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1 – 6 of 6Anna Karin Olsson, Kristina M. Eriksson and Linnéa Carlsson
The purpose is to apply the co-workership approach to contribute guidelines for manufacturing managers to exploit the potential of digital technologies through a human-centric…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose is to apply the co-workership approach to contribute guidelines for manufacturing managers to exploit the potential of digital technologies through a human-centric perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
A longitudinal single case study within manufacturing including a mix of qualitative methods with 18 in-depth interviews and focus groups with 25 participants covering all organizational levels and functions.
Findings
Findings demonstrate that to re-interpret manufacturing management through the lens of Industry 5.0 (I5.0), managers need to respond to the call for a more human-centric perspective by focusing on organizational prerequisites, such as holistic understanding, inclusive organizational change, leadership practices, learning and innovation processes.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations due to a single case study are compensated with rich data collected over time with the strengths of mixed methods through in-depth interviews and focus groups with participants reflecting and developing ideas jointly.
Practical implications
Managers’ awareness of organizational prerequisites to promote human perspectives in all functions and at all levels in digital transformation is pivotal. Thus, proposed organizational prerequisites are presented as managers’ guidelines for future innovative manufacturing.
Social implications
Findings emphasize the need for digital transformation managers to apply a human-centric perspective acknowledging how organizational changes affect the inclusion of employees, and thus challenge culture, structure, communication and trust toward I5.0.
Originality/value
The study contributes to the emerging field of I5.0 by applying an interdisciplinary approach to understand the elusive phenomena of enfolding technology and humans.
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Kristen Snyder, Pernilla Ingelsson and Ingela Bäckström
This paper aims to explore how leaders can develop value-based leadership for sustainable quality development in Lean manufacturing.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to explore how leaders can develop value-based leadership for sustainable quality development in Lean manufacturing.
Design/methodology/approach
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.
Findings
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.
Research limitations/implications
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.
Originality/value
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.
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Richard Kadan and Jan Andries Wium
Due to the uniqueness of individual construction projects, identifying the dominant risk factors is needed for risk mitigation in ongoing and future projects. This study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Due to the uniqueness of individual construction projects, identifying the dominant risk factors is needed for risk mitigation in ongoing and future projects. This study aims to identify the dominant construction supply chain risk (CSCR) factors, based on studies conducted between 2002 and 2022.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts the preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) procedure to identify, screen and select relevant articles in order to provide a bibliography and annotation of the prevalent risks in the supply chains. A descriptive analysis of the findings then follows.
Findings
The study’s findings have highlighted the three most prevalent risks in the construction supply chain (poor communication across project teams, changes in foreign currency rate, unfavorable climate conditions) as reported in literature, that project teams need to pay closer attention to and take proactive steps to mitigate.
Research limitations/implications
Due to limitations imposed by the chosen research methodology, tools, time frame and article availability, the study was unable to examine all CSCR-related papers.
Practical implications
The results will serve as a useful roadmap for risk/supply chain managers in the construction industry to take strategically proactive steps towards allocating resources for CSCR mitigation efforts.
Social implications
Context-specific research on the impact of social and cultural risks on the construction supply chain would be beneficial, due to emerging social network risk factors and the complex socio-cultural settings.
Originality/value
There is presently no study that has reviewed extant studies to identify and compile the dominant risk factors (DRFs) associated with the supply chain of construction projects for ranking in the supply chain risk management process.
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As part of a national plan to govern professional and organizational development in Norwegian specialist healthcare, the country’s hospital clinics are tasked with constructing…
Abstract
Purpose
As part of a national plan to govern professional and organizational development in Norwegian specialist healthcare, the country’s hospital clinics are tasked with constructing development plans. Using the development plan as a case, the paper analyzes how managers navigate and legitimize the planning process among central actors and deals with the contingency of decisions in such strategy work.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies a qualitative research design using a case study method. The material consists of public documents, observations and single interviews, covering the process of constructing a development plan at the clinical level.
Findings
The findings suggest that the development plan was shaped through a multilevel translation process consisting of different contending rationalities. At the clinical level, the management had difficulties in legitimizing the process. The underlying tension between top-down and bottom-up steering challenged involvement and made it difficult to manage the contingency of decisions.
Practical implications
The findings are relevant to public sector managers working on strategy documents and policymakers identifying challenges that might hinder the fulfillment of political intentions.
Originality/value
This paper draws on a case from Norway; however, the findings are of general interest. The study contributes to the academic discussion on how to consider both the health authorities’ perspective and the organizational perspective to understand the manager’s role in handling the contingency of decisions and managing paradoxes in the decision-making process.
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Sarah Franz, Axele Giroud and Inge Ivarsson
This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse how multinational corporations (MNCs) organise value chain activities to penetrate new market segments. It contributes by expanding traditional decisions regarding the vertical fine-slicing of value chain activities (whether performed internally or externally) and the consideration of resource-sharing decisions (integration or separation) for each value chain function.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors draw on primary data collected from two case study firms operating in the large emerging Chinese market: Volvo Construction Equipment AB and Epiroc AB. In-depth cases illustrate how foreign MNCs expand into new market segments and simultaneously target both the lower-priced mid-market and the premium segments in the Chinese mining and construction industry.
Findings
The results reveal that product diversification creates challenges for managers who must oversee new (vertical) value chains, often simultaneously. Beyond geography and modes of governance, managers must decide whether to integrate or separate value chain activities for the new product lines. The study identifies four main strategic choices for firms to address this complexity, focusing on the decision to internalise or externalise (i.e. within or across organisational boundaries) and integrate or separate value chain activities between different product lines.
Originality/value
This study builds upon the internalisation theory and recent international business contributions that focus on value chain configurations to explain MNCs’ product diversification as a growth strategy in a host emerging market. It also sheds light on the choice of conducting new activities in-house or externally and elucidates firms’ managerial decisions to operationally integrate or separate individual value chain activities. The study provides insights into the drivers explaining managerial decisions to configure value chain activities across product lines and contributes to the growing body of literature on MNC activities in emerging economies by highlighting that product diversification impacts entry mode diversity and resource sharing across units.
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Barbara Da Roit and Maurizio Busacca
The paper aims to analyse the meaning and extension of discretionary power of social service professionals within network-based interventions.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper aims to analyse the meaning and extension of discretionary power of social service professionals within network-based interventions.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirically, the paper is based on a case study of a network-based policy involving private and public organisations in the Northeast of Italy (Province of Trento).
Findings
The paper identifies netocracy as a social policy logic distinct from bureaucracy and professionalism. What legitimises netocracy is neither authority nor expertise but cooperation, the activation of connections and involvement, considered “good” per se. In this framework, professionalism and discretion acquire new and problematic meanings compared to street-level bureaucracy processes.
Research limitations/implications
Based on a case study, the research results cannot be generalised but pave the way to further comparative investigations.
Practical implications
The paper reveals that the position of professionals in netocracy is to some extent trickier than that in a bureaucracy because netocracy seems to have the power to encapsulate them and make it less likely for them to deviate from expected courses of action.
Originality/value
Combining different literature streams – street level bureaucracy, professionalism, network organisations and welfare governance – and building on an original case study, the paper contribute to understanding professionalism in welfare contexts increasingly characterised by the combination of bureaucratic, professional and network logics.
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