De organisatorische aspecten bij systeemontwikkeling: Een beschouwing op besturing en verandering

Management Information Systems;management information systems

The human side of lean logistics

Logistics is a highly competitive industry, hence logistic service providers (LSP) generally tend to get small margins on their activities. This promotes a managerial tendency to see labor as a source of costs that needs to be disciplined and controlled, rather than a source of added value that needs to be fostered. As a consequence, work pressure is high and the motivating potential of jobs may suffer. In this paper we contend that the concept of “creative tension” (Womack, Jones, & Roos, 1990) taken from the lean production (LP) philosophy may provide for the LSP a way to reconcile the need for added value and the need for cost control. Lean jobs not only require workers to continuously reduce waste in the work environment, but they also bestow on them certain responsibilities to create value. Their contributions to Kaizen support a company’s lean journey. In this paper we show that lean can overcome the misfit between worker expectations and job characteristics which will enhance employees’ personal outcomes. The fit between job characteristics and workers’ expectations and preferences was investigated using Hackman & Oldham’s job characteristics model (JCM; Hackman & Oldham, 1976). A survey to measure the variables from the JCM was administered to a sample of 32 employees from a Dutch LSP. The most important result indicated that the extent to which the level of creativity desired by workers fitted the level of creativity required by their jobs was a strong predictor of psychological states (e.g. meaningfulness) and outcomes (e.g. turnover intent) Given the possibilities offered by the concept of creative tension, we argue that the lean philosophy provides the tools to promote the human side of logistics

Measuring the degree of leanness in logistics service providers:Development of a measurement tool

Logistic service providers and their customers benefit from leanness, but how lean are they? We adapted the lean measurement instrument developed by Shah and Ward (2007) to make it suitable for a logistic service environment. We removed some items, and added new ones on the basis of the triadic nature of relationships between LSPs, outsourcers, and their clients, and on the basis of the content of processes. The modified instrument was tested with two LSPs that claimed to apply the lean philosophy in their processes, and demonstrated a valid measurement of leanness of LSPs

Understanding responsible innovation in small producers’ clusters in Vietnam through Actor Network Theory (ANT)

Innovation is increasingly recognised as an alternative for poverty alleviation in developing countries. However, cases of innovation in small producers’ clusters in Vietnam imply negative externalities that conflict with today’s notions of sustainable and inclusive development. This article analyses how small producers innovate while taking environmental and social considerations into account through an interactive societal process towards a community network, conceptualised as responsible innovation. Existing multi-faceted theoretical insights do not provide sufficient basis to construct and test explanations. We apply a grounded theory involving Actor-Network Theory (ANT) to seek explanations as to why some small producers behave opportunistically while others acknowledge responsibility for the negative externalities. ANT enables us to see the critical details of the network creation process including the agenda of the key actors, push and pull factors, the type of innovation and the informal institutional context

Understanding Responsible Innovation in Small Producers’ Clusters in Vietnam through Actor Network Theory (ANT)

There is increasing evidence that innovation offers perspectives for poverty alleviation in small producers’ contexts in developing countries. However, innovations sometimes imply additional harmful environmental and social consequences, which are not in line with broader poverty alleviation and sustainable development notions. In this paper, we explore the question how small producers in northern Vietnam, as innovators in a cluster context, innovate and take broader societal considerations into account in the innovation process. We found that traditional institutional theories show a number of shortcomings for our analysis into the multifaceted meta-textual societal process towards responsible innovation. Instead, we applied Actor‐Network Theory (ANT) which describes the shaping of the human interaction in detail providing a better understanding why in some networks innovatorsbehave opportunistically while in others they acknowledge responsibility for harmful innovation outcomes. The ANT lens reveals the role of informal institutions in innovations systems and the role of materiality in network development. Lastly, ANT demonstrates how the creation and falling apart of actor networks is essential in the dynamics of a five‐stage model of the responsible innovation societal process. We conclude with factors and conditions steering the societal process and emerging questions concerning power, allowing human and non-human actants into the network, and the issue whether a network in the responsible innovation zone is also desirable in terms of economic competitiveness