How Agile Workers Make Sense of Managerial Communication

Abstract: TITLE How Agile Workers Make Sense of Managerial Communication AUTHORS Anna Hagberg, Yang Li & Farah Khanjar SUPERVISOR Katie Sullivan DATE 23rd May 2014 PURPOSE The purpose of the research project is to contribute to agile communication theory with insights about how agile workers make sense of managerial communication. RELEVANCE Due to the rapid changes organizations in the software development industry are now facing, the use of agile practices has become popular. Also, taking the agile workers perspective has a tendency to be neglected in literature on agile practices. METHODOLOGY This qualitative research has been conducted with an interpretative approach, using an abductive method when working with data and theory. In total, we conducted 12 semi-structured interviews and analyzed them using hermeneutics. FINDINGS We discovered that there is a tension between agile workers and management and also that managers should use a mix of communication channels when communicating with agile workers. CONTRIBUTIONS We contributed with an in-depth understanding of how agile workers make sense of managerial communication. We also contributed to literature on agile practices by identifying the tension between the self-organized teams and management, specifically in large-sized companies. KEY-WORDS Agile workers, agile communication, agile practices, self-organized teams, managers, SCRUM, managerial communication