Consultancy in business integration

Tetradian - integrative consultancy

The Tetradian model of enterprise architecture describes the organisation in terms of four distinct dimensions or domains:

• Behavioural / process - the facilities and capabilities of the organisation, and the actions and experiences of individual people
• Conceptual / knowledge - the shared knowledge, beliefs and systems of the organisation, and the knowledge and ideas of individual people
• Relational / human-issues - the shared relationships of the organisation within itself and with its outside stakeholders and other organisations, and the relationships and interactions of individual people
• Aspirational / purpose - the shared aspirations, culture, vision, values and purpose of the organisation, and of individual people

The integration of the organisation is the hidden ‘fifth dimension’ which links these four domains into a unified whole: the connector, translator, communicator, integrator of all four dimensions. We apply five key principles from systems/complexity theory - recursion, rotation, reflexion, reciprocation, resonance - to identify gaps, inefficiencies and unneeded special-cases within the whole, and to point to appropriate actions and options for each instance.

Start anywhere: A key benefit of the model is that we can start anywhere, at any point or function within the organisation, and build from there in any appropriate direction and to any level, top-down, bottom-up, or middle-outward. Given a suitable starting-point, integration propagates itself throughout the organisation, creating alignment without disruption. Starting from sales, for example, we’d explore how that supports, and is supported by, the organisation’s knowledge-systems, human-resource procedures, revenue models and current overall mission. Or we could review strategic choices, and explore how that impacts on the performance of divisions, teams and individuals. Practical improvements and new opportunities are highlighted at every stage of the process.

Using this integrative framework, our consultancy work covers a wide range of business-integration themes, including:

Integral / whole-of-enterprise

• organisational dynamics - the interaction of the organisation’s facilities and capabilities, relationships, knowledge and purpose, as an integrated whole

• organisational change and development - identifying key questions about your business environment, enabling you and your organisation to find your own answers which will lead to new business opportunities and new synergies within your organisation

• organisational relationships - the human and technical sides of knowledge and relationships, both within the business - individuals, teams, departments and the organisation as a whole - and external stakeholders, such as customers, suppliers, shareholders and the community

Behavioural / process - 'physical' dimension

• development of new skills and competencies
• physical environment and work-flows
• quality systems integration
• privacy management

Conceptual / knowledge - 'mental' dimension

• knowledge capture and propagation
• integration of information technology and non-IT 'narrative knowledge'
• creation of a ‘learning organisation’
• environmental scanning (business intelligence)
• organisational assumptions and mental models

Relational / human-issues - 'emotional' dimension

• relationships within the organisation
• relationships with suppliers, community and other stakeholders
• new sales, marketing and relationship techniques
• privacy, trust, public perception and other emotive issues

Aspirational / purpose - 'spiritual' dimension

• vision, values, purpose, mission
• strategy, foresight and long-term direction - envisioning preferred futures
• ethics, values, morals and their expression in everyday practice

We create purpose-built tools, techniques and processes to support the changes you need. We also act as system integrators, coordinating training and development where required.

For examples of our consultancy work, see the Example reports pages.

See also our working principles and values.

Education and training services