Circular Image

Ufuk Gür

info

Please Note

2 records found

Master thesis (2024) - G.S.P. Kroon, R. van Egmond, Ufuk Gür
During the last decades, many organizations have gone through or attempted to go through digital transformations to create value for their customers, stakeholders and employees. Findings from a thorough literature research pointed out that organizations are forced to implement strategies to embrace the implications of the current digital revolution and improve performance by innovating with new technologies (Thrassou et al., 2021). It became clear that agility in an IT landscape is crucial for the success of digital transformations and survival in volatile market conditions (Châlons & Dufft, 2017). For Deloitte consultants the importance of agility in the IT landscape is clear, however, it is unclear how the agility of an IT landscape can best be evaluated.

The aim of this research was to create a framework for the evaluation of IT landscape agility, on behalf of the Technology Transformation and Acceleration (TT&A) team within Deloitte consulting. The goal, method and content of the evaluation framework was defined based on a combination of insights from seven expert interviews, observations during team and capability meetings, three different focus groups and extensive literature research on the topics of digital transformation, information system agility and information technology agility. Using a design science research methodology, the framework has been iterated multiple times by moving between what is relevant for Deloitte and what is known in the literature sphere. Based on the final framework for evaluation, multiple concepts were developed, of which the quick scan survey was selected by the Deloitte consultants as most desirable. This concept was developed during multiple evaluations and iterations together with employees from the University of Technology Delft.

This process resulted in the IT Agility Scan, a survey that can be used during client engagements, enabling consultants to efficiently and effectively assess what the agility of an IT landscape. The evaluation considers the complete breadth of an organization, diving into technical dimensions, non-technical dimensions, and system characteristics. Involving different employees and stakeholders across organizational boundaries. Being timed based on project timelines, the IT Agility Scan will allow consultants to not only define the current state, but also track the impact of change. It is expected that applying the IT Agility Scan will improve the ability Deloitte consultants to evaluate clients by providing a standardized method for generating valuable insights in gaps and opportunities for the agility of a client IT landscape. The IT Agility Scan will decrease the time needed gathering and analyzing data during the assessment stage of client engagements.

The IT Agility Scan is accompanied by a recommended implementation strategy, illustrating the onboarding and optimization process. By making TT&A product owner, the position of TT&A within Deloitte is strengthened over time. Involving subject matter experts in the optimization process, ensures and stimulates information sharing between experts, teams and clients. To support the engagement and development process this report provides Deloitte with a recommended strategy for the next five years, presented in a tactical roadmap towards a holistic and automated IT Agility Scan. Lastly this report highlights the limitations of this project and recommendations for further research on the topic of IT landscape agility.
...

A Reflective Journey to Unleash Creative Confidence by Illuminating the Creative Cultural Values in Your Organisation

Master thesis (2023) - Y. Quan, M. Gonçalves, U. Gür
Creativity is becoming increasingly essential in today’s workplaces and organisations. However, though everyone is believed to be creative, not everyone feels confident enough to express their creative ideas. The organisational culture plays a remarkable role in shaping the creative climate. If its core cultural value does not support and encourage creativity, employees may experience a lack of creative confidence. Therefore, to address creative confidence in organisations, it is crucial to study the organisation’s creative culture and implement interventions that are culturally sensitive. For this project, Rabobank and PostNL were selected as the organisation cases, specifically their innovation project teams within the innovation departments as the project focus.

The project was carried out qualitatively to study the innovation contexts of Rabobank and PostNL, in which the main participants consisted of the innovation coaches and coachees from the innovation project teams. By analysing and mapping out the creative cultures of these two companies, several key cultural values were identified. These include: high power division, reverence for company history and traditional way of working, adherence to clear rules and aversion to uncertainty, emphasis on group connections and collaborations, and a drive for success and achievement.

To help the innovation coaches in fostering greater creative confidence in the coachees, an intervention called “CreatOrg workshop” was designed. It is a templated journey (a workshop with 4 activities) that encourages coaches and coachees to reflect on their previous coaching and workshop experiences together. The workshop aimed to increase sensitivity and awareness towards the creative cultural values of ‘care’ and ‘fun’, while inspiring participants to generate potential ideas for fostering creative confidence in future coaching and workshop settings.

Later the concept was evaluated with respondents from Rabobank and PostNL, as well as other relevant stakeholders from different organisations. The results indicated that CreatOrg workshop effectively increased participants’ creative confidence and enhanced their sensitivity and awareness towards both ‘care’ and ‘fun’ creative cultural values. Participants also found it inspiring and acknowledged its potential for long-term use.

Rabobank and PostNL could directly benefit from CreatOrg workshop and the insights from their creative cultures. Other organisations might also find it helpful to reflect on their own creative cultures by studying the demonstrated creative cultural values of Rabobank and PostNL. However, further communication and follow-up validation within Rabobank and PostNL is needed. Future research could utilise the combined cultural model proposed in this project to explore organisation/culture-related subjects. Additionally, the intervention itself could be experimented with more types of organisations in the future. ...