Introduction & Background
Thesis work is an excellent way to get closer to Scania and build relationships for the future. Many of today's employees began their Scania career with their degree project, and you now have an opportunity to explore the cultural transformation required to encourage collaboration through Open Source in a industry context.
The utilization of open source software has become a cornerstone in modern software development, offering benefits like flexibility, and accelerated innovation. While legal compliance is crucial in this, we must also address the broader potential of open source engagement that comes from contributing to open source communities.
With this thesis, we would like to explore underlying cultural barriers that prioritize compliance over collaboration, and that may inhibit the transition to a more open, innovative, and community-engaged development approach.

 

Objective 
The thesis aims to explore the cultural transformation required to shift from a compliance-centric to a collaboration-focused open source strategy within a corporate environment. The primary objectives are:

To identify the cultural barriers and organizational factors preventing development teams from engaging more actively with open source communities. To analyze how these barriers impact the implementation of the company's forward-thinking open source strategy. To develop a strategic framework with actionable recommendations that facilitate cultural change towards collaboration and open source engagement.

 

Job description 
To achieve the objectives outlined above, we expect that you will do a comprehensive literature review, looking at theories and models related to organizational culture, including factors that influence cultural change within companies. You will look at change management strategies in place at Scania and elsewhere that have been effective in transforming corporate cultures.
Based on Scania’s Open Source Strategy and existing guidelines, you will be looking at how policies, incentives, and leadership approaches influence developer behavior regarding open source engagement, compare the current cultural state with the desired collaborative culture and identify specific cultural that may hinder open source participation.
We hope that your work will lead to identification of specific initiatives that can be implemented to foster a collaborative culture, align with organizational goals and resources. In addition, we hope that you’ll contribute to the field of study through recommendations for facilitating cultural transformation towards open source collaboration and identify areas where additional study could deepen understanding or address limitations of the current research.

 

Education & Background
To be successful in this thesis work, we expect you to have the necessary understanding of what Open Source is and how it is applied in industry today. We think that a suitable background could be with a focus on Organizational Behavior, Change Management or Information Systems Management. You may also have a suitable background if you come from a Computer Science perspective.
Number of students: 1
Start date for the thesis work: 2024-01-15
Estimated time required: 4-5 months

 

Contact persons and supervisors
Jonas Öberg (manager), jonas.oberg@scania.com

 

Application
Your application must include a CV, personal letter and transcript of grades. 

A background check might be conducted for this position. We are conducting interviews continuously and may close the recruitment earlier than the date specified.