Blue Cloud: Realizing a Trigger Event Through Agile Conference - Essay Sample

Introduction

Any organization that goes through a trigger event means changing the way they operate because of environmental shifts (Araki & Mitamura, 2015). Blue Cloud case is not different because Shel Skinner realized that the company is going through the triggering event after attending the conference, which talked about software development in the market called Agile. The conference had more profound messages for Skinner because he kept on saying how the Agile functions upon returning to his organization.

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The Evaluation and Steps of Change Implementation

Skinner never implemented the Agile software as instructed. Even though he wanted to improve the way the company operates, the software’s implementation missed the guidelines like Kurt Lewin and other models to ensure that software operates smoothly (Condon & Coulson, 2017). Skinner also failed to develop a good relationship with the employees. As required by the Lewin model, the first change is to unfreeze some information. In Blue Cloud’s case, the company members were supposed to be discontented with the status quo.

The implementation failed because Skinner ignored the unfreezing procedure and hired consultants to facilitate the implementation. Skinner also failed to use the shared diagnosis with the members to create satisfaction in the status quo. The idea would have made the employees commit themselves more because of the new characteristics they must embrace (Garavelli & Schaap, 2020).

Any time the current models have to be changed, mutual engagement of the team members is required. This means there must be a dialogue between the organization and the employees to achieve success (Condon & Coulson, 2017). Skinner never engaged the employees about the change and new software. If he engaged everyone in the company, then he would have gotten a different outcome. Another stage required by Lewin’s model is moving, meaning that the employees’ behavior pattern has to change (O’Shaughnessy, 2013). According to Spector, the behavior shift was important when change is implemented. The most important thing to do is to focus on the group’s behavior and customs before dealing with individual characteristics. The last stage required to implement change was refreezing to institutionalize the new behavior patterns into the changed status quo.

If Skinner followed all the procedures, then the refreezing stage would be successful because the new motto (release early, release often) would have been reiterated. The change and vision Skinner wanted would have been successful if Skinner used the Lewin’s model correctly (O’Shaughnessy, 2013). The most vital part of the model is creating inclusive change to build commitment and ownership to the company for the needed improvements. Skinner’s vital process would have followed by involving all the employees in the evaluation, implementation, and solution process.

Behavioral Changes

Five behavioral changes are required to adjust and shift employees’ attitudes and mindset to implement the new system successfully. In the Agiles list, 12 principles are also needed to satisfy the customer’s needs (Andresen, 2017). This means that Blue Cloud employees must change their behavior in both their timelines and milestones. The software should also be introduced gradually to self-motivate the employees. In such changes, no leader is defined because it’s a new system. Therefore every member must engage in face-to-face meetings to create consistency at work to avoid last-minute changes (Andresen, 2017). The procedure does not require Skinner to ask the employees because they will understand the importance of e of the changes and the correct steps to take.

Valid Responses to Agile

Every person responds differently when change is to be embraced at work. Some love the new way of working, while others prefer the old system. In this case, the engineer’s response should make Skinner question himself and find ways to give a proper response (Andresen, 2017). Changes in any company vary because of the level of education of workers, capability, and experience. The results also vary with the engineers involved (O’Shaughnessy, 2013). Older generations will not accept the change because they are used to the old way of working. The same issue is observed in Blue Cloud Company, and that is why varied responses are essential to ensure that the tasks align with the change of behavior (Garavelli & Schaap, 2020). Task alignment is a method used to approach behavioral change by identifying the key strategies of the company. Task assignment is an exciting procedure because employees learn more about their characters, the company, and other employees. Task alignment is empowering, too, that contributes to behavioral change.

What Skinner Can Do

One year has ended since Agile was implemented unsuccessfully. However, it is not too late to try again, but this time in the correct format. Skinner can do by sharing the diagnosis with the team members to create an environment that creates mutual understanding. The only way he can do this is by holding regular meetings to elaborate more on the plans and also to find out if the workers have understood how the system works (Garavelli & Schaap, 2020). The meeting should brainstorm on promotion and strategic plans that will make the company meet its goals. Skinner will also arrange for mentoring, coaching, and training programs to ensure that every member is embraced for the new way of working.

Immediately the preparations are done. The follow-up assessment will be conducted for all team members (Andresen, 2017). The assessment will help the workers know their talents and skillset and align with their work. Lastly, Skinner must implement better structures and systems that will control and measure the outcomes. As known, the model should assist the employees in understanding the change to ensure that the implementation is done successfully. Later, the supervisors, workers, or Agile should review if the system is working correctly (Garavelli & Schaap, 2020). If some of the actions and procedures do not align with Agile, adjustments should be made to ensure that the implementation is successful. When Blue Cloud employees are empowered, then the leadership expectations will be achieved.

Conclusion

Embracing a new change in a company requires a strategy that will be accepted by everyone. Blue Cloud is a company that was not successful in implementing the new software system. The reason behind this failure is that Skinner never engaged the workers. However, when all stakeholders are involved, then implementing such changes becomes easy. The only way he can do this is by holding regular meetings to elaborate more on the plans and find out if the workers understand how the system works—engaging all workers to empower and encourage them to a new way of working. The most important thing to do is to focus on the group’s behavior and customs before dealing with individual characteristics.

References

Andresen, J. (2017). Agile coaching. Agile Coaching, I-XVII. https://doi.org/10.3139/9783446452640.fm

Araki, J., & Mitamura, T. (2015). Joint event trigger identification and event Coreference resolution with structured Perceptron. Proceedings of the 2015 Conference on Empirical Methods in Natural Language Processing. https://doi.org/10.18653/v1/d15-1247

Condon, L., & Coulson, N. (2017). Designing and delivering interventions for health behavior change in adolescents using Multitechnology systems: Identifying target behaviors to implementation. Behavior Change Research and Theory, 27-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/b978-0-12-802690-8.00001-3

Garavelli, S., & Schaap, D. M. (2020). Blue-cloud: Developing a marine thematic EOSC cloud to explore and demonstrate the potential of cloud-based open science in ocean sustainability. https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu2020-16449

O’Shaughnessy, J. (2013). Social psychology continued: Lewin’s attitude change model, strategies for overcoming resistance to change, motivation, and reversal theory. Consumer Behavior, 367-415. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-137-00377-5_12