The big picture in an agile world - A qualitative study on coordination in a large scale agile context

Abstract

Aim: Agile transformations are at the forefront of organisational development and comes carrying a wide array of changes to how organisations work. Coordination is one of many organisational dynamics that undergo a transformation in an agile context. Previous research has suggested that there are a lot of coordinative complexities with large scale agile transformations but empirical research on an organisation that is not exclusively a software developer remains relatively unexplored. As an inquiry to this gap, this paper sets out to explore how large scale agile methodologies affect coordinative efforts in a large manufacturing organisation. Approach: By conducting a qualitative single case study, we investigate how coordination becomes conceptualised in a large scale agile context. 29 interviews and 10 on-site observations were carried out during a period of five months. In addition, our case is focused on a global manufacturer that has universally transitioned to the agile framework SAFe. Inspired by coordination theory, the purpose of this article is to scrutinise a large organisation working agile to shed light on emerging coordinative tensions. Results: We find that although the agile transformation has boosted coordinative efforts, coordinative tensions remains to be explored. Specifically, our findings demonstrates how the organisation has become subject to three coordinative tensions, a) an non-standardised way of coordinating which results into an ambiguously defined relationships, b) a differentiated understanding of agile routines, leading into a mixed utilisation and value that they bring to the organisation and c) organisational disorientation, where employees experience a disconnection in terms of the interrelated tasks and the organisations direction. Contributions: Empirically, our findings are in line with previous research that large scale agile generate coordinative challenges, but we have managed to contribute by providing a more nuanced view in terms of the relational aspect between individuals. Specifically, our study contributes by emphasising how coordination in a large scale agile organisation becomes divided into a decoupled state, with high intra-team coordination and lower inter-team coordination. Theoretically, we contribute by providing a conceptualisation of how coordinative tensions emerge in a modern organisational arrangement in an agile context.