In a dynamic and unpredictable reality, either rigid structures or silo architectures are
appropriate ways to organize an agile organization. This thesis enlightens these relations
between Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) and an organization who acts in a varied and
constantly changing business environment. In other words, this thesis enlightens the question:
“How suitable is SOA to organize the enterprise who will meet a constantly changing and
heterogenic business environment”.
The thesis presents a model where an efficient organization must be agile to be able to act
quickly in the business environments with constantly changing desires, needs, expectations,
desires etc. According to the same model a Service Oriented Architecture organizes the
enterprise elements such as processes, resources, competences, responsibilities, information
systems etc. in a way which promotes fast and efficient acting towards the constantly
changing business environments.
According to our model an agile organization can meet a varied and constantly changing
business environment, if the following conditions are fulfilled:
· First, the core idea behind SOA should be given and evaluate in terms of architectural
agility and flexibility. This form of agility must constantly be in harmony with the
business environments varied and constantly changing character, i.e. “only business
agility can meet the business environments varied and constantly changing
character”.
· Secondly, the agile SOA expects to organize the enterprises autonomic elements in a
responsive, robust, innovative, adaptive, flexible and a resilient way.
· Lastly, an agile SOA presuppose different form of alignmens such as strategic
alignment, operative alignment, motivational alignment, infological alignment and
holistic alignment between the enterprises different elements. While business agility
demands fast and efficient acting, alignment presupposes some kind of planning and
coordination.
I.e. the agile SOA must keep (1) fast and local acting and planning of global goals, (2) hard
and soft aspects of alignment, (3) environment adaptation and innovation, (4) productivity and
flexibility under robust conditions, (5) rational, emotional and ethnic factors, (6) etc., in
harmony. This means that SOA´s core idea rather is to find the balance between contradictory
factors and to choose one side or an other of the contradictions.
Both creation and testing of the model has been based on a systematic approach where the
science represents relatively accepted levels of rigor and relevance. The first case deals with
the harmony between our model and the scientifically principle methods that has been used.
The second case deals with the harmony between the established theories and the practical
reality that has been studied. However, our study has focused more on model construc...
