Applying Service Design Methods for Improving Communication and Collaboration of Internal Stakeholders in a Growing IT Organization

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master_Jemeljanova_Olga_2017.pdf (44.63 MB)

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Perustieteiden korkeakoulu | Master's thesis
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Date

2017-10-03

Department

Major/Subject

Software and Service Engineering

Mcode

SCI3069

Degree programme

Master’s Programme in Information Networks

Language

en

Pages

91 + 6

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Abstract

Service design is known for various methods that are facilitating healthy communication and collaboration with customers however it seems to be difficult to find studies that analyze service design methods improving communication and collaboration within the organization. Therefore, service design methods were applied from a new perspective. The goal of this thesis was to investigate how to improve communication and collaboration of internal stakeholders in a growing IT organization. Action research was used as the research method in this thesis work. The literature review was conducted to identify suitable services design methods for the empirical study. As a result of the literature review, service blueprint and participatory methods were selected. The empirical study was based on both qualitative and quantitative data collection techniques, such as 36 interviews, a workshop, observations and a survey. The empirical study revealed that the scope of service blueprint had to be modified to support communication and collaboration between internal stakeholders. Changes mostly affected physical size and accuracy level of the visualization. The participatory workshop was found to be effective for collaboration support. Furthermore more valuable results would be achieved if workshop arrangements and engagement activities were aligned with the workshop participants. Service blueprint and participatory methods were found to positively affect communication and collaboration of internal stakeholder in a growing IT organization. These service design methods provided a big picture of the service delivery process. Also visibility on the processes increased common understanding and eased internal communication in an organization. Furthermore, a healthy communication and collaboration environment was managed. This environment allowed sharing experiences and deciding on improvements regarding organizational processes. The results of the study indicate that the service blueprint and participatory methods can provide deep understanding of the service delivery process across the organization and support improvement of organizational processes. The findings of this thesis suggest the way service design methods can be applied to improve communication and collaboration of internal stakeholders in a growing IT organization.

Description

Supervisor

Kauppinen, Marjo

Thesis advisor

Teppala, Johan-Peter

Keywords

service design, communication, collaboration, process visualization, service blueprint, participatory workshop

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https://urn.fi/URN:NBN:fi:aalto-201710307389

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[dipl] Perustieteiden korkeakoulu / SCI