The agile transformation in traditional organisations in regulated environments : A case study in the automotive and aerospace industries

Abstract: The business environment of the 21st century is rapidly changing. Customers demand are diversifying, governments enforce stricter environmental regulations and start-ups are entering with disruptive business models. Traditional industrial organisations need to adapt to compete on a market revolving around time-to-market actions. One solution for this is to do an agile transformation. This thesis investigates the agile transformation process of traditional organisations through a case study. The objective is to identify find the main success drivers and key challenges in stated transformation. The research was designed to do a qualitative, interview based case study in the automotive and aerospace industries involving four companies from an interpretivistic paradigm. In addition, two companies from insurance and banking and four agile coaches were also part of the case study to establish generalisability. The theoretical and empirical findings succeed to find three main success drivers: management support, identifying the “Why?” and “How?”, and three key challenges: structural legacies, cultural legacies and configuration of transformation process. Additionally, it was found that current transformations in the selected industries are diverging from change management theories, which emphasises a greater focus on changing mindset, behaviour and culture. Finally, the study contributes with actions as to help companies pursuing agile transformation as well identifying a continuous need for research of agile methods in non-software environments.