Digitalization from the Project Team, the Management, and the Organizational Point of View
Type
doctoral thesis
Date Issued
2022-02-21
Author(s)
Abstract
Digitalization and agility are important assets in todays digital age. More and more managers consider the digital transformation of their company to be linked to their competitive advantage in the market. However, unfortunately the majority of digital transformation initiatives fail to reach their goals. Using ethnographic research, this thesis is divided into three papers. Each paper explores the determinants for the success of an internal digital transformation initiative from a different point of view. By approaching the phenomenon from a holistic perspective, including different angles, the papers provide insights that are relevant for practitioners, managers, and organizations. The first paper explores the difficulties that managers face when managing projects that adopt the agile approach. The paper draws on dominant logic theory to reveal the underlying reasons for the difficulties that managers face in adopting agile values and an agile mindset. It also offers practical implications that may help in overcoming this challenge. The paper offers theoretical contributions on the agile mindset conversation in the agile literature stream. The second paper examines the social factors that impact the performance of agile software development (ASD) teams. It is a first attempt to respond to the calls for work on examining the influence of social factors in ASD and provides a theoretical grounding of the findings in agency theory. The paper adds to existing research on ASD by providing guidance on how to integrate the perspectives of end users, developers, and designers in an agile environment with high user involvement and offers insights with regard to the collaboration with end users. The third paper offers strategic insights for managers on internal digital transformation. The paper explains the differences between external and internal digital transformation and provides recommendations for action on the appropriate approach towards an internal digital transformation strategy. It also describes the pitfalls that are to be avoided.
Abstract (De)
Digitalization and agility are important assets in todays digital age. More and more managers consider the digital transformation of their company to be linked to their competitive advantage in the market. However, unfortunately the majority of digital transformation initiatives fail to reach their goals. Using ethnographic research, this thesis is divided into three papers. Each paper explores the determinants for the success of an internal digital transformation initiative from a different point of view. By approaching the phenomenon from a holistic perspective, including different angles, the papers provide insights that are relevant for practitioners, managers, and organizations. The first paper explores the difficulties that managers face when managing projects that adopt the agile approach. The paper draws on dominant logic theory to reveal the underlying reasons for the difficulties that managers face in adopting agile values and an agile mindset. It also offers practical implications that may help in overcoming this challenge. The paper offers theoretical contributions on the agile mindset conversation in the agile literature stream. The second paper examines the social factors that impact the performance of agile software development (ASD) teams. It is a first attempt to respond to the calls for work on examining the influence of social factors in ASD and provides a theoretical grounding of the findings in agency theory. The paper adds to existing research on ASD by providing guidance on how to integrate the perspectives of end users, developers, and designers in an agile environment with high user involvement and offers insights with regard to the collaboration with end users. The third paper offers strategic insights for managers on internal digital transformation. The paper explains the differences between external and internal digital transformation and provides recommendations for action on the appropriate approach towards an internal digital transformation strategy. It also describes the pitfalls that are to be avoided.
Language
English
Keywords
Digitale Revolution; Digitalisierung; Ethnologie; EDIS-5175; agile software development; Digitale Transformation; Digital transformation; Ethnografie; user-centered design; digitalization
ethnography; agile Softwareentwicklung
HSG Classification
not classified
HSG Profile Area
None
Publisher
Universität St. Gallen
Publisher place
St.Gallen
Subject(s)
Eprints ID
265927
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Name
Dis5175.pdf
Size
2.77 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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