School change and development: the influence of a reflective practitioner

The broad reality of change is impacting on every organisation including schools. More than often in a process of change there will be an input of an enormous amount of human energy and physical resources that results in change that in effect does not lead to improvement. Therefore, the question remains: How can we ensure that responses to change from managers and teachers within the organisation will lead to school improvement? The case study reported in this book substantiates the importance of the individual in a leadership role, acting and learning within a context, dealing with the reality of change that is part of the routine tasks of the organisation. This book argues that only attention to the individual will bring about long lasting change. People change themselves and people change organisations. The experience of the individual relayed in this book will resonate with leaders in organisations and provide insights into actions that bring about change in long standing, stable organisations

Achieving higher capability maturity in construction process improvement

Process improvement has been identified as one of the potential mechanisms to achieve the desired performance improvements within the UK construction industry. In addition, it has further been recognised the importance of learning construction process improvement lessons from other industry examples. Software industry has exemplified a successful implementation of a process improvement strategy, based on the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) which evaluate the capabilities and maturities of organisations in concern to establish the next level of process improvements needed. This model consists of five maturity levels where level 1 being the least matured and level 5 being the most matured. After considering the close similarities between the software industry and the construction industry, the principles of software CMM were attempted to be applied within the construction industry, under the research project “Structured Process Improvement in Construction Enterprises (SPICE)”. Within this research the Key Process Areas (KPAs) of level 1, 2 and 3 of software CMM were evaluated and customised to the UK construction industry, after taking its unique characteristics into consideration. This leaves the software CMM level 4 and 5 KPAs unevaluated and un-customised, leaving the maximum potential of SPICE un-revealed. This paper aims at addressing this gap by reviewing the literature on construction process improvement and the software CMM to evaluate the applicability of software CMM higher capability maturity level KPAs within the UK construction context

Software process improvement as emergent change: a structurational analysis

This thesis differs from the technological perspective of SPI by identifying and analysing the organisational features of process improvement. A theoretical understanding is developed of how and why software process improvements occur and what are the consequences of the change process within a specific case. A packaged information systems organisation forms the basis for a substantive case study. Adding to the growing body of qualitative research, the study takes a critical hermeneutic perspective. In doing so it overcomes some of the criticisms of the interpretive studies especially the need for the research to be reflexive in nature. By looking at SPI as an emergent rather than deterministic activity, the design and action of the change process are shown to be intertwined and shaped by their context. This understanding is based upon a structurational perspective that highlights how the process improvements are enabled and constrained by their context. The work builds on the recent recognition that the improvements can be understood from an organisational learning perspective. Fresh insights to the improvement process are developed by recognising the role of the individual to facilitate or resist the improvement. The understanding gained here can be applied by organisations to enable them to improve the effectiveness of their SPI programmes, and so improve the quality of their software. Lessons are derived that show how software organisations can support the ongoing improvement through recognition of the learning and political aspects of the change by adopting an agile approach to SPI

The Art of Refusal: Promising Practice for Grant Makers and Grant Seekers

The full report of this research project provides the findings of a study of communication experiences and practices, at the point of grant refusal, among selected grant making and grant seeking organisations. Its context was the frustration and disappointment being experienced by many grant seekers in a period of enhanced competition for funding, alongside the multiple pressures facing grant makers, in responding to grant seekers' needs and in meeting their own range of obligations. The overall purpose of the research was to support learning and improvement in policy and practice among grant makers and grant seekers. A summary of the findings from the qualitative research undertaken for the project is provided at the end of this paper. In this practice paper, we focus on the direct learning question posed by the research - 'what promising practices in grant refusal communications may be identified from grant makers' and grant seekers' perspectives on their experiences?' Many respondents during the research process highlighted what were, for them, preferred and promising practices in communicating and managing grant refusal among grant seekers and grant makers. These were sometimes their own approaches and sometimes those which they had observed and welcomed. These insights, examples and possibilities are now distilled and presented below as promising practice learning and action points, illustrated by anonymous quotations taken from our research respondents

Assessment of process capabilities in transition to a data-driven organisation: A multidisciplinary approach

The ability to leverage data science can generate valuable insights and actions in organisations by enhancing data-driven decision-making to find optimal solutions based on complex business parameters and data. However, only a small percentage of the organisations can successfully obtain a business value from their investments due to a lack of organisational management, alignment, and culture. Becoming a data-driven organisation requires an organisational change that should be managed and fostered from a holistic multidisciplinary perspective. Accordingly, this study seeks to address these problems by developing the Data Drivenness Process Capability Determination Model (DDPCDM) based on the ISO/IEC 330xx family of standards. The proposed model enables organisations to determine their current management capabilities, derivation of a gap analysis, and the creation of a comprehensive roadmap for improvement in a structured and standardised way. DDPCDM comprises two main dimensions: process and capability. The process dimension consists of five organisational management processes: change management, skill and talent management, strategic alignment, organisational learning, and sponsorship and portfolio management. The capability dimension embraces six levels, from incomplete to innovating. The applicability and usability of DDPCDM are also evaluated by conducting a multiple-case study in two organisations. The results reveal that the proposed model is able to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of an organisation in adopting, managing, and fostering the transition to a data-driven organisation and providing a roadmap for continuously improving the data-drivenness of organisations

“I don't think we're there yet”: The practices and challenges of organisational learning from cyber security incidents

Learning from cyber incidents is crucial for organisations to enhance their cyber resilience and effectively respond to evolving threats. This study employs neo-institutional and organisational learning theories to examine how organisations learn from incidents and gain insights into the challenges they face. Drawing on qualitative research methods, interviews were conducted with 34 security practitioners from organisations operating in the UK spanning a range of industries. The findings highlight the importance of consciously evaluating learning practices and creating a culture of openness to hear about incidents from employees, customers and suppliers. Deciding which incidents to learn from, as well as who should participate in the learning process, emerged as critical considerations. Overcoming defensiveness and addressing systemic causes were recognised as barriers to effective learning. The study emphasises the need to assess the value and impact of identified lessons and to avoid superficial reviews that treat symptoms rather than underlying causes to improve resilience. While progress has been made in learning from incidents, further enhancements are needed. Practical recommendations have been proposed to suggest how organisations may gain valuable insights for maximising the benefits derived from incident learning. This research contributes to the existing knowledge on organisational learning and informs future studies exploring the social and political influences on the learning process. By considering the suggested recommendations, organisations may strengthen their cyber security, foster a culture of continuous improvement, and respond effectively to the dynamic cyber security landscape

IMPACTS OF ENTERPRISE RESOURCE PLANNING IMPLEMENTATION ON DECISION MAKING PROCESSES IN AUSTRALIAN ORGANISATIONS

This paper reports on findings from the first phase of research investigating Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and its impact on decision making process in Australian organisations. The focus of the study is to reveal if and how the vast amount of data which is generated by ERP systems could improve decision making process on strategic and tactical levels. The findings are based on data consists of information collected by fifteen semi-structured interviews and observation in fifteen medium-size organisations in different industries operating in Australia who have been using ERP systems for at least five years. Findings: Managers and stakeholders perceive substantial level of importance and potentials for utilising ERP system and data in order to improve decision making process on strategic and tactical levels. However operational issues such as integration, upgrade spiral and decoupled implementations prevent these benefits to be materialised in Australian organisations. These factors and their impacts on utilising ERP towards more strategic benefits are discussed and analysed in this paper. Practical implications: The resultant learning issues in conjunction with the conclusion of the study may help ERP customers in identifying the potential enhancements to utilise customers’ investment on ERP towards more strategic objectives such as supporting decision making process. It also may help ERP vendors to identify key areas in ERP systems which require improvement to support decision making process

The mediating role of organisational innovation in the relationship between strategic planning process and organisational performance in nonprofit organisations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

Due to the increasing uncertainties and rapid changes in business environment, strategic planning has been extensively adopted in most organisations. Nowadays, nonprofit organisations also adopt strategic planning to improve their competitive advantage and long-term performance. This research aimed to study the mediation effect of organisational innovation to improve organisational performance of non-profit organisations. It also focused on identifying dimensions that best represent strategic planning organisational innovation and organisational performance. Besides that, it investigated how organisational performance can be achieved through strategic planning and iimovation. A mixed method research using survey questionnaire and a semistructured interview guide were adopted in the study. 257 Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of Saudi non-profit organisations participated in the survey and based on quota sampling, 30 CEOs participated in the semi-structured interview. The study validated the mediation impact of organisational innovation on mission, knowledge and growth perspective, internal processes perspective, customer satisfaction perspective and financial perspective obtained from regression analysis and supported by Sobel Test. The findings of this research showed that organisational innovation is a strong contributor to the improvement of internal processes whilst the contribution of organisational innovation is moderate towards the mission, knowledge and growth and customer perspectives. The best dimensions that represent strategic planning processes are strategic orientation, strategic analysis, organisational resources management, top management support, audit and control strategy, and strategy implementation. In addition, dimensions that best represent organisational iimovation are organisational learning, organisational innovation process, organisational innovation and organisational structure, innovation strategy, and organisational linkages. Finally, dimensions that best represent organisational performance are mission achievement, customer satisfaction, internal processes, employee learning and growth, and financial performance. The findings also revealed that Saudi nonprofit organisations are increasingly becoming aware that strategic planning process and organisational innovation have the ability to improve performance. Moreover, it has been revealed that strategy and innovation can improve performance through reduction of costs and time and enhance effectiveness. Therefore, it is recommended that Saudi nonprofit organisations should focus on applying strategic planning as a process to motivate employees to be innovative as well as achieve a higher and sustainable performance