Changing the organizational culture

11.3 Changing the organizational culture

Implementing a successful SQS requires a change in the culture of the organization with respect to quality. The key component of any culture change is commitment, in this case, the commitment of the entire organization.

11.3.1 Culture change

Changing a cultural is a four-step process:

• Step 1 is the realization that the current situation, whatever is to be changed, is no longer satisfactory. This is the first step, because if the current situation is acceptable or desirable, there is no basic motivation to change at all. An example of an unsatisfactory situation might be that all projects have excessive postimplementation defect rates.

• Step 2 is the determination that there is a situation better that the current one. If the current situation is undesirable but is the "least worst" of all available situations, the motivation to change is still not present. Since the testing of the project prior to implementation is at the state of the art of the organization's testers, a preferred situation in the example might be full user testing prior to implementation.

• Step 3 is the determination that the preferred situation (found in Step 2) is attainable. In some cases, there is a preferred situation, but "you can't get there from here." At this point, even thought the motivation to change is present, the change cannot be completed. Continuing the example, it is noted that full user testing is not feasible if the user refuses, for whatever reason, to do it.

• Step 4 is taken when Steps 1 through 3 have been successful. There is dissatisfaction with the current situation, and a better situation exists and is attainable. Step 4 is the application of the commitment to attaining the preferred situation. In the case of implementing an SQS, it is the combined commitment of management and the rest of the organization to expend the required effort and aim for doing things right the first time.

11.3.2 Management commitment

A management involved on the planning and implementation of a program is more likely to commit itself to that program. Management is going to be asked to commit resources to the SQS. No matter who carries out the individual activities represented by the 10 basic elements of the system, there is a resource cost involved. Management is usually sensitive to those costs and the payback that can be expected for them. If there has been little or no management participation in the planning and development of the SQS, there will be little or no understanding of the value to be expected from the expenditures.

The costs involved in an SQS include not only the actual SQS resource costs for personnel and so on but also nontrivial costs to the project development as well. Software quality activities will have an impact on the time and resources required to develop the software product. In the experience of the author, these costs could range from as little as 5% for a minimum SQS application to as much as 20% for a fully applied SQS. Note that probably not all of the costs will be new costs. It is to be expected that at least some resources were being expended for testing, CM, and defect reporting and correction even before there was a formal SQS. In any case, the costs to be incurred must be explained to management. If they are a part of the planning for the system, they will have a much better understanding of where these costs come from and what they will accomplish. Management must be given the opportunity to have direct inputs into the SQS planning and must be recognized for those inputs.

Without management commitment, any program is unlikely to succeed. The charter is the demonstration of management's commitment to the SQS.

11.3.3 Organizational commitment

It is often observed that a quality program will not succeed without the commitment of management. While management commitment is necessary, it is not sufficient. Also required is the full commitment and support of the organization, which must change its work habits to enable the success of the SQS and the software quality program. The cultural orientation of the organization must become one of "do it right the first time." The software quality practitioner must remember that the full set of changes cannot be made in one fell swoop. "Do it right the first time" will take effect in smaller steps of "do it more correctly, sooner." As this habit becomes entrenched, the organizational culture will begin to change.

As Figure 11.3 shows, there can be involvement without much effort, but commitment requires much stronger support.

Figure 11.3: True commitment.