• When Everything's in Place: What Works Best?

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 8 offers advice on how to address the challenge of breaking large issues into smaller pieces, which is vital in the Agile approach. Having small, multidisciplinary discovery teams can lead to a matrix-managed business structure, but matrix management can be challenging if employees answer to multiple managers. Exploratory mindsets need preconceptions to be left at the door and customers to be actively heard. The Agile practice of time-boxing and its benefits are described. Managers can develop agility by eliminating unnecessary meetings and making sure the meetings they keep are run efficiently. A four-quadrant framework for identifying short- and long-term problems is provided. Ultimately, Agile is not easy, but by fostering certain habits, it can be developed.
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  • Implementing Organizational Change

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 7 discusses Agile and effectively implementing organizational change. Agile will not solve all of a company's problems; rather, obstacles to success need to be identified and addressed before Agile practices can be useful. Plateauing is when a company stalls in a growth phase and is one of the most common problems businesses face. To facilitate company growth, processes and practices may need to be improved, new personnel with specific skillsets may need to be hired, and a culture of learning may need to be fostered. Outside consultants can provide valuable help to organizations for myriad problems, such as missed sales targets or managerial squabbles. Tips on how to successfully work with consultants are offered.
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  • Measuring Success

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 6 looks at measuring success in agile companies. Story point is an Agile Scrum approach to sizing work items; it is not a fair way to evaluate a team's or an individual's effectiveness, but upper management may use it as a measure simply because team managers do not offer other useful metrics. Quantitative measurement of businesses, teams, and employees is encouraged in current management theory; OKRs are a compromise between quantitative measurements and potentially creativity-stifling metrics. Two types of OKRs are described: committed must-do OKRs and aspirational OKRs. OKRs need to be measurable, unambiguous, and significant, and its key results need to be numeric. Ultimately, OKRs are an improvement on the concept of MBO.
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  • A Closer Look: Obstacles to Agile

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 5 discusses Agile obstacles in depth. In order to achieve agility, companies must first recognize and address the problems that prevent heads-down work in the business; this may include the danger of multitasking. Tactical emergencies might force teams to change direction mid-sprint, which could make the sprint immeasureable and cause cognitive overload. For smaller companies, fires-such as server failures or technical breaches-are typically all-consuming events; however, this response to fires derails progress and is ultimately unsustainable. Managers should strive to discover the cause of fires and determine whether or not they actually stem from previous problems that were not addressed properly. While fixing the root cause of a problem can be very expensive, more fires will occur if root causes are not dealt with.
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  • The Dirty Secret of Agile

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 4 explores a few practical challenges of Agile. The most common challenge is starting a sprint without adequately understanding the targeted stories. These sprints are not shortcuts to building better software in a short amount of time; rather, successful sprints need discovery. Sprints tend to fail when teams underestimate the complexity of stories. While Agile has surpassed the Waterfall approach, there are still aspects of the Waterfall approach that businesses can learn from, such as how the upfront study considers every aspect of the system. Exploration teams are needed to research potential projects; these teams must have senior-level employees who are typically in high demand, so funding for a permanent exploration team is ideal.
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  • Holistic Challenges of Agile

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 3 describes how Agile can be applied to departments other than software development. Some Agile methodologies, such as XP, cannot cross over to nontechnical use, but Scrum can be used by nontechnical teams. A case study using an Agile approach to hiring is offered. One main aspect of Agile is chunking work into smaller tasks that are able to be accomplished quickly; this allows for the concept of failing fast-if an idea does not work out in a short timespan, it does not cause too much pain, and there is still the capacity to change direction. Teams should avoid focusing too much on Agile methodologies and focus on Agile principles instead. Transitioning to an Agile mentality will require senior management support; leaders should work with teams to create processes that best fit their needs.
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  • Brief Tour of Agile Software Development

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 2 outlines the Agile Manifesto and its main principles, which offers a new approach to software development. Differing from the popular Waterfall approach, the Agile approach to delivering working software focuses on communication and collaboration with other programmers and customers over a cycle of documentation and written specifications. However, this does not mean that process should be eliminated; it simply means that process should be balanced with communication. Different Agile methodologies are described, including Scrum and XP. Each methodology has its own strengths and weaknesses, and teams can use the aspects of each method that work best for them. Simply implementing an Agile methodology is more important than the chosen methodology itself.
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  • The Agility Myth

    The Agile Manifesto offered a philosophy for accomplishing technical work efficiently; The Agile Enterprise builds on the previous text and outlines how to apply Agile concepts throughout an organization. Filled with real-world examples, this book will show students how to break large problems down into smaller, manageable ones; assist managers in finding their value with self-managing teams; and help executives track and recognize success in their businesses. Several methodologies are outlined to help teams operationalize Agile ideas. Organizations should adapt these methodologies to their own circumstances and remember that, with Agile, individuals and interactions are the key, not tools and processes. Chapter 1 introduces the concept of agile businesses and explains how most organizations are not agile because of the difficulty of developing cohesion between the various teams, such as the marketing, engineering, and human resources teams. To become agile, businesses must first examine various executives' differing goals and measures for success; customer satisfaction is ultimately the common objective among leaders. Agile companies are able to recognize when they are not addressing their customers' problems well and are then able to pivot; companies that are unable to do this will face growth issues even after being a successful startup. Change in processes, culture, and personnel may need to happen to increase company agility. Managers should create processes to fit the business's needs.
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  • Where Are We Today?

    Over the past few decades, business schools have embraced game theorists, economists, and others who deal in abstraction, all but stopping the solving of real-world, real-time problems. This text argues for a return to the medical model in business: listen, observe, and test. These three steps are the roots of human relations and organizational behavior; managers must fully assess a business and diagnose its problems before solving them. This model helped managers, consultants, and management scholars diagnose and solve problems faced by small and large organizations for decades, and it can continue to help companies today with myriad issues-including competition, leadership, diversity, and organizational structures-by offering a framework for addressing these problems rather than abstract theories. Chapter 5 explores the field of human relations today. Examples discussed include Lorsch's work on boards of directors, Thomas and Gabarro's work on the obstacles African-American executives face and what helped them reach upper levels of management, and Neeley's work on English as a lingua franca in relation to the Japanese company Rakuten. How business scholarship and education have changed since the height of the medical model's popularity is also discussed. Influences from other fields, such as economics, have surpassed that of the human relations paradigm in business education, but problems have arisen because of this shift.
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  • Test

    Over the past few decades, business schools have embraced game theorists, economists, and others who deal in abstraction, all but stopping the solving of real-world, real-time problems. This text argues for a return to the medical model in business: listen, observe, and test. These three steps are the roots of human relations and organizational behavior; managers must fully assess a business and diagnose its problems before solving them. This model helped managers, consultants, and management scholars diagnose and solve problems faced by small and large organizations for decades, and it can continue to help companies today with myriad issues-including competition, leadership, diversity, and organizational structures-by offering a framework for addressing these problems rather than abstract theories. Chapter 4 focuses on human relations work done in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries by younger colleagues, including Kotter, Gabarro, and Hill, as well as Lorsch's research on white-collar workplace management problems. The evolution of the medical model is tracked across generations along with the usefulness of it. The medical model was used to better comprehend behavior of successful managers, the relationship between leadership and management, and the various skills and emotional resources needed for successful management transitions. The refinement of the medical model over the years allows for testing the findings of research that has grown out of the idea of "walking sticks" (i.e., real-world data gathering).
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  • Observe

    Over the past few decades, business schools have embraced game theorists, economists, and others who deal in abstraction, all but stopping the solving of real-world, real-time problems. This text argues for a return to the medical model in business: listen, observe, and test. These three steps are the roots of human relations and organizational behavior; managers must fully assess a business and diagnose its problems before solving them. This model helped managers, consultants, and management scholars diagnose and solve problems faced by small and large organizations for decades, and it can continue to help companies today with myriad issues-including competition, leadership, diversity, and organizational structures-by offering a framework for addressing these problems rather than abstract theories. Chapter 3 looks beyond the Hawthorne study to other successes of the human relations paradigm. The Dashman study focused on a real company facing issues that defied management theory; observation allowed executives to see what was actually going on and led to actionable knowledge. Other examples discussed include Turner and Lawrence's work on job satisfaction and Lorsch's work with companies in the plastic industry. Contingency theory explains why companies use different mechanisms for functional integration based on necessary company tasks. Compared to classical business theories, contingency theory is flexible and malleable to the point of being able to work for any organization.
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  • Listen

    Over the past few decades, business schools have embraced game theorists, economists, and others who deal in abstraction, all but stopping the solving of real-world, real-time problems. This text argues for a return to the medical model in business: listen, observe, and test. These three steps are the roots of human relations and organizational behavior; managers must fully assess a business and diagnose its problems before solving them. This model helped managers, consultants, and management scholars diagnose and solve problems faced by small and large organizations for decades, and it can continue to help companies today with myriad issues-including competition, leadership, diversity, and organizational structures-by offering a framework for addressing these problems rather than abstract theories. Chapter 2 explores the Hawthorne study in detail, an extensive project in the 1920s and 1930s led by Mayo and Roethlisberger concerning the Hawthorne Plant, which manufactured telephone equipment outside Chicago. This study was the key test for the medical model, showing that the medical model was a better diagnostic tool and debunking various theories about organizations and people working within them. For years after the Hawthorne study, researchers and practitioners continued to ponder it, and human relations eventually became a vital paradigm in business research. The lasting impact of the Hawthorne study is discussed at the end of the chapter.
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  • In and Out of the Laboratory

    Over the past few decades, business schools have embraced game theorists, economists, and others who deal in abstraction, all but stopping the solving of real-world, real-time problems. This text argues for a return to the medical model in business: listen, observe, and test. These three steps are the roots of human relations and organizational behavior; managers must fully assess a business and diagnose its problems before solving them. This model helped managers, consultants, and management scholars diagnose and solve problems faced by small and large organizations for decades, and it can continue to help companies today with myriad issues-including competition, leadership, diversity, and organizational structures-by offering a framework for addressing these problems rather than abstract theories. Chapter 1 discusses the beginnings of the medical model in business and the connections across various disciplines (e.g., medicine, psychology, and sociology) its founders developed. Wallace Donham, the second dean of Harvard Business School, paved the way for thinkers of different backgrounds to come together and create the medical model, also known as the human relations model, in the early twentieth century. Many influential academics and thinkers helped to shape the medical model, which is dependent on dynamic equilibrium. Businesses are living entities, needing to respond to changes in technology, investment conditions, market demand, and the workforce. If managers and consultants are to treat organizations as the living beings they are, they need to study the business holistically and work backward from the current problem to the underlying causes.
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  • Regretting Inaction and the Road Ahead

    Speaking Up at Work is intended for individuals who fear speaking up about their ideas or have done so but are frustrated by their lack of success, It provides stories of others who have been a "lone voice" or an "independent thinker" and their attempts at change-both successful and unsuccessful. It offers insight into effective tactics and pitfalls to avoid. It also offers various tools and tactics to leaders who want to get the best ideas from their teams. The book explores the individual characteristics and situational conditions that lead an individual to develop an independent point of view and to openly voice this view regarding an organizational performance issue. The implications are to better understand how to encourage independent thinking and to understand the personality characteristics and developmental experiences that foster this ability. The author conducted over 50 interviews with individuals about numerous "voice events" throughout their working lives. Chapter 6 explores the role of regret and whether, over the long term, we regret taking action more than doing nothing. In addition to exploring what the psychology of regret teaches us, the chapter looks at the concept of self-efficacy, including its sources, which can enable individuals to act and think independently.
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  • Introduction

    Speaking Up at Work is intended for individuals who fear speaking up about their ideas or have done so but are frustrated by their lack of success, It provides stories of others who have been a "lone voice" or an "independent thinker" and their attempts at change-both successful and unsuccessful. It offers insight into effective tactics and pitfalls to avoid. It also offers various tools and tactics to leaders who want to get the best ideas from their teams. The book explores the individual characteristics and situational conditions that lead an individual to develop an independent point of view and to openly voice this view regarding an organizational performance issue. The implications are to better understand how to encourage independent thinking and to understand the personality characteristics and developmental experiences that foster this ability. The author conducted over 50 interviews with individuals about numerous "voice events" throughout their working lives. Chapter 1 begins this effort with stories of speaking up as an "independent thinker" and what that experience is like.
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  • Cultivating a Capacity for Independent Thinking

    Speaking Up at Work is intended for individuals who fear speaking up about their ideas or have done so but are frustrated by their lack of success, It provides stories of others who have been a "lone voice" or an "independent thinker" and their attempts at change-both successful and unsuccessful. It offers insight into effective tactics and pitfalls to avoid. It also offers various tools and tactics to leaders who want to get the best ideas from their teams. The book explores the individual characteristics and situational conditions that lead an individual to develop an independent point of view and to openly voice this view regarding an organizational performance issue. The implications are to better understand how to encourage independent thinking and to understand the personality characteristics and developmental experiences that foster this ability. The author conducted over 50 interviews with individuals about numerous "voice events" throughout their working lives. Chapter 2 examines some of the individual and situational factors that support the capacity for thinking independently.
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  • Persuading Without Authority

    Speaking Up at Work is intended for individuals who fear speaking up about their ideas or have done so but are frustrated by their lack of success, It provides stories of others who have been a "lone voice" or an "independent thinker" and their attempts at change-both successful and unsuccessful. It offers insight into effective tactics and pitfalls to avoid. It also offers various tools and tactics to leaders who want to get the best ideas from their teams. The book explores the individual characteristics and situational conditions that lead an individual to develop an independent point of view and to openly voice this view regarding an organizational performance issue. The implications are to better understand how to encourage independent thinking and to understand the personality characteristics and developmental experiences that foster this ability. The author conducted over 50 interviews with individuals about numerous "voice events" throughout their working lives. Chapter 3 discusses examples of being an independent thinker without formal authority and considerations in how to become more persuasive with our ideas.
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  • Promoting Independent Thinking

    Speaking Up at Work is intended for individuals who fear speaking up about their ideas or have done so but are frustrated by their lack of success, It provides stories of others who have been a "lone voice" or an "independent thinker" and their attempts at change-both successful and unsuccessful. It offers insight into effective tactics and pitfalls to avoid. It also offers various tools and tactics to leaders who want to get the best ideas from their teams. The book explores the individual characteristics and situational conditions that lead an individual to develop an independent point of view and to openly voice this view regarding an organizational performance issue. The implications are to better understand how to encourage independent thinking and to understand the personality characteristics and developmental experiences that foster this ability. The author conducted over 50 interviews with individuals about numerous "voice events" throughout their working lives. Chapter 5 explores ways to promote independent thinking in a team and organization. Unlike prior chapters, it assumes one is doing so from a position of formal authority in their group and/or organization. It explores a wide range of techniques and mindsets for avoiding groupthink and surfacing the best thinking within a team.
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  • Leading Change

    Speaking Up at Work is intended for individuals who fear speaking up about their ideas or have done so but are frustrated by their lack of success, It provides stories of others who have been a "lone voice" or an "independent thinker" and their attempts at change-both successful and unsuccessful. It offers insight into effective tactics and pitfalls to avoid. It also offers various tools and tactics to leaders who want to get the best ideas from their teams. The book explores the individual characteristics and situational conditions that lead an individual to develop an independent point of view and to openly voice this view regarding an organizational performance issue. The implications are to better understand how to encourage independent thinking and to understand the personality characteristics and developmental experiences that foster this ability. The author conducted over 50 interviews with individuals about numerous "voice events" throughout their working lives. Chapter 4 explores the process of leading change for those who have limited formal authority (i.e., who are not CEOs). It asks what you should do next if you are immediately successful in getting a green light on your idea, or whether and how to proceed if you don't get a green light. It also discusses some models and mindsets to help individuals implement change?
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  • Market Research, Analysis, and Segmentation

    Marketing and sales are essential aspects of any business; marketing manages the customer experience, while sales focuses on the customer relationship. In today's quickly changing world, marketing and sales have had to adapt to virtual selling, social media communication, digital marketing, and more. Nevertheless, some things have remained the same, including the need for consistent branding, the focus on the customer, and the collaboration between marketing and sales. This text looks at these issues in depth. Written for marketing and sales professionals and students, Seamless offers expert opinion, academic theory, real-world experience, and practical advice with explanatory graphics and "Dos and Don'ts" lists to educate and guide readers through the marketing, sales, and account management process to business success. Chapter 1 begins with a discussion of target markets, their nature, and their business potential. Traditional primary market research still plays an essential role, as does the internet, in obtaining data for actionable market intelligence. Assessing needs of market segments and understanding their strategic fit with a company's business plan can help a company select their target market no matter the size of the organization. The salesman's curse is also discussed-that is, the need for precision prospecting in order to find the potential customers worth spending time on. How to make use of segmentation to capture an organization's market is explored, along with how to focus the marketing and sales process effectively. If companies underestimate early marketing and sales work, they will eventually hit several obstacles, including hours of wasted effort and the need to revise their marketing and sales strategy.
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