Organizational Change Perspectives on Software Process Improvement

Many software organizations have engaged in Software Process Improvement (SPI) and experienced the challenges related to managing such complex organizational change efforts. As a result, there is an increasing body of research investigating change management in SPI. To provide an overview of what we know and don’t know about SPI as organizational change, this paper addresses the following question: What are the dominant perspectives on SPI as organizational change in the literature and how is this knowledge presented and published? All journals on the AIS ranking list were screened to identify relevant articles and Gareth Morgan’s organizational metaphors (1996) were used to analyze this literature considering the following dimensions of each article: organizational perspective (metaphor), knowledge orientation (normative versus descriptive), theoretical emphasis (high versus low), main audience (practitioner versus academic), geographical origin (Scandinavia, the Americas, Europe, or the Asia-Pacific), and publication level (high versus low ranked journal). The review demonstrates that the literature on SPI as organizational change is firmly grounded in both theory and practice, and Scandinavia and the Americas are the main contributors to this research. The distribution of articles across Morgan’s metaphors is uneven and reveals knowledge gaps that present new avenues for research. The current literature offers important insights into organizational change in SPI from machine, organism, and brain perspectives. Practitioners may use these articles as a guide to SPI insights relevant to their improvement initiatives. In contrast, the impact of culture, dominance, psychic prison, flux and transformation, and politics in SPI have only received scant attention. We argue that these perspectives offer important insights into the challenges involved in managing change in SPI. Researchers are therefore advised to engage in new SPI research based on one or more of these perspectives. Overall, the paper provides a roadmap to help identify insights and specific articles related to SPI as organizational change.Software Process Improvement; Organizational Change; Organizational Metaphors; Images of Organization; Literature Review

Can Thomas Kuhn's paradigms help us understand software engineering

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Assessing Practitioner Beliefs about Software Defect Prediction

Just because software developers say they believe in "X", that does not necessarily mean that "X" is true. As shown here, there exist numerous beliefs listed in the recent Software Engineering literature which are only supported by small portions of the available data. Hence we ask what is the source of this disconnect between beliefs and evidence?. To answer this question we look for evidence for ten beliefs within 300,000+ changes seen in dozens of open-source projects. Some of those beliefs had strong support across all the projects; specifically, "A commit that involves more added and removed lines is more bug-prone" and "Files with fewer lines contributed by their owners (who contribute most changes) are bug-prone". Most of the widely-held beliefs studied are only sporadically supported in the data; i.e. large effects can appear in project data and then disappear in subsequent releases. Such sporadic support explains why developers believe things that were relevant to their prior work, but not necessarily their current work. Our conclusion will be that we need to change the nature of the debate with Software Engineering. Specifically, while it is important to report the effects that hold right now, it is also important to report on what effects change over time.Comment: 9 pages, 3 Figures, 4 Tables, ICSE SEIP 202

Creating a culture for radical innovation in a small mature business

This article describes an approach in organizational development to develop an innovation culture for radical product development in a small mature engineering company. The research took place in a business based in the United Kingdom that designed and manufactured instrumentation and specialized packing machines. An initial study within the company’s new product development team identified key aspects that influenced a radical innovation culture. Nine key themes were found to be pertinent, following an iterative process with the development team. These themes were triangulated using the established Organization Culture Assessment Instrument and the Creative Climate Assessment Tool. A third assessment was developed that gauged the development team culture proximity to an ideal position. Seven interventions were developed in conjunction with the company development team, senior managers, the analysis of previous empirical case research and dialogue with UK companies that promote discontinuous innovation. The results of the interventions were evaluated 4 years after implementation. The culture was re-assessed using the same assessment tools and the changes were identified. The outcomes are described and they indicate the success of the company’s attempt to embed a sustainable radical innovation culture into the product development area

Conservative management of low back pain

Back pain is prevalent worldwide, but back pain disability has reached epidemic proportions in many industrialised societies. Few patients have serious medical pathology or direct neurological involvement requiring surgery. Although the causes remain unclear, physical stress and its consequences on discs, facet joints and supporting soft tissues at work or leisure are important, sometimes aggravated by adverse psychosocial factors. Modern management emphasises the role of self-care, beginning in primary care with the first episode. Without root compression, bed rest should not exceed 48 hours. Emphasis is on encouraging a rapid return to physical fitness and other activities, including employment, acknowledging that returning to a normal life may require working through pain. Medication facilitates this. No one should remain in pain beyond six weeks without being referred to a specialist service for a physical and psychosocial assessment by appropriately trained professionals and with consultant support for investigation, pain management and rehabilitation when needed

The Role of Person-Organization Fit in Organizational Selection Decisions

This paper presents and tests a theoretical model of person-organization fit and organizational selection decisions using data from 35 organizations making hiring decisions. Results suggested that (a) interviewers were able to assess applicants\u27 values with above-chance levels of accuracy, (b) interviewers compare their perceptions of applicants\u27 values with their organizations\u27 values to assess person-organization fit, and (c) it is perceived values congruence and not actual values congruence between applicants and organizations that predicted interviewers\u27 person-organization fit perceptions. Results also suggested that interviewers\u27 person-organization fit assessments had the largest effect on their hiring recommendations even after controlling for competing applicant characteristics (e.g., demographics, human capital), and that interviewers\u27 hiring recommendations had large and significant effects on organizations\u27 hiring decisions (e.g., job offers)

Making Progress in Forecasting

Twenty-five years ago, the International Institute of Forecasters was established “to bridge the gap between theory and practice.” Its primary vehicle was the Journal of Forecasting and is now the International Journal of Forecasting. The Institute emphasizes empirical comparisons of reasonable forecasting approaches. Such studies can be used to identify the best forecasting procedures to use under given conditions, a process we call evidence-based forecasting. Unfortunately, evidence-based forecasting meets resistance from academics and practitioners when the findings differ from currently accepted beliefs. As a consequence, although much progress has been made in developing improved forecasting methods, the diffusion of useful forecasting methods has been disappointing. To bridge the gap between theory and practice, we recommend a stronger emphasis on the method of multiple hypotheses and on invited replications of important research. It is then necessary to translate the findings into principles that are easy to understand and apply. The Internet and software provide important opportunities for making the latest findings available to researchers and practitioners. Because researchers and practitioners believe that their areas are unique, we should organize findings so that they are relevant to each area and make them easily available when people search for information about forecasting in their area. Organisational barriers to change still remain to be overcome. Research into the specific issues faced when forecasting remains a priority