LeAgile Management : an IT Service Management Perspective

• Purpose: In order to reduce or eliminate different organizational problems, the sector of manufacturing often makes use of the two popular concepts: Agile and Lean. Lean as well as Agile have been proven to contribute with significant benefits such as responding to changing environments and to reduce costs. A literature review reveals that researchers have advanced the idea of Lean and Agile concepts coexisting through the development of a theory of “LeAgile” manufacturing. However, the state-of-art shows that Lean and Agile still are separately discussed in a shared context and that they are not yet clearly and fully integrated. Furthermore the existing LeAgile theories are only studied within the industry concerning manufacturing and production systems and the empiric evaluations are vague. The main purpose of this paper is to study Lean and Agile concepts within an IT Service Management (ITSM) context in order to understand how they could be fully integrated and what the expected value is. Methodology: In order to find an answer to the research question, we have applied a qualitative research approach. The research approach embraced three phases in a three year project where researchers studied several ITSM organizations. Findings: Our study shows that it is possible to fully integrate components of Lean and Agile concepts within the ITSM sector. The decoupling point previously defined in Leagile theory have become blurred. We have also shown that embracing “LeAgile IT Service Management” leads to positive effects such as: higher customer satisfaction, better communication between service providers and consumers, increased efficiency (and effectiveness), reduced costs and improved quality. Originality: The originality is justified by the scope of application (ITSM) in combination of the empirical sources used. The scientific contribution is motivated by the debate on how Lean and Agile philosophies can co-exist within organizations. The contribution consists of improved knowledge to each of the Lean and Agile fields separately as well as to the LeAgile theory and ITSM. The practical contribution is motivated by the identification of existing problems within the ITSM sector and how the LeAgile concepts can reduce them.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Företagsekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Business Administration (hsv//eng)

NATURVETENSKAP  -- Data- och informationsvetenskap -- Systemvetenskap, informationssystem och informatik (hsv//swe)

NATURAL SCIENCES  -- Computer and Information Sciences -- Information Systems (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

LeAgile Service Management

Lean

Agile

ITSM

DSR

Lean

Agile

IT Service Management

Library and Information Science

Biblioteks- och informationsvetenskap

Handel och IT

Bussiness and IT

Publikations- och innehållstyp

ref (ämneskategori)

kon (ämneskategori)