Beyond Continuous Improvement: Unraveling the invisible challenges of implementing organizational change in a Software Industry Company

Resumo


Organizational change (OC) is crucial for innovation and competitiveness in the software industry, yet companies often lack systematic processes and risk management, leading to inefficiencies and failures worsened by volunteers without OC management knowledge. This paper discusses four overlooked challenges in this area, highlighting a crucial but frequently ignored issue: the inefficiency of OC processes in the software industry. We conducted a company-wide case study to identify the familiarity and use of OC management models and practices applied by volunteers who implement large internal improvements and innovations in software development companies. The findings reveal significant challenges in OC implementation, including the lack of OC specialized knowledge, the knowledge gap about OC effective models, the dependence on exceptional individuals, and invisible or overlooked resistance. Effective OC in the software industry demands a holistic approach that harmonizes technical and managerial competencies aligned with the company’s strategic goals. Further research is needed to improve organizational change processes in the software industry, reduce resource waste, and challenge the belief that only continuous improvement ensures company survival and competitiveness.
Palavras-chave: Organizational change, Invisible Challenges, Internal innovation

Referências

Association of Change Management Professionals ACMP. 2014. Standard for change management. Winter Springs, FL.

Steven H Appelbaum, Sally Habashy, Jean-Luc Malo, and Hisham Shafiq. 2012. Back to the future: revisiting Kotter’s 1996 change model. Journal of Management development 31, 8 (2012), 764–782.

Achilles A Armenakis and Arthur G Bedeian. 1999. Organizational change: A review of theory and research in the 1990s. Journal of management 25, 3 (1999), 293–315.

Sussy Bayona, Jose A Calvo-Manzano, and Tomás San Feliu. 2012. Critical success factors in software process improvement: A systematic review. In Software Process Improvement and Capability Determination: 12th International Conference, SPICE 2012, Palma, Spain, May 29-31, 2012. Proceedings 12. Springer, 1–12.

Michael Beer and Anna EliseWalton. 1987. Organization change and development. Annual review of psychology 38, 1 (1987), 339–367.

David A Buchanan. 2012. Case studies in organizational research. Qualitative organizational research 5 (2012), 351–370. Beyond Continuous Improvement: Unraveling the invisible challenges of implementing organizational change in a SoftwSaBreEISn’d24u,sStreyptCeommbpearn3y0 – October 04, 2024, Curitiba, PR

Maria Goreti Simão Cruz et al. 2002. Reestruturação organizacional direcionada para a formação de equipes: bases teórico-empíricas. Repositório UFSC n/a (2002), n/a.

Thomas H Davenport and Donna B Stoddard. 1994. Reengineering: business change of mythic proportions? MIS quarterly n/a (1994), 121–127.

Pablo Martin De Holan and Nelson Phillips. 2002. Managing in transition: A case study of institutional management and organizational change. Journal of Management Inquiry 11, 1 (2002), 68–83.

Kim Dikert, Maria Paasivaara, and Casper Lassenius. 2016. Challenges and success factors for large-scale agile transformations: A systematic literature review. Journal of Systems and Software 119 (2016), 87–108.

Abdelouahab Errida and Bouchra Lotfi. 2021. The determinants of organizational change management success: Literature review and case study. International Journal of Engineering Business Management 13 (2021), 18479790211016273.

Timothy J Galpin. 1996. The human side of change: A practical guide to organization redesign. (No Title) (1996).

Manishkumar Gami, Parth Jetly, Nidhi Mehta, and Sunita Patil. 2019. Robotic process automation–future of business organizations: a review. In 2nd International conference on advances in science & technology (ICAST).

Eliyahu M Goldratt and Jeff Cox. 2016. The goal: a process of ongoing improvement. Routledge.

Blanca Grama and Ramona Todericiu. 2016. Change, resistance to change and organizational cynicism. Studies in Business and Economics 11, 3 (2016), 47–54.

David E Guest. 1994. Organizational psychology and human resource management: Towards a European approach. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology 4, 3 (1994), 251–270.

Trung Thanh Ha and Phong Ba Le. 2021. What are the sources of organizational change capability? The role of transformational leadership and organizational justice. International Journal of Business Administration 12, 2 (2021), 76–87.

Todd Jick. 1993. Implementing change. Managing Change, Irwin, Homewood, IL (1993), 192–201.

Khai Wah Khaw, Alhamzah Alnoor, Hadi Al-Abrrow, Victor Tiberius, Yuvaraj Ganesan, and Nadia A Atshan. 2022. Reactions towards organizational change: a systematic literature review. Current Psychology (2022), 1–24.

AJ Kleinheksel, Nicole Rockich-Winston, Huda Tawfik, and Tasha R Wyatt. 2020. Demystifying content analysis. American journal of pharmaceutical education 84, 1 (2020), 7113.

John P Kotter. 2007. Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. In Museum management and marketing. Routledge, 20–29.

Kurt Lewin. 1947. Frontiers in group dynamics: II. Channels of group life; social planning and action research. Human relations 1, 2 (1947), 143–153.

Rayfran Rocha Lima, Luis Albuquerque, Marcelo Ayres, Suelen Silva, Ana Oran, and César França. 2023. Understanding an organizational change and development intervention applied in a Global Software Industry: a case study. In Proceedings of the XXXVII Brazilian Symposium on Software Engineering. 1–11.

Rayfran Rocha Lima, Margefson Barros, Miguel Castro, Ana Oran, Williamson Silva, and César França. 2023. Improving test team performance through an Episodic Organizational Change Implementation: A case study replication and extension. In Proceedings of XXII Brazilian Software Quality Symposium. 1–11.

Rayfran Rocha Lima, Marcelo Santana Costa, Ana Carolina Oran, and César França. 2022. Factors that Boost and Hinder the Transition from Traditional to Self-managed Teams: A Systematic Literature Review. In Proceedings of the XXI Brazilian Symposium on Software Quality. 1–11.

Rayfran Rocha Lima, Oswald Ekwoge, Bruno Bonifácio, Raquel Cunha, Hualter Barbosa, and Ana Carolina Oran Rocha. 2021. Overcoming Knowledge-Sharing Barriers that Affect Software Quality: An Experience Report. In XX Brazilian Symposium on Software Quality. 1–9.

Ronald Lippitt. 1958. Dynamics of planned change. n/a n/a, n/a (1958), n/a.

Richard Luecke. 2003. Managing change and transition. Vol. 3. Harvard Business Press.

Isomi M Miake-Lye, Deborah M Delevan, David A Ganz, Brian S Mittman, and Erin P Finley. 2020. Unpacking organizational readiness for change: an updated systematic review and content analysis of assessments. BMC health services research 20, 1 (2020), 1–13.

Mark Michaels. 2001. The Quest for Fitness: A rational exploration into the new science of organization. iUniverse.

Ann K Miller. 2001. Organizational change. (2001).

Sune Dueholm Müller, Lars Mathiassen, and Hans Henrik Balshøj. 2010. Software Process Improvement as organizational change: A metaphorical analysis of the literature. Journal of Systems and Software 83, 11 (2010), 2128–2146.

Andrew M Pettigrew, Richard W Woodman, and Kim S Cameron. 2001. Studying organizational change and development: Challenges for future research. Academy of management journal 44, 4 (2001), 697–713.

PMI. 2021. A Guide to the Project Manag. Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide) (7th ed.). Project Management Institute, Newtown Square, PA.

Jerry I Porras and Peter J Robertson. 1992. Organizational development: Theory, practice, and research. Consulting Psychologists Press, n/a.

Michael E Porter. 2008. The five competitive forces that shape strategy. Harvard business review 86, 1 (2008), 78.

Jorge Ribeiro, Rui Lima, Tiago Eckhardt, and Sara Paiva. 2021. Robotic process automation and artificial intelligence in industry 4.0–a literature review. Procedia Computer Science 181 (2021), 51–58.

Ana Regina Rocha, Mariano Montoni, Gleison Santos, et al. 2005. Fatores de Sucesso e Dificuldades na Implementação de Processos de Software Utilizando o MR-MPS e o CMMI. Pro Quality. Retrieved from [link]. cos. ufrj. br/˜ savio/Arquivos/W2MPSBR/rocha_et_al_2005. pdf (2005).

Mike Rother. 2009. Toyota kata. McGraw-Hill Professional Publishing NY, NY.

P. Runeson and M. Höst. 2009. Guidelines for conducting and reporting case study research in software engineering. Empirical sw engineering 14 (2009), 131–164.

Samsung. 2024. 3 novidades de Inteligência Artificial do Galaxy S24. [link].

Peter M Senge. 2017. The leaders new work: Building learning organizations. In Leadership perspectives. Routledge, 51–67.

Sheng-Pao Shih, Ruey-Shiang Shaw, Ta-Yu Fu, and Che-Pin Cheng. 2013. A systematic study of change management during CMMI implementation: A modified activity theory perspective. Project Management Journal 44, 4 (2013), 84–100.

Martin E Smith. 2002. Success rates for different types of organizational change. Performance Improvement 41, 1 (2002), 26–33.

Durward K Sobek II and Art Smalley. 2008. Understanding A3 thinking: a critical component of Toyota’s PDCA management system. Productivity Press.

Dirk Stelzer and Werner Mellis. 1998. Success factors of organizational change in SPI. Software Process: Improvement and Practice 4, 4 (1998), 227–250.

Elisabeth Supriharyanti and Badri Munir Sukoco. 2023. Organizational change capability: a systematic review and future research directions. Management Research Review 46, 1 (2023), 46–81.

Paul D Sweeney and Dean B McFarlin. 2002. Organizational behavior: Solutions for management. McGraw-Hill.

Syed Awais Ahmad Tipu. 2022. Organizational change for environmental, social, and financial sustainability: A systematic literature review. Review of Managerial Science 16, 6 (2022), 1697–1742.

UYAN Umut and Ayşe Aslan. 2019. Promoting readiness for change: A systematic review of positive psychology in organizational change context. Yönetim Bilimleri Dergisi 17, 34 (2019), 349–370.

Maria Vakola, Achilles Armenakis, and Shaul Oreg. 2013. Reactions to organizational change from an individual differences perspective: A review of empirical research. The psychology of organizational change: Viewing change from the employee’s perspective (2013), 95–122.

Karl EWeick and Robert E Quinn. 1999. Organizational change and development. Annual review of psychology 50, 1 (1999), 361–386.

WIPO. 2022. What is the future of innovation-driven growth? [link].

Claes Wohlin, Per Runeson, Martin Höst, Magnus C Ohlsson, Björn Regnell, and Anders Wesslén. 2012. Experimentation in software engineering. Springer Science & Business Media, n/a.

Kinza Zahra, Farooque Azam, and Ilyas et al. 2017. Success factors of organizational change in software process improvement: A systematic literature review. In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Information and Education Technology. ACM, n/a, 155–160.

Nael Zuleikha Zainol and Kowang et al. 2021. Managing organizational change through effective leadership: A review from literature. International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences 11, 1 (2021), 1–10.

Fadwa Zaoui and Nissrine Souissi. 2020. Roadmap for digital transformation: A literature review. Procedia Computer Science 175 (2020), 621–628.
Publicado
30/09/2024
LIMA, Rayfran Rocha; ORAN, Ana Carolina; FRANÇA, César. Beyond Continuous Improvement: Unraveling the invisible challenges of implementing organizational change in a Software Industry Company. In: SIMPÓSIO BRASILEIRO DE ENGENHARIA DE SOFTWARE (SBES), 38. , 2024, Curitiba/PR. Anais [...]. Porto Alegre: Sociedade Brasileira de Computação, 2024 . p. 658-664. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5753/sbes.2024.3601.