API integration and organisational agility outcomes in digital music platforms: A qualitative case study

Organisations deploy digital platforms to maximise value and transform their businesses. The success of most platforms is attributed to Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), the protocols enabling different software to communicate with each other. However, previous research on APIs has predominantly focused on the technical dimensions, such as design, and unintentionally neglected other social areas, such as organisational outcomes. This study seeks to advance organisational API research by adopting an agility perspective to explore the agility outcomes after API integration. Through rich qualitative data from a music digital firm, the findings revealed four primary agility outcomes: customer agility in the form of swift customer feedback, operational agility in the form of improved business process and delay reduction, partner agility in the form of embracing flexibility in processes and structures and expanding their ecosystem and decision agility in the form of fast decision making. A model showing the interplay and interdependencies of the agility outcomes was developed and provided depth and clarity to the findings. This study extends the literature by establishing how API integration influences organisational agility under conditions such as possessing capabilities and managing tensions during the integration process.

What factors affect firm performance in the hotel industry post-Covid-19 pandemic? Examining the impacts of big data analytics capability, organizational agility and innovation

The Covid-19 pandemic has had an adverse effect on the global economy, particularly the hotel industry. Industry players have turned to big data to recover and improve their business performance. This paper aims to identify the key resources to develop and build big data analytics capabilities (BDAC). Drawing upon the knowledge-based and dynamic capability views, this research also examines the interplay among BDAC, organizational agility, marketing and organizational innovations, and firm performance in the hotel industry. The partial least square structural equation modeling is used for the data analysis, while quota sampling is used for the sampling design. Based on the statistical data analysis from 115 star-rated hotels in Malaysia, BDAC positively impacts organizational agility, marketing and organizational innovations, and firm performance. Likewise, organizational agility positively impacts firm performance, marketing and organizational innovations. The empirical findings provide researchers and industry players with meaningful insights for improving firm performance in the hotel industry using big data.

Understanding the role of organizational agility in the context of digital transformation: an integrative literature review

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to clarify the conceptual confusion in the extant literature about organizational agility and explore its role in different relationships in the context of digital transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

An integrative review of the relevant literature on agility was conducted. The literature on organizational agility and other variables in recent quantitative research was also examined to explore its role in different relationships.

Findings

Organizational agility is the ability to quickly respond and proactively embrace unanticipated changes in dynamic environments through effective resource reconfiguration and rapid decision-making. The role of organizational agility in achieving digital transformation has not been addressed from a holistic conceptual perspective. This paper addresses that gap and proposes that organizational agility is the underlying mechanism for an organization to fully use and engage its workforce, operation and network in the process of digital transformation.

Research limitations/implications

This research is an integrative review of the existing literature on the concept of agility and its relationships. The next phase of research needed for theory building will be the operationalization of constructs.

Practical implications

Organizations should strive to strategically develop both the reactivity and proactivity sides of organizational agility in achieving digital transformation that involves fundamental changes at different levels of the organization.

Originality

This paper explores the role of organizational agility in digital transformation through an integrative review of the relevant literature.

The impact of identified agility components on project success-ICT industry perspective

CONTEXT

The complexity of modern economic processes, along with the pressure from competition, the increasing client expectations and the need to introduce changes in the course of project implementation have led to a great interest in agile management methods. Therefore, the answer the question whether the implementation of an agile approach to project management can contribute to the project success is gaining relevance in a changing and inconsistent environment.

OBJECTIVE

This study attempts to answer the question which aspects of agility and in what manner can influence the final outcome of project work? The underlying objective of the study was to identify the conditions and success factors of implemented projects.

METHOD

This paper presents the results of a survey conducted in companies in ICT sector. For this purpose, a number of reports and materials provided by organisations and associations dealing with project management issues, in particular ICT projects, were analysed, complemented with data obtained from statistical offices and financial institutions. For the purposes of the own study, an original questionnaire was developed to identify critical factors for project success, in particular the defined agile components.

RESULTS

On the basis of the conducted survey it can be concluded that the presence and high level agility is conducive to successful projects. It is the high level of agility supporting project activities that is essential for success. Of no less importance are the people and interactions between them, as well as self-organising teams. They are crucial for a positive evaluation of the project activities.

CONCLUSIONS

Identification of the relationship between selected agility components and project success components allowed recommendations for solutions and attitudes that increase the chances of success in project management to be formulated. The synergy of individual agile components applied that increases the chances for project success.

Conceptualizing Information Systems Development as an Organizational Routine

Research acknowledges that information systems development (ISD) teams experiment with, overlook, or adapt the methods that they purportedly use. Given this, one stream of research adopts a perspective focused on prescriptions based on the idea of a method. Another stream of research adopts a perspective anchored in the view that human agency plays a critical role in the unfolding of ISD projects. We suggest that our understanding of ISD can be enriched by mobilizing both perspectives. Specifically, we propose a conceptualization of ISD as an organizational routine based on the ontology developed by Feldman and Pentland. We build on the elements of this ontology- (1) the idea of a routine (the ostensive aspect) and (2) its enactment (the performative aspect) as the two mutually constitutive aspects of organizational routines; and (3) the role of artifacts as mediators of the relationship between actors and the ostensive and performative aspects of organizational routines - to develop theoretical arguments explaining the benefits of applying this ontology to the ISD phenomenon. Extending the contextual boundaries of Feldman and Pentland's ontology, we propose research avenues that have the potential to contribute to our understanding of this core phenomenon of the IS discipline.

The impact of knowledge risk management on sustainability

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of knowledge risk management (KRM) on organizational sustainability and the role of innovativeness and agility in this relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

The study presents the results of a quantitative survey performed among 179 professionals from knowledge-intensive organizations dealing with knowledge risks and their management in organizations. Data included in this study are from both private and public organizations located all over the world and were collected through an online survey.

Findings

The results have confirmed that innovativeness and agility positively impact the sustainability of organizations; agility also positively impacts organizational innovativeness. The partial influence of KRM on both innovativeness and agility of organizations has been confirmed as well.

Research limitations/implications

The paper findings contribute in different ways to the ongoing debates in the literature. First, they contribute to the general study of risk management by showing empirically its role in organizations in the given case of organizational sustainability. Second, by emphasizing the risks related to knowledge, this study contributes to emerging efforts highlighting the particular role of knowledge for sustained organizational development. Third, by linking KRM and organizational sustainability, this paper contributes empirically to building knowledge in this very recent field of study. This understanding is also useful for future development in the field of KM as a whole.

Originality/value

The paper lays the ground for both a deeper and more nuanced understanding of knowledge risks in organizations in general and regarding sustainability in particular. As such, the paper offers new food for thought for researchers dealing with the topics of knowledge risks, knowledge management and organizational risk management in general.

Time is of the essence: a systematic literature review of temporality in information systems development research

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify, classify and analyse temporality in information systems development (ISD) literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors address the temporality and ISD research gap by using a framework – which classifies time into three categories: conceptions of time, mapping activities to time and actors relating to time. The authors conduct a systematic literature review which investigates time in ISD within the Senior Scholars' Basket, Information Technology & People (IT&P), and top two information systems conferences over the past 20 years. The search strategy resulted in 9,850 studies of which 47 were identified as primary papers.

Findings

The results reveal that ISD research is ill equipped for contemporary thinking around time. This systematic literature review (SLR) contributes to ISD by finding the following gaps in the literature: (1) clock time is dominant and all other types of time are under-researched; (2) contributions to mapping activities to time is lacking and existing studies focus on single ISD projects rather multiple complex ISD projects; (3) research on actors relating to time is lacking; (4) existing ISD studies which contribute to temporal characteristics are fragmented and lack integration with other categories of time and (5) ISD methodology papers lack contributions to temporal characteristics and fail to acknowledge and contribute to time as a multifaceted interrelated concept.

Originality/value

This work has developed the first SLR on temporality in ISD. This study provides a starting point for ISD researchers and ISD practitioners to test commonly held temporal assumptions of ISD researchers and practitioners.

Dysfunctional Agile–Stage-Gate Hybrid Development: Keeping Up Appearances

Increasingly, the development of today’s “smart” products requires the integration of both software and hardware in embedded systems. To develop these, hardware firms typically enlist the expertise of software development firms to offer integrated solutions. While hardware firms often work according to a plan-driven approach, software development firms draw on Agile development methods. Interestingly, empirically little is known about the implications and consequences of working according to contrasting development methods in a collaborative project. In response to this research gap, we conducted a process study of a collaborative development project involving a software firm and a hardware firm, within which the two firms worked according to contrasting development methods. We found that the software firm was gradually compelled to forgo its Agile method, creating a role conflict in terms of its way of working. As such, our results contribute to the literature on Agile–Stage-Gate hybrids by demonstrating how, in collaborative embedded systems development, hybridization of development methods may cause projects to fail. Our main practical implication entails the introduction of the “sequential Agile approach.”

Relationships between Agile Work Practices and Occupational Well-Being: The Role of Job Demands and Resources

Agile work practices have been adopted by most software development organizations and by many large organizations from other industries. The introduction of agile work practices is assumed to positively affect work characteristics and, in turn, well-being of employees. So far, there is only very little and methodologically limited empirical research on this topic. Based on job demands–resources theory, we developed and tested a model on the direct and indirect relationships between agile work practices, job demands and resources, and occupational well-being. Data were provided by 260 employees working in agile development teams who participated in two surveys that were approximately six weeks apart. Results of structural equation modeling provided support for the hypothesized model, suggesting that agile work practices have a negative indirect effect on emotional fatigue through lower job demands. At the same time, agile work practices also had a positive indirect effect on emotional engagement through higher job resources. Our research contributes to the literature by integrating agile work practices with job demands–resources theory, bridging an important gap between research and practice. Overall, the findings suggest that the implementation of agile work practices may have a positive impact on occupational well-being by improving employees’ perceptions of key work characteristics.

Examining the Critical Success Factors in IT Projects

Many companies experience IT project failures in relatively new areas such as Big Data, Data Science, Enterprise Systems, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, IT security, and IoT. Because of inadequate research in identifying critical success factors for these projects, we conducted a Delphi study employing separate panels for each of two kinds of project implementations, those using a predictive lifecycle approach and those using an adaptive lifecycle approach. We found common critical success factors: user/client involvement, senior management support, effective monitoring and control, effective communication and feedback, good change and configuration management, having a competent project manager, proper project leadership, and excellent vendor performance. Both predictive and adaptive lifecycle IT projects had certain unique critical success factors. The findings provide guidance to IT Project Managers.

Knowledge Retention Challenges in Information Systems Development Teams

Information systems development (ISD) is an integral part of organizational agility in today’s competitive business environment. High turnover, agile ways of working, and fluid work environments pose challenges for ISD. This paper explores the erosion of knowledge retention (KR) arising from ISD staff churn in a New Zealand-based financial organization in the aftermath of a major earthquake. In this exploratory study, the authors develop a causal model of KR in the ISD context, which articulates the challenges to and consequences of ineffective KR at the routine and exiting stages of KR. The model identifies four challenges—coordination complexity, insufficient resources for knowledge retention, insufficient attention to knowledge retention, and slow staff replacement and handover processes—that can affect the loss of ISD knowledge when routine and exiting KR fall into disarray. This study also reveals that role stress and reduced ISD agility reinforce the cycle of knowledge loss.

Adler P. Alternative Futures for the Digital Transformation: A Macro-Level Schumpeterian Perspective

This paper develops and deploys a theoretical framework for assessing the prospects of a cluster of technologies driving what is often called the digital transformation. There is considerable uncertainty regarding this transformation’s future trajectory, and to understand and bound that uncertainty, we build on Schumpeter’s macro-level theory of economy-wide, technological revolutions and on the work of several scholars who have extended that theory. In this perspective, such revolutions’ trajectories are shaped primarily by the interaction of changes within and between three spheres—technology, organization, and public policy. We enrich this account by identifying the critical problems and the collective choices among competing solutions to those problems that together shape the trajectory of each revolution. We argue that the digital transformation represents a new phase in the wider arc of the information and communication technology revolution—a phase promising much wider deployment—and that the trajectory of this deployment depends on collective choices to be made in the organization and public policy spheres. Combining in a 2 × 2 matrix the two main alternative solutions on offer in each of these two spheres, we identify four scenarios for the future trajectory of the digital transformation: digital authoritarianism, digital oligarchy, digital localism, and digital democracy. We discuss how these scenarios can help us trace and understand the future trajectory of the digital transformation.

Agility and Resilience in Information Systems Research

This research analyzes how the concepts of agility and resilience are treated in IS literature. While agility has been an object of study in IS research for many decades, resilience is a fairly new topic. Both are gaining strategic importance in a firm’s sustainability and growth, especially given the remarkable changes in the landscape that the firm operates in. It is thus important to understand what agility and resilience mean in IS research. Our paper is a first attempt to study IS literature and provide a thematic analysis of facets of each concept. In doing so, we identify aspects that are common to both agility and resilience and those that are unique to each. The results of this study can be used for an empirical examination of the two constructs and a validation of how they can be measured in firms. IS researchers and industrial practitioners can benefit from a deeper understanding of agility and resilience.

How to make intelligent automation projects agile? Identification of success factors and an assessment approach

Purpose

Organizations are fast adopting new technologies such as automation, analytics and artificial intelligence, collectively called intelligent automation, to drive digital transformation. When adopting intelligent automation, there is a need to understand the success factors of these new technologies and adapt agile software development (ASD) practices to meet customer expectations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the success factors of intelligent automation and create a framework for managers and practitioners to meet dynamic business demands. Total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) framework is a suitable approach to integrate quantitative measurement with qualitative semi-structured interviews capturing the context of the individual organization environment.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper identified agility factors and their interrelationships using a TISM framework. TISM results were validated using a one-tailed t-test to confirm the interrelationships between factors. Furthermore, the agility index of a case project organization was assessed using a graph-theoretic approach (GTA) to identify both the triggering factors for agility success and improvement proposals.

Findings

Results showed that leadership vision, organization structure and program methodology were driving factors. The TISM model was validated statistically and the agility index of the intelligent automation case project organization was calculated to be79.5%. Here, a GTA was applied and the triggering factors for improvement of the agility index were identified.

Research limitations/implications

The limitations of the study are described along with the opportunities for future research as the field evolves through the rapid innovation of technology and products.

Practical implications

The increasing role of digital transformation in enterprise strategy and operations requires practitioners to understand how ASD practices must be planned, measured and/or improved over time through the implementation of automation, analytics and artificial intelligence programs. The TISM digraph provides a framework of hierarchical structure to organize the influencing factors, which assists in achieving organizational goals. This study highlights the driving factors which contribute to the success of intelligent automation projects and project organizations.

Originality/value

This is a first attempt to analyze the interrelationships among agility factors in intelligent automation projects (IAP) using TISM and the assessment of the agility index of a case IAP organization using a GTA.

Making sense of continuous development of digital infrastructures

Continuous development extends the agile approach and focuses on bringing valuable services to users with the aim of achieving a continuous flow of learning and development in short cycles. The objective of this work is to theorize the idea of continuous development in the context of digital infrastructure evolution and explore the organizational interactions underlying continuous development. By drawing on literature on digital infrastructure theory and continuous development as it has emerged as an idea from the DevOps thinking expanded from agile, we outline main characteristics of continuous development and propose a theoretical definition of continuous development in organizational contexts. Then, in answering our research question “which patterns of interactions can be identified in the continuous development of digital infrastructures?”, we conducted a longitudinal case study at a Norwegian grid company and explored how a specific digital infrastructure evolved through continuous development. We identified generic interaction patterns with two cycles of sense-giving and sense-making between organizational actors, enabling the continuous development of the digital infrastructure. Our findings and model of interaction patterns offer a nuanced perspective on both digital infrastructure evolution and established views of sense-making and sense-giving mechanisms, as well as new ways to think about digitalization in incumbent firms.

Internet of Things and Other E-Solutions in Supply Chain Management May Generate Threats in the Energy Sector—The Quest for Preventive Measures

Energy firms are the beneficiaries and initiators of innovation, and energy investments are a crucial area of business activity that is specially protected in any country. This is no wonder, as energy security is the basis for the functioning of states and economies. The Internet of Things and Big Data create both new challenges and new threats. This study aimed to identify the potential threats and determine preventive measures, as well as to establish the agile principles related to energy firms’ logistics. The method of the narrative summary in combination with the literature searching method was used. Two conclusions emerged: first, research serves to develop the discipline of management science; second, the identification of risks associated with innovation serves practitioners. In addition, the study defined further research directions.

Eight Building Blocks for Managing Digital Transformation

Organizations across all sectors and industries are facing the need for structural change towards a digital future. Rapid developments in digital technologies and their easy accessibility are changing organizations’ competitive environment and require the design and implementation of a sustainable digital transformation. To master this organizational task in a targeted manner and align it strategically, organizations must carry out a comprehensive analysis of the digital transformation fields of action. The developed integrated framework for digital transformation is structured into eight building blocks and associated action items, and includes a systematic literature analysis. It serves as a valuable framework and guideline on digital change for organizations.

The three dimensions of strategic flexibility

Purpose

Strategic flexibility is a widely discussed concept. Yet discussions remained of qualitative nature or addressed only specific aspects quantitatively underlying the concept. The purpose of this paper is to develop a conceptual model identifying key factors determining strategic flexibility. Once quantified, the model provides firms a profile of each strategic option towards the company vision.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper reviews existing and synthesises prior contributions into a conceptual model of strategic flexibility. Based on semi-structured interviews and value mapping, the model is applied using three case studies from the automotive industry.

Findings

A total of three main findings were made. First, the concept of strategic flexibility has a simple logic that aligns itself to a variety of automotive companies and visions. However, underlying this remit is an interplay of variables. Previous studies remain fragmented and have only addressed a subset of variables. Second, these variables can be grouped into three dimensions of strategic flexibility – product, process and customer – to convey a holistic understanding of strategic flexibility and its key determinants. Third, due to the uncertainty and complexity involved, depending on the firm and industry characteristics, there cannot be a one-fits-all configuration of the strategic flexibility conceptualisation.

Research limitations/implications

A variety of variables requires consideration to offer a balanced view of all three dimensions of strategic flexibility. Hence, the case studies remain at a necessarily high level.

Practical implications

The paper offers guidance for management on how to align their firm strategy to product and process contingency factors to satisfy customer needs in line with their company vision.

Originality/value

The paper aims to elevate a discussion that previously remained fragmented and mainly descriptive.

Interruptions in Agile Software Development Teams

Agile approaches help software development project teams to better meet user needs and ensure flexibility in uncertain environments. But using agile approaches invites changes to the project and increases interactions between team members, which both cause interruptions in the workplace. While interruptions can help in task completion and increase process flexibility, they can also hinder employee productivity. We conducted an exploratory study of four agile software development teams. Our analysis identified (1) programming-related work impediments, (2) interaction-related interruptions, and (3) interruptions imposed by the external environment, which were managed by improved information retrieval and reduced team dependencies.

Understanding business analytics continuance in agile information system development projects: an expectation-confirmation perspective

Purpose

This paper seeks to examine how expectations from business analytics (BA) by members of agile information systems development (ISD) teams affect their perceptions and continuous use of BA in ISD projects.

Design/methodology/approach

Data was collected from 153 respondents working in agile ISD projects and analysed using partial least squares structural equation modelling techniques (PLS-SEM).

Findings

Perceived usefulness and technological compatibility are the most salient factors that affect BA continuance intention in agile ISD projects. The proposed model explains 48.4% of the variance for BA continuance intention, 50.6% of the variance in satisfaction, 36.7% of the variance in perceived usefulness and 31.9% of the variance in technological compatibility.

Research limitations/implications

First, this study advances understanding of the factors that affect the continuous use of BA in agile ISD projects; second, it contextualizes the expectation-confirmation model by integrating technological compatibility in the context of agile ISD projects.

Originality/value

This is the first study to investigate BA continuance intention from an employee perspective in the context of agile ISD projects.

Ambidexterity in Agile software development: a conceptual paper

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to apply the concept of organizational ambidexterity as a conceptual lens to increase the understanding of tensions between exploitation (continuity) and exploration (change) in Agile software development (ASD) project teams, and particularly the balancing (ambidextrous) strategies utilized.

Design/methodology/approach

A conceptual framework was constructed from interdisciplinary sources on ambidexterity. A literature review of publications on ambidexterity in ASD was then performed, and the results from the selected publications were classified according to an extension of the conceptual framework.

Findings

Contextual ambidexterity in ASD is affected by the four basic coherent concepts: time, task, team and transition. The study found that most ambidextrous factors and strategies were task and team-related. In addition, a mixture of hard (performance) strategies and soft (social) strategies is needed in order for people/teams to (be able to) become ambidextrous.

Practical implications

To provide a better understanding of ASD, it is important to identify a broader set of ambidextrous factors and strategies that can impact ASD project teams. The expanded conceptual framework can serve as a basis for future empirical research and provide insights to practitioners on how to strengthen ambidexterity in ASD projects.

Originality/value

The contribution is of great importance for ASD research and practice, as ASD methods are a popular method for managing projects within ASD and in other nonsoftware organizations. In addition, as more and more organizations struggle to deal with rapidly changing environments, interest in the phenomena of paradoxical tensions and the strategy (ambidexterity) to deal with these tensions increase.

The role of IS in the covid-19 pandemic: A liquid-modern perspective

History shows that pandemics can catalyse enormous change, fundamentally transforming the way people make sense of the world. Technologies can also be catalysts of change. While digital technologies are playing a vital role in tackling the covid-19 pandemic, the pandemic also presents a significant opportunity for digital technologies. Some experts believe the pandemic may permanently normalise the comprehensive societal use of digital technologies. This article casts a critical eye over the potential implications of this opportunity in the context of information systems (IS) research and development. We introduce and outline selected principles of Zygmunt Bauman's theory of liquid modernity. We then apply the liquid-modern principles to illustrative examples drawn from the covid-19 literature by focussing on three areas of established information systems interest: control, big data and information privacy. We show that traditional conceptualisations of scientific and societal order and control need to be reassessed; that big data alone cannot order clear and safe paths out of the current crisis and that information privacy regulations are irrelevant when undermined or circumvented by public and private actors. We conclude by making four recommendations for IS pandemic researchers and five practical recommendations in the context of the pandemic.

The Use of Agile Methods in Logistics Start-ups: An Explorative Multiple Case Study

An increasing number of start-ups, which create disruptive products, services, or platforms, is appearing within the logistics industry. Many of these start-ups are based on new technological innovations made possible by digitization. Compared with many of the start-ups founded during the “dotcom bubble”, current logistics start-ups seem to be more successful in creating lasting customer value. This paper aims to determine if the use of agile approaches, which have increased in importance in recent years, increases entrepreneurial success by means of the ability to better deal with the rapidly changing customer expectations, business model insecurities, and complex technological decisions. Due to the limited extent of empirical studies and the availability of only a few publications, an explorative multiple case study analysis has been executed to understand usage of agile approaches by German logistics start-ups and their interrelation with corporate performance. The main empirical foundation of the cases analyzed is a double-digit number of expert interviews conducted with company founders and executive managers. The findings of the multiple case study analysis demonstrate how logistics start-ups apply agile practices to deal with a high level of market insecurity and reveal how their application enhances company success. Future research should deepen these findings by analyzing more logistics start-ups and employees with different, non-management roles. It would especially be interesting to study direct competitors of those logistics start-ups interviewed to enable an analysis of discriminance and to deduce the best practices in use. The originality of the multiple case study presented lies in its contribution to the widely unexplored field of agility in logistics start-ups and the noteworthy opinions of the high-ranking interviewees.

Leading digital transformation through an Agile Marketing Capability: the case of Spotahome

Scholars and practitioners both acknowledge that agility is crucial in leading a digital transformation effort. However, empirical and theoretical research on agile capabilities in an international digital marketing setting is severely lacking. Drawing on qualitative research design methods, this exploratory single-case study involving the international digital firm Spotahome provides an empirical and theoretical investigation of a new marketing capability we define as an Agile Marketing Capability. We identify its key theoretical dimensions and provide empirical guidelines to facilitate its implementation. This study has important implications for international marketing managers, suggesting what strategic actions are needed to deploy agile practices in their marketing strategies and processes from a practical perspective, in the context of an Agile Marketing Capability.

Framework Study for Agile Software Development Via Scrum and Kanban

This paper provides a systematic comparison between two well-known Agile methodologies: Scrum, which is a framework of doing projects by allocating tasks into small stages called sprints, and Kanban, which is a scheduling system to manage the flow of work by means of visual signals. In this regard, both methodologies were reviewed to explore similarities and differences between them. Then, a focus group survey was performed to specify the preferable methodology for product development according to various parameters in the project environment including project complexity, level of uncertainty, and work size with consideration of output factors like quality, productivity, and delivery. Results show the flexibility of both methodologies in approaching Agile objectives, where Scrum emphasizes on the corporation of the customer and development teams with a focus on particular skills such as planning, organization, presentation, and reviewing which makes it ideal for new and complex projects where a regular involvement of the customer is required, whereas Kanban is more operative in continuous-flow environments with a steady approach toward a system improvement.

Investigating the “Socio” in Socio-Technical Development: The Case for Psychological Safety in Agile Information Systems Development

One constitutional part of project management is the management of teams, their actions, and their social mechanisms. Team processes, behavior, and agile practices used by team members play important parts in the success of projects. To reap benefits from these highly interactive and social-focused practices, team members need to feel safe to speak freely. We propose a model that conceptualizes the effects of psychological safety and (social) agile practices on team performance. The proposed model combines recent research from organizational psychology and agile information systems development to provide a better understanding of the team-level effects. Our findings from three case studies conducted in two large insurance companies and one software development company suggest that social agile practices positively influence psychological safety, transparency, communication, and ultimately productivity.

Assessment of Supply Chain Agility to Foster Sustainability: Fuzzy-DSS for a Saudi Manufacturing Organization

Supply chain agility and sustainability is an essential element for the long-term survival and success of a manufacturing organization. Agility is an organization’s ability to respond rapidly to customers’ dynamic demands and volatile market changes. In a dynamic business environment, manufacturing firms demand agility to be evaluated to support any alarming decision. Sustainability is an aspect to sustain collaboration, value creation, and survival of firms under a dynamic competitive business scenario. Agility is a capability that drives competitiveness to foster sustainability aspects. The purpose of this article is to consider and evaluate the supply chain behavior within the context of Saudi enterprises. The efficacy and relevance of this model were explored through a case study conducted in a Saudi dairy manufacturing corporation. Owing to the complexity and a large number of calculations that are required for evaluating the agility of the supply chain, a decision support system was proposed as a tool to assess the supply chain and identifying barriers to a strategic sustainable solution for a specific organizational target. The decision support system is extensive as it contains six separate agility enablers and ninety-three agility attributes for the supply chain. The assessment was carried out using a fuzzy multi-criteria method. It combines the performance rating and importance weight of each agile supply chain-enabler-attribute. To achieve and sustain local and global success, the case organization strove to become a major local and global manufacturer to satisfy its customers, reduce its time to market, lower its total ownership costs, and boost its overall competitiveness through improving its agility across supply chain activities to foster sustainability for a manufacturing organization located in Saudi Arabia.

How Enterprises Adopt Agile Forms of Organizational Design

The question of how to increase speed and flexibility in times of digital disruption is essential to almost any company. While previous research mainly addresses agility in the context of information systems development, as form for organizing startups or "born digital" companies, little knowledge exists about the adoption of agile practices and structures at established enterprises. With an exploratory study of fifteen global cases, we aim at examining how established enterprises adopt and scale agile forms of organizational design. We found that (1) agile forms of organizational design are currently adopted by enterprises at large scale, (2) agile forms of organizational design are adopted not only by IT, but successively also by business units and in contexts outside information systems development, and (3) while Spotify's organization serves as a widespread template for a fully agile unit, enterprises adapt and fine-tune this template according to their needs and scale. We identified three additional models for fully agile forms of organizational design where a fully agile unit with cross-product support is the most frequently observed model.

Large-Scale Agile Transformation: A Case Study of Transforming Business, Development and Operations

Today, product development organizations are adopting agile methods in units outside the software development unit, such as in sales, market, legal, operations working with the customer. This broader adoption of agile methods has been labeled large-scale agile transformation and is considered a particular type of organizational change, originating in the software development units. So far, there is little research-based advice on conducting such transformations. Aiming to contribute towards providing relevant research advice on large-scale agile transformation, we apply a research-based framework for evaluating organizational agility on a product development program in a maritime service provider organization. We found that doing a large-scale agile transformation involves many significant challenges, such as having a shared understanding of the problem, getting access to users, and getting commitment to change that needs to be done. In order to overcome such challenges, we discuss the need for a holistic and integrated approach to agile transformation involving all the units linked to software development.

It’s Not Easy Being Agile: Unpacking Paradoxes in Agile Environments

In this paper, we outline inherent tensions in Agile environments, which lead to paradoxes that Agile teams and organizations have to navigate. By taking a critical perspective on Agile frameworks and Agile organizational settings the authors are familiar with, we contribute an initial problematization of paradoxes for the Agile context. For instance, Agile teams face the continuous paradox of ‘doing Agile’ (= following an established Agile way of working) versus ‘being Agile’ (= changing an established Agile way of working). One of the paradoxes that organizations face is whether to start their Agile journey with a directed top-down (and therefore quite un-Agile) ‘big bang’ or to allow an emergent bottom-up transformation (which may be more in-line with the Agile spirit but perhaps not be able to overcome organizational inertia). Future research can draw on our initial problematization as a foundation for subsequent in-depth investigations of these Agile paradoxes. Agile teams and organizations can draw on our initial problematization of Agile paradoxes to inform their learning and change processes.

Investigating the environmental antecedents of organizations’ intention to adopt agile software development

Purpose

Agile software development (ASD) has emerged as an active research area due to its enormous growth in popularity. The innovative differences between ASD and traditional development include the use of fundamentally different procedures, organizational structures and people, yet organizations still attempt to embrace ASD. Apparently, the underlying factors arousing organizations’ intent to adopt ASD are not well known and have not been well explained in the extant literature. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap for which the authors propose a conceptual framework based on the business process management (BPM) perspective to identify the environmental stimuli that affect an organization’s ASD adoption.

Design/methodology/approach

Proposition for a methodology approach is used to construct a theoretical framework based on existing literature and theories in BPM.

Findings

The framework recognizes external and internal environmental stimuli, including institutional isomorphic forces and interior enablers, such as top management championship, the culture type and resource readiness, which affect organizational ASD adoption decisions.

Originality/value

This paper consolidates both the internal and external environmental aspects of the stimuli that lead to ASD adoption and offers insight into creating a suitable context for ASD adoption.