A Critical Analysis of the Usage of Selected Agile Project Management Methods in Change Management

Master's Thesis from the year 2017 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 1,85, University of Applied Sciences Osnabrück, language: English, abstract: This thesis analyzes the effects of agility on the success of change management. The goal is to answer the question whether and how the use of agile methods can be beneficial in this field by analyzing the impact of exemplary methods on distinct success factors of change management.

Agility is on trend. Agile organizations will have a growing need for agile change frameworks in the future. Therefore, the discipline of change management could benefit from influences and inspirations from agile project management methods, which have gained popularity in recent years.

The examples for agile methods chosen for analysis in this thesis are Scrum and Design Thinking. Scrum is the method used most in software industry, where the trend for agile project management has its roots. In contrast, Design Thinking stems from the area of innovation. It is also described as the exact opposite of project management as we know it. The two methods share many similarities, like their focus on collaboration and an iterative process, but they approach projects in different ways.