IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/bushor/v62y2019i6p717-727.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Creating an innovative digital project team: Levers to enable digital transformation

Author

Listed:
  • Guinan, Patricia J.
  • Parise, Salvatore
  • Langowitz, Nan

Abstract

Digital transformation encompasses an organization's ability to adapt, respond, and position itself for success in the face of rapid technology evolution. A critical structure in achieving successful digital transformation is the digital project team, yet there is little research on how they are created and developed. Much of the focus has been on agile methodologies and processes but there is less research to inform organizations on digital team dynamics such as roles, empowerment, learning, and leadership development. This article describes our findings from a multilevel study of the IT function of 60 companies, including fieldwork at five company sites involving more than 130 semistructured interviews with senior level IT professionals. We identify four essential team-based levers that enable digital transformation: (1) diverse and targeted team composition, (2) iterative goal setting, (3) continuous learning, and (4) talent management. Using company examples and practices, we describe how digital leaders are using these levers to propel their organizations forward in the journey toward digital transformation.

Suggested Citation

  • Guinan, Patricia J. & Parise, Salvatore & Langowitz, Nan, 2019. "Creating an innovative digital project team: Levers to enable digital transformation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(6), pages 717-727.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:62:y:2019:i:6:p:717-727
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2019.07.005
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0007681319300965
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.bushor.2019.07.005?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nylén, Daniel & Holmström, Jonny, 2015. "Digital innovation strategy: A framework for diagnosing and improving digital product and service innovation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 58(1), pages 57-67.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Prikshat, Verma & Islam, Mohammad & Patel, Parth & Malik, Ashish & Budhwar, Pawan & Gupta, Suraksha, 2023. "AI-Augmented HRM: Literature review and a proposed multilevel framework for future research," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 193(C).
    2. Antonio Fernández-Portillo & Nuria Ramos-Vecino & Adelaida Ramos-Mariño & Gabriel Cachón-Rodríguez, 2024. "How the digital business ecosystem affects stakeholder satisfaction: its impact on business performance," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 18(9), pages 2643-2662, September.
    3. Lungu Miruna Florina, 2020. "The influence of strategic agility on firm performance," Proceedings of the International Conference on Business Excellence, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 102-110, July.
    4. Nemanja Berber & Agneš Slavić & Marko Aleksić, 2020. "Relationship between Perceived Teamwork Effectiveness and Team Performance in Banking Sector of Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(20), pages 1-15, October.
    5. Chen, Hansong & Tian, Zhen, 2022. "Environmental uncertainty, resource orchestration and digital transformation: A fuzzy-set QCA approach," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 139(C), pages 184-193.
    6. Hadjielias, Elias & (Lola) Dada, Olufunmilola & Discua Cruz, Allan & Zekas, Stavros & Christofi, Michael & Sakka, Georgia, 2021. "How do digital innovation teams function? Understanding the team cognition-process nexus within the context of digital transformation," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 122(C), pages 373-386.
    7. Bellis, Paola & Cunial, Matteo & Trabucchi, Daniel, 2024. "Mastering hybrid worlds through digital leadership: The role of agility in fostering innovation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 369-380.
    8. Schiuma, Giovanni & Santarsiero, Francesco & Carlucci, Daniela & Jarrar, Yasar, 2024. "Transformative leadership competencies for organizational digital transformation," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 425-437.
    9. Fleury, Afonso & Fleury, Maria Tereza Leme & Oliveira, Luis & Leao, Pablo, 2024. "Going digital EMNEs: The role of digital maturity capability," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 33(4).
    10. de Paula Pereira, Gustavo & de Medeiros, Janine Fleith & Kolling, Camila & Ribeiro, José Luis Duarte & Morea, Donato & Iazzolino, Gianpaolo, 2024. "Using dynamic capabilities to cope with digital transformation and boost innovation in traditional banks," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 317-330.
    11. Rialti, Riccardo & Filieri, Raffaele, 2024. "Leaders, let’s get agile! Observing agile leadership in successful digital transformation projects," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 67(4), pages 439-452.
    12. Haijian Liu & Jichen Li & Longjun Liu, 2024. "Linking Knowledge Heterogeneity with Project Performance in Digital Project Teams: The Role of Digital Capability and Knowledge Conversion," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 1771-1800, March.
    13. Gianluca Elia & Alessandro Margherita & Enrico Ciavolino & Karim Moustaghfir, 2021. "Digital Society Incubator: Combining Exponential Technology and Human Potential to Build Resilient Entrepreneurial Ecosystems," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 11(3), pages 1-16, September.
    14. Tsung-Yin Ou & Guan-Yu Lin & Chin-Ying Liu & Wen-Lung Tsai, 2021. "Constructing a Sustainable and Dynamic Promotion Model for Fresh Foods Based on a Digital Transformation Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(19), pages 1-19, September.
    15. Li, Xiaolin & Zhang, Mengjie & Liu, Weiwei & Wang, Ziyue, 2024. "The impact of entrepreneurial co-founders' support on founders' entrepreneurial resilience in the high-tech industry: The roles of perceived digital technology and perceived failure-tolerant climate," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 202(C).
    16. Bianca Felizardo Lima & Julio Vieira Neto & Renan Silva Santos & Rodrigo Goyannes Gusmão Caiado, 2023. "A Socio-Technical Framework for Lean Project Management Implementation towards Sustainable Value in the Digital Transformation Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-21, January.
    17. Jure Erjavec & Mojca Indihar Štemberger & Jurij Jaklič, 2024. "How to Develop Organizational Forms for a Successful Digital Transformation? Findings from Two Case Studies," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(2), pages 9576-9596, June.
    18. Kozarkiewicz Alina, 2020. "General and Specific: The Impact of Digital Transformation on Project Processes and Management Methods," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 12(1), pages 237-248, January.
    19. Xiaonan Fan & Ye Wang & Xinyuan Lu, 2022. "Digital Transformation Drives Sustainable Innovation Capability Improvement in Manufacturing Enterprises: Based on FsQCA and NCA Approaches," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-26, December.
    20. Jeehan A. R. Awad & Rodrigo Martín-Rojas, 2024. "Digital transformation influence on organisational resilience through organisational learning and innovation," Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Springer, vol. 13(1), pages 1-24, December.
    21. Ioana Gutu & Daniela Tatiana Agheorghiesei & Ionel Ciprian Alecu, 2022. "The Online Adapted Transformational Leadership and Workforce Innovation within the Software Development Industry," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(12), pages 1-22, June.
    22. Kruger, Sean & Steyn, Adriana Aletta, 2024. "Developing breakthrough innovation capabilities in university ecosystems: A case study from South Africa," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Zeng, Shouzhen & Zhou, Jiamin & Zhang, Chonghui & Merigó, José M., 2022. "Intuitionistic fuzzy social network hybrid MCDM model for an assessment of digital reforms of manufacturing industry in China," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 176(C).
    2. Singh, Shiwangi & Sharma, Meenakshi & Dhir, Sanjay, 2021. "Modeling the effects of digital transformation in Indian manufacturing industry," Technology in Society, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Hai Guo & Zhuen Yang & Ran Huang & Anqi Guo, 2020. "The digitalization and public crisis responses of small and medium enterprises: Implications from a COVID-19 survey," Frontiers of Business Research in China, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 1-25, December.
    4. Opland, Leif Erik & Pappas, Ilias O. & Engesmo, Jostein & Jaccheri, Letizia, 2022. "Employee-driven digital innovation: A systematic review and a research agenda," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 255-271.
    5. Chun-Liang Chen & Yao-Chin Lin & Wei-Hung Chen & Cheng-Fu Chao & Henry Pandia, 2021. "Role of Government to Enhance Digital Transformation in Small Service Business," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-24, January.
    6. Saiful Hidayat & Margono Setiawan & Fatchur Rohman & Ananda Sabil Hussein, 2022. "Development of Quality Digital Innovation by Optimally Utilizing Company Resources to Increase Competitive Advantage and Business Performance," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Muninger, Marie-Isabelle & Mahr, Dominik & Hammedi, Wafa, 2022. "Social media use: A review of innovation management practices," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 140-156.
    8. Muhammed Gul, 2020. "Digital business strategies and competitive superiority," International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293), Bussecon International Academy, vol. 2(1), pages 17-31, January.
    9. Segars, Albert H., 2019. "Creating a tribal approach for innovation in organizations," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 62(3), pages 409-418.
    10. Haijian Liu & Jichen Li & Longjun Liu, 2024. "Linking Knowledge Heterogeneity with Project Performance in Digital Project Teams: The Role of Digital Capability and Knowledge Conversion," Journal of the Knowledge Economy, Springer;Portland International Center for Management of Engineering and Technology (PICMET), vol. 15(1), pages 1771-1800, March.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:62:y:2019:i:6:p:717-727. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/bushor .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.