Investigating the “Socio” in Socio-Technical Development: The Case for Psychological Safety in Agile Information Systems Development

Abstract

One constitutional part of project management is the management of teams, their actions, and their social mechanisms. Team processes, behavior, and agile practices used by team members play important parts in the success of projects. To reap benefits from these highly interactive and social-focused practices, team members need to feel safe to speak freely. We propose a model that conceptualizes the effects of psychological safety and (social) agile practices on team performance. The proposed model combines recent research from organizational psychology and agile information systems development to provide a better understanding of the team-level effects. Our findings from three case studies conducted in two large insurance companies and one software development company suggest that social agile practices positively influence psychological safety, transparency, communication, and ultimately productivity.

Impact analysis of agile method based on risk management for developing technology management in (SMEs) Small and Medium- Enterprises

“…The terminology of mix methods research is used as an effective research method that integrates quantitative research within a project (Khalid & Rahman, 2019;Khalid et al, 2020). The advantage of the quantitative research methods is it will give the enlightenment about a phenomenon that required the deep understanding collaboratively Hennel & Rosenkranz, 2020;Lima et al, 2020). In this study, however, quantitative research the main method used to obtain the answers to the research questions.…”

Going Agile, a Post-Pandemic Universal Work Paradigm - A Theoretical Narrative Review

“…To get the most out of these highly dynamic and social activities, team members must feel comfortable speaking freely (Hennel & Rosenkranz, 2020). The authors present a model that explains how psychological safety and (social) agile practices affect team performance.…”

“…The authors present a model that explains how psychological safety and (social) agile practices affect team performance. To get a better understanding of team-level impacts, the proposed model incorporates recent research from organizational psychology and agile information systems development (Hennel & Rosenkranz, 2020). According to findings from three case studies done at two big insurance businesses and one software development firm, social agile techniques improve psychological safety, transparency, communication, and eventually productivity (Hennel & Rosenkranz, 2020).…”

The effect of process tailoring on software project performance: The role of team absorptive capacity and its knowledge‐based enablers

“…As psychological safety stems from interpersonal trust (Carmeli & Gittell, 2009;Edmondson & Lei, 2014;Hennel & Rosenkranz, 2020;Vandekerkhof, Steijvers, Hendriks, & Voordeckers, 2018), it is useful to examine trust rather than psychological safety to increase traceability (Gong et al, 2012). Second, communication is considered the primary means by which psychological safety is manifested and observed (Yanchus et al, 2014).…”

“…The results of the proposed model T A B L E 6 f 2 and q 2 effect sizes for the model absorptive capacities in conducting SPT can be enhanced by trust and communication quality; however, there is no significant difference in trust, communication quality and AC in sequential development teams. The cause of the difference may be linked to certain agile practices, especially the daily and the retrospective meetings, as these meeting are found to help teams build a trusted environment and increase the quality of communication to promote social interaction and mutual learning (Hennel & Rosenkranz, 2020;Maruping, Venkatesh, & Agarwal, 2009;McHugh et al, 2012;Petersen & Wohlin, 2010;Pikkarainen, Haikara, Salo, Abrahamsson, & Still, 2008;Yu & Petter, 2014).…”