Transactionality of Digital Transformation within an R&D Organization

Abstract

More than 70% of projects within organizations fail for two main reasons: inadequate implementation of changes, and insufficient development of the idea behind the project. However, changes are indispensable, and usually there is no time to wait. The authors have considered the relationship between the most common problems faced by the organization and their causes. We also identified the differences in the functional and engineering style of the management of change (MOC) process. We gave definitions of the “black box” and “white box” in the way of thinking about the organizational system undergoing transformation.  We examined the system contours of interaction in the course of digital transformation and showed the generic features that affect the success of changes made in the organization.  We reviewed the level of understanding of the digital transformation outcome. The quintessence of the authors’ reasoning can be formulated in the following maxim: “The requirement to show quick results from digital transformation entails the need to make a complete rollback to the initial condition before the changes had been made.” Further, the authors showed why the ability to roll back changes (“transactionality”) associated with digital transformation plays a key role for its successful implementation.