Analysing Enterprise Models from a Fractal Organisation Perspective - Potentials and Limitations

Abstract

Abstract. The paper focuses on the use of the fractal paradigm in enterprise modeling. It investigates whether the properties of fractal organizations can be applied in business analysis and whether this results in useful outcomes and new insights. Based on an adaptation and operationalization of properties of fractal organizations, two real-world cases are analyzed using the adapted properties. The contributions of this paper are (1) to adapt fractal organisation properties for use in analysis of enterprise models, (2) to present practical examples from two cases showing the application of the fractal organisation properties, and (3) to identify potentials and limitations of using fractal organisation perspective in enterprise model analysis.

Untangling the Dynamic Structure of an Enterprise by Applying a Fractal Approach to Business Processes

“…The results are mixed, some fractals are found, but the suspicion that many others are missed remains, due to they may not be represented in the models analyzed. The approach in [14] radically differs from that of ours. We have a hypothesis of a particular fractal structure to be found when analyzing an enterprise, while [14] is trying to find any types of the fractal structures based on the generic characteristics of organizational fractals.…”

“…Analysis of enterprises based on the idea of fractality has been done by several researchers and practitioners, e.g., [4], [13], [14], [15]. Their approaches differ from that of ours, which comes as no surprise as there is no accepted definition of what fractals mean in respect to the enterprise world.…”

“…Another approach to analysis of enterprise models based on the idea of fractality can be found in Sandkuhl & Kirikova [14]. The idea is to find fractal structures in an enterprise model built when using a general modeling technique.…”

“…The idea is to find fractal structures in an enterprise model built when using a general modeling technique. [14] analyzes two such models in order to find fractals in it. The results are mixed, some fractals are found, but the suspicion that many others are missed remains, due to they may not be represented in the models analyzed.…”

Fractal Design: A New Path to Improve Ems Organizational Integration Assessment Process

“…The Fractal philosophy started to be used on organizational theory and systems' behavior more than two decades ago. In the literature exist a series of scientific articles and books that presents this interdisciplinary approach with the main purpose to improve organizational performance [11]. Table 1 presents some representative authors that develop an interdisciplinary approach based on Fractal principle regarding (a) organizational architecture, (b) organizational informational system, (c) quality management and control, (d) knowledge management and the decisional process, (e) organizational management systems architecture, (f) logistic management, (g) production systems development, and so on [12].…”