Positioning the Normalized Systems Theory in a Design Theory Framework

Several frameworks have been proposed to define design science and design theory. For this reason, positioning a research stream within both paradigms has become a difficult exercise. In this paper, the Normalized Systems (NS) theory is positioned within design science and design theory, in particular the design theory framework formulated by Gregor & Jones (2007). Normalized Systems theory has been proposed as a way to cope with the ever increasingly agile environment to which organizations and their software applications need to adapt. The results of positioning NS within the presented framework for design theories show that NS almost fully incorporates all components of the design theory anatomy. The application of NS theory to other fields is also discussed. By positioning Normalized System theory within design science and design theory, we also believe to contribute to the definition of both fields in this paper.