Data-Driven Agility: Assessing Agile Culture transformation in a technology organisation

Abstract

Context:

Gaining an understanding of the state of an organisation’s culture during Agile transformation is important because culture underpins all aspects of an organisation’s way of working and can indicate how successful the transformation has been.

Objective:

This paper explores the impact of Agile transformation on various dimensions of organisational culture over time within a technology organisation. Additionally, it demonstrates how datasets collected using the Pulse survey instrument, a tool for assessing an organisation’s culture, can be analysed to provide actionable insights to support organisations in their cultural transformation efforts.

Methods:

This paper employs a mixed research method to conduct a post-hoc analysis of the datasets obtained from a technology organisation that utilised the survey instrument in 2021 and 2022 to assess its transformation agenda. The collected data were analysed using descriptive and inferential statistics. We also assess the internal reliability and validity of the instrument using Cronbach’s Alpha, Composite Reliability, factor loadings and Average Variance Extracted.

Results:

Results show that all the Alpha values of the instrument fall between 0.744 and 0.901, which are higher than the satisfactory value of 0.700, indicating acceptable to excellent reliability. After the intervention, the targeted cultural area, that is, Trust and Transparency (TT) improved significantly, and there was a general improvement across almost all areas. The organisation found the insights provided by the survey instrument aided their understanding of the change process.

Conclusion:

This study presents an analysis framework to support organisations using or seeking to use the Pulse survey instrument in their efforts to transform culture. The findings validate the use of statistical analysis and data-driven approaches to track shifts in various dimensions of organisational culture over time. The study concludes that targeted efforts on culture elements can lead to corresponding improvements in many areas including those not targeted, emphasising the interconnectedness of Agile culture elements.