Towards Sustainable Improvement Systems

Improvements in general and sustainable improvements in particular are problematic areas. The failure rate is high, figures in the vicinity of 70 percent are often mentioned, but why is it so difficult to achieve sustainable improvement systems? The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to understanding of the process and its mechanisms in creating a sustainable improvement system. The research questions are: What is the process for creating a sustainable improvement system? hat mechanisms influence the sustainability of improvement systems? How do the different mechanisms influence the sustainability of improvement systems? This dissertation is beyond searching for critical success factors for sustainable improvement systems but rather to identify and investigate mechanisms. Since mechanisms operate within a specific system they are by definition context dependent which critical success factors are not. The method used to fulfil the purpose was a series of case studies. In total 13 cases has been studied through interviews, participating in meetings, working in the organisation and shadowing. The research showed that there are major differences between different organisations in how they achieve a sustainable improvement system, despite this it was possible to a build a generic model. The model consists of three phases and three states. The phases are initiation-transition-sustain. Each phase has a certain state that need to be reached before the next phase can start. The first state which is the outcome of the first phase is that the employees regard the changes as beneficial for them. The second state is that the employees have changed their thinking and behaviour and the third state is that the improvement system is sustainable.Förbättringar i allmänhet och uthålliga förbättringar i synnerhet är problematiska områden. Andelen misslyckanden är hög, siffror kring 70 procent nämns ofta, men varför är det svårt att uppnå långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringar och förbättringssystem? Syftet med denna avhandling är att bidra till förståelse av processen för att skapa långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringssystem. Forskningsfrågorna är: Vilken är processen för att skapa ett uthålligt förbättringssystem? Vilka mekanismer påverkar uthålligheten hos förbättringssystem? Hur påverkar de olika mekanismerna förbättringssystemens uthållighet? Denna avhandling går bortom att söka efter kritiska framgångsfaktorer för långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringssystem utan identifierar och undersöker mekanismer. Eftersom mekanismer verkar i ett specifikt system är de definitionsmässigt kontextuella vilket kritiska framgångsfaktorer inte är. Metoden som använts för att uppfylla syftet är en serie fallstudier. Totalt 13 fall har studerats genom intervjuer, deltagande i möten, arbete i organisationen och skuggning. Avhandlingen visar att det finns stora skillnader mellan hur olika organisationer uppnår långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringssystem, trots detta var det möjligt att bygga en generell modell, denna består av tre faser och tre tillstånd. Faserna är initiering överföring uthållighet. Varje fas har ett speciellt tillstånd som behöver uppnås innan nästa fas kan börja. Det första tillståndet är att de anställda ser förbättringarna som positiva för dem. Det andra tillståndet är att de anställda har förändrat sitt tankesätt och beteende. Det tredje tillståndet är ett uthålligt förbättringssystem

From Successful to Sustainable Lean Production : The Case of a Lean Prize Award Winner

Many improvement programmes often fail to sustain over an extended period of time. Previous research suggests that a similar set of factors influence the success and sustainability of an improvement programme. The purpose of this paper is to make a distinction between the success and sustainability of improvement programmes, and to identify mechanisms that specifically contribute to the sustainability. In this paper, we study a sustainable improvement programme from the perspective of complexity theories that stress the importance of studying change as a dynamic process of interacting elements and events unfolding in time. We conducted a longitudinal, in-depth case study of a Swedish Lean Prize Award Winner where a Lean improvement programme was studied over 9 years. An improvement programme is successful if goals are achieved and the targeted problems are resolved. Furthermore, the first-order sustainability means the ability to sustain results and the second-order sustainability means the ability to keep an improvement programme alive. The lessons identified from complexity theories, such as destabilising the organisation, ensuring novelty and constant flow of change or self-organisation at the team level, are examples of mechanisms important to achieve the sustainability of the improvement programme.The previous status of this publication was Manuscript.</p

The daily work of Lean leaders – lessons from manufacturing and healthcare

The aim of this paper is to contribute to a better understanding of managerial practices and leadership in Lean organisations. The results presented here are based on five case studies. The manager's role changed radically with the implementation of Lean production. The focus in managerial tasks changed from managing processes to developing and coaching people. Supporting structures were developed to empower employees and give them more responsibility for daily management activities. These supporting structures included visual control, goal deployment, short daily meetings, two-way communication flow, and a system of continuous improvement. Many leadership behaviours exhibited by Lean managers can be classified as transformational leadership behaviours. However, the need for transformational leadership behaviours was smaller, if the supporting management structure was strong