Project responsibles

Christine Herter, M.Sc.
Carolin Müller, M.Sc.

Head

Prof. Dr. Mark Ebers

Project

Agility is on the strategic agenda of most companies today: Being able to react quickly and flexibly to changing market demands is a decisive competitive factor. In order to become more agile, more and more companies from a wide range of industries are using agile working methods. 
These offer great potential for success - but also many challenges. In our research projects, we would like to contribute to realising the potential of agile teams even better.   

We are currently researching the following projects:

1) How can agile and non-agile teams work together successfully to fully exploit the potential of agile ways of working?
Many companies do not work exclusively with agile ways of working. They use them in a few, selected teams that work agilely but are still embedded in a traditional organisational structure. In order to make the work and project results of agile teams usable throughout the company, agile and non-agile teams have to work together at certain interfaces. However, the differences between agile and non-agile teams in terms of their structures, processes or values can be challenging for efficient collaboration. Using a qualitative, interview-based research approach, we investigate which practices companies use to design successful collaboration and efficient coordination between agile and non-agile units. You can find more information about this research project here.

2) How can companies increase the effectiveness of agile ways of working and the agility of their teams?
Agile ways of working (e.g. Scrum) are a popular way to make teams more agile. Yet today we have only a limited understanding of whether and to what extent they can actually increase a team's agility. To achieve agility effectively, agile ways of working alone may not be enough. Instead, it may be necessary to embed them in a broader context of organisational and supportive factors. We use a quantitative research approach to explore whether and how networks, agile mindsets, psychological safety or empowerment can increase a team's agility. You can find more information about this research project here.

We are happy to work with practice partners to contribute to the understanding of agility and the successful application of agile working methods in companies with our current projects. 
As a practice partner, you benefit directly from the results of the study. You receive a detailed report on your own status quo as well as benchmark values from other, successful study participants for comparison. We will also be happy to present and discuss the results with you. Of course, all data collected in the course of the study will be anonymised and treated in accordance with the Data Protection Ordinance. 

If you are interested in working with us or are generally interested in our research on agility, please feel free to contact us directly:
Christine Herter (Phone: +49 (0) 221 / 470 - 7897 / E-mail: herter@wiso.uni-koeln.de)
Carolin Müller (Phone: +49 (0) 221 / 470 – 4360 / E-mail: carolin.mueller@wiso.uni-koeln.de)