Agile Management Article Summaries

Agile Management Article Summaries

First Article

Executive Summary

The article by Denning (2016), “Can Big Organizations Be Agile?” focuses on whether big organizations can become agile. The article provides various examples of big organizations that have managed to be agile. Examples given include Microsoft, Ericsson, and Barclays. The article proceeds to declare agile as the best-kept management secret globally. The article highlights that for an organization to be agile, it has to delight its customers, adopt enterprise-wide agility, descaling work, and nurture an agile culture at the workplace. The article concludes by disclaiming that agility should not be left alone for information technology.

Main ideas of the article

The main ideas of the article include the following. First, big organizations can become agile by undertaking measures that enable them to become agile. Notably, this is a proven case when big companies like Microsoft are considered because they have managed to maintain edge-cutting agility. Second, big companies can become agile by ensuring that agility is developed in various departments within their multiple departments. The article notes that most companies currently believe agility can only be attained through the IT department. However, an agile mindset should be created throughout the entire organization.

Application to your company

The article provides important insights that can be used to ensure that my company is agile. First, there has to be an agile mindset within the company. All employees will be encouraged to embrace agility in all activities. Second, the focus will be on relationships within and outside the company. Better relationships form a basis for nurturing agility. It is important to note that obtaining agility within a company is “The five trademarks of Agile organizations” a journey, and thus, patience will be maintained until the company becomes fully agile.

Conclusion

Conclusively, agility is an all-cutting aspect that all organizations should embrace. Both small and big organizations can become agile by adopting measures such as nurturing agile mindsets and better relationships in the work environment.

Second Article

Executive Summary

The article by Aghina et al. (2018) highlights five significant elements of agile organizations. Irrespective of the industry size or type of company, an agile company will depict the five elements. The five include strategy, structure, process, people, and technology. Further, the article argues that agile blocks within an organization are formed based on cross-functional teams, self-managing teams, and “flow to work” pools.

Main ideas of the article

Five elements of agile organizations form the main ideas of the article. First, agile organizations embrace a strategy that is well-informed by shared purpose and vision, flexible resource allocation, seizing of opportunities, and actionable strategic guidance. Second, agile organizations contain a flat, transparent structure that is informed with clear roles for workers, hands-on governance, an open physical and virtual environment, and active partnerships in the workplace. Third, agile organizations have a process that contains rapid experimentation and iteration, information transparency, performance orientation, and continuous learning. Fourth, agile organizations should be informed by dynamic people to ignite a passion for taking on challenges. Lastly, agile organizations should embrace next-generation technology to deliver goods and services.

Application to my company

My organization will be scanned to establish whether the five elements of agile organizations exist. Upon the scan, areas of improvement will be identified, and efforts to address them be undertaken. For instance, if the organization is established to lack agility in its people, the element will be nurtured by ensuring that a cohesive community, role mobility, entrepreneurial drive, and servant leadership are adopted in its people for the company to become agile.

Conclusion

Conclusively, the current workplace environment presents various challenges to organizations. As a result, organizations should be more agile. The five elements identified above come in handy to help the organization to become more agile and tackle challenges existing in the current marketplace.

References

Aghina, W., Ahlback, K., De Smet, A., Lackey, G., Lurie, M., Murarka, M., & Handscomb, C.

(2018, January 22). The five trademarks of Agile organizations. McKinsey &

Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-five-trademarks-of-agile-organizations

Denning, S. (2016). Can Big Organizations Be

Agile? Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2016/11/26/can-big-organizations-be-agile/?sh=

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In this assignment, you will have the opportunity to demonstrate what you have learned in Module 7 by choosing TWO of the following articles and writing a 1-PAGE SUMMARY OF EACH:

*ARTICLE(S) URL’s*

Denning, Steve. Forbes: “Can Big be Agile?” (You can read the article here (Links to an external site.))

~ URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2016/11/26/can-big-organizations-be-agile/?

sh=5a56b35138e7

Denning, Steve. Forbes: “Surprise Microsoft is Agile” (You can read the article here) (Links to an external site.)

~ URL: https://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2015/10/27/surprise-microsoft-is-agile/?sh=ed7464628679

McKinsey & Company: “The five trademarks of agile organizations” (You can get the free report by signing up here (Links to an external site.))

~URL: https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/people-and-organizational-performance/our-insights/the-five-trademarks-of-agile-organizations

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In your summary be sure to show how the lessons taught in the article could be applied in your (current or previous) company or organization.

Recommended maximum length: 1- 2 pages.

The following summary outline is recommended:

Executive Summary
Main ideas of the article
Application to your company
Conclusion