Infusing an Architectural Framework with Neo-Institutional Theory: Reports from Recent Change Management Initiatives within the Swedish Public Administration

Abstract

Swedish public administration is currently undergoing radical change towards dynamic models of governance relying on a high level of inter-governmental collaboration. This high level of interoperability between governmental organizations and the subsequent quality of service for citizens and companies depending on the services provided by government is summarized in the vision-statement of the 24-hour government (24-timmarsmyndigheten). According to the primary actor‘s (Statskontoret) recommendation, this vision is to be realized through the application of web-service based technology, resulting in a Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The purpose of this paper is to investigate a possible infusion of a previously developed architectural framework for change management with neo-institutional theory. The results show that neo-institutional theory could be used to infuse the architectural framework with aspects regarding primarily history and legitimacy, but also with an overall contradictory perception of change. Given the vast differences in fundamental assumptions underlying the architectural framework and neo-institutional theory, the paper concludes that these results are however somewhat problematic.