Applications of lean thinking: a briefing document

This report has been put together by the Health and Care Infrastructure Research and Innovation Centre (HaCIRIC) at the University of Salford for the Department of Health. The need for the report grew out of two main simple questions, o Is Lean applicable in sectors other than manufacturing? o Can the service delivery sector learn from the success of lean in manufacturing and realise the benefits of its implementation?The aim of the report is to list together examples of lean thinking as it is evidenced in the public and private service sector. Following a review of various sources a catalogue of evidence is put together in an organised manner which demonstrates that Lean principles and techniques, when applied rigorously and throughout an entire organization/unit, they can have a positive impact on productivity, cost, quality, and timely delivery of services

Digital transformation of industrial organisations : A sociotechnical study on the role of leadership, structure and culture in achieving performance outcomes

In order to leverage the transformational possibilities of digital technology, digital transformation (DT) has become a strategic priority for industrial organisations. DT uses a mix of modern digital technologies and organisational strategies to facilitate significant business improvements. Recent studies have mostly concentrated on the technical components of DT or literatures reviews, while few conceptual and empirical studies have examined how industrial organisations are digitally transformed. This dissertation builds on the sociotechnical system perspective to answer the following question: How do industrial organisations prepare for DT? To address this question, four empirical research articles have been formulated to advance the knowledge on DT. By adopting a qualitative multiple case study method, this dissertation identifies the most important enablers of DT that help to achieve the targeted performance outcomes of the case organisations. This dissertation attempts to advance both theoretical and managerial understandings of DT by adopting a sociotechnical perspective and exploring an integrative approach for the successful DT of industrial organisations. The results of the study indicate that the case organisations’ main focus is on leadership roles and related competencies, changing organisational structures and organisational culture, which are the main enablers of successful DT. Further, the results show that the identified enablers help the case organisations to achieve organisational agility, customer centricity and enhanced collaboration, which are the main targeted performance outcomes of DT. In addition, the results emphasise that industrial organisations must jointly optimise their social and technical systems for DT in order to achieve the best results. Overall, this research demonstrates that a successful DT depends on how well industrial organisations readjust and update their organisational structures and organisational cultures to match the DT requirements. The role of leaders is vital in this change, and they must lead by example by adjusting their traditional style of leadership to match the DT requirements.Digitaalisesta transformaatiosta (DT) on tullut teollisten organisaatioiden strateginen prioriteetti, jotta ne voisivat hyötyä digitaalisen teknologian tarjoamista muutosmahdollisuuksista. DT yhdistää modernia digitaalista teknologiaa ja organisationaalista strategiaa merkittävien liiketoimintahyötyjen saavuttamiseksi. Viimeaikaiset tutkimukset ovat pääasiassa keskittyneet DT:n teknisiin osa-alueisiin tai ovat olleet kirjallisuuskatsauksia. On tehty vain muutamia käsiteellisiä ja empiirisiä tutkimuksia siitä, kuinka teolliset organisaatiot ovat digitaalisesti muuttuneet. Tämä väitöskirja vastaa sosioteknisen järjestelmän näkökulmasta seuraaviin kysymyksiin: Kuinka teolliset organisaatiot valmistautuvat DT:oon? Tähän kysymykseen vastauksena tehtiin neljä empiiristä tutkimusartikkelia edistämään ymmärrystä DT:sta. Käyttämällä kvalitatiivista monitapaustutkimusta, tämä väitöskirja tunnistaa tärkeimmät DT:n mahdollistajat, jotka auttavat tapausorganisaatioita saavuttamaan tavoitellut suoritustavoitteet. Tämä väitöskirja pyrkii edistämään ymmärrystä DT:sta sekä teorian että johtamisen kannalta, ottaen huomioon sosioteknisen näkökulman ja tutkimalla integroivaa lähestymistapaa menestyvään digitaaliseen transformaatioon teollisissa organisaatioissa. Tutkimuksen tulokset viittaavat siihen, että tapaustutkittujen organisaatioiden pääfokus on johtamisen rooleissa ja kompetensseissa, muuttuvissa organisaatiorakenteissa ja -kulttuureissa, jotka ovat pääasialliset menestyksekkään DT:n mahdollistajat. Lisäksi tulokset osoittavat, että tunnistetut muutoksen mahdollistajat auttavat tapaustutkimuksen organisaatioita saavuttamaan ketteryyttä, asiakaskeskeisyyttä ja tehostunutta yhteistyötä, jotka ovat DT:n tärkeimmät suoritustavoitteet. Lisäksi tulokset korostavat, että teollisten organisaatioiden on optimoitava oma sosiaalinen ja tekninen järjestelmänsä DT:ta varten saavuttaakseen parhaat tulokset. Tämä tutkimus osoittaa, että menestyksekäs DT on riippuvainen siitä, kuinka hyvin teolliset organisaatiot mukautuvat ja päivittävät organisaatiorakennettaan ja -kulttuuriaan ottamaan huomioon DT:n vaatimukset. Johdon rooli tässä muutoksessa on elintärkeä. Johtajien on johdettava esimerkin avulla muuttamalla perinteistä johtamistaan DT:n vaatimuksiin sopivaksi.fi=vertaisarvioitu|en=peerReviewed

IT Leadership in Transition - The Impact of Digitalization on Finnish Organizations

Digitalization is transforming business models across industries. As information technology (IT) is becoming embedded in products and services, IT leadership has an increasingly dualistic role in supporting the organization and also serving its customers' changing needs. The ACIO research program studied how Finnish industry and public sector organizations utilize information technology in developing and managing critical business capabilities. The focus was on understanding and analyzing contemporary approaches to IT leadership. This research report summarizes some of the key research findings, providing scholars and practitioners with insights into and understanding of digitalization and changes in IT leadership in Finnish informationintensive organizations

How will leadership agility be affected by the organization-s work digitalization and dynamic workforce engagement, in the future of work? Case applied in the insurance sector

This consulting research develops an assessment of the impact of leadership agility in the Future of Work, as well as the company’s positioning within this future, using the concept of Strategic Foresight and Scenario Planning. Predictive scenarios of the future were designed within the insurance sector with the aim of helping the organization to collect insights about how it should adapt its strategy through leadership. The recommendations were developed considering the future drivers of Workforce Engagement and Pace of Work Technology Adoption and built upon specific leadership competencies that must be tackled

The Digital Transformation of Automotive Businesses: THREE ARTEFACTS TO SUPPORT DIGITAL SERVICE PROVISION AND INNOVATION

Digitalisation and increasing competitive pressure drive original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) to switch their focus towards the provision of digital services and open-up towards increased collaboration and customer integration. This shift implies a significant transformational change from product to product-service providers, where OEMs realign themselves within strategic, business and procedural dimensions. Thus, OEMs must manage digital transformation (DT) processes in order to stay competitive and remain adaptable to changing customer demands. However, OEMs aspiring to become participants or leaders in their domain, struggle to initiate activities as there is a lack of applicable instruments that can guide and support them during this process. Compared to the practical importance of DT, empirical studies are not comprehensive. This study proposes three artefacts, validated within case companies that intend to support automotive OEMs in digital service provisioning. Artefact one, a layered conceptual model for a digital automotive ecosystem, was developed by means of 26 expert interviews. It can serve as a useful instrument for decision makers to strategically plan and outline digital ecosystems. Artefact two is a conceptual reference framework for automotive service systems. The artefact was developed based on an extensive literature review, and the mapping of the business model canvas to the service system domain. The artefact intends to assist OEMs in the efficient conception of digital services under consideration of relevant stakeholders and the necessary infrastructures. Finally, artefact three proposes a methodology by which to transform software readiness assessment processes to fit into the agile software development approach with consideration of the existing operational infrastructure. Overall, the findings contribute to the empirical body of knowledge about the digital transformation of manufacturing industries. The results suggest value creation for digital automotive services occurs in networks among interdependent stakeholders in which customers play an integral role during the services’ life-cycle. The findings further indicate the artefacts as being useful instruments, however, success is dependent on the integration and collaboration of all contributing departments.:Table of Contents Bibliographic Description II Acknowledgment III Table of Contents IV List of Figures VI List of Tables VII List of Abbreviations VIII 1 Introduction 1 1.1 Motivation and Problem Statement 1 1.2 Objective and Research Questions 6 1.3 Research Methodology 7 1.4 Contributions 10 1.5 Outline 12 2 Background 13 2.1 From Interdependent Value Creation to Digital Ecosystems 13 2.1.1 Digitalisation Drives Collaboration 13 2.1.2 Pursuing an Ecosystem Strategy 13 2.1.3 Research Gaps and Strategy Formulation Obstacles 20 2.2 From Products to Product-Service Solutions 22 2.2.1 Digital Service Fulfilment Requires Co-Creational Networks 22 2.2.2 Enhancing Business Models with Digital Services 28 2.2.3 Research Gaps and Service Conception Obstacles 30 2.3 From Linear Development to Continuous Innovation 32 2.3.1 Digital Innovation Demands Digital Transformation 32 2.3.2 Assessing Digital Products 36 2.3.3 Research Gaps and Implementation Obstacles 38 3 Artefact 1: Digital Automotive Ecosystems 41 3.1 Meta Data 41 3.2 Summary 42 3.3 Designing a Layered Conceptual Model of a Digital Ecosystem 45 4 Artefact 2: Conceptual Reference Framework 79 4.1 Meta Data 79 4.2 Summary 80 4.3 On the Move Towards Customer-Centric Automotive Business Models 83 5 Artefact 3: Agile Software Readiness Assessment Procedures 121 5.1 Meta Data 121 5.2 Meta Data 122 5.3 Summary 123 5.4 Adding Agility to Software Readiness Assessment Procedures 126 5.5 Continuous Software Readiness Assessments for Agile Development 147 6 Conclusion and Future Work 158 6.1 Contributions 158 6.1.1 Strategic Dimension: Artefact 1 158 6.1.2 Business Dimension: Artefact 2 159 6.1.3 Process Dimension: Artefact 3 161 6.1.4 Synthesis of Contributions 163 6.2 Implications 167 6.2.1 Scientific Implications 167 6.2.2 Managerial Implications 168 6.2.3 Intelligent Parking Service Example (ParkSpotHelp) 171 6.3 Concluding Remarks 174 6.3.1 Threats to Validity 174 6.3.2 Outlook and Future Research Recommendations 174 Appendix VII Bibliography XX Wissenschaftlicher Werdegang XXXVII Selbständigkeitserklärung XXXVII

Building a boundaryless manufacturing organisation through HITOP method

There is little empirical research to support the allegation that ‘leagile’ manufacturing organisations thrive in hostile environments, nor has it been demonstrated that organisation processes (referred to as enablers) actually support ‘leagile’ performance. This study tests the statistical significance of five selected HITOP (highly integrated technology, organisation and people) ‘leagile’ enablers. This was accomplished by using a mail survey instrument to measure the presence of ‘leagile enablers’ in a sample of companies taken from best factory award winners in UK, US and Japan. [Continues.

Digital Strategy Formulation: An Investigation with Design Sprints and Deep Learning

Since the invention of transistors, digital technologies have continued to have a profound impact on the global economy. Relentless performance improvements combined with convergence of digital technologies such as artificial intelligence, internet of things, and cloud computing has led to a surge in scale and importance as a source for competitive advantage. However, in 2019, only around 16% of companies managed to realize a significant improvement in business performance from digital transformation (DT). The challenges that organizations face in succeeding at DT can be traced back to strategy formulation and execution. Therefore, the aim of this research is to develop insights and tools to enhance the understanding and practice of digital strategy formulation. A comprehensive review of the literature demonstrated that DT, as an emerging body of knowledge, is lacking an in-depth and applied investigation of digital strategy formulation. The main knowledge gaps are: (1) a lack of guidance on digital strategy formulation process activities and outcomes; (2) limited consideration of the iterative nature of digital strategy formulation and validation; and (3) limited empirical investigation of digital strategy archetypes to guide the formulation process. Addressing this research gap was accomplished over three stages. First, an in-depth exploratory case study was conducted by investigating digital strategy formulation process with active participation research over six months. This investigation identified key process activities and highlighted the role of roadmapping in integrating the outcomes. Second, the findings were supplemented with literature review to design a conceptual framework for agile roadmapping to facilitate the digital strategy formulation process. This framework was then tested and calibrated over three pilot studies with companies across Europe attempting to start their DT journey. Finally, deep learning and natural language processing techniques were employed to empirically investigate the digital strategy of Fortune 500 companies from earnings call transcripts. This empirical investigation identified four digital strategy archetypes that are being employed by companies across various sectors. The findings from this research contribute to a better understanding of digital strategy formulation. It was identified that digital strategy formulation is an ongoing search process for an adequate strategic response to the DT of the economy. Specifically, incorporating agility into the formulation process is an effective way of managing the associated uncertainty of DT. Moreover, the findings demonstrated that proactively iterating between strategy formulation and validation can accelerate the realization of the emergent digital strategy. The proposed framework and the digital strategy archetypes provide a baseline for DT professionals toward a more robust digital strategy formulation.Ministry of Education - United Arab Emirate

Transitioning to a Lean Enterprise: A Guide for Leaders, Volume I, Executive Overview

This Transition-To-Lean Guide is intended to help your enterprise leadership navigate your enterprise’s challenging journey into the promising world of “lean.” You have opened this guide because, in some fashion, you have come to realize that your enterprise must undertake a fundamental transformation in how it sees the world, what it values, and the principles that will become its guiding lights if it is to prosper — or even survive — in this new era of “clock-speed” competition. However you may have been introduced to “lean,” you have undertaken to benefit from its implementation

Organizing for the Future: Cases on the Transition to Organic Forms

How most organizations are organized today is not coherent with the current market conditions and business environment. Many organizations are still relying on the decade’s old traditional organizational designs (Fassoula, 2004; Rahnema & Van Durme, 2017), although the emergence of these can be traced back to specific eras in history where managers aimed to take advantage of the prevailing market conditions (Miles et al., 2009). However, since then, the world has dramatically changed as a result of technological development, increased knowledge and globalization (Hinrichs, 2009). The business environment of today can therefore be described as dynamic, complex and uncertain, and to be successful under such conditions, organizations must be flexible and innovative (Hinrichs, 2009; Rigby, Sutherland & Takeuchi, 2016). Consequently, the traditional forms of organizing are no longer responding to the market conditions they were designed to match. In uncertain environments, organic organizations with features such as few hierarchical levels and decentralized decision-making are favorable (Burns & Stalker, 1961). Being organic also allows for agility (Holbeche, 2019; Olivia et al., 2019), an organizational capability that enables efficient and effective adaption of resources for value creation that corresponds to the changing environment. Thus, agility is highly desired in today’s volatile business environment and can be connected to higher organizational performance (Tallon & Pinsonneault, 2011; Salo, 2017). New organizational designs are therefore emerging which offer a possibility to become organized in accordance with today, and not only in terms of responsiveness, but also in recognizing the individual contribution of each employee. Nevertheless, engaging in organizational change tends to be difficult. Approximately 70% of the change initiatives that organizations engage in fail (Beer & Nohria, 2000; Rahnema & Van Durme, 2017; Holbeche, 2019), and most literature on change management is not suitable for the new unstable market conditions (Burnes, 1996). Additionally, the large differences between the traditional, hierarchical forms and the new forms imposes an even greater difficulty. Consequently, while a need to change has been recognized, the available literature on how to do so is limited. The purpose of this thesis was to increase the understanding of how to successfully manage the transition from a traditional form of organizing to a newer, organic form. To fulfill this purpose, the transformation processes towards the rather novel Teal-model made by Zordan Srl SB and Credito Emiliano S.p.A were studied following a case study methodology. The 8 findings of the explorative research confirm that both external and internal factors question the appropriateness of traditional forms of organizing in the business environment of today, and by transforming, great results can be achieved connected to economic profits, employee satisfaction, organizational climate and customer satisfaction. Successful ways of how to manage the transition was found in a gradual implementation of change where the process evolves along the transformation. This allows for reflection and a high involvement of employees, which positively affects change resistance. The findings also suggest a creation of an internal guiding group to function as a facilitator during the process. However, the change is not only limited to the organizational design, but the organizational culture and mindset must be changed as well to reflect the new ways of working. Accordingly, the required efforts to succeed are affected by the existing culture and perceptions of power, and the organizational starting point in relation to the desired model. Due to the limited number of studied cases, additional research is needed