Fourth paper reviewed: The Impact of Organizational Culture on Agile Method Use
Authors: Diane Strode Victoria University OF Wellington, Sid Huff Victoria University of Wellington, Alexei Tretiakov Massey University
This paper inspects this using empirical data from 9 project teams of which 8 are based in New Zealand while 1 is from the United Kingdom. This paper, through a specific formula calculates the exact factor of correlation between this two entities.
The paper successfully concludes that agile is highly culture dependent. It requires a more entrepreneurial, motivated, equal (without hierarchies) and having a high order of mutual trust within itself. Project teams without these values fail to implement agile in the true sense.
I believe that because of the conflict between the organizational culture and the aspects of the agile manifesto, many of the projects fail to give the customer satisfaction that is required of them. Especially in the cases of software outsourcing companies, it is has been observed that a failure like this is not taken well by the client company and at times the client demands a transition to another such software services company even if that requires a high cost on the part of the client.
However, expecting the team to change the organizational culture is a bit difficult and will almost always meet high resistance from both the ranks of management and also the team members. Can we adapt agile to such organizations without hassles?
Authors: Diane Strode Victoria University OF Wellington, Sid Huff Victoria University of Wellington, Alexei Tretiakov Massey University
Year Published: 2009
Date Reviewed: October 15th, 2011
Review:
Many have said that Agile methodologies are highly dependent on the culture of the organization. What is the exact relation between the methodology used and the culture?This paper inspects this using empirical data from 9 project teams of which 8 are based in New Zealand while 1 is from the United Kingdom. This paper, through a specific formula calculates the exact factor of correlation between this two entities.
The paper successfully concludes that agile is highly culture dependent. It requires a more entrepreneurial, motivated, equal (without hierarchies) and having a high order of mutual trust within itself. Project teams without these values fail to implement agile in the true sense.
I believe that because of the conflict between the organizational culture and the aspects of the agile manifesto, many of the projects fail to give the customer satisfaction that is required of them. Especially in the cases of software outsourcing companies, it is has been observed that a failure like this is not taken well by the client company and at times the client demands a transition to another such software services company even if that requires a high cost on the part of the client.
However, expecting the team to change the organizational culture is a bit difficult and will almost always meet high resistance from both the ranks of management and also the team members. Can we adapt agile to such organizations without hassles?
