Agility in the workplace: Conceptual analysis, contributing factors, and practical examples

Over the last few years, the concept of agility has become increasingly popular in organizations. Companies are hoping to foster speed, adaptability, and innovation by rolling out an agile strategy, implementing agile methods, and creating an agile mind-set among leaders and employees. There is, however, much ambiguity about what the concept of agility entails and how it can be successfully implemented in an organization. The purpose of this practice-focused paper is to organize the extant agility literature for readers by giving an overview of different definitions of agility; outlining evidence-based factors that contribute to agility at the individual, team, and organizational levels; and describing three practical examples at a large German car company. Finally, the authors suggest steps that organizations can take to increase agility in their workforce.