Book Image

Enterprise Agility

By : Sunil Mundra
Book Image

Enterprise Agility

By: Sunil Mundra

Overview of this book

The biggest challenge enterprises face today is dealing with fast-paced change in all spheres of business. Enterprise Agility shows how an enterprise can address this challenge head on and thrive in the dynamic environment. Avoiding the mechanistic construction of existing enterprises that focus on predictability and certainty, Enterprise Agility delivers practical advice for responding and adapting to the scale and accelerating pace of disruptive change in the business environment. Agility is a fundamental shift in thinking about how enterprises work to effectively deal with disruptive changes in the business environment. The core belief underlying agility is that enterprises are open and living systems. These living systems, also known as complex adaptive systems (CAS), are ideally suited to deal with change very effectively. Agility is to enterprises what health is to humans. There are some foundational principles that can be broadly applied, but the definition of healthy is very specific to each individual. Enterprise Agility takes a similar approach with regard to agility: it suggests foundational practices to improve the overall health of the body—culture, mindset, and leadership—and the health of its various organs: people, process, governance, structure, technology, and customers. The book also suggests a practical framework to create a plan to enhance agility.
Table of Contents (23 chapters)
Enterprise Agility
About Packt
Forewords
Endorsements
Contributors
Preface
Other Books You May Enjoy
Index

Summary


In this chapter, we learned that because an enterprise is a CAS, each one is a distinctly different entity. The combination of strategy, systems, people, capabilities, leadership, and culture create a context that is unique to that enterprise. Hence, while good practices and patterns can be used as guidelines, the action plan for enhancing agility must be based on the specific circumstances of the enterprise.

The approach to enhancing agility must be holistic and systemic, from validating and, if necessary, redefining the purpose of the enterprise to creating a milestone-driven action plan. Taking a systemic approach also implies that all foundational blocks and components of the enterprise must be included in the scope of the agility enhancement journey. Moreover, since emergence is an integral property of a CAS, the plan must balance emergent evolution and planned execution. Finally, the fact that agility is a perpetual journey and not a destination implies that enterprises need...