75 research outputs found
Dimensions of Organizational Agility in the Software and IT Service Industry: Insights from an Empirical Investigation
Agility has increasingly gained attention in the software and IT services industry over the last years and academia put a heavy emphasis on research about agile software development methods. However, an organization does not only comprise development teams, and research often lacks an organizational perspective on agility. Presently, we have no consensus about what constitutes an âagile organizationâ. Hence, in this study, I identify the structure behind the concept of organizational agility using an exploratory research approach. I conducted a survey among organizations in the software and IT service industry and performed an, exploratory factor analysis and a cluster analysis (based on the variables). The results show that one can describe organizational agility using six interrelated factors that one can further aggregate into the three basic dimensions of âagility prerequisitesâ, âagility of peopleâ, and âstructures enhancing agilityâ. The identified structure is a first step toward a common understanding of organizational agility and helps to guide further research activities while simultaneously supporting practitioners in assessing the agility of their organizations
Towards a Maturity Model to Measure Organizational Agility in the Software and IT Services Industry
Agile software development methods reduce project costs and development time by simultaneously enhancing quality. But despite these advantages, agile principles are rarely adopted by the whole organization. In fact, it seems difficult to describe what distinguishes an agile organization from another. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to gain an understanding what factors constitute agility at an enterprise level and to develop a maturity model as measurement tool. To fulfill this aim, the thesis as based on a multi-paradigmatic approach combining behavioral and design science and utilizes a pluralistic set of research methods belonging to both paradigms.
A comprehensive analysis of agility-related frameworks showed that despite partial similarity there is no consensus about what constitutes an âagile organizationâ. Hence, the thesis identified the structure to be found behind the concept of organizational agility using an exploratory research approach. A survey among organizations in the software and IT services industry was conducted and showed that organizational agility can be described using six interrelated factors that can be further aggregated into the three basic dimensions of âAgility Prerequisites,â âAgility of People,â and âStructures Enhancing Agility.â
Based on these results, the Organizational Agility Maturity Model has been developed providing a theoretically and empirically grounded structure of organizational agility supporting the efforts of developing a common understanding of the concept. The application of the maturity model furthermore creates useful benefits for organizations and underscores the strategic character of organizational agility. It generates an awareness about the complexity of organizational agility. Furthermore, it may serve as a reference frame to implement a systematic and well-directed approach for improvements and continuous assessment of actions taken
Qualitative Comparative Analysis in Information Systems and Wirtschaftsinformatik
The application of scientific methods is an essential element when conducting research. They ensure reproducible results and improve the overall quality of the research projects. The aim of this paper is to introduce a method called Qualitative Comparative Analysis, which is currently nearly unrecognized within our discipline. Being neither a pure quantitative nor qualitative method, it yields potential benefits arising from both research streams. It accommodates answering research questions that simultaneously demand a deep understanding of complex relationships and also require the analysis of more than just a few single cases. The paper gives an introduction to this method and demonstrates its usefulness on the basis of two recently carried out research projects. In the end, the Qualitative Comparative Analysis proves to be a valuable addition to the canon of research methods and enriches the applied character of our discipline by contributing to the improvement of both rigor and relevance
Reifegradmodelle fĂŒr das IT-Projektmanagement
Informationstechnologie (IT) ist im heutigen Marktumfeld fĂŒr viele Unternehmen lĂ€ngst zu einem erfolgsrelevanten Faktor geworden. Den Management- und Controllingprozessen von IT-Projekten ist somit besondere Aufmerksamkeit zu widmen, da sie die IT-FĂ€higkeiten der gesamten Organisation maĂgeblich beeinflussen. Um diese Prozesse zu bewerten und zielgerichtet weiterzuentwickeln, sind Reifegradmodelle (Maturity Models) ein effektives Instrument.
FĂŒr den speziellen Bereich des IT-Projektmanagements und -controllings existiert bereits eine Vielzahl von Reifegradmodellen. Obwohl einer der meistgenannten Nutzenaspekte von Reifegradmodellen in der Verbesserung der Prozesse liegt, ist die Erfolgsquote von IT-Projekten gering. Die GrĂŒnde hierfĂŒr sind vielfĂ€ltig, liegen jedoch in erster Linie in einer unzureichenden Planung, Steuerung und Kontrolle des Projektverlaufs, zu geringer Beachtung von Projektinterdependenzen sowie einer fehlenden Ausrichtung der Prozesse an einer ĂŒbergeordneten Strategie (Business-ITAlignment).
In der vorliegenden Arbeit werden daher einige weit verbreitete Reifegradmodelle analysiert und gegenĂŒbergestellt. Es wird unter anderem untersucht, inwiefern bestehende Reifegradmodelle zum IT-Projektmanagement die wichtigen Teilaspekte des IT-Projektcontrollings sowie des Business-IT-Alignments abbilden.
Die Untersuchung zeigt vor allem zwei Schwachstellen: Zum einen fokussieren viele Modelle bei der Prozessbetrachtung lediglich auf die operative Ebene und vernachlÀssigen strategische Aspekte des IT-Projektmanagements und -controllings. Zum anderen liefern zwar alle Modelle eine Beschreibung der Ist-Situation, können aber kaum konkrete Hinweise oder Handlungsanweisungen zur Verbesserung der Prozesse bereitstellen.
Aufgrund dieser Erkenntnisse wird ein Ansatz fĂŒr ein Reifegradmodell entwickelt, welcher die identifizierten Problembereiche adressiert. Besonders die VerknĂŒpfung strategischer und operativer Elemente des Einzel- und Multiprojektcontrollings, die Beachtung spezieller Merkmale von IT-Projekten sowie der Vorschlag konkreter MaĂnahmen und Controllinginstrumente zur Prozessverbesserung können einen erheblichen Mehrwert zu bereits vorhandenen Modellen erzeugen.
Das entwickelte Modell trĂ€gt somit zum VerstĂ€ndnis der Relevanz eines erfolgreichen IT-Projektcontrollings bei, hilft durch seine Spezialisierung die entsprechenden Prozesse genauer zu analysieren und gibt praktische Hinweise zur gezielten Verbesserung. FĂŒr eine empirische Validierung und Weiterentwicklung sind jedoch weitere Studien notwendig
Theorien und Konzepte zu AgilitÀt in Organisationen
Der Begriff AgilitĂ€t bezeichnet innerhalb der Organisationslehre seit etwa 20 Jahren eine Form der flexiblen, schlanken, kundenorientierten Organisationsgestaltung und verbindet sich, um jeweils neu entwickelte Technologien erweitert, mit dem Charakter einer jungen, modernen Organisationsform. VerstĂ€rkt wird dieser Eindruck durch die Tatsache, dass vor dem Jahre 1991, als das Iacocca Institute entscheidend zur VerknĂŒpfung des Begriffes AgilitĂ€t mit der Organisationslehre und zur Verbreitung der mit der AgilitĂ€t verbundenen Methoden beitrug, der AgilitĂ€tsbegriff innerhalb der Organisationsforschung kaum auftauchte. Erst seit den frĂŒhen 1990er Jahren sind zahlreiche Veröffentlichungen zu diesem Thema erschienen, eine anhaltende Tendenz, wie die Publikationen des aktuellen Jahres belegen. FĂŒr den Ursprung des Begriffes AgilitĂ€t wird in den meisten AufsĂ€tzen dementsprechend das Jahr 1991 angesetzt, nur einige wenige Quellen nennen Ă€ltere AufsĂ€tze und noch seltener taucht der Hinweis auf, das der AgilitĂ€tsbegriff im Umfeld der Sozialwissenschaften bereits seit den 1950er Jahren bekannt ist, interessanterweise durch das Werk eines Wirtschaftstheoretikers. Die Herkunft des Begriffes AgilitĂ€t im organisationalen Umfeld auszuleuchten und sich an die vielfĂ€ltigen Darstellungen dieses Konzeptes anzunĂ€hern, ist das Anliegen der vorliegenden Arbeit.
Das AgilitĂ€tsmodell in der seit den 1990er Jahren entwickelten PrĂ€gung ist eine Sammlung von Elementen verschiedener organisationstheoretischer AnsĂ€tze und enthĂ€lt eine Vielzahl organisationaler Konzepte, die zudem fortlaufend erweitert und verĂ€ndert wurden. Es wĂŒrde den Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit sprengen, die Theorien und Konzepte aufzulisten, die dem AgilitĂ€tsbegriff eine grundsĂ€tzliche PrĂ€gung verliehen. Es werden jedoch einige Organisationstheorien und Konzepte, deren Elemente sich als Kennzeichen der AgilitĂ€t wiederfinden, aufgezeigt, um darzustellen, dass agiles Denken existierte, bevor der Begriff âAgilitĂ€tâ geprĂ€gt wurde.
Die AgilitĂ€t ist kein Konzept, das aus der Praxis heraus entstanden ist und anschlieĂend zum Forschungsgegenstand der Wirtschaftswissenschaften wurde, vielmehr handelt es sich um einen Entwurf, der originĂ€r als theoretischer Lösungsansatz zur Behebung einer wirtschaftlichen Stagnation entwickelt wurde. Inwieweit dieser theoretische Ansatz in der Praxis tatsĂ€chlich auch Verbreitung finden konnte, ist eine interessante Fragestellung, die zum Thema mehrerer Forschungsarbeiten gewĂ€hlt wurde. Die vorliegende Arbeit wird diesen Bereich jedoch nicht nĂ€her beleuchten. Vielmehr steht eine Sammlung und Strukturierung verschiedener in der Literatur vorhandener Auffassungen und Auslegungen des AgilitĂ€tsbegriffs im Mittelpunkt
What Constitutes an Agile Organization?: Descriptive Results of an Empirical Investigation
For several years, businesses and organizations have faced an increasingly volatile environment, marked with challenges such as increased competition, globalized markets, and individualized customer requirements. These challenges are accompanied by many changes in every organizational field. As a response, different concepts have emerged that should enable organizations to master these challenges. Agility is the most recent, but others like flexibility and leanness are mentioned often, too.
Many research activities concerning agility and its related concepts have been conducted in the meantime. However, there currently exists no common understanding of what constitutes agility. This makes it difficult for both researcher and practitioner audiences to build upon the insights obtained thus far. On the one hand, researchers are missing a well-founded basis to develop the topic further, while on the other hand, practitioners cannot easily uncover what parts of their organizations have to be changed and in what respect they have to be changed to respond to new market challenges.
This is of particular interest for organizations in the software and information technology (IT) service industry. With the appearance of agile software developing methodologies in the early 2000s, or in a broader sense agile values and principles, the advantages of these new approaches became visible. However, it turned out to be difficult to transfer the experienced benefits beyond the team level, though this step is necessary so that the whole organization can benefit from agility.
Hence, the report presented here is part of a research project aimed at identifying the structure and components of an agile organization within the software and IT service industry. To fulfill this aim, a survey from a comprehensive organizational perspective has been carried out that was based on a systematic comparison of available agility frameworks. The purpose of this publication is to give an initial comprehensive overview over the collected data. Together with a comprehensive literature review conducted prior to this study, it answers the research questions: 'What are potential components of an agile organization?' and 'To what extent are these components reflected by the software and IT service industry
In the absence of ATPase activity, pre-RC formation is blocked prior to MCM2-7 hexamer dimerization
The origin recognition complex (ORC) of Saccharomyces cerevisiae binds origin DNA and cooperates with Cdc6 and Cdt1 to load the replicative helicase MCM2â7 onto DNA. Helicase loading involves two MCM2â7 hexamers that assemble into a double hexamer around double-stranded DNA. This reaction requires ORC and Cdc6 ATPase activity, but it is unknown how these proteins control MCM2â7 double hexamer formation. We demonstrate that mutations in Cdc6 sensor-2 and Walker A motifs, which are predicted to affect ATP binding, influence the ORCâCdc6 interaction and MCM2â7 recruitment. In contrast, a Cdc6 sensor-1 mutant affects MCM2â7 loading and Cdt1 release, similar as a Cdc6 Walker B ATPase mutant. Moreover, we show that Orc1 ATP hydrolysis is not involved in helicase loading or in releasing ORC from loaded MCM2â7. To determine whether Cdc6 regulates MCM2â7 double hexamer formation, we analysed complex assembly. We discovered that inhibition of Cdc6 ATPase restricts MCM2â7 association with origin DNA to a single hexamer, while active Cdc6 ATPase promotes recruitment of two MCM2â7 hexamer to origin DNA. Our findings illustrate how conserved Cdc6 AAA+ motifs modulate MCM2â7 recruitment, show that ATPase activity is required for MCM2â7 hexamer dimerization and demonstrate that MCM2â7 hexamers are recruited to origins in a consecutive process
The structure and components of agility â a multi-perspective view
Agility is a term that is widely used. However, a common understanding of what
agility means and what it consists of is missing. Many frameworks have been developed for
how to approach agility, but they are very heterogeneous regarding content and structure. This
paper approaches the issue by conducting a systematic comparison of 28 available agility
frameworks out of the domains of agile manufacturing, agile software development, agile
organization, and agile workforce. Altogether, 33 concepts related to agility were identified.
The results of the comparison show that, even within the specifically examined domains,
a lack of consensus is obvious. In addition, the utilized concepts are very ambiguous and
overlapping. As such, the interdependencies between the identified concepts were analyzed in
detail. This revealed five recurring âclustersâ, each of which combines several concepts with
similar content, but despite the amount of available frameworks, none of them reflects these
clusters directly. Hence, the study shows that factors beyond the construct of agility are not
yet fully uncovered
Towards a Maturity Model to Measure Organizational Agility in the Software and IT Services Industry
Agile software development methods reduce project costs and development time by simultaneously enhancing quality. But despite these advantages, agile principles are rarely adopted by the whole organization. In fact, it seems difficult to describe what distinguishes an agile organization from another. Therefore, the objective of this thesis is to gain an understanding what factors constitute agility at an enterprise level and to develop a maturity model as measurement tool. To fulfill this aim, the thesis as based on a multi-paradigmatic approach combining behavioral and design science and utilizes a pluralistic set of research methods belonging to both paradigms.
A comprehensive analysis of agility-related frameworks showed that despite partial similarity there is no consensus about what constitutes an âagile organizationâ. Hence, the thesis identified the structure to be found behind the concept of organizational agility using an exploratory research approach. A survey among organizations in the software and IT services industry was conducted and showed that organizational agility can be described using six interrelated factors that can be further aggregated into the three basic dimensions of âAgility Prerequisites,â âAgility of People,â and âStructures Enhancing Agility.â
Based on these results, the Organizational Agility Maturity Model has been developed providing a theoretically and empirically grounded structure of organizational agility supporting the efforts of developing a common understanding of the concept. The application of the maturity model furthermore creates useful benefits for organizations and underscores the strategic character of organizational agility. It generates an awareness about the complexity of organizational agility. Furthermore, it may serve as a reference frame to implement a systematic and well-directed approach for improvements and continuous assessment of actions taken
Reifegradmodelle: Anwendungspotenziale in der Betriebswirtschaftslehre
Maturity models are management tools, which are mainly applied in Information Systems and Informatics. However, their roots are to be found in Business Administration, particularly in Quality Management. Therefore, the following article aims at introducing the concept of maturity models from a linguistic, an application-based, and a structural perspective prior to exemplarily presenting potential application domains in management and business administration
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