This paper examines an organization's orientation to change through the lens of Kaizen continuous improvement and Agile product development methodologies. It applies Dr. Ashby's organizational change typology to characterize the company as a "Quantum Peeper" — one that follows established leads rather than driving radical change — largely due to a conservative customer base in aerospace and defense. The paper also reflects on how individuals within an organization can personally prepare for and respond to change, emphasizing incremental growth, continuous learning, and ethical behavior as core strategies for remaining relevant in a rapidly evolving enterprise software market.
My organization is one that is focused on gradual improvements over time. The software created for customers is quite complex and would be nearly impossible to produce through seismic, large-scale organizational change. Using the approaches of Kaizen and a project management methodology called Agile Product Development (Vlaanderen, Jansen, Brinkkemper, & Jaspers, 2011), our software teams continually work to align software features to what customers are looking for in terms of functionality, navigation, and performance. This is a Kaizen-based approach because the iterative nature of fine-tuning software to customer needs requires continual refining and re-orienting to their requirements.
Over time, this approach to creating software has proven highly effective, reducing the number of errors and, most importantly, keeping the organization in step with customer expectations. This is consistent with findings from longitudinal studies of Kaizen-based organizational change and effectiveness (Farris, Van Aken, Doolen, & Worley, 2009). The adoption of Agile as a development platform has also significantly reduced the anxiety and pressure associated with producing large volumes of software all at once. The current approach is to incrementally create modules and release them over time — consistent with the Kaizen principle of defining continuous improvement through smaller, incremental steps (Bessant, Caffyn, & Gallagher, 2001). These approaches have helped the organization respond more effectively to competitors and create greater long-term value for customers.
The organization I work for falls solidly into the category of a Quantum Peeper — one that successfully follows the leads of others rather than driving radical change. This is partly because the customer base is quite conservative and does not welcome rapid changes to their software applications. The majority of customers pay a maintenance fee of between 20% and 22% of their contract amount for yearly updates, and they expect a steady flow of updates relevant to their needs. Moving too far from their original goals for purchasing the application risks alienating them and potentially causing them to cancel their contracts and move to another vendor.
The Quantum Peeper classification also reflects the organization's approach to adopting new development technologies. Because many customers operate in the aerospace and defense industry, their security requirements are exceptionally high. They expect robust safeguards governing how data is captured, analyzed, and presented to the end user.
"Aerospace clients demand slow, secure, documented change processes"
"Balancing cultural norms with forward-looking innovation push"
"Four personal strategies for embracing and leading change"
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