Examining operational wastes within Greek banking operations

In order to address operational effectiveness in the banking sector caused by the 2008 global economic crisis, this study examines the nature of operational wastes that exist within four large Greek banks. A Delphi study was undertaken with ten managers and ten employees. The waste of underutilised people is found to be the dominant form of waste present and affecting the efficiency of banking operations. This has implications for managers of banking operations needing to address efficiencies in an increasingly competitive global economic environment. The paper also highlights the drawbacks of analysing typologies of waste across organisations and industrial sectors

Lean practices for efficiency in the South African hospitality sector

Abstract: Lean thinking and practices entail the reduction of waste, time, effort and cost while perfecting the quality of products and services towards improved customer satisfaction. Lean practices are regarded as global business best practice; especially in light of the recent global recession, greening of the planet initiatives and the millennial need for streamlined systems and processes. The purpose of this article is to propose a set of lean tools by exploring the advantages and difficulties of lean implementation in the South African hospitality sector. The motivation for this paper is that there is a gap in the literature with limited conceptual and empirical knowledge on lean practices in South African organisations, especially in the hospitality sector. This conceptual paper presents the intensive literature study undertaken to explore the advantages and challenges of lean thinking, implementation and practice. The implications of this paper are that the hospitality sector in South Africa and Africa may benefit by adopting the lean advantages and eliminating the lean challenges highlighted by this theoretical paper. Furthermore, leaders and managers can practically engage with the identified lean benefits and challenges and adapt it as required by the process and systems in their organisation. This paper adds theoretically and practically. Theoretically, it increases the body of knowledge on lean thinking, lean practices, advantages and challenges as applied in the South African context. The practical contribution is that it creates awareness on lean thinking and practices as hospitality operational managers may immediately be able to reduce waste, increase profit and improve product, performance and people in their line function

Faktor kejayaan Pemikiran Lean dan pencapaian operasi di sektor perkhidmatan

Dalam persaingan globalisasi, sektor perkhidmatan harus memberi perhatian dalam memenuhi permintaan pengguna yang memerlukan perkhidmatan yang berkualiti dengan kos yang lebih rendah. Penggunaan amalan penambahbaikan kualiti seperti Lean mampu membaiki pengoperasian organisasi bagi mencapai matlamat tersebut. Penggunaan Lean di sektor perkhidmatan lebih dikenali dengan terma Pemikiran Lean (Lean Thinking) kerana penambahbaikan pengoperasian yang dilakukan adalah berteraskan lima prinsip dalam Pemikiran Lean. Oleh itu, kajian ini dilakukan untuk menguji adakah penggunaan Pemikiran Lean di beberapa buah hospital awam dan swasta di Malaysia dapat membantu pencapaian operasi. Selain itu, kajian ini juga bertujuan untuk mengenal pasti faktor dalaman dan luaran penting yang dapat menyumbang kepada kejayaan Pemikiran Lean di sektor perkhidmatan. Dalam kajian ini, pendekatan model Resource-based View digunakan sebagai teori dasar untuk mengenal pasti faktor dalaman yang berorientasikan pekerja dalam mempengaruhi kejayaan Pemikiran Lean. Faktor dalaman tersebut pula dibahagikan kepada faktor umum dan faktor spesifik. Faktor umum yang dimaksudkan ialah faktor pengurusan atasan, latihan dan pembelajaran, komunikasi dan penglibatan pekerja. Manakala, faktor spesifiknya ialah faktor pembangunan pemikiran. Dalam kajian ini faktor luaran iaitu faktor campur tangan kerajaan turut diuji kerana hospital awam adalah sangat terikat dengan polisi kerajaan. Data dianalisis menggunakan pendekatan Partial Least Squares (PLS). Hasil kajian menunjukkan faktor dalaman sahaja (faktor umum dan faktor spesifik) yang mempunyai pengaruh yang signifikan ke atas pencapaian operasi. Manakala, faktor luaran iaitu campur tangan kerajaan tidak mempengaruhi kejayaan amalan Pemikiran Lean di hospital awam dan swasta di Malaysia. Hasil kajian ini adalah selari dengan pendapat penyelidik terdahulu bahawa perkara asas yang boleh menggerakkan amalan penambahbaikan kualiti harus bermula dari kekuatan dalaman sesebuah organisasi. Penemuan ini adalah maklumat penting sebagai garis panduan kepada pengamal supaya mengutamakan faktor yang berorientasikan pekerja demi meningkatkan pencapaian operasi melalui Pemikiran Lean

Lean thinking in the European hotel industry

This paper assesses lean practices in waste management using sample of small and medium sized hotels in 19 European countries. Seven value mapping streams were assessed, namely: Process activity mapping, Supply chain response matrix, Production variety funnel, Quality filter mapping, Demand amplification mapping, Decision point analysis, and Physical structure with particular reference guest reservation and reception, and to hotel procurement systems. It was found hotels do apply value mapping techniques, and similarities were found in hotel operations regardless of location. It is suggested that every value stream mapping technique (except production variety funnel and supply chain response matrix), can have a high impact on detecting and eliminating waste both upstream and downstream the value chain. The paper concludes by discussing managerial and research implications

The effects of employee participation in creative-relevant process and creative self-efficacy on employee creativity

Employees are the key determinants of an organization’s success because they possess the greatest source of the organization’s creativity. To produce a highly creative thinker, employee participation in the creative-relevant process is required. However, different forms of employee participation may benefit the organization differently. Mainly, researchers agreed on three forms of participation, namely full-autonomous or discretion over individual work tasks, semi-autonomous teamwork and consultative participation. The objective of this study is to examine the relationship between the different forms of employee participation in creative-relevant process and employee creativity. In addition, creative self-efficacy has demonstrated a relationship with creativity among employees. Underpinned by the Social Cognitive Theory, this study further examined the effect of creative self-efficacy on employee creativity and as a moderator for the relationship between creative-relevant process and employee creativity. We employed a quantitative approach by distributing questionnaires to employees who are working in public/private service sectors in Malaysia and 250 employees had responded. The study hypotheses were tested using PLS structural equation modeling. The results of the study showed that there is (a) a significant relationship between full-autonomous and consultative participation in the creative-relevant process; (b) a nonsignificant relationship between semi-autonomous and creative-relevant process; (c) a significant relationship between creative-relevant process and employee creativity; (d) a significant relationship between creative self-efficacy and employee creativity, and (e) a nonsignificant moderated relationship of creative self-efficacy. This study adds to the body of knowledge on the importance of examining the different forms of employee participation and enforcing continuous training in creative-relevant process in order to develop employee creativity

MAPEAMENTO DE PROCESSOS: UM ESTUDO DE CASO NA CHEFIA DE PROGRAMAÇÃO FINANCEIRA SETOR DA SECRETARIA DE ESTADO DA FAZENDA DE ALAGOAS

Este artigo consiste em apresentar o processo de implantação de desenvolvimento de fluxos e mapeamento de processos, por meio de um estudo de caso realizado na Secretaria de Estado da Fazenda de Alagoas, especificamente em um setor da Superintendência do Tesouro Estadual (STE), com o intuito de melhorar a gestão e aperfeiçoar os processos. A metodologia utilizada para a elaboração deste trabalho foi a pesquisa qualitativa, descritiva e exploratória. Com relação ao mapeamento de processos desenvolveu-se em etapas, inicialmente foram feitas entrevistas com os servidores envolvidos com o setor da Chefia de Programação Financeira (CPF), parte da STE em que o trabalho foi desenvolvido, para fornecer dados e informações necessárias para a implantação da ferramenta, em seguida, os processos foram mapeados utilizando a representação gráfica de fluxogramas, devidamente validados, permitindo verificar o funcionamento de todos os elementos de um sistema. Conclui-se, por fim, que o mapeamento gerou benefícios significativos no setor da CPF, no que diz a respeito, à redução de retrabalho, o controle dos processos e a melhoria da comunicação entre os setores envolvidos nos processos.Palavras-chave: Mapeamento de Processos. Fluxogramas. Processos

Mapeamento e redesenho de processos : aplicação a um estudo de caso real

Mestrado em Gestão e Estratégia IndustrialA crescente competitividade no mercado da distribuição tem obrigado as organizações a repensarem cada um dos seus processos e a questionarem os seus modos de operação, em busca de melhores resultados. Este trabalho de projeto desenvolve um estudo empírico acerca do processo de alteração de etiquetas numa empresa da grande distribuição a atuar em Portugal. Baseado num levantamento em 4 hipermercados e 1 supermercado, através de observação direta, foi possível mapear o processo físico de alteração de etiquetas. Os dados recolhidos permitiram um mapeamento detalhado que descreve os termos em que as atividades se relacionam dentro do processo, os seus intervenientes, a sua duração e os seus custos. Trata-se de um processo recorrente na empresa, catalisador de recursos humanos e físicos significativos e que apresenta fortes oportunidades de melhoria. Nesse sentido, o presente trabalho de projeto redesenha duas soluções que visam sobretudo a redução dos custos, o incremento da produtividade e o aumento do nível de serviço prestado ao cliente traduzido numa maior fiabilidade de preço.The growing competitiveness in distribution market has led organizations to rethink each one of its processes and question their mode of operation for the sake of better results. This dissertation develops an empirical study about the price tag modification process within a large distribution company operating in Portugal. Based on a survey performed in four hypermarkets and one supermarket, through direct observation, it was possible to map out the physical process of price tag modification. The retrieved data made way for a detailed mapping about the way the activities relate to one another within the process, the people they involve, their duration and costs. This is a regular process in the company, prompting human and physical resources and with a large room for improvement. In that sense, the present dissertation drafts two solutions that aim mainly at cost reduction, increase of productivity and the improvement of customer service based on greater price reliability

The lean-performance relationship in services: A theoretical model

A successful software project is the result of a complex process involving, above all, people. Developers are the key factors for the success of a software development process, not merely as executors of tasks, but as protagonists and core of the whole development process. This paper investigates social aspects among developers working on software projects developed with the support of Agile tools. We studied 22 open-source software projects developed using the Agile board of the JIRA repository. All comments committed by developers involved in the projects were analyzed and we explored whether the politeness of comments affected the number of developers involved and the time required to fix any given issue. Our results showed that the level of politeness in the communication process among developers does have an effect on the time required to fix issues and, in the majority of the analysed projects, it had a positive correlation with attractiveness of the project to both active and potential developers. The more polite developers were, the less time it took to fix an issue.UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Counci