Tensions in Organizations Transforming to Agility (original) (raw)
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Sustaining Agility: Organizational Change, Factors and Theoretical Lenses
Lecture notes in business information processing, 2023
Agile organizations have to deal regularly with change and at the same time adapt to sustain agility. In this paper, we present an initial study to identify factors considered when changes need to be made to sustain agility. We used a novel data collection approach, critical decision method (CDM), and investigated three theoretical lenses, paradox theory, situation awareness and shared mental models, to explore the kind of practical consequences they help to uncover. This paper presents the findings of this initial study together with reflections on the data collection method and the three theoretical lenses. Three key dimensions relevant to sustaining agility emerge from the use of these theoretical lenses: teams vs organization; understanding the environment vs the impact of change internally; and understanding "now" vs looking into the future.
Organisations do not exist in isolation; they are influenced by other entities—such as competitors, customers, suppliers, and governments—and to succeed, they have to adopt appropriate operating models. When economies, politics, society, and technology are relatively stable, organisations are able to predict and control those influences by taking a planned management approach. Yet, now that organisations increasingly face turbulence, this requires a more adaptive or agile approach. There is a growing realisation that any organisation that cannot shift between these operating models will ultimately fail. In spite of this, however, over two-thirds of organisations who attempt this shift achieve only partial success or fail completely. This study takes a qualitative approach grounded in secondary sources to analyse the causes of this. The key finding is that this high rate of failure is caused by mismatching a prescriptive change management approach to the work of transforming an organisation to becoming more agile. This is partly due to certain agile methods having evolved into more regulated frameworks, with followers who enforce their version of ‘Agile’ as the only right approach; hence the ‘paradox’ hinted at in the title. Exploring the key concepts of contextual dynamics, degree of turbulence, operating models, and alternative approaches, this study explores the question: What change management approach would best suit an organisation undertaking an agile transformation? Finally this study goes on to develop a framework for adaptive change that seeks to answer the research question and proposes that this be trialled by practitioners.
Management Learning, 2022
Complexity, paradox, tension, and contradiction are increasingly seen as permeating all aspects of organizational life. Yet despite ongoing advancement, both our understanding of the nature of complexity and how to use this increased appreciation of it in practice are still developing. In this spirit, this article considers organizational agility and how to achieve it. Here, current discussions of organizational agility have failed to sufficiently address the fundamental tensions inherent in learning stemming from conflicting goals and incentives, evident in an ongoing discussion of theory-informed approaches for bringing about organizational agility. In this article, we claim that incorporating a dialectical perspective of learning would provide a means of understanding the successes and failures of practices aimed at bringing about agility. We consider the maligned dialectic, four fallacious ways of thinking that hinder agility, and the extent to which these can be overcome. As evidence, we present a case of Agile implementation in which one of the authors acted as a consultant and involving a large-scale social change. Considering this from a dialectical perspective, we discuss ways that dysfunction in achieving agility might be reduced through disruptive interventions, such as Agile
The Ascendency of the Paradigm Shift from Organizational Change Management to Change Agility
International Journal of Professional Business Review
Purpose: Change can be bewildering, alarming, exhausting and risky but at the same time efficacious, productive, beneficial, and salutary. In the current, ever evolving work dynamics, change is the only constant. So, managing change is very important when it comes to any organisation. It is an inevitable process for both individuals and organizations. The main purpose of this study is to understand and analyze the impact of organizational agility in change management process for a successful transition. Theoretical Framework: To keep pace with the demands of ever-changing technology, competition, and other socio-economic factors, it has become very important for organizations to act with agility when a change occurs. Moreover because of the current competitive trends, the main shift can be seen towards the agile paradigm. In our current expeditious work environment, it has become difficult to adopt and function with an existing change model with many steps. Design/Methodology/Ap...
Gearing Up Towards Organizational Agility? First, Let Go of the AutoPilot
Gearing Up Towards Organizational Agility? First, Let Go of the AutoPilot, 2023
This article delves into the nuances of Organizational Agility (OA), examining the adaptability of organizations through the lens of contextual agility and structural dynamics. Drawing insights from Henry Mintzberg's research and the principles of Dynamic Capabilities, it introduces the Super-Culture of Agility (SCA), comprising seven critical components: learning orientation (a), transparency (b), well-being (c), trust (d), equity (e), intrinsic motivation (f), and versatility (g). This paper presents the Agile Gearbox as an innovative Super-Structure of Agility (SSA), challenging conventional agile methods. It culminates in advocating the ROAD (Reaching Organizational Agility Deliberately) approach, a pathway towards a regenerative culture where agility is a natural outcome.
The Why, How and What of Agile Transformations
The Future of Software Quality Assurance, 2019
Agile can be compared to fitness. It means being fit enough as a team, department or organisation to be able to deal with all circumstances. Being able to react rapidly and nimbly when the situation demands it. And that is a very important skill in a time of digitalisation, disruption and rapid change. In this chapter, we explain the why, how and what of agile transformations, introduce a step-wise approach to undertake such transformations and discuss the most common pitfalls observed in practice.
Strategy-Focused Agile Transformation: A Case Study
Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming – Workshops, 2020
Strategic agility enables an organisation to sense and seize opportunities, manage uncertainty and adapt to changes. This paper presents one case study of a traditional charitable organisation taking a strategy-focused approach to agile transformation. Interview data was collected over a 13-month period through interviews at different stages and with different members of the transformation team and Heads of Department. This case study illustrates the challenges faced in such a transformation, and shows that strategic agility requires different time horizons to co-exist: a future vision, a medium term set of objectives and a short term performance monitoring perspective.
Enterprise Agility: A Balancing Act - A Local Government Case Study
Agile Processes in Software Engineering and Extreme Programming, 2019
Austerity and financial constraints have been threatening the public sector in the UK for a number of years. Foreseeing the threat of continued budget cuts, and addressing the situation many local councils face, requires internal transformations for financial stability without losing the key focus on public service. Agile transformations have been undertaken by organisations wanting to learn from the software development community and bringing agile principles into the wider organisation. This paper describes and analyses an ongoing behaviour-led transformation in a district council in the UK. It presents the results of the analysis of 19 interviews with internal stakeholders at the council, of observations of meetings among senior and middle management in a five-month period. The paper explores the successes and the challenges encountered towards the end of the transformation process and reflects on balancing acts to address the challenges, between: disruption and business as usual, empowerment and goal setting, autonomy and processes and procedures, and behaviours and skills. Based on our findings, we suggest that behaviours on their own cannot guarantee a sustained agile culture, and that this is equally important for enterprise agility and for large-scale agile software development transformations.
Responding to Change: Agile-in-the-large, Approaches and Their Consequences
Lecture Notes in Business Information Processing, 2016
Empirical studies covering Agility at the organisational scale are few in number. Organisations seeking clarity about the efficacy of any approach to business Agility must turn to the commercial literature for information and guidance. As a whole, research into Agile Software Development suffers from a lack of rigour and theoretical grounding, a problem also evident in Information Systems research in general. These issues have led to recent calls for a clear research agenda for scaling Agility and for the quality of contributions to be addressed. Diffusions research has a long history in a wide range of domains and provides a clear theoretical framework for this qualitative PhD study.