. At Crocels this includes its teleworking
policy, which means workers do not have to work
with people they might not like. Table 4 shows the
respective views of the Crocels workers selected
for participation.
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Table 3. Asking workers their views on opportunities for building positive relationships in Crocels, and
maintain a work-life balance to have out-of-work friendships
Worker
What is happening
in your life?
What could
you do better at
Crocels or because
of Crocels?
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
Table 4. A workers views on Crocelss teleworking policy means they dont have to work with people
they might not like
Worker
What is happening
in your life?
What could
you do better
at Crocels or
because of
Crocels?
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
Table 5. Beliefs you may be expected to adopt or conform to at Crocels, such as in the design of information systems, or in working to agreements.
Worker
What is happening
in your life?
What could
you do better
at Crocels or
because of
Crocels?
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Table 6. Whether the Crocels mission based around e-learning and promotion of social change and
world peace reflects or outlook or whether you have enough opportunity to take part in or improve
the mission.
Worker
What is happening
in your life?
What could
you do better
at Crocels or
because of
Crocels?
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
Memes
In the case of Crocels, memes include prescribed
ways to design information systems, and in working to agreements. Table 5 shows the responses
to the category from the participants.
As can be seen from Table 5, in terms of the
culture of Crocels that shape its belief system
takes, Argie was satisfied across the board. Tom
and Jimmy both indicated that the memes that exist
within Crocels do not impact on what is happening in their life, nor influence their achievement
of future goals. An important feature of this category is that Argie and Jimmy were getting out of
Crocels what they wanted, but Tom was not. The
constraint placed [by Crocels] is one of threat,
he said. comply or take the consequences, he
added. those of displeasure at least; abuse at
worst. This would suggest that the premise of
the sub-contracting model - delivery else you will
not get paid - is not one that Tom finds satisfying.
Jimmy on the other hand was completely satisfied
with what he was getting from Crocels. [T]his
is the real experience that we experienced while
working with.
Strategies
Strategies. In the case of Crocels, this includes its
mission based around e-learning and promotion
of social change and world peace where the
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Corporate Identities
It has been argued that learning is about developing an identity and becoming a practitioner rather
than the objective and prescribed approach used in
teaching (Brown & Duguid, 1991; Plaskoff, 2003).
This has been important to the development of
Crocels as a complex organisation on paper, but
intended a simple one to those associated with it,
through the creation of a single branding, albeit
of a number of years of reflective practice. As
282
Motivation
Every organisation needs a leader, whether or not
this person is part of the day-to-day operations of
the organisation, such as Richard Branson in Virgin
who takes of the role of a mentor (Branson, 2008),
Bill Gates, formerly of Microsoft, who was more
strategic (Gates, 1999), and Steve Jobs at Apple,
whom provided certainty in terms of expectations
(Young & Simon, 2006). Crocels is no different,
and the CEO does, and should, take on many of
these roles as and when required.
Poor CEOs provided few opportunities for learning, and through being insincere in their wish to
empower workers can often demotivate when it
is not put into practice (Argyris, 1999). But this is
not the case with Crocels, and as Argie said, the
contingent working and self-management approach
was suited to him. Working with the company helps
give me a focus in life, such as meeting deadlines or
knowing that sometimes you cant just walk away
from any bad situation or task and hope it just gets
done, with focus it can be resolved or completed
in a timely manner, he said.
Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
TOWARDS A NETWORK
OF PRACTICE APPROACH
TO ORGANISATIONAL
ARCHITECTURE AND LEARNING
In terms of promoting learning and cooperation,
one might think of the Crocels approach as being
both pedagogically and otherwise philosophically
constructivist, even though it might not appear
that way to those working within it. Constructivism
in a pedagogical sense states that learning is best
achieved through those who can do something then
working with those who cannot (Dixon-Krauss,
1996; Vygotsky, 1930). And in terms of a philosophy of science, it states that a persons view
of the world often seen through epistemology
and ontology is constructed by them through
their own senses and is different to others both
in terms of the words and concepts they use and
the meanings given to them (Derrida, 2001) .
Social theories of learning often try to challenge
the solidary or one-on-one competitive drive that
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
284
Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Table 7. Specific purposes for companies within the Crocels Community Media Group
Company Purpose
Staff Competences
Risk Management
Organisational Efficiency
Public liability
Property registration,
management and
enforcement
Legal knowledge
By focussing on developing on
the research licenced from the
other firm, it can take more risk
in developing products without
the costs other firms take on.
DISCUSSION
Designing an effective organisational architecture
for an undertaking can be considered essential to
its success. The way an organisation is designed
or otherwise appears to its workers will affect
the extent to which those workers associated with
it can be effective at their jobs. This chapter undertook a case study into an organisation called
Crocels - an organisation based around contingent
working and inter-professionalism. The worker
environment at Crocels supports a composite approach to working, where workers are their own
managers, and their work reflects what needs
doing as opposed to simply doing the same job
day-in-day out, and sitting on ones hands when a
job outside of ones job description needs doing.
Important things drawn from the study include
the importance of the Cloud to distance working,
such as teleworking; the identity of the organisation and how workers relate to it; as well as what
factors assist on inhibit worker motivation. The
285
Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
extent to which workers feel a part of an environment is essential to that organisations success,
and the study shows that those workers who
felt left behind by organisational change are the
least satisfied. The study also found that those
new members of Crocels were more enthusiastic about the change the older members were
exposed to, but which the newer members had
little awareness of.
The study concludes that the organisational
structure of the organisation investigated where
different firms perform different tasks, could be
seen as best practice in supporting inter-professional environments.
REFERENCES
Argyris, C. (1999). On organizational learning.
malden, MA (2nd ed.). Oxford, GB: Blackwell
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Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.
doi:10.4337/9781781008126.00010
Bishop, J. (2011a). The equatrics of intergenerational knowledge transformation in technocultures: Towards a model for enhancing information management in virtual worlds. (Unpublished
MScEcon). Aberystwyth, UK: Aberystwyth
University.
286
CoyleShapiro, J. A., & Kessler, I. (2002). Contingent and NonContingent working in local
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
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Organisational Architecture and Learning in an Inter-Professional Context
Peck, J., & Theodore, N. (2001). Contingent chicago: Restructuring the spaces of temporary labor.
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Learning and Knowledge Management, 161-184.
Salomon, G. (1979). Interaction of media,
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Sealey, R. (2010). Logistics workers and global
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Stanworth, J., & Stanworth, C. (1991). Telework:
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Tom
Argie
Jimmy
It does make it
better the way you
incorporate your self
within.
289
Table 9 shows the responses to interview questionnaires by the workers selected to take part in the study.
Table 9. Responses to questions on contingent working
Question
Tom
290
Argie
Jimmy
Table 9. Continued
Question
Tom
Argie
Jimmy
291