Det Nya Paradigmet för Industriell Verksamhet - Total Quality Management

En mängd olika begrepp har använts för att beskriva det nya paradigmet för industriell verksamhet som under 1990-talet anammats av allt fler företag. En japansk version av paradigmet har kallats TQC (Total Quality Control), CWQC (Company Wide Quality Control) eller “Toyota Management System”. Detta sätt att bedriva industriell verksamhet spred sig senare till Västvärlden under begrepp som “Lean production”, “Innovation-mediated production”, eller den term som kanske är vanligast, TQM (Total Quality Management). TQM består av systematiska ledarskapsprinciper som syftar till att på bästa sätt använda sig av alla de resurser som finns tillgängliga för ett företag. Kärnan i det nya paradigmet är att medarbetarnas inneboende potential skall mobiliseras med syftet att uppnå högt uppsatta mål, formulerade av en engagerad företagsledning, och baserade på identifierade kundbehov. För att nå upp till de utmanande målen krävs i sin tur förändringar inom företagets organisations- och belöningsstrukturer. TQM modellen som presenteras i denna artikel har utvecklats baserat på en litteraturgenomgång, definitioner som används av kvalitetsutmärkelser (Quality Awards), och ur empirisk data från ett antal företag i USA, Europa och Japan (ABB, Motorola, Pitney Bowes, Rank Xerox, Toyota and Xerox). Målet har varit att presentera en realistisk beskrivning av TQM utgående från den bild som återges i litteraturen, kompletterat med en ingående analys av hur TQM praktiskt tillämpas I några av de ledande företagen i världen. Modellen som skapats är framställd med hjälp av ett “släktskapsdiagram”. Sex huvudkategorier identifierades: Kundfokus, Synligt ledarskap, Helhetssyn - total ansats, Kontinuerligt lärande, Processorientering samt Standardisering för kreativitet

Soft Institutions and the Diffusion of Management Innovations across Borders

This paper proposes an approach to support the understanding of the role of soft institutions (i.e. cultural values and norms) on the introduction and use of management practices when diffused across cultural (national/organisational) borders. This paper builds on empirical data from a case at Ericsson Radio System (Kista, Sweden). This case illustrates the impact of national values on the diffusion on process management practices in three different Ericsson subsidiaries in Sweden, Argentina and New Zealand. The paper concludes with the definition of research issues regarding the role of soft institutions on the diffusion of management innovation across borders

Do TQM principles need to change? Learning from a comparison to Google Inc.

Total Quality Management (TQM) is recognised for emphasising customer needs and contributing to organisations’ efficiency and effectiveness through process orientation and continuous improvement. Previous research has highlighted the risk that TQM might impede firms’ ability to innovate and quickly adapt to changes, especially in rapidly changing environments. However, other researchers have concluded that some of the best practices of innovation management could be recognised as TQM elements. A recurring issue concerns the conceptualisation of TQM that is contributing to ambiguity, as there are various definitions. The question of whether TQM supports innovation or not is, therefore, unsettled. The purpose of this paper was to compare Organisational Characteristics for Continuous Innovation (OCCI) in rapidly changing industries with key TQM Principles in order to discuss the relationship between TQM and continuous innovation. The OCCI used for the comparison have been generated through an empirical study of Google in combination with a literature review of research on continuous innovation in fastchanging environments. A comparison with the OCCI reveals that there are many similarities with TQM principles but also some distinct differences, for example, in terms of orientation towards innovation. While TQM has become closely related to process orientation, OCCI are more related to semi-structure and ambidexterity. The conclusion is that TQM needs to change in order to also support continuous innovation. In order for TQM to contribute both to continuous improvement and continuous innovations, a partly new management paradigm is needed. However, even if TQM is changed, the brand ‘TQM’ is still associated with ‘quality’ and ‘continuous improvement’. A re-branding strategy might, therefore, be necessary

Organizational innovation: a comprehensive model for catalyzing organizational development and change in a rapidly changing world

Previous research has found that organizational innovations are important for organizations’ long-term competitive advantage and for technical innovations. In spite of this conclusion, organizational innovations remain poorly managed and poorly understood, especially the processes through which organizational innovations are created, diffused, and sustained. There is thus a need for a more comprehensive understanding of mechanisms catalyzing organizational development and change. The purpose of this paper is to develop a comprehensive model for studying and better understanding the creation, diffusion, and sustaining of organizational innovations by using a system perspective. The three concepts “creation,” “diffusion,” and “sustaining” are highly intertwined and should not be explored in isolation, as organizational innovations are constantly being re-invented. The model for catalyzing organizational development and change could be visualized as five steps that form a circular pattern around an organizational-specific and pathdependent improvement trajectory rather than a single organizational innovation. The five steps are influenced by the external context, the internal environment, and the characteristics of the innovation itself. Further, different diffusion channels such as consultants, universities, and standardization forums function as mechanisms for knowledge transfer and triggering one or several of the five steps. The model is developed based on two literature reviews conducted over a 14-year period and findings from two empirical studies covering four Swedish manufacturing firms and one hospital. The model proposed here has already been used in practice in a study for the Swedish Innovation Agency VINNOVA. Likewise the model proved to be useful in analyzing both similarities and differences between different national programs for catalyzing organizational development. This comprehensive model, we suggest, has a wider and more general use and is applicable across the Triple Helix model

An Empirical Test of An Analytical Framework for Evaluation of Different Corporate-Startup Collaboration Models

Rapid technological developments make firms favor the creation of new approaches to corporate entrepreneurship and technology management. One approach, corporate-startup collaboration has reached a new level in the 21st Century and many different models currently exist as a result. However, research on how to evaluate the effects of those collaboration models is limited, and in some cases, non-existent. The purpose of this paper is to test if an analytical framework developed for measuring the results from corporate-startup co-location, also could be useful for measuring the results of other types of corporate-startup collaboration models. The framework is tested through the lens of the corporation and the collaboration unit. The empirical study includes 10 cases, representing five different corporate-startup models. The finding was that the analytical framework is useful in planning, analyzing and follow- up the results of many different corporate-startup collaboration models

Scenario Planning - The future now

A new project idea, irrespective of origin and organizations, will always need to react and adapt to the operating environment in order to survive. However, the most successful organizations will predict the future with intelligent insight, enabling them to change proactively to maintain competitive advantage. Traditional planning techniques use predictions, forecasts and projections, but they may not be able to cope with ‘disruptive’ changes in the environment. A more powerful approach is scenario planning, which can be seen as a rediscovery of the original entrepreneurial power of creative foresight in the context of accelerated change, greater complexity and genuine uncertainty. In practical terms, this involves thinking, unconstrained by the present, to consider plausible future options. It is about making choices today with an understanding of how they might turn out tomorrow. This chapter reviews the process tools available for scenario planning. The key steps are as follows: 1)Identify the focal issue or decision, 2)Identify the key forces in the environment, 3)What are the driving forces? 4)Identify and rank factors by importance and uncertainty, 5)Select and build the scenario stories, 6) Flesh out the scenario details and their implications, 7)What will be the leading indicators and signposts? 8)Communicate and represent the scenarios to the contributors. In conclusion, it would without doubt be helpful to have insight into the future. Scenario planning is a robust method for taking the guesswork out of the equation as far as possible while retaining the ability to consider a variety of plausible eventualities. This approach is therefore particularly useful when considering the longer term and/or situations in which unexpected changes may disrupt previous trends

Quality Management from a Company Development Perspective - The complexity of a change process

This paper examines the development of quality management in a company setting and in the perspective of on-going company development processes. Presenting a longitudinal perspective, a discussion of different dilemmas and matters of importance in understanding the QM development in a company and its implications, leads to a conclusion; in order to better understand and develop QM in a company a processual perspective applying a more profound process view than often prevailing is needed

Introducing Robust Design in Product Development Learning from an initiative at Volvo

Robust design (RD) has a large potential to contribute to product and process improvements providing increased customer value. However, it has shown to be difficult to obtain these benefits in practice. This study aims to evaluate and learn from an initial approach to introducing RD within the Volvo Group. It is based on three pilot cases within the product development organisation of a business unit. Data were collected through formal interviews and informal dialogues with pilot participants, supplemented by existing documentation of the pilot cases. The main finding was that a RD initiative, characterised by ‘tool-pushing’ and with a predefined solution introduced by an external consultant, faced many obstacles and could not create a sustainable result. Instead, it was found that there is a need to involve engineers and create a learning culture in which RD principles can become a natural part of work practices. This study identified six obstacles to the success of the initiative, which were perceived as learning points for a broader application of RD at the company. This underscores that RD initiatives can also be hampered by similar types of obstacles that have been identified in research on other change processes

NEEDS ANALYSIS REPORT:Towards a Sustainable Energy Sector in the Caribbean and the Role of Higher Education Institutions

Пропонується метод ідентифікації аварійних ситуацій, пов'язаних з виникненням витоків газу, на ділянках трубопроводу, заснований на математичному моделюванні нестаціонарних неізотермічних режимів роботи багатониткових лінійних ділянок газотранспортної систем