Software process improvement with weak management support: an analysis of the dynamics of intra-organizational alliances in IS change initiatives

Abstract

Software Process Improvement (SPI) projects are large-scale, complex organization-wide change initiatives. They require considerable investments in personnel, time and money and impact just about every aspect of software firms. The group charged with conducting an SPI project has, however, little formal authority to influence or force software professionals to engage in SPI work or to define and implement changes. The SPI literature suggests that successful SPI initiatives depend on strong commitment from top management. But what should the SPI group do if management support is weak? In this paper, we present an analysis of how an SPI group can use alliances to obtain influence and succeed when management support is weak. Our study is based on a 3-year longitudinal field study of SPI change initiatives at Denmark Electronics. Our findings show that a lack of top management support is not necessarily incompatible with success. This research opens an important new area of research on intra-organizational alliances and information system (IS) implementation. It has the potential to offer new theories and practical advice on how IS implementation projects can be more effectively managed.

Systematic and Grounded Theory Literature Reviews of Software Process Improvement Phenomena: Implications for IS Research

“…The findings above show that Ngwenyama and Norbjerg's (2010) call for research on intraorganizational alliances in software development organizations is timely and relevant and also opens an avenue for SPI researchers to address the limitations that may have impaired the outcomes of SPI research as a result of the non-inclusion of corporate ideology and organizational design as variable influencing SPI program outcomes. In another research that dealt with change management in SPI situations, Mathiassen et al (2005) advised that "software managers must appreciate that each SPI initiative is unique and carefully negotiate the context of change.…”

“…According to Hannola, Oinonen, and Nukula (2011), SPI aims include "to improve the effectiveness of the software development process by assessing and understanding the existing processes, changing these processes to reduce the costs and development time of software produced and to improve software quality" (p. 42). Ngwenyama and Norbjerg (2010) brought in the idea of the evolution of SPI as a result of the need to manage organizational change that improves the performance of software organizations. They noted that increase in organization performance as a result of organizational change allows software organizations to improve on the predictability, quality, and productivity of their software processes.…”

Software Process Improvement: Awareness, Use, and Benefits in Canadian Software Development Firms

“…Thus, SPI initiatives impact every aspect of a firm's operations (Ngwenyama & Norbjerg, 2010). Therefore, SPI is considered time consuming, disruptive, costly, and cumbersome (Habra, Alexandre, Desharnais, Laporte, & Renault, 2008;Oktaba, Garcia, Ruiz, Pino, & Alquicira, 2007).…”

Persuasion and management support for IT projects

“…A fourth tactic, coalition is not adopted, because of our focus on direct influence. The coalition influence tactic employs a project team's social connection with a third party to influence management (Ngwenyama and Nørbjerg, 2010). Furthermore, coalition or other political influence is most often employed as a follow-up strategy; it is likely to correlate highly with the direct influence strategies that are used together, making it difficult to determine the independent effect of coalition's influence (Fu and Yukl, 2000;Yukl and Tracey, 1992).…”