Kanban Implementation from a Change Management Perspective
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KANBAN IMPLEMENTATION FROM A CHANGE MANAGEMENT PERSPECTIVE: A CASE STUDY OF VOLVO IT MAHGOL AMIN TOMOMI KUBO School of Business, Society and Engineering Course: Master Thesis in Business Tutor: Magnus Linderström Administration: Examinator: Eva Maaninen-Olsson Course code: EFO705, 15 hp Date: 2014-06-02 ABSTRACT Title: KANBAN Implementation from a Change Management Perspective: A Case Study of Volvo IT Date: June 2, 2014 Institution: School of Business, Society and Engineering, Mälardalen University Authors: Mahgol Amin & Tomomi Kubo Tutor: Magnus Linderström Purpose: The purpose of this thesis is to investigate and analyze the implementation process of KANBAN, a lean technique, into a section of Volvo IT (i.e. BEAT). The KANBAN implementation into BEAT when ‘resistance for change’ and ‘forces for change’ arise is also analyzed. This implementation of KANBAN is equivalent to change taking place in the Volvo IT’s operational process. The thesis follows theories and literature on change management and lean principles in order to support the research investigation. Research Question: How has KANBAN, with respect to change management, been implemented into an IT organization for its service production? How has KANBAN changed the operational process of the organization? Method: The research conducted in the thesis is based on qualitative case study. Focused and in-depth interviews, combined with observations, are carried out to obtain the primary data for the case study. The collected primary and secondary data stems from the literature reviewed, which covers the lean principles, KANBAN, and change management. Moreover, the thesis adopts an abductive approach that goes back-and-forth between the theory and the empirical findings in order to develop a model. i Conclusion: Due to various factors already existing in the BEAT, minimal resistance to change implementation was found to be present in Volvo IT. This finding indicates that change initiatives found a way to implementation because the predominance of the ‘forces for change’, as compared to, the ‘resistance to change’ is higher in BEAT. The KANBAN implementation into the IT service production is identified to be aligned with Volvo IT’s change implementation objectives. The visualization of the ‘intangible service’ workflow on the Kanban board contributes to identify the source of bottlenecks, which has been removed through effective communication in the BEAT team and better linkages between tasks. The KANBAN effectively deals with change implementation by modifying the way team members work. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I wish to thank God for the endless First and foremost I would like to thank opportunities he has given me in my life. our supervisor Magnus Linderström for I would also like to thank my thesis partner, helping us stay focus during the working Tomomi Kubo who has been the smartest of this challenging Master Thesis project. I and funniest partner ever. I thank my parents Ahmad and Mitra as well as my am grateful to Volvo IT for giving us the sisters Mariam and Mahya for their endless opportunity to conduct research on their love and support. My husband Shahab who business processes. I am glad to have has always believed in me and been there worked this Masters Thesis with Mahgol for me. I want to thank my dear aunt Amin. Anahita who was there when I needed her most. I would also like to thank my friends At last but not least, I would like to thank Maryam, Constance, Evgenia, Hanieh, my partner Jose who has encouraged me to Lorena, Margarita, Shahab Aldin and Zarina keep my head up and has taught me a lot for being best friends ever. I wish to thank by showing his boldness and determination Dr. Schwartz and Dr. Le Duc as well for their assistance and guidance with this to achieve a goal. It has been a motivation paper. I should thank Magnus Linderström for me in many ways and Eva Maaninen-Olsson for guiding and supporting us during the last year. At last but not least, I would like to thank Christian Löfgren, Monika Westenius, Eva Ivarsson, Anette Högberg, Åsa Eklund and Peter Wedholm at Volvo IT who shared their knowledge and experiences generously with us and let me do some part of this thesis during my official working hours. Mahgol Amin Tomomi Kubo Västerås, June 2, 2014 Västerås, June 2, 2014 iii Table of Contents 1 Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 1.1 Background ........................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Volvo IT .................................................................................................................................................................. 2 1.2.1 Volvo Production System for IT ...................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 BEAT ............................................................................................................................................................................ 4 1.3 Problem Statement ............................................................................................................................................ 4 1.4 Research Question ............................................................................................................................................. 5 1.5 Purpose ................................................................................................................................................................... 5 1.6 Scope ........................................................................................................................................................................ 6 1.7 Target Audience .................................................................................................................................................. 6 2 Theoretical framework .............................................................................................. 7 2.1 Change Management ......................................................................................................................................... 7 2.2 ‘Forces for Change’ and ‘Resistance to Change’ ..................................................................................... 7 2.3 Process of Change Implementation ............................................................................................................ 9 2.4 Lean Principles ................................................................................................................................................. 10 2.5 KANBAN .............................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.6 Change Management and IT Company ................................................................................................... 14 2.7 Change Management and Lean Principles ............................................................................................ 15 2.8 Research Model ................................................................................................................................................ 16 3 Method ................................................................................................................... 18 3.1 Selection of Topic ............................................................................................................................................ 18 3.2 Research Approach and Strategy .............................................................................................................. 18 3.3 Choice of Theories ........................................................................................................................................... 19 3.4 Data Collection ................................................................................................................................................. 19 3.4.1 Interviews ............................................................................................................................................................... 19 3.4.2 Questionnaire Design ........................................................................................................................................ 20 3.4.3 Observation and Photographs ...................................................................................................................... 21 3.4.4 Organizational documents ............................................................................................................................. 22 3.4.5 Working instructions ......................................................................................................................................... 22 3.5 Reliability ............................................................................................................................................................ 22 3.6 Validity ................................................................................................................................................................. 23 3.7 Data Analysis ..................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.8 Limitations ........................................................................................................................................................