Organisational culture analysis: A case study in Case Company X

This research analysed the type of organisational culture that occurs in Case Company X, particularly in Unit A, by using designed survey, which is based on certain theory and objectives. Case Company X is an international organisation, which focuses on information technology and software engineering, scaling up to data, cloud services, and automation. Unit A itself will be the subject of this research and for this certain unit, a designed survey was sent to its employees. Survey was designed based on Westrum’s organisational culture theory and its theoretical framework, and objectives of Unit A have been taken into account as well. Quantitative research is conducted, and the data received from survey is being statistically analysed. The main objective is to form quantitative information from the data obtained from the survey and draw conclusions and answer the research question and hypothesis of this research. The hypothesis is that it is possible to analyse the current organisational culture situation by conducting a designed survey based on Westrum’s theory. The survey was initially conducted by using simple random sampling method and it was sent to 815 employees in Unit A, via email. The response time for answering the survey is set to three weeks. A total of 165 employees out of 815 employees answered to the survey and a quantitative analysis was conducted on the basis of these. The survey was designed in a way that the employee can choose if employee itself have worked for more than a year or less in Unit A. With this, it was possible to see in the survey data how the response group is distributed according to the years of work. The survey is based on a Likert-scaling, values distributing from 1 to 7. A value of 1 means “strongly disagree” and a value of 7 means “strongly agree”. The data obtained from the survey was quantitatively analysed by using Excel’s mean, median, and bar chart -functions. SPSS software’s descriptive statistics, T test for independent samples, paired samples T test and Spearman’s correlation -functions were used. Quantitative data were collected on the basis of statistical data samples and tests, and conclusions were based on it. The research showed that the survey, based on Westrum’s theory and theoretical framework, has provided data that makes it possible to analyse the current organisational and cultural situation in Unit A. The Westrum’s theoretical framework divides organisational culture into three typologies which are pathological, bureaucratic, and generative. Using statistically analysed data, it was possible to draw a preliminary conclusion about the organisational culture, which revealed that the culture of unit A is based on generative culture typology. Based on the other statistical analyses, it was possible to observe that there was no statistically significant difference between the responses of the respondents and that the correlation between same paired questions was strong, but the correlation between same themed questions was weak.Tässä tutkimuksessa analysoitiin kyselytutkimuksella, millaista organisaatiokulttuuria esiintyy tapausyrityksessä X, eritoten yksikössä A. Tätä tutkittiin kyselyllä, joka perustui Westrumin teoriaan. Teoria tarjoaa viitekehyksen, jonka mukaan organisaatioita on mahdollista arvioida. Tapausyritys X on liiketoiminnallisesti kansainvälinen organisaatio, joka keskittyy informaatioteknologiaan skaalautuen dataan, pilvipalveluihin ja automaatioon. Itse yksikkö A tulee olemaan tässä tarkastelun kohteena ja tälle yksikölle toteutettiin tämä tutkimus ja teetetty kysely. Kyselyn suunnittelussa Westrumin organisaatiokulttuurinen teoria, siihen liittyvä viitekehys, sekä yksikkö A:n tavoitteet on otettu huomioon. Päätavoitteena on muodostaa kyselystä saadusta datasta kvantitatiivista dataa, jonka avulla on mahdollista tehdä johtopäätöksiä ja vastata tutkimuskysymykseen ja hypoteesiin. Hypoteesi on se, että on mahdollista toteuttaa kysely, joka perustuu Westrumin organisaatiokulttuuriseen teoriaan, ja saamaan dataa työntekijöiltä, jonka avulla on mahdollista analysoida tilannetta organisaatiokulttuurin näkökulmasta. Eritoten tätä tilannetta on analysoitu yksikkö A:ssa. Kyselyä toteutettaessa käytettiin alkuun yksinkertaista satunnaisotantaa ja kysely lähetettiin 815 työntekijälle, jotka työskentelevät yksikkö A:ssa, sähköpostin välityksellä. Vastausaikaa kyselylle oli kolme viikkoa. Vastauksia saatiin 165 kappaletta ja näiden pohjalta kvantitatiivinen analyysi toteutettiin. Kysely oli suunniteltu niin, että vastaaja voi valita, onko työskennellyt yli vuoden vaiko alle vuoden yksikkö A:ssa. Tämän avulla kyselyssä oli mahdollista havaita, miten vastausjoukko jakautuu työvuosien perusteella. Kyselyssä käytettiin Likert-skaalaa, jonka asteikko on 1–7. Arvo 1 tarkoittaa ”täysin eri mieltä” ja arvo 7 tarkoittaa ”täysin samaa mieltä”. Kyselystä saatu data kvantitatiivisesti analysoitiin käyttämällä Excelin keskiarvo, mediaani ja pylväsdiagrammi -funktioita. SPSS ohjelmassa käytettiin funktioita kuten kuvaavaa tilastoa, riippumattomien näytteiden T testiä, parinäytteen T testiä ja Spearmanin korrelaatiotestiä. Kvantitatiivinen data, joka on kerätty tilastollisten näytteiden ja testien pohjalta, juurtavat johtopäätöksiä tutkimuksen lopuksi. Tutkimus osoitti sen, että kysely, perustuen Westrumin teoriaan ja teoreettiseen viitekehykseen, on antanut dataa, jonka perusteella on mahdollista analysoida nykyistä organisaatiokulttuurin tilaa yksikkö A:ssa. Westrumin teoreettinen viitekehys jakaa organisaatiokulttuurin kolmeen typologiaan; patologiseen, byrokraattiseen ja generatiiviseen. Tilastollisesti analysoidun datan avulla oli mahdollista juurtaa alustava johtopäätös organisaatiokulttuurista, joka toi ilmi, että yksikkö A:n kulttuuri sijoittuu generatiiviseen kulttuurimuotoon. Tilastollisen analyysin perusteella oli myös mahdollista huomata, että vastausjoukkojen vastauksien välillä ei ollut tilastollisesti merkittävää eroa ja korrelaatiot kysymysten välillä olivat vahvat

Knowledge management in agile software development : techniques and factors that promote knowledge creation

Orientador: Ivan Luiz Marques RicarteDissertação (mestrado) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e de ComputaçãoResumo: O processo de desenvolvimento de software pode ser considerado um processo intensivo de criação de conhecimento. Os membros de equipes ágeis de desenvolvimento de software são trabalhadores que compartilham intensivamente seus conhecimentos tácitos e explícitos para a construção de software inovadores. Esse conhecimento, inicialmente distribuído nas mentes dos programadores, deve ser gerenciado por meio de técnicas e ferramentas que apoiem a aprendizagem organizacional, a criação, a construção e a avaliação de software. Nesse sentido, este trabalho objetivou identificar e compreender as técnicas utilizadas pelas equipes ágeis e os fatores capacitadores que auxiliem a criação de conhecimento em equipes de desenvolvimento de software. Para atingir aos propósitos desta pesquisa, primeiro, foi feita uma revisão de literatura, que seguiu os princípios de revisões sistemáticas, para compreender o Estado da Arte e identificar técnicas das metodologias ágeis e fatores que promovem a criação de conhecimento no desenvolvimento ágil de software. Segundo, para o percurso metodológico dois estudos de caso foram conduzidos por meio de entrevistas e analisados qualitativamente por meio da Teoria Fundamentada em Dados. Como resultados, dois fenômenos centrais emergiram dos dados analisados. O Fenômeno 1 mostra que as equipes ágeis estabelecem técnicas que apoiam a aprendizagem organizacional, a criação e a construção de software. O Fenômeno 2 indica que as equipes ágeis promovem fatores capacitadores que alinham a cultura organizacional e as características pessoais dos colaboradores e essas equipes são gerenciadas mediante uma inteligência coletivaAbstract: The software development process can be considered as an intensive process of knowledge creation. The members of agile software development teams are workers that intensively share their tacit and explicit knowledge to build innovative software. This knowledge, initially distributed in programmer¿s minds, should be managed by means of techniques and tools that support the organizational learning, the creation, the construction and the evaluation of software. Therefore, this study aimed to identify and understand the techniques and the enabling factors that support the creation of knowledge. To achieve the purposes, first, a literature review was made, which followed the principles of systematic reviews, not only to understand the state of the art but also to identify techniques and factors of the agile methodologies that promote the creation of knowledge. Second, two case studies were conducted as a methodology research through interviews whose data was qualitatively analyzed using the Grounded Theory. As results, two main phenomena emerged from the data analyzed. The first phenomenon shows that agile teams establish techniques that support the organizational learning, the creation and the construction of software. The second phenomenon indicates that teams promote enabling factors that align organizational culture and the employees¿ personal characteristics and the team is managed by a collective intelligenceMestradoEngenharia de ComputaçãoMestre em Engenharia ElétricaCAPE

Knowledge Domains and Skills that Facilitate Knowledge Sharing in Project Management - A Case Study in the Chinese Construction Industry

The aim of this thesis is to identify different sets of skills that facilitate the knowledge sharing practice of project managers within the context of a construction project. This aim stems from a gap identified in the knowledge sharing literature concerning the individual skills that contribute to knowledge sharing by project managers in the applied setting of construction projects. In order to achieve the research aim, an exploratory qualitative study was conducted following a combination of Grounded Theory and case study as the research method. The study focuses specifically on a construction project in China. The construction industry in China has been experiencing an increasing development as a result of the national economy’s sustained growth and continuing urbanisation trends, but it is still confronted with challenges in knowledge sharing practice especially concerning the role of project manager, who performs the high level control of projects. Grounded Theory is the main method and a case study provides the appropriate context for the research. Empirical data were collected through a total of twenty-one interviews at a five-star hotel construction project, located in Hebei Province, eastern China. Following the constant comparison method, iterations in data analysis contributed to the development of an integrative framework. The framework indicates knowledge pertaining to five domains, including risk, planning, implementation, people, and business strategies and operations, needs to be shared by project managers. It also illustrates three sets of skills that contribute to the practice of sharing knowledge. Social cognitive skills assist project managers in interpreting differences in knowledge and achieving mutual understanding; interpersonal skills facilitate knowledge sharing through creating a positive project environment; strategic orientation skills contribute to reaching agreement among participating organisations and stakeholders. Furthermore, the framework reveals the specific relationships between the knowledge domains and skills, within the three phases of the construction project. In addition, findings suggest that the sharing of knowledge and the application of skills are of a dynamic and relational nature. The project is a collective and interactive process where knowledge pertaining to different domains needs to be dynamically shared and skills need to be dynamically applied. The knowledge domains and skills do not operate independently but overlap and interact over the duration of the project. Moreover, they are open to different interpretations according to various positions of actors within the project. This thesis contributes to an enhanced theoretical understanding of skills for knowledge sharing in the specific context of construction projects. It also delivers practical guidance for project managers on how to develop and apply the skills in these knowledge sharing practice