The Impact of Agile Processes on Organisational Behaviour Within Current Banking Practice

Date
2020
Authors
Alasad, Hisham
Supervisor
Cusack, Brian
Item type
Thesis
Degree name
Master of Computer and Information Sciences
Journal Title
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Volume Title
Publisher
Auckland University of Technology
Abstract

In recent years, the banking industry is confronted with multidimensional challenges including regulatory changes imposed by authorities, non-stop emergence of technological advancements, and most importantly is the unprecedent level of customer sophistication. The consequence is a demanding customer base that has high expectations. Nonetheless, it is crucial to the continuity of banking operations to have the ability and mechanisms in place for responding to such changes in a timely, appropriate, and a swift way. Hence, acquiring the qualities of flexibility and dynamism is a key factor in gaining core competitive advantages to enable digitization and personalisation within the banking industry.

In seeking responsivity and speed, banks are adopting Agile processes to replace fully or partially the existing traditional heavyweight methodologies such as Waterfall. However, such an adoption across the banking industry introduces a multifaceted impact with positive and negative consequences. Subsequently, the manifestation of this impact is observed through the emerging changes in both practice and culture; including social and behavioural norms.

Accordingly, this study aims to analyse the impact of Agile adoption within the banking industry, and consequently serves two major purposes. Firstly, it sets out to discover the impact of Waterfall and Agile methodologies on the speed of delivery as a time-to-market rate. For this purpose, the key feature of responsiveness and its interlinked relationships with other influential elements are examined. Secondly, it investigates the impact of Agile adoption on the organisational behaviour. For this purpose, it analyses the change in social and behavioural norms in the segments of people, communication, management, and customers.

Fundamentally, this study is a theoretical research based on qualitative secondary data with the use of combined research methodology of Case study and Grounded theory. Accordingly, the relevant data is collected from appropriate previous studies, while the eligibility is determined by using a rigorous inclusion or exclusion criteria in order to ensure the credibility and integrity of the research. Moreover, the selected dataset is mapped using key identifiers based from the research targets, and subsequently the data analysis process is applied guided by the Grounded theory procedures.

Eleven hypotheses emerged covering the different aspects of this study and comprehensively answering the research questions. On the one hand, the inverse relationship between responsiveness and the time-to-market explains the positive impact of adopting Agile in comparison to Waterfall that shortens the time-to-market rate. On the other hand, multiple behavioural changes and emerging relationships are identified. These give the positive impact of adopting Agile on organisational behaviour in its segments including instating the sense of inclusivity, switching from individualism to collectivism mindsets, adhering to transformational leadership styles, and enabling multi transparent communication and knowledge sharing channels between different stakeholders within the banking industry. Moreover, the study reveals an emergent impact of Agility in enabling socialising as a contemporary form of communication with customers. Additionally, due to its qualitative nature, this study is limited to analytical generalisation, and not statistical evidence.

Ultimately, through this thesis the author contributes to the ongoing debate of the suitability of adopting Agile processes within various industries, most specifically the banking industry. A set of practical recommendations are proposed to the banking industry, and potential future work is suggested to the academic community.

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Keywords
Banking , Agile , Waterfall , Organsational Behaviour , Processes
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