The bottom-up agency in driving institutional change - A case study in a corporate environment

Timo Punkka

The bottom-up agency in driving institutional change - A case study in a corporate environment

Julkaisun otsikon käännös: Alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuva toimijuus institutionaalisen muutoksen liikkeellepanevana voimana: Tapaustutkimus suuressa organisaatiossa

Timo Punkka

Tuotantotalouden laitos

Tutkimustuotos: Doctoral Thesis › Monograph

Abstrakti

Ketterät tuotekehitysmenetelmät ovat siirtyneet valtavirtaan. Ketterä tuotekehitys perustuu lyhyisiin iteraatioihin ja jatkuvaan sopeutumiseen muuttuviin olosuhteisiin. Kuitenkin, jos halutaan, että organisaatio kokonaisuudessaan toimii tehokkaammin muuttuvassa ympäristössä, tulisi koko organisaation olla linjassa tämän ajattelutavan ja toimintamallin kanssa. Valitettavasti ketterän ajattelutavan skaalaaminen organisaatiotasolla on todettu haastavaksi, etenkin kun muutostarve tunnistetaan alhaalta ylöspäin -tyyppisesti. Tämä tutkimus keskittyy organisaation muutoksiin ja erityisesti siihen, kuinka yksilön toimijuus voi käynnistää jopa institutionaalisen muutoksen. Tutkimuksessa hyödynnettiin abduktiivista lähestymistapaa jatkuvasti yhdistäen olemassa olevia teorioita empiirisiin havaintoihin. Tutkimus koostui kolmesta yksittäisestä osatutkimuksesta. Ensimmäinen tutkimus keskittyi tiimipohjaisen organisaatiomallin teoreettiseen toteutettavuuteen keinona edistää ketterää ajattelutapaa organisaatiossa. Toinen tutkimus oli kaksivuotinen toimintatutkimus, jonka aikana tiimipohjaista organisaatiomallia ja siihen liittyvää muutosta toteutettiin ja tutkittiin käytännössä. Viimeisen tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli ymmärtää alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvaa muutosta takautuvasti. Ensimmäisen ja kolmannen osatutkimuksen tiedonkeruu tapahtui käyttäen erilaisia haastatteluita. Toimintatutkimuksessa tiedonkeruu perustui ensisijaisesti organisaation tietojärjestelmiin, työpaja- ja kokousmuistioihin sekä tutkijan suoran ja osallistuvan havainnoinnin muistiinpanoihin. Yhteensä tutkimuksen aikana tehtiin 18 haastattelua ja yksi kohderyhmähaastattelu. Tutkimuksen tulosten perusteella voidaan todeta, että näinkin merkittävä muutos organisaatiossa on mahdollista käynnistää ja ohjata alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvan toimijuuden kautta. Tämän tyyppisen muutoksen onnistuminen riippuu ratkaisuiden löytämisestä organisaation rajapinnoissa. Merkittävien alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvien organisaatiomuutosten onnistumisen ratkaisee toimijoiden kyky ymmärtää organisaation eri osissa vaikuttavien institutionaalisten logiikoiden yhteistoiminta, ja onnistutaanko ehdotettua muutosta muokkaamaan vastaavasti. Tämä on tärkeää muutoksen legitimaatiolle organisaatiossa, joka puolestaan on edellytys instituutioiden muuttumiselle. Tämän tutkimuksen pääkontribuutio on alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuvan institutionaalisen muutoksen kolmikerroksinen malli. Tutkimuksen tulokset tukevat institutionaalisten logiikoiden teorian käyttöä etsittäessä keinoja toteuttaa ja nopeuttaa organisaatiomuutoksia. Lisäksi tämä tutkimus tarjoaa empiirisen näytön yhdestä mahdollisesta keinosta ketterän ajattelutavan edistämiseen organisaatiossa.

Julkaisun otsikon käännös	Alhaalta ylöspäin suuntautuva toimijuus institutionaalisen muutoksen liikkeellepanevana voimana: Tapaustutkimus suuressa organisaatiossa
Alkuperäiskieli	Englanti
Pätevyys	Tohtorintutkinto
Myöntävä instituutio	Aalto-yliopisto
Valvoja/neuvonantaja	Rajala, Risto, Vastuuprofessori Vartiainen, Matti, Ohjaaja
Kustantaja	Aalto University
Painoksen ISBN	978-952-64-0317-5
Sähköinen ISBN	978-952-64-0318-2
Tila	Julkaistu - 2021
OKM-julkaisutyyppi	G4 Monografiaväitöskirja

Tutkimusalat

ketterä tuotekehitys
tiimipohjainen organisaatio
organisaatiomuutos
alhaalta ylöspäin muutos
organisaatiorakenne
institutionaalinen teoria
institutionaalinen logiikka

Pääsy asiakirjaan

http://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-64-0318-2

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title = "The bottom-up agency in driving institutional change - A case study in a corporate environment",

abstract = "Agile development methods have moved into the mainstream. Agile development relies on short iterations and continuous adaptation to changing conditions. However, to fully benefit from these rapid development cycles, the rest of the organization should be aligned with this manner of thinking. Unfortunately, scaling agile thinking has been identified as challenging, particularly regarding how this magnitude of change can be driven in a bottom-up approach. This research concentrates on organizational change and specifically on how an individual bottom-up agency can initiate and drive even institutional change. The research utilized an abductive approach and continuously combined existing theories with empirical findings. The research consisted of three individual studies: The first study concentrated on the theoretical feasibility of utilizing the team-based organization model as an approach to help agile thinking unfold in an organization. For the second study, two-year action research was conducted to empirically test the approach in the case organization. The final study aimed at understanding the bottom-up transformation in retrospect. The data for the first and third study consists primarily of interviews utilizing different techniques. For the action research, the primary data-gathering methods consisted of various information systems of the case organization, workshop and meeting memos, and author's notes from direct and participatory observation. During the research, the author conducted a total of 18 individual interviews and one focus group interview. Based on the findings, this research states that it is possible to initiate a change of this magnitude through an individual bottom-up agency. The success of such an endeavor depends on finding solutions to organizational boundaries. The key differentiator in large-scale bottom-up transformation and its success concerns whether the actors can find ways to understand the constellation of institutional logics at play in different parts of the organization and can re-form the suggested change in order to legitimize the new state of affairs. Legitimization, in turn, is a pre-condition for institutional change. The main contribution of this research comprises a three-layer model for bottom-up institutional change. The findings strengthen the potential of using institutional logics as a theory for efforts to accelerate organizational change. In addition, this research provides empirical evidence for one possible route for unfolding agile thinking at the organizational level.",

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author = "Timo Punkka",

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N2 - Agile development methods have moved into the mainstream. Agile development relies on short iterations and continuous adaptation to changing conditions. However, to fully benefit from these rapid development cycles, the rest of the organization should be aligned with this manner of thinking. Unfortunately, scaling agile thinking has been identified as challenging, particularly regarding how this magnitude of change can be driven in a bottom-up approach. This research concentrates on organizational change and specifically on how an individual bottom-up agency can initiate and drive even institutional change. The research utilized an abductive approach and continuously combined existing theories with empirical findings. The research consisted of three individual studies: The first study concentrated on the theoretical feasibility of utilizing the team-based organization model as an approach to help agile thinking unfold in an organization. For the second study, two-year action research was conducted to empirically test the approach in the case organization. The final study aimed at understanding the bottom-up transformation in retrospect. The data for the first and third study consists primarily of interviews utilizing different techniques. For the action research, the primary data-gathering methods consisted of various information systems of the case organization, workshop and meeting memos, and author's notes from direct and participatory observation. During the research, the author conducted a total of 18 individual interviews and one focus group interview. Based on the findings, this research states that it is possible to initiate a change of this magnitude through an individual bottom-up agency. The success of such an endeavor depends on finding solutions to organizational boundaries. The key differentiator in large-scale bottom-up transformation and its success concerns whether the actors can find ways to understand the constellation of institutional logics at play in different parts of the organization and can re-form the suggested change in order to legitimize the new state of affairs. Legitimization, in turn, is a pre-condition for institutional change. The main contribution of this research comprises a three-layer model for bottom-up institutional change. The findings strengthen the potential of using institutional logics as a theory for efforts to accelerate organizational change. In addition, this research provides empirical evidence for one possible route for unfolding agile thinking at the organizational level.

AB - Agile development methods have moved into the mainstream. Agile development relies on short iterations and continuous adaptation to changing conditions. However, to fully benefit from these rapid development cycles, the rest of the organization should be aligned with this manner of thinking. Unfortunately, scaling agile thinking has been identified as challenging, particularly regarding how this magnitude of change can be driven in a bottom-up approach. This research concentrates on organizational change and specifically on how an individual bottom-up agency can initiate and drive even institutional change. The research utilized an abductive approach and continuously combined existing theories with empirical findings. The research consisted of three individual studies: The first study concentrated on the theoretical feasibility of utilizing the team-based organization model as an approach to help agile thinking unfold in an organization. For the second study, two-year action research was conducted to empirically test the approach in the case organization. The final study aimed at understanding the bottom-up transformation in retrospect. The data for the first and third study consists primarily of interviews utilizing different techniques. For the action research, the primary data-gathering methods consisted of various information systems of the case organization, workshop and meeting memos, and author's notes from direct and participatory observation. During the research, the author conducted a total of 18 individual interviews and one focus group interview. Based on the findings, this research states that it is possible to initiate a change of this magnitude through an individual bottom-up agency. The success of such an endeavor depends on finding solutions to organizational boundaries. The key differentiator in large-scale bottom-up transformation and its success concerns whether the actors can find ways to understand the constellation of institutional logics at play in different parts of the organization and can re-form the suggested change in order to legitimize the new state of affairs. Legitimization, in turn, is a pre-condition for institutional change. The main contribution of this research comprises a three-layer model for bottom-up institutional change. The findings strengthen the potential of using institutional logics as a theory for efforts to accelerate organizational change. In addition, this research provides empirical evidence for one possible route for unfolding agile thinking at the organizational level.

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The bottom-up agency in driving institutional change - A case study in a corporate environment

Abstrakti

Tutkimusalat

Pääsy asiakirjaan

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