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Article
Publication date: 12 July 2023

Vimal Kumar, Elizabeth A. Cudney, Ankesh Mittal, Ajay Jha, Neeraj Yadav and Ali Al Owad

New product development (NPD) is necessary for business sustenance and customer satisfaction. Six Sigma and Design for Lean Six Sigma (DLSS) efficiently employ the repetitive…

Abstract

Purpose

New product development (NPD) is necessary for business sustenance and customer satisfaction. Six Sigma and Design for Lean Six Sigma (DLSS) efficiently employ the repetitive stages for NPD, leading to quality performance and profitability. This study aims to map the quality performance through NPD attributes through the Lean methodology.

Design/methodology/approach

The data on NPD were collected from 267 respondents from manufacturing companies to map the relationship between Six Sigma and DLSS for NPD. Confirmatory factor analysis was employed to confirm model fit, while structural equation modeling was employed to analyze the empirical data for framework testing. The study included nine variables and fourteen hypotheses identified from the literature.

Findings

The statistical results of this study show that NPD attributes such as innovation, marketing, organization, customer, product and technology positively influence the Lean Six Sigma structured improvement process (LSSSIP) and DLSS. Moreover, integrating these attributes in Lean planning enhance quality performance. This empirical investigation's findings indicate that ten of the 14 hypotheses were supported, giving the study a strong foundation.

Research limitations/implications

The data collection was limited to northern India; therefore, the results may not be generalizable to other areas of the world.

Practical implications

NPD involves handling technical issues and factors such as cost, operational bottlenecks, economic changes, competitors' strategy and company policy. This study helps understand the various NPD parameters and their relationship to Lean, which enables an effective NPD implementation strategy.

Originality/value

The current philosophy of NPD calls for a concurrent engineering approach; therefore, the entire organization must be part of this process. This study uses the holistic framework by optimizing NPD with Lean Six Sigma (LSS) principles. The study is unique in that, to date, research does not integrate NPD attributes with the objectives of LSS to develop an efficient NPD implementation strategy.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 September 2022

Lakshmy Mohandas, Nathalia Sorgenfrei, Lauren Drankoff, Ivan Sanchez, Sandra Furterer, Elizabeth Cudney, Chad Laux and Jiju Antony

This study aims to identify critical online teaching effectiveness factors from instructors’ perspectives and experiences during COVID-19.

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to identify critical online teaching effectiveness factors from instructors’ perspectives and experiences during COVID-19.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used a qualitative phenomenology approach. In addition, the research used a snowball sample to identify faculty in the engineering and engineering technology fields with experience in online teaching and learning. All interviews were conducted online by the researchers. The interview questions were based on findings in the current literature. Further, the questions were open-ended.

Findings

The analysis identified eight major themes that impact online teaching effectiveness: class recordings; course organization; collaboration; engagement; exam, assignment and quiz grades; games; valuable course content; and student timely feedback and response.

Research limitations/implications

The study was not designed to be generalizable to the entire population of professors who teach online classes but to gain insights from faculty who taught online courses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Practical implications

Faculty can use the factors identified for online teaching effectiveness to enhance their course design and delivery while teaching online or blended courses.

Originality/value

This research provides insights into factors that impact online teaching effectiveness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Article
Publication date: 13 February 2019

Jiju Antony, Stavros Karamperidis, Frenie Antony and Elizabeth A. Cudney

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the power of experimental design as a technique to understand and evaluate the most important factors which influence teaching…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the power of experimental design as a technique to understand and evaluate the most important factors which influence teaching effectiveness for a postgraduate course in a higher education (HE) context.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology involves the execution of a case study in the form of an experiment in a business school setting. The experiment was carried out with the assistance of over 100 postgraduate students from 26 countries. The data were collected over a two year period (2015 and 2016) from a postgraduate course offered by the same tutor for repeatability reasons.

Findings

The key findings of the experiment have clearly indicated that students’ perceptions of teaching effectiveness based on intuition and guesswork are not identical to the outcomes from a simple designed experiment. Moreover, the results of the experiment provided a greater stimulus for the wider applications of the technique to other processes across the case study HE sector.

Research limitations/implications

One of the limitations of the study is that the experiment was conducted for a popular postgraduate course. It would be beneficial to understand the results of the experiment for less popular postgraduate courses in the university in order to drive improvements. Moreover, this research was conducted only for postgraduate courses and the results may vary for undergraduate courses. This would be an interesting study to understand the differences in the factors between undergraduate and postgraduate teaching effectiveness.

Practical implications

The outcome of this experiment would help everyone who is involved in teaching to understand the factors and their influences to improve students’ satisfaction scores during the delivery of teaching.

Originality/value

This paper shows how experimental design as a pure manufacturing technique can be extended to a HE setting.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 36 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2017

Jiju Antony, Bryan Rodgers and Elizabeth A. Cudney

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) as a process excellence has been widely adopted in both manufacturing and service organizations; however, its application in the public sector has not been…

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Abstract

Purpose

Lean Six Sigma (LSS) as a process excellence has been widely adopted in both manufacturing and service organizations; however, its application in the public sector has not been widely explored. Is LSS still a myth or reality in our public sector organizations? The purpose of this paper is to make an attempt to debate about the use of LSS and its potential applications in the public sector context.

Design/methodology/approach

The initial approach is to critically evaluate the role of LSS in various public sector contexts, followed by showcasing four case studies from four different public sector settings: higher education, police service, public hospital and local government.

Findings

LSS methodology can be embraced by all public sector organizations to create efficient and effective processes to provide enhanced customer experience and value at reduced operational costs.

Research limitations/implications

This paper seeks to contribute to and broaden the limited body of evidence of the applicability of LSS to public sector organizations and identifies areas for further research and review.

Practical implications

LSS will continue to grow across many public sector organizations in Europe and other parts of the world over the forthcoming years. However, what will eventually determine if LSS is viewed by public sector organizations as just a passing management fad or not largely depends on the leadership and success of its execution. If LSS is deployed in its true sense across the public sector organizations at a global level, the hard cash savings generated can reach several billions.

Originality/value

The paper yields an immense value to both research scholars and practitioners who are engaged in the introduction of LSS as a business process improvement strategy to achieve and sustain competitive advantage. Moreover, this paper makes an attempt to dispel the myth of LSS which have been quite prevalent in many public sector organizations around us today.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 34 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Abstract

Details

Lean Six Sigma in Higher Education
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-78769-929-8

Article
Publication date: 10 May 2019

Seyed Sajad Mousavi, Reza Khani Jazani, Elizabeth A. Cudney and Paolo Trucco

This study aims to quantify the multifaceted relationship between lean implementation and occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. Hypotheses based on a set of…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to quantify the multifaceted relationship between lean implementation and occupational health and safety (OHS) performance. Hypotheses based on a set of antecedents (mediating factors) are built and quantitatively tested.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected through an international survey with responses from more than 20 countries. Partial least square-based structural equation modeling was used to test a theoretical framework derived from literature. Leading indicators (formative indices) were used to evaluate the four antecedents of OHS performance (mediating factors).

Findings

All the identified antecedents show a significant mediating role. Antecedents related to the working environment and organizational factors have the strongest mediating effect. Results support the importance of using OHS leading indicators to appropriately measure the impact of lean implementation on workers’ health and safety.

Research limitations/implications

The proposed OHS leading indicators connecting lean practices to OHS performance antecedents are only explored in this study. Therefore, to establish a comprehensive, validated and practically usable set of leading indicators, further research is needed.

Practical implications

As there are some synergistic and trade-off relationships between lean and safety, the findings of this study will enable managers and organizations to leverage the positive effects of lean implementation on workers’ health and safety and mitigate the negative effects.

Originality/value

Several prior studies investigated the multifaceted link between lean and OHS; however, this is the first study that tested direct and mediated influence by defining a coherent set of antecedents. The results justify and strongly support the adoption of OHS leading indicators to measure the impact of lean implementation on OHS performance.

Details

International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, vol. 11 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2040-4166

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2019

Shreeranga Bhat, Jiju Antony, E.V. Gijo and Elizabeth A. Cudney

The purpose of this paper is to explore the voice of the customer, key performance indicators, critical to quality characteristics, critical success factors, and commonly used…

2397

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the voice of the customer, key performance indicators, critical to quality characteristics, critical success factors, and commonly used tools and techniques for deploying the Lean Six Sigma (LSS) strategy in Indian private hospitals, with special attention to the medical records.

Design/methodology/approach

The study utilizes the action research methodology to obtain a greater understanding of the use of LSS in the Indian healthcare sector. Multiple case studies were designed and successfully deployed to understand and ascertain challenges in LSS implementation. Five case studies were carried out in the Medical Records Departments (MRD) of four private hospitals in India.

Findings

Patients perceive that waiting in queue harms their health, which can be rectified by addressing the cycle time of the system. The research also found that effective leadership, availability of data, involvement of cross-functional team and effective communication are critical to the success of LSS projects. In addition, control charts, cause and effect diagram, 5S, gemba, two-sample t-test, standardization, waste analysis and value stream mapping are some of the common tools used to improve healthcare systems.

Research limitations/implications

The research was restricted to studying the impact of LSS on the workflow and resource consumption of the MRD in Indian allopathic hospitals only. The validity of the results can be improved by including more hospitals and more case studies from the healthcare sector in different countries.

Originality/value

The findings will enable researchers, academicians and practitioners to incorporate the results of the study in LSS implementation within the healthcare system to increase the likelihood of successful deployment. This will provide greater stimulus across other departments in the hospital sector for wider and broader application of LSS for creating and sustaining process improvements.

Details

International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, vol. 37 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0265-671X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 6 February 2017

Paul G. LeMahieu, Lee E. Nordstrum and Elizabeth A. Cudney

This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Six Sigma.

3729

Abstract

Purpose

This paper is one of seven in this volume that aims to elaborate different approaches to quality improvement in education. It delineates a methodology called Six Sigma.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper presents the origins, theoretical foundations, core principles and a case study demonstrating an application of Six Sigma in a school-community partnership in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Findings

The core principles underlying the approach are decreasing variability or unreliability in organizational work processes, eliminate waste or activity that does not add value to desired outcomes, identify defects and decrease their incidence, reduce the cost of work processes, and improve beneficiary/client satisfaction levels. The steps in this statistics-dependent method are design, measure, analyze, improve and control.

Originality/value

Few theoretical treatments and demonstration cases are currently available on commonly used models of quality improvement that might have potential value in improving education systems internationally. This paper fills this gap by elucidating one promising approach. The paper also derives value as it permits a comparison of the Six Sigma approach with other quality improvement approaches treated in this volume.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 25 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 27 April 2023

Elizabeth A. Cudney, Somer Anderson, Robbie Beane, Sandra Furterer, Lakshmy Mohandas and Chad Laux

Teaching effectiveness is essential to student learning, engagement and success. This study aims to identify the perceived teaching effectiveness attributes from the student’s…

Abstract

Purpose

Teaching effectiveness is essential to student learning, engagement and success. This study aims to identify the perceived teaching effectiveness attributes from the student’s perspective through a pilot study.

Design/methodology/approach

A comprehensive literature review identified 6 demographic and 25 teaching effectiveness characteristics. The Kano model was used to gather and analyze the student’s voices. The research validated the survey instrument using Cronbach’s alpha to ensure internal consistency and Chi-square goodness of fit to test the data distribution. Differences in response patterns were analyzed using Fisher’s exact test. Furthermore, the magnitude of the effect between the teaching effectiveness attributes was determined using Cramer’s V test.

Findings

This study determined that students perceived 19 attributes as one-dimensional, 3 as indifferent, 2 as attractive and 1 as one-dimensional and attractive. The analysis found differences in response patterns concerning readings and materials, grading rubrics to set assignment expectations and group/teamwork on projects.

Research limitations/implications

As a pilot study, the sample size was small. Additional research should validate the survey using a larger sample. While the study results are specific to the college surveyed, other educators can use the methodology to identify the attributes important to their students.

Practical implications

Categorizing attributes based on the student’s voice enables instructors to focus on attributes that will improve the learning experience.

Originality/value

This research provides a comprehensive methodology for identifying critical teaching effectiveness attributes from the student’s perspective.

Details

Quality Assurance in Education, vol. 31 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0968-4883

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 March 2019

Elizabeth A. Cudney, Raja Anvesh Baru, Ivan Guardiola, Tejaswi Materla, William Cahill, Raymond Phillips, Bruce Mutter, Debra Warner and Christopher Masek

In order to provide access to care in a timely manner, it is necessary to effectively manage the allocation of limited resources. such as beds. Bed management is a key to the…

Abstract

Purpose

In order to provide access to care in a timely manner, it is necessary to effectively manage the allocation of limited resources. such as beds. Bed management is a key to the effective delivery of high quality and low-cost healthcare. The purpose of this paper is to develop a discrete event simulation to assist in planning and staff scheduling decisions.

Design/methodology/approach

A discrete event simulation model was developed for a hospital system to analyze admissions, patient transfer, length of stay (LOS), waiting time and queue time. The hospital system contained 50 beds and four departments. The data used to construct the model were from five years of patient records and contained information on 23,019 patients. Each department’s performance measures were taken into consideration separately to understand and quantify the behavior of departments individually, and the hospital system as a whole. Several scenarios were analyzed to determine the impact on reducing the number of patients waiting in queue, waiting time and LOS of patients.

Findings

Using the simulation model, it was determined that reducing the bed turnover time by 1 h resulted in a statistically significant reduction in patient wait time in queue. Further, reducing the average LOS by 10 h results in statistically significant reductions in the average patient wait time and average patient queue. A comparative analysis of department also showed considerable improvements in average wait time, average number of patients in queue and average LOS with the addition of two beds.

Originality/value

This research highlights the applicability of simulation in healthcare. Through data that are often readily available in bed management tracking systems, the operational behavior of a hospital can be modeled, which enables hospital management to test the impact of changes without cost and risk.

Details

International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance, vol. 32 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0952-6862

Keywords

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