The Agile Organization
At the beginning of this course, we discussed what it means for an organization to be agile in a business or operational sense. As we explored agile project management in greater detail, we have also considered the forces which either foster or restrain the use of agile approaches. For this final individual written assignment, students are asked to consider what are the characteristics of organizations which are most likely to adopt and regularly use agile methods successfully. Can you define the ideal “agile organization”, e.g., one which is suitably responsive to a turbulent environment but is also capable of using agile frameworks such as Scrum, XP or Kanban successfully for suitable projects? [Please note the particulars of this definition! It binds together the two dimensions of agility we have discussed in this course: 1) Organizational or business agility and 2) commitment to use agile project management approaches for initiatives involving great uncertainty and innovation.]
In a three pages paper, students must describe:
• The characteristics of an organization’s culture which would support the use of agile methods throughout the organization.
• The management structure (if any).
• Human capital management policies such as recruitment and compensation.
• Common behavioral traits of managers, leaders and employees working on project teams.
Ideally, you would be able to find an example of an existing organization which exemplifies at least part of your vision of an agile organization. You may identify particular industries or types of organizations (government, non-profit, etc.) which you feel would be more conducive to the use of agile methods. If you feel you work for an agile organization or have done so in the past, please feel free to share details about it! You are permitted select a relevant work situation of your own experience, or even an account of an organization in a source you select from a trade journal, newspaper or magazine article, book or web-based source to support your arguments. If you do reference a third-party source, please be sure to list its name and provide a link to it if it is available on the Internet or in the Bobst Library’s digital archives.
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