Succeeding in an increasingly Agile world

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (3) ◽  
pp. 3-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve Denning
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Value Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
Immense Potential ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Management Thinking

Purpose As Agile management thinking spreads to every part and every kind of organization, including their competitors, corporate leaders need to take steps to ensure they get and keep a good seat at the Agile table. Design/methodology/approach The author’s first hand research finds that firms are learning the hard way that software process and value innovation requires a different way of running the organization to be successful. The whole firm has to become nimble, adaptable and able to adjust on the fly to meet the shifting whims of a marketplace driven by dynamic changes in customer value. Findings The Agile way of working is provoking a revolution in business that affects almost everyone. Agile organizations are connecting everyone and everything, everywhere, all the time. They are capable of delivering instant, intimate, frictionless value on a large scale. Practical implications Examples of the new way of running organizations are everywhere apparent. It’s not just the five biggest firms by market capitalization: Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google and Microsoft. It’s also firms like Airbnb, Etsy, Lyft, Menlo Innovations, Netflix, Saab, Samsung, Spotify, Tesla, Uber and Warby Parker. Social implications A new kind of management was needed to enable this new kind of worker -- a fundamentally different way of running organizations. Agile is economically more productive and a better fit with the new marketplace. And it had immense potential benefit for the human spirit. It could create workplaces that enabled human beings to contribute their full talents on something worthwhile and meaningful – creating value for other human beings. Originality/value Continuing the management practices and structures of the lumbering industrial giants of the 20th Century is no longer a viable option for today’s firms. To survive, let alone thrive, leaders today must recognize that Agile is not something happening in software alone.

Why Apple’s product magic continues to amaze – skills of the world’s #1 value chain integrator

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 17-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Mitchell
Keyword(s):  
Value Chain ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Corporate Value ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Corporate Leaders ◽  
A Value ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
The Way

Purpose – Apple’s amazing run of blockbusters – iPhone, iPad, iPod, iTunes, multiple iterations of the Mac computer, and going all the way back to the Apple II – has created a fan base of consumers willing to pay premium prices and produced enormous corporate value. This case aims to look at the strategies, value chain integration skills and management practices that underlie Apple’s ability to bring its designs to commercial stardom and propel shareholder value. Design/methodology/approach – The case examines two related skills that the company has developed since the late 1990s that are critical complements to Apple’s design talents: its ability to combine “build, borrow and buy” strategies and its world-leading abilities as a value chain integrator. Findings – Apple has uniquely sophisticated “build, borrow and buy” (BBB) expertise throughout its management, going all the way up to its CEO Tim Cook. The company’s lengthy success record proves it knows when and how to develop products and components internally, when to ally with other firms and when and how to acquire and integrate other companies. Research limitations/implications – This case is based on publically available sources. Practical implications – Despite working with such a large and powerful set of vendors and partners, Apple harvests much of the value in the relationships. Originality/value – The case shows how corporate leaders and personnel throughout the company maintain a systematic view of customer value, the value chain that delivers that value and the competitive and social contexts that shape value demands, so that they can communicate and coordinate activities of multiple vendors throughout the ecosystem rather than simply manage a series of one-to-one relationships.

How to make the whole organization “Agile”

2016 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 10-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen Denning
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Creative Economy ◽  
New Firms ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Management Framework ◽  
The World ◽  
Business Challenges ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose Agile is the umbrella term for a family of management practices, which include Scrum, Kanban, and Lean. To investigate Agile management as it was being practiced in large firms, in 2015 Scrum Alliance, whose mission is “to transform the world of work,” launched a Learning Consortium for the Creative Economy (LC), composed of a group of firms that included Microsoft, Ericsson, Magna International, Riot Games and others. Design/methodology/approach The group conducted site visits to learn from each other’s experiences with Agile. The questions to be explored included: To what extent are Agile management practices in fact occurring at scale in old and new firms? How effective are these management practices? Is it possible for the whole firm, particularly older firms with entrenched bureaucratic cultures, to become Agile? Findings The LC found that Agile management is already taking hold in large-scale implementations in both new and old firms. The LC observed that some firms were implementing Agile for large-scale, complex business challenges in areas beyond software, including operations where reliability is an issue. Practical implications Agile was seen as a different way of understanding and acting in the world. The successful firms were “being Agile,” not merely “doing Agile” within their existing management framework. Originality/value In the world of Agile management, delivering value to customers is the goal of every individual in the organization. Profits are seen as the result, not the goal. The Learning consortium sites visit offer managers an opportunity to study this philosophy in practice.

SRI’s turnaround: how four principles guided high-value, market-creating innovation

2017 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 3-8
Author(s):  
Steve Denning
Keyword(s):  
Business Model ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Leadership Strategies ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Value Propositions ◽  
On Line ◽  
Market Needs ◽  
Working Hypotheses ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The article explores the leadership strategies of a CEO who defied the odds against culture change and accomplished a storied turnaround, Curt Carlson who introduced a culture of innovation at SRI International. Design/methodology/approach Under Carlson’s leadership, SRI developed a methodology for rapid, large-scale, serial innovation, starting with a focus on important customer and market needs. The innovation proposals had to develop compelling hypotheses for both the product offering and the business model. Findings Need, Approach, Benefits per costs and Competition (NABC). the methodology Carlson and his team developed, contains the fundamental framework for creating customer value, it applies to the entire enterprise. It brings all functions together using a short, easy to remember meme that starts every conversation with a focus on customer need. Practical implications One of the most spectacular and best-known SRI innovation wins was Siri, the intelligent personal computer assistant and on-line knowledge navigator, an integral part of the iPhone. As a case example, Siri illustrates the power of the NABC approach. Originality/value Carlson stresses that the key element in SRI’s success with Siri was not just the technology. It was getting the entire value proposition right. “One of the things that changed at SRI was the realization that we needed to have really solid working hypotheses, both for the product and the business model, before we started spending significant money on technology. That’s one of the biggest mistakes firms make. They rush ahead and want to build the product before they de-risk their value propositions.

Time to raise the bar on nonprofit strategic planning and implementation

2014 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 31-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
Margaret F. Reid ◽  
Lynne Brown ◽  
Denise McNerney ◽  
Dominic J. Perri
Keyword(s):  
Strategic Planning ◽  
Strategic Management ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Large Scale Survey ◽  
Broad Cross Section ◽  
First Time ◽  
Plan Management ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose – This large-scale survey, initiated in 2012 and concluded in 2013, marked the first time a broad cross-section of the nonprofit community was asked to describe the strategic planning and strategic management practices they employ and to rate them for their impact on overall organizational success. Design/methodology/approach – Respondents were asked to self-rate their organization for overall success and the likelihood for continued success in the foreseeable future. Results from this data were then used as a filter to analyze practices across all responses by level of success (N = 507). Findings – Fully 93 percent of the most successful organizations, regardless of size or budget, credited their strategic planning and strategic-management efforts as having “some” to “critical” impact on their organization’s overall success. Practical implications – The evidence in this survey is so compelling that we believe the successful practices it identifies should be adopted by nonprofits of all sizes, demanded by boards, and supported by funders. Originality/value – This research indicates that funders should consider not only supporting strategic plan development, but also supporting development of ongoing plan management/implementation practices and requiring plan assessment reports/updates as part of the grantee’s reporting

scholarly journals Advantages and potential challenges of data management in e-maintenance

2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-396 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arian Razmi-Farooji ◽  
Hanna Kropsu-Vehkaperä ◽  
Janne Härkönen ◽  
Harri Haapasalo
Keyword(s):  
Data Management ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Conceptual Approach ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Maintenance Systems ◽  
Industry Leader ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to understand data management challenges in e-maintenance systems from a holistically viewpoint through summarizing the earlier scattered research in the field, and second, to present a conceptual approach for addressing these challenges in practice. Design/methodology/approach The study is realized as a combination of a literature review and by the means of analyzing the practices on an industry leader in manufacturing and maintenance services. Findings This research provides a general understanding over data management challenges in e-maintenance and summarizes their associated proposed solutions. In addition, this paper lists and exemplifies different types and sources of data which can be collected in e-maintenance, across different organizational levels. Analyzing the data management practices of an e-maintenance industry leader provides a conceptual approach to address identified challenges in practice. Research limitations/implications Since this paper is based on studying the practices of a single company, it might be limited to generalize the results. Future research topics can focus on each of mentioned data management challenges and also validate the applicability of presented model in other companies and industries. Practical implications Understanding the e-maintenance-related challenges helps maintenance managers and other involved stakeholders in e-maintenance systems to better solve the challenges. Originality/value The so-far literature on e-maintenance has been studied with narrow focus to data and data management in e-maintenance appears as one of the less studied topics in the literature. This research paper contributes to e-maintenance by highlighting the deficiencies of the discussion surrounding the perspectives of data management in e-maintenance by studying all common data management challenges and listing different types of data which need to be acquired in e-maintenance systems.

The inseparable nature of working and learning: peripheral management practice that facilitates employee learning

2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (5) ◽  
pp. 10-12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jay Andrew Cohen
Keyword(s):  
Management Practices ◽  
Management Practice ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Management Activity ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Employee Learning ◽  
Frontline Managers ◽  
Social Act ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Good Manager

Purpose – This paper aims to look at the peripheral management practice that facilitates employee learning. Such management practices are embedded or inseparable to working and being a good manager. Design/methodology/approach – Point of view. Findings – For many frontline managers and their employees, the separation between working and learning is often not apparent. There appears to be no clear distinction between when they are working and when they are learning. Practical implications – Better development of organizational managers. Originality/value – This paper highlights the informal nature of learning and working and builds on the understanding that much of the learning that occurs at work occurs as part of a social act, often involving managers and their employees. In this way, employee learning that is identified and facilitated by frontline managers is so often entwined in other management activity. Furthermore, this paper outlines some practical actions that organizations can undertake to aid greater frontline management involvement in employee learning.

How “The Three Rules” guide strategy and investment decisions at Deloitte Consulting LLP

2015 ◽  
Vol 43 (3) ◽  
pp. 7-14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jim Moffatt
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Investment Decisions ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Research Project ◽  
Content Type ◽  
First Case ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Thought Leadership

Purpose – This case example looks at how Deloitte Consulting applies the Three Rules synthesized by Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed based on their large-scale research project that identified patterns in the way exceptional companies think. Design/methodology/approach – The Three Rules concept is a key piece of Deloitte Consulting’s thought leadership program. So how are the three rules helping the organization perform? Now that research has shown how exceptional companies think, CEO Jim Moffatt could address the question, “Does Deloitte think like an exceptional company?” Findings – Deloitte has had success with an approach that promotes a bias towards non-price value over price and revenue over costs. Practical implications – It’s critical that all decision makers in an organization understand how decisions that are consistent with the three rules have contributed to past success as well as how they can apply the rules to difficult challenges they face today. Originality/value – This is the first case study written from a CEO’s perspective that looks at how the Three Rules approach of Michael Raynor and Mumtaz Ahmed can foster a firm’s growth and exceptional performance.

Communicate belonging? Duoethnography of an organisational change study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ivana Crestani ◽  
Jill Fenton Taylor
Keyword(s):  
Change Management ◽  
Sense Of Belonging ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Organisational Change ◽  
Change Initiatives ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Inclusive Language ◽  
Employee Resistance ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeThis duoethnography explores feelings of belonging that emerged as being relevant to the participants of a doctoral organisational change study. It challenges the prolific change management models that inadvertently encourage anti-belonging.Design/methodology/approachA change management practitioner and her doctoral supervisor share their dialogic reflections and reflexivity on the case study to open new conversations and raise questions about how communicating belonging enhances practice. They draw on Ubuntu philosophy (Tutu, 1999) to enrich Pinar's currere (1975) for understandings of belonging, interconnectedness, humanity and transformation.FindingsThe authors show how dialogic practice in giving employees a voice, communicating honestly, using inclusive language and affirmation contribute to a stronger sense of belonging. Suppressing the need for belonging can deepen a communication shadow and create employee resistance and alienation. Sharing in each other's personal transformation, the authors assist others in better understanding the feelings of belonging in organisational change.Practical implicationsPractitioners will need to challenge change initiatives that ignore belonging. This requires thinking of people as relationships, rather than as numbers or costs, communicating dialogically, taking care with language in communicating changes and facilitating employees to be active participants where they feel supported.Originality/valueFor both practice and academy, this duoethnography highlights a need for greater humanity in change management practices. This requires increasing the awareness and understanding of an interconnectedness that lies at the essence of belonging or Ubuntu (Tutu, 1999).

Drivers, types and value outcomes of customer-to-customer interaction

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (6) ◽  
pp. 710-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Heinonen ◽  
Elina Jaakkola ◽  
Irina Neganova
Keyword(s):  
Customer Value ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Service Research ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Integrative Framework ◽  
Customer Interaction ◽  
Interaction Research ◽  
Practical Implications

PurposeCustomer-to-customer (C2C) interaction plays a significant role in service. The purpose of this paper is to identify the drivers that motivate customers to interact with other customers, the interactions through which customers affect other customers and the value outcomes of C2C interactions for the participants.Design/methodology/approachThe paper is based on a systematic literature review of C2C interactions. The authors analyzed 142 peer-reviewed articles to synthesize existing knowledge about C2C interactions. A generic value framework is used to categorize earlier research and reveal areas for further research.FindingsThe main outcome of this study is an integrative framework of C2C interaction that bridges C2C interactions and customer value. The findings indicate customer-, firm- and situation-induced drivers of C2C interactions. Outcome- and process-focused C2C interactions are identified to result in functional, emotional and social value outcomes. Avenues for additional research to explore issues related to current technology-saturated service settings are proposed.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper proposes an agenda for future research to extend the C2C interaction research domain and explore how such interactions create value for the customer. The role of the service provider is not explicitly addressed but is an important area for further research.Practical implicationsCompanies can use the framework to understand how they can become involved in and support beneficial C2C interaction.Originality/valueThis paper reviews empirical studies on C2C interaction, offering a systematic review of C2C interaction and producing an integrative framework of C2C interaction. It identifies a research agenda based on the framework and on topical issues within service research and practice.

Customer orientation and organizational innovation: the case of environmental management practices

2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (7) ◽  
pp. 835-848 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanja Pekovic ◽  
Sylvie Rolland ◽  
Hubert Gatignon
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Management ◽  
Information Processing ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Customer Orientation ◽  
Market Competition ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Industrial Marketing ◽  
Customer Information ◽  
Environmental Management Practices ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This study aims to investigates the effect of three customer orientation components – customer information-processing, responsiveness and values and norms – on a firm’s decision to adopt environmental management practices. Consistent with the literature on strategy and industrial marketing, the authors also examine the moderating effect of marketplace characteristics. Design/methodology/approach The authors use a linear model on a sample of 4,324 French firms with ten or more employees. Findings Based on a large-scale survey of firms across industries, the results indicate that customer information-processing and values and norms directly contribute to the adoption of environmental management practices. Furthermore, the effect of customer information-processing is shown to be contingent on market competition. Practical implications The findings have direct practical implications. When managers recognize the importance and usefulness of customer orientation, they understand the need to formulate organizational strategies in terms of environmental management practices that reflect customer expectations. In addition, following the strategic fit approach, customer orientation should fit with the specific market environment to stimulate the adoption of environmental management practices. In other words, the findings are useful for managers, who can assess the specific environmental characteristics they are facing and align these with customer orientation to build competitive advantage. Originality/value The findings indicate that the different dimensions of customer orientation distinctly affect a firm’s decision to adopt environmental management practices. In this sense, the authors argue that they capture different facets of the customer orientation measure, which points to the importance of analyzing the dimensions of customer orientation separately. Furthermore, rather than analyzing aggregate measures of corporate social responsibility, the authors selected environmental orientation as a specific dimension, which has received less attention in the industrial marketing literature. Finally, the main findings mark an important contribution to the literature because they provide deeper insights into the conditions under which customer orientation dimensions drive the adoption of environmental management practices.

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