Translating the Ambiguous: A comparative study of Agile Organizations

Abstract

Agile is a management concept currently gaining momentum in a variety of industries, presented as a solution to the rate of change in the organizational climate. Like other management concepts, it has not received consistent treatment neither in the academic literature nor among practitioners. Previous research has failed to go beyond the normative approach and has paid little attention to the complexity of the context. This study places interest in how different organizations understand the concept of agility and how they can manage such an ambiguous concept. Based on a comparative, multiple-case study, and with a translation perspective, this study shows how organizations adopt the agile idea by adjusting it to their local context. By complementing the time-space view of the context with the meaning of a word, this study shows how organizations navigate in the jungle of both values and tools attached to the agile concept, and how one can understand the complexity of the context. Further, the study presents insights into why a management concept such as agility can be understood as ambiguous, by highlighting the heterogeneity of agile practices.