Search results

This research fills a gap in process science by defining and explaining entropy and the increase of entropy in processes.

This is a theoretical treatment that begins with a conceptual understanding of entropy in thermodynamics and information theory and extends it to the study of degradation and improvement in a transformation process.

A transformation process with three inputs: demand volume, throughput and product design, utilizes a system composed of processors, stores, configuration, human actors, stored data and controllers to provide a product. Elements of the system are aligned with the inputs and each other with a purpose to raise standard of living. Lack of alignment is entropy. Primary causes of increased entropy are changes in inputs and disordering of the system components. Secondary causes result from changes made to cope with the primary causes. Improvement and innovation reduce entropy by providing better alignments and new ways of aligning resources.

This is the first detailed theoretical treatment of entropy in a process science context.

The future increase of chronic diseases in the world requires new challenges in the health domain to improve patients' care from the point of view of the organizational processes, clinical pathways and technological solutions of digital health. For this reason, the present paper aims to focus on the study and application of well-known clinical practices and efficient organizational approaches through an innovative model (TALIsMAn) to support new care process redesign and digitalization for chronic patients.

In addition to specific clinical models employed to manage chronic conditions such as the Population Health Management and Chronic Care Model, we introduce a Business Process Management methodology implementation supported by a set of e-health technologies, in order to manage Care Pathways (CPs) digitalization and procedures improvement.

This study shows that telemedicine services with advanced devices and technologies are not enough to provide significant changes in the healthcare sector if other key aspects such as health processes, organizational systems, interactions between actors and responsibilities are not considered and improved. Therefore, new clinical models and organizational approaches are necessary together with a deep technological change, otherwise, theoretical benefits given by telemedicine services, which often employ advanced Information and Communication Technology (ICT) systems and devices, may not be translated into effective enhancements. They are obtained not only through the implementation of single telemedicine services, but integrating them in a wider digital ecosystem, where clinicians are supported in different clinical steps they have to perform.

The present work defines a novel methodological framework based on organizational, clinical and technological innovation, in order to redesign the territorial care for people with chronic diseases. This innovative ecosystem applied in the Italian research project TALIsMAn is based on the concept of a continuum of care and digitalization of CPs supported by Business Process Management System and telemedicine services. The main goal is to organize the different socio-medical activities in a unique and integrated IT system that should be sustainable, scalable and replicable.

Competencies are significant predictors of employee outcome. Nowadays, new technologies are changing maintenance processes and workflow. The role of employees and their competencies will therefore undergo decisive changes in the future. Therefore, a well-designed competency model for maintenance departments is important. The purpose of this paper is to develop a maintenance 4.0 competency model applicable to all industrial sectors by adapting it to the specificities of each sector.

The research methods consist of a comprehensive literature review on the main characteristics of the competency model and the individual competencies needed for the maintenance 4.0 employees. Interviews were conducted in order to validate and prioritize the required competencies for maintenance 4.0 employees identified in the literature.

The maintenance 4.0 competency model combines the required competencies in maintenance 4.0 and crosses the three hierarchical levels: managers, engineers and technicians. These competencies are organized in terms of four categories: technical, personal, social and methodological. In addition, a degree of importance for each competency is assigned as very important, moderately important and slightly important. As a result, this study identified the essential competencies for maintenance 4.0 stakeholders, where 12 competencies are considered very important for maintenance 4.0 technicians, 19 for engineers and 18 for managers.

This work has some limitations. First, although the articles related to competencies and their classification were selected very carefully, it is difficult to eliminate the probability of overlooking publications. Second, the limitation of the study is based on the difficulty of implementing the model in a case study, given that a minority of industrial companies have implemented maintenance 4.0 technologies in Morocco.

This work has practical implications for both individuals and institutions (companies and academies) to cope with new competency requirements in maintenance 4.0. Organizations can use the model in the recruitment process and for the identification of training needs. The results of the research will also contribute to identifying the scope of competencies of the maintenance 4.0 actors (engineer, manager and technician), which, in practice, contributes to the creation of requirements for the candidates applying for a job in the maintenance department. Additionally, educational institutions should make the necessary changes to their curricula to suitably prepare students for the required maintenance 4.0 competencies.

The social implications of the article result from the contribution to the development of maintenance competencies. Individuals can use this model for their own personal development. Furthermore, companies can use this model to define job profiles for vacancies in M4.0. Therefore, using the model for training program implementation has a positive effect on employee job satisfaction and employees ’morale.

This research develops a novel maintenance 4.0 competency model by categorizing the maintenance workforce into three hierarchical levels: managers, engineers and technicians. In addition, the competency requirement is prioritized to three degrees: very important, moderately important and slightly important. According to the previous studies conducted on maintenance 4.0 and employees' competencies, this study revealed that no research has developed a competency model for maintenance 4.0. Hence, this model is unique, generic and integrative since it presents the most relevant competencies for the three hierarchical levels. Moreover, this work combines the results of the literature review and the experts' returns. This model can be useful in the recruitment of new maintenance employees, the evaluation of their performance and the identification of training needs to cope with new changes in maintenance competencies.

Business and operational excellence models are frequently employed by organisations as self-assessment tools for ensuring continued performance improvement. This paper presents an integrated methodology for excellence self-assessment that is applicable at organisational and functional levels.

The self-assessment methodology was sequentially developed, based on a theoretical and practical perspective, and a case study was presented.

This study develops: (1) a framework of excellence enablers and results criteria for each of the organisational, functional (core and supportive processes) and operational levels; (2) a framework of the characteristics of maturity levels of excellence according to enablers, results, organisational context, in addition to other assessment components; (3) a framework of the assessment and improvement steps for achieving excellence.

Although several proposed methodologies are available for the self-assessment of business and operational excellence, these only partially focus on various organisational aspects (such as the organisational and functional level, and organisational context) and are primarily used as business excellence models by non-large organisations. This study aims to fill the research gap in this regard.

As school districts evolve in their ability to actively support schools and educators, they must simultaneously contend with external policies that create additional demands on time and resources. This includes accountability policies aimed at increasing district and school capacity. This study uses Malen and Rice’s (2004) dual dimensions of capacity building to look at how district and charter leaders responded to the demands of Michigan’s Partnership Model, a district-based approach to school turnaround, focusing on how they tried to build capacity in response to the policy and whether and why these capacity building approaches were perceived as productive.

Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 out of 29 Partnership leaders between October 2019 to March 2020 in the second year of policy implementation. Data were analyzed using a combination of index-coding and thematic analysis.

Most leaders perceived the resources associated with the reform as useful, but the productivity of capacity building efforts was limited because some resources were not adequately matched to what they perceived as a core problem: the recruitment and retention of teachers. Engagement with the reform resulted in building informational and social capital because it fostered collaboration and continuous improvement processes, but leaders perceived technical partnerships as more productive than community partnerships.

Turnaround reforms like the Partnership Model that increase resources for districts and schools likely offer a better chance at success than those that simply focus on accountability threats without accompanying support because they give leaders new opportunities to coordinate and align resources, processes and ideas.

Small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) increasingly implement digitalization in uncertain business environments. However, a dearth exists in the entrepreneurship literature for understanding the decision-making logic of digitalization as a management issue. Drawing on the effectuation theory, this study aims to explore the relationships between effectuation dimensions and SMEs’ digitalization.

Using quantitative data collected from 345 Chinese SMEs through questionnaires, the authors conducted the principal component analysis and hierarchical linear regression analysis.

The results highlight significant positive relationships between the four effectuation elements – experimentation, affordable loss, flexibility and precommitment – and SMEs’ digitalization. Moreover, this research considers the environmental conditions as moderators and reveals that environmental dynamism and complexity associated with high uncertainty negatively moderate the effects of effectuation on SMEs’ digitalization.

SMEs embarking on digitalization should constantly experiment to determine optimal strategies while contemplating their affordable losses. Flexibility should also be maintained to discard unproductive tactics and redirect to other viable options. Additionally, precommitments can reduce the risk that SMEs encounter in digitalization process. While the effectuation principles consolidate the likelihood of a successful digitalization, this research recommends that entrepreneurs should carefully consider their possible application in uncertain environments.

This study contributes to the entrepreneurship literature by theoretically clarifying the decision-making mechanism of digitalization and extends the application of effectuation to this context by illuminating the influences of effectuation principles on SMEs’ digital transformation. The identification of negative moderating effects of environmental uncertainty also augments an academic criticism about uncertainty creating the conditions for effectuation.

Demanding and highly competitive business environment has stimulated small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to restructure their manufacturing practices. Lean manufacturing (LM), a comprehensive alternative, is now being adopted, notably by manufacturing organizations, to increase business effectiveness and performance through a variety of lean approaches. Lean implementation, however, ran into a number of difficulties, which showed that non-technical factors such as human-related practices must also be integrated if lean is to be successful. This study aims to examine a thorough overview of the various human-related lean practices (HRLP) mentioned in recent literature and to determine which of them is more pertinent to a successful LM implementation in SMEs.

A total of 193 publications published in 45 journals between 2013 and 2023 and based on the 4 reputable publishers, namely, Science Direct, Emerald Online, Taylor and Francis and Springer Link, were gathered based on a systematic literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles in LM.

The amount of research on human resource management and lean management that has been conducted has increased dramatically during the past few years. The outcome of this study will offer a thorough analysis of soft lean practices found in the LM literature that manufacturing SMEs should take into account while implementing lean.

The scope of this research is restricted to a survey of scholarly works using the terms “Lean manufacturing” or “Lean production” as well as “human” or “people” or “soft-lean practices” in the title. Furthermore, only works published in scholarly publications that have undergone peer review were included. Also, due to the authors’ linguistic restrictions, only English articles were used. The HRLP linked to a smooth lean transition are described in this research. Thus, it can be used to assist the production and human resource departments in raising an organization’s long-term performance.

The study gives researchers a better grasp of the direction the subject is taking and what gaps still exist, which aids them in focusing their research on HRLP in small- and medium-sized businesses.

Effective experience design requires not only a knowledge of tourist goals, but an understanding of how these can be met in a particular tourism site. Research on experiences and experience design is supported by cognitive psychology concepts such as perception, attention, appraisal, emotion, consciousness, feelings and memory. However, these concepts are often used in a combination with others from sociology, social or environmental psychology in a manner that leads to confusion rather than clarity, without apparent understanding of the theoretical mechanisms by which these concepts are related. This chapter develops a series of propositions for potential application to tourism experience design. Future research should examine the efficacy of these propositions from cognitive psychology for tourism experience design.

Introduction: Cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance are essential for new-age firms to survive and succeed in the VUCA market environment. This study examines how automobile corporations have improved cost competitiveness, productivity, and product quality.

Purpose: This study examines the importance of cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance for the long-term survival of organisations in VUCA markets, looking at the practical efforts made by automobile corporations to enhance cost competitiveness, productivity, and quality.

Methodology: The study utilises a comprehensive analysis of the strategies and initiatives implemented by the selected automobile companies. It involves a review of relevant literature, case studies, financial data analysis, and interviews with key industry experts, providing a holistic understanding of the actions taken by these organisations to achieve their goals.

Findings: The study reveals that cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance are critical factors for the long-term survival and success of organisations in the automotive industry. The analysed automobile companies have undertaken practical efforts to improve cost competitiveness, enhance productivity, and ensure high-quality products, enabling them to navigate the challenges and maintain a competitive edge.

Significance: The findings of this study contribute to a deeper understanding of the importance of cost competitiveness, customer focus, and sustainability compliance in the automotive industry. It highlights the need for organisations to constantly monitor both qualitative and quantitative profit to avoid complacency and ensure long-term efficiency. The study’s insights are relevant to businesses operating in other sectors, as they face similar challenges in the VUCA market environment.