On March 21, 2024, Georgios Koutsopoulos will present his PhD thesis at the Department of Computer and Systems Sciences (DSV), Stockholm University. The title of the thesis is “KYKLOS – A modeling method and tool for managing changing capabilities in organizations”.

Georgios Koutsopoulos during the "nailing ceremony" at DSV. Photo: Angela Westin.

PhD student: Georgios Koutsopoulos, DSV
Opponent: Jolita Ralyté, University of Geneva, Switzerland
Main supervisor: Janis Stirna, DSV
Supervisor: Martin Henkel, DSV

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The defence takes place at DSV in Kista, starting at 09:00 am.
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Abstract

The environments within which modern organizations are operating are characterized by constantly increasing volatility and diversity, which act as a driving force that continuously presents opportunities and threats to the organizations. The result of this situation is that these environments have become so dynamic that the phenomenon of organizational change is slowly becoming the new constant, rather than being an exception as in earlier years. The challenges arising from the need to handle constant change and evolution naturally lead to changing organizational capabilities. Information systems, as one aspect of an organization, can provide efficient support for the design and analysis of capabilities, and enterprise modeling can facilitate the development of specialized methods for this task. Hitherto, a plethora of capability modeling methods exist, providing a wide spectrum of perspectives.

However, the support provided for managing the phenomenon of changing organizational capabilities remains limited, since existing methods have omitted to capture the elements necessary to depict organizational capabilities in motion and the motivations triggering such transitions. In addition, managing change requires more structured approaches, which should be methodologically supported and conceptualized.

The goal of this PhD thesis is to develop a capability modeling method, called KYKLOS, that can support organizational change by modeling the changing capabilities of organizations and all the relevant aspects of this phenomenon. This work followed the Design Science Research framework, and started by explicating the problem via a literature review of existing capability meta-models; this was followed by the elicitation of method requirements, drawn from both the existing literature and a case study conducted in the domain of public healthcare in Sweden. Based on these requirements, an initial meta-model was developed, which was then demonstrated using the same case study and evaluated by experts through interviews. This activity resulted in an extension to the initial version of the meta-model, which was then instantiated via a case study conducted in the domain of public arts and culture in Greece. In parallel, the compatibility of other modeling approaches was explored. An extended version of the meta-model was then converted to its final version, which was suitable for the implementation of the modeling language in a tool, using the ADOxx meta-modeling platform. Simultaneously with the development of the tool, the syntax, semantics and procedure of the modeling method were created. The complete method was demonstrated through a case study at a company providing ERP solutions and consulting in Sweden, and the results were used to evaluate the method by two groups representing the stakeholder roles.

The thesis contributes towards an improved management of change in organizations through the development of a method and complementary supporting tool, with the capability perspective as the focal point for the design and analysis of organizational change.