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The purpose of this paper is to explore existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work to promote quality in preschools from the principal’s perspective.

A collaborative approach was used in this research project, and principals were asked to complete portfolio assignments. Their answers to those portfolio assignments were analysed by the research team and subsequently compared to total quality management values.

Existing and desired methodologies for systematic quality work are presented and sorted into 13 and 17 groups, respectively. The principals desire four times more methodologies than they are presently using to promote systematic quality work, and the results show that they must extend their methodologies to support TQM values.

This research is based on answers collected from 18 principals in one municipality in Sweden.

The use of the cornerstone model provides a framework to illustrate the application of TQM in preschools.

Principals struggle to find time for systemic quality work. The presented results can be used to work systematically with quality in preschools and other organizations.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a qualitative research study that was designed to examine the application of the management index (MI) to support effectiveness among management teams. Specifically, the research was twofold: to examine the usefulness of the MI as a tool to enhance effectiveness in management teams; and to identify conditions necessary for successful use of the MI.

A three-year multi-site qualitative case study was conducted with five medium- to large-scale organizations, from public and private sectors, to apply and examine the use of the MI. Data were collected from participants during a series of workshops designed to examine the ways in which the tool was used to enhance effectiveness in management teams, and conditions that were determined supportive or a hinder to using the tool.

Findings from the qualitative data demonstrate four primary uses of the in which the MI: pulse reader, navigation, systematic dialog, management team development. It is, however, not clear yet if the use of the MI contributes to improvement in efficiency and effectiveness. The degree of maturity within the organization and teams, as defined by open and transparent communication and clarity of purpose of direction, appear to be key factors for how well teams benefit from the MI. Furthermore, the tool appears to benefit from longer term usage rather than quick-fix usage, although this claim has yet to be validated by further investigations.

The MI was developed by Swedish Institute of Quality to provide a simpler performance measurement tool for management teams to support quality improvement processes in organizations in Sweden. The MI was developed to provide management teams with access to vital information that could serve as the basis for prioritizing areas of needed improvement, while reducing time and complexity associated with traditional business excellence models.

This study contributes to an ongoing dialogue about how to support quality management through the use of performance measurement tools. In particular, the study supports the need to develop understanding about the importance of dialogue and process combined with the use of measures to achieve results.

The purpose of this study is to present a comprehensive approach to studying organizational culture using “soft measures” to facilitate sustainable quality development in organizations. The purpose is also to present, discuss and compare the results from a survey designed to measure a company’s value base.

A number of different methods were used to collect soft data to study and measure organizational culture and at the same time influence the culture and the leadership within three organizations. One method, the survey, was used on two different occasions to obtain an overview of the culture within an organization and to investigate if the activities had influenced the culture and the leadership.

The application of soft measures used by leaders to study and develop organizational culture resulted in statistically significant positive changes in organizational work culture, according to a pre-post survey after a short period of one year.

The approach can be used by leaders in different types of organizations as the challenge of changing the organizational culture through the leadership seems to be a common challenge regardless of line of business.

The study shows the benefits of using a comprehensive approach to assess an organization’s culture based on qualitative measures and analysis.

The purpose of this study is to explore the concept of long-term thinking in a non-business context to gain deeper insights into bridging the gap between the theory of long-term thinking and its application as a management strategy.

To explore the concept of long-thinking further in a non-business setting, a grounded theory study was conducted with preschool leaders in a municipality in Sweden to examine how the leaders describe, define and apply the concept of long-term thinking in their schools. Interviews with school leaders, both written and oral, were used for data collection.

This study illustrates that the concept of long-term thinking can be twofold. First, the description can be as an anchor that reflects a mission. Second, the description can be a steering mechanism that guides decision-making. The findings also reinforce the importance of organisations developing an organisational culture that connect their vision and goals with the values and needs of their customers.

This study was carried out in a single organisation and shows a snapshot of the organisation's status at the time the data were collected. Therefore, the findings are not generalisable to all organisational settings; rather the findings may be transferable to other settings.

The results can be used to help identify areas where preschools in a municipal context can engage with sustainable quality development in order to build systems that support work with quality in a more structured way.

Long-term thinking is seen, within both theory and organisations, as necessary to achieve success in terms of sustainable development and quality, and this study contributes with knowledge about the current gap between theories of long-term thinking and practice in organisations.

This paper aims to explore how leaders can develop value-based leadership for sustainable quality development in Lean manufacturing.

A qualitative meta-analysis was conducted using data from a three-year study of Lean manufacturing in Sweden using the Shingo business excellence model as an analytical framework.

This study demonstrates that leaders can develop value-based leadership to support Lean manufacturing by defining and articulating the organization’s values and accompanying behaviors that are needed to support the strategic direction; creating forums and time for leaders to identify the why behind decisions and reflect on their experiences to be able to lead a transformative process; and using storytelling to create a coaching culture to connect values and behaviors, to the processes and systems of work.

This paper contributes insights for developing value-based leadership to support a systemic approach to sustainable quality development in lean manufacturing. Findings are based on a limited case sample size of three manufacturing companies in Sweden.

The findings were derived using a unique methodological approach combining storytelling, appreciative inquiry and coaching with traditional data collection methods including surveys and interviews to identify, define and shape value-based leadership in Lean manufacturing.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainability among organisational leaders in the early stages of Lean implementation.

A multiple-site case study was conducted to study the connections between Lean and sustainable development during the implementation stages of a Lean practice. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers about their knowledge and understanding of the interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development. The findings were then used as an analytic frame to determine whether these interlinkages were present in the organisation.

Evidence of interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development was found; however, their presence was incomplete and inconsistent across clinics.

Insights from the research can help organisations plan for the implementation of Lean practice, particularly when a sub-goal is to achieve sustainable development.

The study shows the importance of focussing on managers’ knowledge and understanding of the interlinkages between Lean and sustainable development when implementing Lean in order to utilise Lean’s full potential to achieve sustainability.

The purpose of this paper is to describe and evaluate a Lean leadership-training program within the health-care sector. A training program developed through a cocreative process with the intent of enhancing the possibilities for a context-specific adaption of Lean.

A cocreated leadership-training program, executed over a period of one year, is described both as a model development process and as the final training program. The program was evaluated through reflective discussions and feedback as well as a written final evaluation of the program from participants in the program.

The evaluation shows that the objectives of the training program were met, at least among the participants who attended the whole program. Using a cocreative process when developing and realizing a leadership-training program enhances the possibilities for an organization to adapt Lean to its own context. One condition for this approach to be successful is that the expectations of both the organization and the university need to be in focus through the whole process. In addition, the executive team needs to be continuously engaged and create conditions for the organization to realize the potential benefits of the training program.

This paper highlights the challenge when applying Lean in a health-care organization but also describes a way to address Lean training and learning in this context.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and synthesize approaches to studying Lean transformation to further develop a comprehensive approach that integrates organizational culture analysis and performance measurement systems from a systems perspective.

This paper is conceptual in nature and based on a review of the literature in the areas of measuring Lean transformation and studying organizational culture. Three questions guide this conceptual analysis: “What approaches have been used to examine Lean transformation in business and public sector organizations?”; “Is there evidence of a focus on organizational culture in the measurement practices in Lean transformation and, if so, how?”; and “What can we learn from organizational cultural theorists about developing a more comprehensive framework to study Lean transformation?”. The analysis was conducted in two phases: In Phase 1, a database search was conducted using the key words Lean transformation, studying Lean, studying Lean transformation, studying organizational culture in Lean and measuring Lean, from which eight papers were selected. In Phase 2, the authors reviewed two models for studying organizational culture.

Findings indicated that the dominant approach to study and measure Lean transformation is based on the performance measurement model. Based on this approach, there was little evidence of a focus on organizational culture, and few integrated the human dimensions with the tools and practices. The authors also found evidence of a greater awareness of the need to develop a balanced performance measurement system that reflects both the subjective soft measures and the objective hard measures. Among the approaches studied, two models did reflect integration between hard and soft measures: Dahlgaard et al.’s (2011) 4Ps and Najem et al. ’s (2012) assessment model for studying organizational culture in Lean. Both of these methods provide a strong framework from which to further enhance the study of Lean transformation by incorporating elements from Bantz’s (1993) organizational communication culture method and Martin’s (1992) Matrix concept.

This paper furthers the academic dialogue on measuring Lean transformation through its unique analysis of studying organizational culture.

Metaphors are a powerful and human way of understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. In quality management (QM), several metaphors are used to describe and bring to life the often-abstract QM concepts and systems. These metaphors are of great importance for how QM is understood, communicated and practiced. However, the metaphors of QM have seldom been systematically screened or put in focus, neither the topic of a critical discussion. The purpose of this paper is hence to contribute with a screening of the metaphors currently used, within QM literature and in practice among QM leaders, and then elaborate on their potential for improvement and development.

The paper is based on a literature review combined with interviews of QM leaders.

The paper highlights that the current QM metaphors provide intuitive associations to properties such as stability, shelter, and structure, but not to the important dynamic properties of QM, such as learning, or to the critical role of people in QM. What can be seen as core properties of QM are communicated by texts or labels added on to metaphors with properties that often are in sharp contrast to them. The paper also provides suggestions for further improvements and development.

The paper highlights the area of metaphors within QM as an important area for future research. It also provides insights concerning the successful use and selection of metaphors in future QM practice.

The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a study of value-based leadership in which design thinking was used as a participatory, iterative process to examine and stimulate changes in organizational culture and develop value-based leadership in Swedish manufacturing. Of particular interest to the authors was to make visible and understand the constraints in leadership that kept leaders from understanding and working with organizational culture and values.

A three-year multi-site case study was conducted in collaboration with three manufacturing companies in Sweden. The study design was based on a collaborative, iterative model using the Stanford Design thinking framework in which data were collected through a series of workshops using a variety of sources including: leadership survey; interviews with three general directors; focus groups with middle- and top-level managers; observations and cultural analysis, survey; storytelling and appreciative inquiry (AI); and an employee questionnaire. Respondents in the study represented leadership teams in three Swedish manufacturing companies and their employees.

In general, there is a lack of dialogue among leaders about what is leadership, what is culture and what is meant by values in the organization. As well, there is a heavy emphasis on structure and process, yet, at the same time, there lacks a clear understanding about why the structures exist and how they can be used to spawn innovation. Moreover, participating leaders in manufacturing succumb to a crisis leadership model that results from the heavy emphasis on productivity and bottom-line effectiveness. Design thinking and the methods used to develop work culture, including AI, storytelling and coaching, provided leaders with new insights into the culture within the company. Leaders were able to identify both constraints and possibilities for changing the culture from disengagement to engagement. Through the process, they also began to identify values and recognized the importance of valuing employees to affect innovation and build a culture of engagement. The authors also witnessed increased dialogue among leaders that reflected an understanding of the importance to engage middle managers and employees in problem solving and innovation.

This study demonstrates that leaders can benefit from innovative approaches to identifying and building work culture to achieve value-based leadership.