Reference no: EM133668426 , Length: word count:1500

Agile Project Management

Assessment - Reflection on Agile ways of working and Agile teams

Learning Outcome 1: Reflect on the Agile process and the influence on the individual's professional development within the method used in this subject with particular emphasis on Agile roles within teams.

Task Summary
You are required to write and submit a 1500-word individual reflection about Agile ways of working and Agile teams in preparation for your group assignment. The aim of this assessment is to maximise your team performance through practical project experience with learnings you can take to your future workplace (some people in your team may annoy you now, but they are very likely to represent the people you will work with in future - so learning these lessons now gives you a head start in the soft skills required for your career).

You will be expected to examine and reflect upon Agile Ways of Working in your team - working towards Assessment 3 as a project with your team, specifically on the following conceptual areas:

Servant leadership
The Agile Mindset
Psychological Safety

Context
In professional life, while some parts of a job require individual contribution but progressively more work requires collaboration and group work.

Group learning is designed to help you to learn about the process of collaboration in preparation for your career.

Agile teams and agile ways of working are becoming ubiquitous in workplaces, and you will likely be a part of an agile team in your career. However, agile is very different from the more traditional ‘command and control' management methods to which many people are accustomed. It requires self-organisation and teamwork, rather than being told what to do.

QUESTION 1 - Servant Leadership

"....The great leader is seen as servant first..." - Robert Greenleaf

Leadership is often conflated or associated with a ‘command and control' culture with people who ‘take charge'. Robert K Greenleaf, and subsequently other thought leaders, saw a different way.

Servant Leadership as a management ethos is not only associated with Agile but is interwoven into broader management theory. Before answering this question review this article in the Torrens Library online paying close attention to the following sections: Abstract, Introduction, Literature Review, Conlusions and Managerial Implications.

Canavesi, A., & Minelli, E. (2021). Servant leadership: a systematic literature review and network analysis. Employee Responsibilities and Rights Journal, 34(3), 267-289

In relation to your team and the way that it is working,
Discuss 2 examples of how team members are working ethically towards their personal growth and development.
Is there someone in the team who has stepped up into the servant leadership role - or is
working as "primus inter pares" in the group:
If so, what contribution is this making to the group's performance?
If no one is doing this, what could you do to undertake this role?
Based on this reading, why do you believe that Servant Leadership is favoured as a transformational leadership style?

QUESTION 2 - Mindset
In your subject readings, you have sources from both Dweck (2008) and Mordi and Schoop (2020) which discuss mindset as a concept. In the reading below Eilers, Peters and Leimeister (2022) have undertaken a study to capture and measure the Agile Mindset - you will need to read this article in full to answer this question.

Looking at the questions of the Agile Mindset and the key attributes of each attitude dimension, answer the following questions:
Attitude towards learning spirit:
Select one attribute in which you believe you are really strong - use an example of how you have demonstrated this attribute in action in your group work.
Select one attribute that you believe is an area for personal improvement for you - use an example that illustrates this from your group work, and suggest a way of improving in this area.
Attitude towards collaborative exchange:
Select one attribute in which you believe you are really strong - use an example of how you have demonstrated this attribute in action in your group work.
Select one attribute that you believe is an area for personal improvement for you - use an example that illustrates this from your group work, and suggest a way of improving in this area.
Attitude towards empowered self-guidance:
Select one attribute in which you believe you are really strong - use an example of how you have demonstrated this attribute in action in your group work.
Select one attribute that you believe is an area for personal improvement for you - use an example that illustrates this from your group work, and suggest a way of improving in this area.
Attitude to customer co-creation:
Select one attribute in which you believe you are really strong - use an example of how you have demonstrated this attribute in action in your group work.
Select one attribute that you believe is an area for personal improvement for you - use an example that illustrates this from your group work, and suggest a way of improving in this area.

QUESTION 3 - Psychological Safety
This short article combined with your subject readings will help you to answer this question:
Rider, C., Ferrère, A., Belovai, Z., Guadalupe, M., & Englmaier, F. (2023). Proven Tactics for Improving Teams' Psychological Safety. MIT Sloan Management Review, 64(3), 1-4.

Before reading the article: Consider what support would you expect from your manager to be able to feel psychologically safe. Capture your initial thoughts in the first paragraph of your answer.

After reading the article: Looking at the lessons learned section of the article, which activity produced the best results in improving psychological safety?

Is this the outcome that you expected? Why or why not?

Why do you think the change in managerial behaviours made such a difference?

Looking at the three benefits that companies can achieve - why do you think some managers may remain resistant to a change of this nature?

Task Instructions
Write a 1500-word reflective report addressing the concepts of agile teams and agile ways of working.
Please structure your report as follows:
Title page: include a title page with the subject code and subject name, assignment title,
student's name, student number and lecturer's name.

Table of Contents
Introduction (100-150 words): this will also serve as your statement of purpose for this report - this means that you will tell the reader what you are going to cover in your report. You will need to inform the reader of:
In brief - what you have reflected on
What the reader can expect to find in the body of the report
The body of the report (1000-1200 words) - word distribution is something you need to consider in your assessment response design:
QUESTION 1 - Servant Leadership
QUESTION 2 - Mindset
QUESTION 3 - Psychological Safety
Conclusion: summarise the one important element from each question as the most important action that you can take to make sure that your group optimise their performance and achievement for Assessment 3.

2. Format and Layout
Please use font Arial or Calibri 11 point, should be line spaced at 1.5 for ease of reading and page numbers on the bottom of each page.
If diagrams or tables are used, due attention should be given to pagination to avoid loss of meaning and continuity by unnecessarily splitting information over two pages. Diagrams must carry the appropriate captioning.

Referencing
It is essential that you use appropriate APA style for citing and referencing research.