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

Theorising path dependence : how does history come to matter in organisations, and what can we do about it?

This paper examines the concept of path dependence in organisational theory, attempting to utilise insights from a number of academic disciplines to improve our understanding of it. It examines the claims of the resource-based view of business, perhaps the organisational approach most commonly linked with path dependence, and reassesses them in the light of the framework presented here. It concludes by considering the role of history in organisations, the mechanisms through which it manifests itself in the present, and what we can do to break free from path dependence

Making sense of assets: Community asset mapping and related approaches for cultivating capacities

This working paper critically reviews some main aspects from asset based approaches highlights key strengths and weaknesses for future research/development. Drawing on a large body of reports and relevant literature we draw on different theoretical traditions and critiques, as well as practices and processes embedded within a broad range of approaches including, widely acknowledged frameworks such Asset Based Community Development (ABCD), Appreciative Inquiry (AI), Sustainable Livelihood Approaches (SLA) and Community Capitals Framework (CCF). Although these are presented as distinct approaches, there is a sense of evolution through them and many of them overlap (in terms of both theories and methodologies). We also include emerging frameworks, including geographical, socio-spatial, visual and creative approaches, stemming from a number of projects within AHRC’s Connected Communities programme and additional collaborations

Dynamic Analysis of Healthcare Service Delivery: Application of Lean and Agile Concepts

Hospitals are looking to industry for proven tools to manage increasingly complex operations and reduce costs simultaneously with improving quality of care. Currently, €˜lean€™ is the preferred system redesign paradigm, which focuses on removing process waste and variation. However, the high level of complexity and uncertainty inherent to healthcare make it incredibly challenging to remove variability and achieve the stable process rates necessary for lean redesign efforts to be effective. This research explores the use of an alternative redesign paradigm €“ €˜agile€™ €“ which was developed in manufacturing to optimize product delivery in volatile demand environments with highly variable customer requirements. €˜Agile€™ redesign focuses on increasing system responsiveness to customers through improved resource coordination and flexibility. System dynamics simulation and empirical case study are used to explore the impact of following an agile redesign approach in healthcare on service access, care quality, and cost; determine the comparative effectiveness of individual agile redesign strategies; and identify opportunities where lean methods can contribute to the creation of responsive, agile enterprises by analyzing hybrid lean-agile approaches. This dissertation contributes to the emerging literature on applying supply chain management concepts in healthcare, and opens a new path for designing healthcare systems that provide the right care, at the right time, to the right patient, at the lowest price

Theorising path dependence: how does history come to matter in organisations, and what can we do about it?

This paper examines the concept of path dependence in organisational theory, attempting to utilise insights from a number of academic disciplines to improve our understanding of it. It examines the claims of the resource-based view of business, perhaps the organisational approach most commonly linked with path dependence, and reassesses them in the light of the framework presented here. It concludes by considering the role of history in organisations, the mechanisms through which it manifests itself in the present, and what we can do to break free from path dependence.

BALANCING ALIGNMENT, ADAPTIVITY, AND EFFECTIVENESS: DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR SUSTAINABLE IT PROJECT PORTFOLIO MANAGEMENT

Environmental turbulence puts significant pressure on today’s IT organizations, forcing them to pro-actively respond to changing strategic trajectories and thus to conduct a multiplicity of projects in order to capitalize on emerging opportunities. Although many organizations employ institutionalized IT project portfolio management (IT PPM), they often fail to achieve the desired throughput, struggle with projects that run late, and miss short-term alignment to strategic changes. Further, traditional IT PPM establishes a long-term horizon, which contradicts the organizational necessity to react at short notice. This calls for the refinement of traditional IT PPM towards an aligned yet more flexible dimensioning that is able to adapt to its environment’s dynamism. We apply a design approach guided by activity theory (AT) to investigate a revelatory case, to explore an important phenomenon from a novel perspective. We then conduct a focus group, and perform an applicability check to evaluate and refine our suggestions. Finally, we propose three design goals and 12 design principles to address the issues that so often arise. Our research contributes to the nascent body of knowledge by providing a new analytical view on IT PPM and by suggesting recommendations for a significant problem in practice

IT Service Management Knowledge Ecosystem – Literature Review and a Conceptual Model

Information Technology Service Management (ITSM) is a customer-centric approach to manage IT Services in order to provide value to the business. The ITSM Knowledge ecosystem comprises multiple knowledge areas including process frameworks, technology tools and skills. Organisations struggle to comprehend the ecosystem due to the sheer volume and dynamic nature of the business technology environment. A Systematic Literature Review was conducted to understand the state of the current research in ITSM knowledge ecosystem. The review indicated that the focus of the existing research is skewed towards process frameworks knowledge area neglecting tools and training. The approach proposed in the extant research fails to provide a holistic view of the ecosystem. To overcome the limitations a conceptual model is proposed based on Knowledge Commons theory