Concept Of Agility Research Articles

Sprinting to digital transformation: a time boxed, Agile approach

Purpose The Transformation Sprint methodology provides a customer-focused analysis process in which leaders can learn about how their digital operating model should and can evolve. Design/methodology/approach Agile transformation processes are a learning journey to produce a generative (learning) model. In an Agile setting, the plan should unfold along with experience. Findings Sprints with specific time spans are intended to circumvent scope-creep or other insidious ways that a project can overrun. Practical implications In Agile practice, showing and talking about work is a crucial part of the process. Transformation Sprints visualize Issues, Priorities and Points for Debate in notes posted on meeting room walls. Originality/value This article describes the Agile concepts that make a digital Transformation Sprint a potent addition to innovation practice.

Are the Supreme Audit Institutions Agile? A Cognitive Orientation and Agility Measures

Purpose: Public organizations operate in a turbulent and increasingly less predictable environment. According to Wagner's law, they must meet better growing social needs, which increase as civilization progresses. Such a situation creates challenges for supreme audit institutions (SAIs), which are the most important public auditors. They must determine how the public organizations realized programs in the past and what factors may disrupt the realization of plans in the future. No one questions the public auditors' role in financial accountability and management. However, are the public auditors agile? This research aims to resolve this research question. Approach/Methodology/Design: The insights in this paper have emerged iteratively by considering both theory and the empirical case based on public auditors' database analysis and unstructured interviews with randomly selected Polish SAI auditors. Such methodology is consistent with an abductive approach. Findings: Based on available evidence, I offer the potentially radical generalization that SAI's current role is partially useless for society. Therefore, there is a need to implement an agile concept in SAI. Practical Implications: The article brings several valuable pieces of information that can be the base material and reference to further research. Study results can be a starting point of discussion and analysis on each auditor's agility, both from the public and private sectors. The twelve original and universal agile principles relating to the activity of auditors have been formulated. Originality/Value: There are several studies on SAIs; however, it is the first study, which aims to determine whether public auditors are agile, and first, where such agile principles of auditing were created.

Towards to Agile Management Control Systems at the University: Preliminary Research

Purpose: Little is known about the agile management control systems at public universities, their effects, and limitations in different contexts. This preliminary study addresses this research gap through an empirical study of the management control systems required at Polish universities. Approach/Methodology/Design: This paper's insights have emerged iteratively by considering both theory and the empirical case based on Agile Manifesto and management control systems' requirements at the universities. Findings: A study revealed a need to use Agile concept framing to develop and implement management control systems at public universities. Lack of managerial and employees' self-assessment focused on Agile issues leads to the potentially radical suggestion that decision-makers should change their current approach to management control systems if they want to avoid poor outcomes in different levels and areas of university activity. The findings make two main contributions. First, they contribute to grounding the Agile approach within public management by showing how Agile may use across contexts; Second, this study can form a source for an inquiry process at any university, thus contributing to a better contextual diagnosis of the stage where the university is building the quality of its research, managerial and financial process. Practical Implications: The article brings several valuable pieces of information and provides practical tips. Originality/Value: There are several studies on Agile, management control systems, and university issues; however, the research question – whether the legal framework of the university's management control systems favors agile was without an answer. It is the first such research.

The model of workforce agility dependent on drivers, strategies, practices, and results

For the time being, organizations throughout the world are in an environment that is constantly changing in various aspects including technological developments, customers’ preferences, emerging markets, and globalization. In this environment, the concept of agility, especially workforce agility is a valuable tool for organizations and can assist them considerably to cope with this situation. Given a substantial number of scholars have studied the concept of agility from the technical point of view up until now, and have neglected the human resource aspect, this study aims to, first of all, investigate the concept of workforce agility through a model incorporating drivers, practices, strategies advocating and stimulating the implementation of this concept and examine the relationships between these variables and second of all determine the results of implementing workforce agility system. The sample of the present study was selected from the staff and managers of the Ports and Maritime Organization of Iran, who had a bachelor's degree or higher and were working in the field of human resource management. Besides, we used a questionnaire to evaluate the variable. According to the findings, except for the relationship between drivers and implementation results all other relationships between drivers, practices, strategies, and results have been supported.

Agile trends in Chinese global software development industry: Fuzzy AHP based conceptual mapping

Global Software Development (GSD) has gained great attention during the past decade or so, and it is also being adopted by most of the software development organizations. The GSD approach is practiced by the software development organizations in China and a wide range of firms have established its operations in various Chinese cities. However, GSD practices becomes more challenging for the projects based on the agile concepts. The aim of this study is to develop a taxonomy of the factors that could positively impact the scaling process of agile methods in the Chinese GSD industry. The factors are identified by exploring the available literature and conducting industrial study with the Chinese agile and GSD practitioners. The finally reported factors are categorized, prioritized and developed their taxonomy using the multi-criterion decision making (MCDM) Fuzzy AHP approach. The given taxonomy is significant and progressive for GSD industry to assess and improve the scaling process of agile methods.

Examining Cross-Cultural Child Welfare Practice Through Simulation-Based Education

Simulation-based learning is an emerging pedagogical approach in social work education that is expanding to specialized areas of practice. This research examines the intersection of cross-cultural practice and child maltreatment investigations. Thirty-one (N = 31) BSW and MSW social work students participated in a three-hour voluntary child welfare simulation workshop and engaged with one of three child welfare scenarios: (1) an immigrant Chinese family, (2) an Indigenous family, and (3) a White youth. Drawing upon the concept of cultural agility, a theoretically-informed mixed methods approach was used to analyze the data. Fisher’s exact test and independent samples T-tests were used to examine participants social work education and experience, perceived competencies, acknowledgment of the simulated client’s culture, and evaluation of the simulation experience. Qualitative analysis examined participants’ critical reflection of their cross-cultural exchange with the simulated clients regarding allegations of child maltreatment. Statistical differences were noted among participants who engaged with each of the three child welfare scenarios. All participants expressed positive learning benefits through simulation, however, statistical differences were found between participants who acknowledged the client’s ethno-cultural identity versus those who did not with respect to their overall learning benefits, meta-competencies, and procedural competencies. Participants demonstrated various aspects of the cultural agility framework as they reflected upon their practice. Simulation-based learning offers the opportunity for students to critically examine and reflect upon the ways they operationalize culture and child maltreatment, and how to manage the complexities of working across difference. Future recommendations for research and practice are discussed.

R&D approach based on multiple partners and Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile concepts: A case study in the electricity sector

Goal: The paper aims to increase the understanding of the results and challenges that arise when running R&D projects based on multiple partners and the integration of Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile concepts.
 Design / Methodology / Approach: We followed a case study approach in the electricity sector. Two project cases were studied, using triangulated data from interviews, internal documents, and non-participant observations.
 Results: The results of the Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile concepts application in R&D projects show improvements in knowledge absorption, solution improvement through collaborative insights between partners, and identification of short-term opportunities. Some challenges, however, were identified, such as noisy integration, the role of the project manager requiring a sophisticated skillset, and complicated decision-making processes.
 Limitations of the investigation: The conclusions have the inherent limitations of a case study conducted in one industrial sector and two projects led by one company.
 Practical implications: The evolving competitive landscape demands more effective pathways to foster innovation. Recent approaches to innovation have challenged R&D practices. This study discusses a new way of addressing R&D efforts with multiple partners by integrating Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile concepts.
 Originality / Value: The combined and coherent application of concepts derived from Design Thinking, Lean Startup, and Agile in R&D practices in the electricity sector is new. The high volume of R&D activity in the electricity sector makes this in-depth analysis both relevant and valuable.

How management remains expanding its theoretical roots to evolve serenely

Nowadays, management is constantly seeking balance and completion. It is nourishing itself from a variety of disciplines to exploit best practices. Lean and agile concepts are no more limited to their first fields, namely manufacturing and software development. They are now extending to areas where the traditional project management model had predominated before. In this research, we performed a systematic review of theoretical and empiric studies about lean and agile. The content comes from a selection of peer-reviewed scientific output. This study focused mainly on hypotheses, backgrounds, and scopes of approaches in question. A qualitative text analysis software tool was run to extract and analyses data according to several dimensions. This use leads above all to a bibliometric study by developing descriptive statistics. Such an approach has made it possible to illustrate evidence on what existing literature reveals about the concepts involved in this present review. First, they revealed impacts of lean and agile on projects that deployed them conduct making a reliable assessment of their suitability. Second, highlighting trends and research trajectories allowed identifying future research streams from under-exploited research.

Resilience, agility and risk management in production ramp-up

Production ramp-up is challenged by several hurdles such as unpredicted events to achieve targets like providing on-time service in critical situations and under budget constraints. The interrelated concepts of resilience, agility and risk management increase the ability of the system to handle the changes effectively. Therefore, in order to successfully manage production ramp-up particularly in high variety environments, resilience, risk, and agility should be considered in a holistic way. This will help address complexity and uncertainty underlying manufacturing and service operations. This paper aims to fill this gap by reviewing the literature and reporting on the basic concepts and interrelationships of resilience, agility, and risk management in the ramp-up phase. Ultimately, the paper aims to lay some foundations for further research in the crossing of these areas.

Global agility - going beyond intercultural competence

In this conceptual paper, the author explores research on intercultural competence and agility to identify a set of competencies needed to thrive in environments characterised by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity - including flexibility, efficacy, resilience and specific mindsets (growth and global mindsets) - and proposes the concept of global agility to describe this set. Individuals manifest global agility when certain contextual variables are present (e.g., global group members and organisational inclusiveness). Fostering global agility should contribute to creativity and innovation in organisations. Implications for human resource development and organisational development are discussed.

Investigating the impact of organizational agility on the competitive advantage

The main purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of organizational agility on the competitive advantage in Jordanian telecommunication companies. Data were collected from 460 participants through a survey questionnaire. Likert scale was used to measure the concepts of organizational agility and competitive advantage. The findings of the study indicated that organizational agility is related positively and significantly to the company’s competitive advantage. Results of the study confirmed that organizational agility is increasingly becoming a critical factor in achieving sustained competitive advantage in such IT and the knowledge-intensive industry as the telecommunication sector. Telecommunication companies are advised to focus on developing organizational agility to acquire a competitive advantage.

Modelling Supply Chain Agility Antecedents Using Fuzzy DEMATEL

The era we live in today is full of uncertainty and varying customer demand. Firms are managing various difficulties including consistent change, shorter item life cycles, assorted client necessities and expanded vulnerability of interest. The purpose of this paper is to put forth the dimensions along which a firm can improve its performance and enhance its sustainability through supply chain agility. Supply chain agility is a key component of all successful firms today, be it in the services or in the manufacturing sector. It is believed that an agile company would tend to outshine its competitors, who have not adopted the agile principles. Seven dimensions of supply chain agility have been identified in this paper; and their effect on each other and on supply chain agility is assessed using Fuzzy DEMATEL. Four major factors- accessibility, alertness, flexibility and swiftness are identified as the key determinants of agility. It is found that the operational flexibility and analytical capabilities of a firm play the most crucial role in determining its agility as they had the maximum effect on the overall system. This study provides the management of companies with a clear guide map as to how they can improve their agility in today’s highly competitive market and how one dimension of supply chain agility has an impact on another dimension. Identification of dimensions of agility and evaluating their impact on each other as well as on supply chain agility using Fuzzy DEMATEL is a new and unique contribution to the concept of agility.

Leagile supply chain network design through a dynamic two-phase optimization in view of order penetration point

In the contemporary world, combining the concept of agile and lean manufacturing (LM) is one of the most strategic and appealing concerns in the industrial environments. In this paper, a new Leagile structure is proposed for a supply chain. This research covers long term and mid-term horizon by designing a supply chain network up to the order penetration point (OPP) and final assembly and sale planning respectively. The problem is programmed in two phases. First, a bi-objective optimization is developed to minimize the total cost related with LM. In the second phase, the total cost and the customer service level (CSL) are considered as the agile manufacturing (AM) architecture. In the proposed model, a utility function is applied to set balance between the price and customer satisfaction. In addition, a robust credibility-based fuzzy programming (RCFP) is developed to handle uncertainty of the first phase. The proposed model and the solution method are implemented for a real industrial case study to show the applicability and usefulness of this study. According to the results, improving the customer service level can enhance the total cost of the second phase meaning that customer responsiveness price is too high for the proposed system.

Learning to Share - Teaching the Impact of Flexible Task Allocation in Human-cobot Teams

Collaborative robots (cobots) are vital for agile concepts of industrial manufacturing and regarded as flexible and low-cost automation solutions. Therefore, learning factory concepts increasingly include handling with cobot technology, their industrial applications and safety concepts. In addition to these fields of knowledge, it is widely considered that work organization at the manufacturing shop floor must be rethought to use the full potential of cobot flexibility. One of the approaches is the flexible task allocation in human-cobot teams. Based on the idea of self-organization, human and cobot tasks are adaptively assessed and optimized. The implementation of this concept enables productivity gains and at the same time reduces negative aspects of automation such as reduced readiness to take action and monotonous work. As this approach requires technological and organizational preconditions as well as prior knowledge of the industrial engineering domain, the paper presents a hands-on educational concept for flexible task allocation in human-cobot teams. Upon an analysis of required competencies and an identification of deficits in existing teaching approaches - based on evaluation criteria such as innovation content, human-cobot team suitability, industrial relevance and reusability - a teaching concept in addition to three hands-on demonstrators was developed. The demonstrators were implemented at the TU Wien Pilot Factory Industry 4.0 allowing for representative task allocation patterns applied in industrial settings. Besides professional educational purposes, the demonstrators can be used for exhibitions as they allow hands-on experiences for the public and therefore contribute to a more realistic perception of the potential, the challenges, and the impact of robots in the manufacturing domain. Thus, working with and evaluating the demonstrators hands-on, not only students and professionals, but also children, teenagers and the general public are able to explore the potential benefits, consequences and necessary preconditions within potential use cases.

Attempts by MNCs to Expand the Creative and Innovative Spirit through the Concept of Agility: Role of Global Managers

Faced with an environment that is changing faster and faster, companies have long sought to encourage the almost automatic emergence of new approaches that can respond or even anticipate these changes. The development of creativity has become an essential theme. For more than 20 years, companies have been promoting the concept of agility at the same time as they attempted to extend creativity to all employees. Managers have been called upon to implement the corresponding actions. Our research, based on semi-structured interviews with 35 global managers, analyses several aspects of the implementation of the concepts. We looked particularly at what managers think of agility, how this concept relates to the efforts made to develop creativity, what they experienced, and the conditions for success. The analysis of the responses highlights the significant differences in perception, often linked to the functions performed in the company or to nationalities. Regardless of the value associated with agility, the interviewees agreed on the importance of the manager’s role while directing it in three different directions. The discussions also identify a series of necessary but not sufficient conditions for creativity to emerge.Implications for Central European audience: This paper does not deal with a problem specific to Central Europe. It is a general problem going beyond regional limits, as international management tends to use the same concepts everywhere. However, in its processing, we sought to interview several managers from this geographic area. In the second phase, we plan to improve the representativeness of managers from Central Europe to understand better what is specific to them.

Agility in the workplace: Conceptual analysis, contributing factors, and practical examples

AbstractOver the last few years, the concept of agility has become increasingly popular in organizations. Companies are hoping to foster speed, adaptability, and innovation by rolling out an agile strategy, implementing agile methods, and creating an agile mind-set among leaders and employees. There is, however, much ambiguity about what the concept of agility entails and how it can be successfully implemented in an organization. The purpose of this practice-focused paper is to organize the extant agility literature for readers by giving an overview of different definitions of agility; outlining evidence-based factors that contribute to agility at the individual, team, and organizational levels; and describing three practical examples at a large German car company. Finally, the authors suggest steps that organizations can take to increase agility in their workforce.

Is agile the latest management fad? A review of success factors of agile transformations

Purpose Agile is the new popular management change method and agile has lots of momentum. Management consulting firms are promoting agile via articles and newsletters. While history does not repeat itself, it often rhymes, and thus agile will probably be a successful change effort in some organizations. On the other hand, there is a high probability that agile will not deliver the expected results for most organizations. History reveals that about two-thirds of the change efforts are deemed unsuccessful – regardless of the actual change method. In this paper, we present the results of a systematic literature review on agile and we compare and contrast it with other similar organizational change methods. The purpose of this paper is to explore what one may learn from the history of the earlier change methods in terms of how organizations may succeed in their agile efforts. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a structured literature review of the agile concept – including agile transformation, and with a specific focus on critical success factors. Findings In addition to presenting the state of the art on agile in general, we identify, structure and categorize critical success factors (CSF) for agile. From the 13 categories, we form three clusters, which constitute a 3P framework (purpose, process and people). We also compare and contrast the CSF literature regarding agile with CSFs for organizational change in general. history indicates that most organizational change efforts are not successful. Based on the framework and the discussion, we provide recommendations to hopefully increase the probability of successful agile implementations. Originality/value Given the relative novelty or at least the renewed interest in agile, a structured literature review of the current status of this “new” method provides value as it may help organizations and managers to not repeat old mistakes – once again.

Applications of Leagility in Manufacturing and Service Industries

Leagility is a new paradigm which combines both lean and agile concepts together. The aim of current study is to constitute a vast literature of leagility in manufacturing and service sectors categorizing the existing studies and to explore the limitations and future research directions. There are 40 research articles selected for this study and classified based on year, research methods, publisher, journal and application on leagility. Then the identification of limitations and future research directions from the articles are reviewed. The finding suggests that leagility is explored more in supply chain and it requirements to be looked into other sectors. The theoretical background is made by developing more conceptual models, frameworks and empirical testing in manufacturing, automobile, healthcare and Information Technology (IT). The validation of the models has been examined by real-time case studies. The reader can understand that leagility is applied mainly in supply chain as decoupling point and emerging concept in market. For researcher, it would have a widespread of ideas for research.

Identification of factors affecting on organizational agility and its impact on productivity

Objective: The purpose of recent research is to investigate the relationship between agility capabilities and its impact on organizational productivity. Methodology: The research method of study is descriptive and in terms of purpose, it is an applied study. The statistical population of the research includes 55 employees and managers selected in one of the private bank's Kermanshah province of Iran. Results: The standard questionnaire of organizational agility were used to collect data. In the first part, a summary of the concepts of agility and productivity and in the second part of the study will be presented results obtained using the software SPSS. Conclusion: The results of the study show that there is a significant and positive impact between agility capabilities and organizational productivity.

Governing long-term policy problems: Dilemmas and strategies at a Dutch water authority

ABSTRACT Despite the increasing need to address long-term challenges, public sector organizations are incentivized to focus on short-term results. This article uses an ethnographic approach to analyse how members of a regional water authority understand and deal with long-term policy problems as part of their everyday practices. It reveals three specific dilemmas: investing in the realization of objects or objectives, adopting a stable or responsive approach, and taking a proactive or reactive stance towards the external environment. The concept of strategic agility enables organizations to respond proactively to unexpected developments by devising strategies to steer as well as to accommodate change.