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The purpose of this study was to examine if team composition based on adaption-innovation (A-I) problem-solving styles is related to the teamwork quality and team effectiveness (TE) of student project teams participating in a [state-gifted program (SGP)].

A correlational design was conducted with a sample of 72 (SGP) participants, consisting of 15 project teams (n = 15), which formed three groups: (1) the homogeneous adaptive group, which consists of five homogeneous adaptive teams (n = 5); (2) the homogeneous innovative group, which consists of five homogeneous innovative teams (n = 5), and (3) the heterogeneous group (i.e. a mix of innovative and adaptive individuals), which consists of five heterogeneous teams (n = 5).

A one-way ANOVA and post-hoc test revealed that team composition based on problem-solving styles is related to teamwork quality and TE. Regarding TE, both homogeneous groups (i.e. all adaptive or all innovative individuals) were more effective than the heterogeneous group. However, regarding teamwork quality, only the adaptive group had significantly higher teamwork quality than the heterogeneous group.

We recommend that leadership educators utilize Kirton’s adaption-innovation inventory (KAI) as a tool for building effective student project teams. KAI can be used by leadership educators in two major ways: to assign students to groups (as done in the current study) or for team building, where team members share their KAI scores to better understand their problem-solving preferences.

The findings add to the literature by specifying the type of homogeneous groups (i.e. homogeneous adaptive), which may offer an advantage over heterogeneous groups regarding teamwork quality.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to identify and map contemporary research on advanced technology implementations for problem-solving purposes in the manufacturing industry, and to further understand the organizational learning possibilities of advanced technology problem-solving in the manufacturing industry.

This paper outlines a scoping review of contemporary research on the subject. The findings of the review are discussed in the light of theories of contradicting learning logics.

This paper shows that contemporary research on the subject is characterized by technological determinism and strong solution-focus. A discussion on the manufacturing industries’ contextual reasons for this in relation to contradicting learning logics shows that a Mode-2 problem-solving approach could facilitate further learning and expand knowledge on advanced technology problem-solving in the manufacturing industry. A research agenda with six propositions is provided.

The introduction of advanced technology implies complex effects on the manufacturing industry in general, while previous research shows a clear focus on technological aspects of this transformation. This paper provides value by providing novel knowledge on the relationship between advanced technology, problem-solving and organizational learning in the manufacturing industry.

As a problem-solving tool, the kaizen event (KE) is underutilised in practice. Assuming this is due to a lack of group process quality during those events, the authors aimed to grasp what is needed during high-quality KE meetings. Guided by the phased approach for structured problem-solving, the authors built and explored a measure for enriching future KE research.

Six phases were used to code all verbal contributions (N = 5,442) in 21 diverse, videotaped KE meetings. Resembling state space grids, the authors visualised the course of each meeting with line graphs which were shown to ten individual kaizen experts as well as to the filmed kaizen groups.

From their reactions to the graphs the authors extracted high-quality KE process characteristics. At the end of each phase, that should be enacted sequentially, explicit group consensus appeared to be crucial. Some of the groups spent too little time on a group-shared understanding of the problem and its root causes. Surprisingly, the mixed-methods data suggested that small and infrequent deviations (“jumps”) to another phase might be necessary for a high-quality process. According to the newly developed quantitative process measure, when groups often jump from one phase to a distant, previous or next phase, this relates to low KE process quality.

A refined conceptual model and research agenda are offered for generating better solutions during KEs, and the authors urge examinations of the effects of well-crafted KE training.

This study concerned aspiring educational leaders’ problem-solving skill development, specifically through classroom instruction with real-world scenarios. Professional educators obtaining an advanced degree in educational administration at a public university were surveyed in the fall and spring about their problem-solving abilities. Participants were also asked to respond to real-world principal scenarios. Focus group interviews were conducted in the spring. Results indicated that participants’ confidence in their problem-solving abilities did improve, though their ability to address the real-world problems did not improve significantly. Participants identified the value of learning from real-world scenarios and professors who had experience as administrators, and they also recognized the importance of learning from one another during discussions of the scenarios. Participants indicated that they still needed experience working in actual administrative contexts.

This paper aims to examine the impact of problem-solving activities, emotional experiences and contextual and personal factors on learning from dealing with software-related problems in everyday office work.

To measure the use of problem-solving activities, emotional experiences and the contextual factors of problem characteristics and learning in situ, a research diary was used. To measure team psychological safety (contextual factor) and personal factors, including the Big Five personality traits, occupational self-efficacy and technology self-efficacy, the authors administered a self-report questionnaire. In sum, 48 students from a software company in Germany recorded 240 diary entries during five working days. The data was analysed using multilevel analysis.

Results revealed that asking others and using information from the internet are positive predictors of self-perceived learning from a software-related problem, while experimenting, which was the most common activity, had a negative effect on learning. Guilt about the problem was positively related to learning while working in the office (as opposed to remote work), and feeling irritated/annoyed/angry showed a negative effect. Surprisingly, psychological safety had a negative effect on perceived learning.

Major limitations of the study concern the convenience sample and the disregard for the sequence of the activities.

This study contributes to the limited empirical evidence on employees’ problem-solving activities and informal workplace learning in the software context. To overcome the shortcomings of previous studies using retrospective assessments and in-lab observations, this study uses the diary method to investigate in situ.

Our understanding of leadership has undergone a significant shift in the early part of the 21st century. An emerging perspective, dubbed Eco-Leadership, suggests leadership is a collective process involving both leaders and followers co-creating leadership. Because our beliefs and attitudes toward leadership affect how we lead, it becomes crucial to better understand the views youth have towards leadership, as they develop into our future leaders, to improve curricula and instruction. In this study, no relationship was found between youth attitudes and beliefs towards systemic and hierarchical thinking with respect to their preferred problem-solving style. These findings indicate youth may adaptively or innovatively associate leadership equally through systemic and hierarchical thinking. Further, neither being more adaptive nor more innovative implies one to be better at leading.

Being acquainted with both lean and action learning in theory and in practice, this study finds that the theoretical complementarity of these two research streams has traditionally been underexploited. In this conceptual paper, this study aims to advance the theoretical understanding of lean by exploring the complementarity of lean thinking and action learning leading to a proposed integrated theory of these two research streams. Target audience is the operations management research community.

By deliberately adopting a process of theorising, this paper explores, reflects upon and combines individual experiences of researching, teaching and engaging in lean and action learning as operations management scholars.

Having taken a gemba walk through the literature and practices of lean and action learning, this study views and notices a systematic and complementary relationship between the two domains. The overlapping theoretical and practical complementarities of lean and action learning suggest that these two research streams are ripe for synthesis into an integrated theory. This finding provides an opportunity to (1) progress towards an integrative design of interventions leading to more sustainable lean system adoptions and (2) add new depth to our theoretical explanation of the success and failures of lean system adoptions.

This paper contributes an original integrated theory perspective on lean and action learning.

The purpose of this study is to empirically test how problem-solving lean practices, along with leaders as learning facilitators in an action learning approach, can be transferred from a production context to a knowledge work context for the purpose of becoming a learning organization while enhancing performance. This is important to study because many organizations struggle to enhance efficiency in the short term while still trying to be long-term learning oriented (i.e. learning organization development).

The authors draw on theory on learning interventions to show how lean practices for problem-solving can foster learning and help an organization to become adaptive. This study’s subject is a non-production department of 100 employees at the LEGO corporation. The authors applied survey results from a natural experiment lasting 18 months between a pre-measurement survey and a post-measurement survey. The results were compared to a control department of 50 employees who were not exposed to the lean practices intervention. The authors’ focus was on the individual level as individuals have different perceptions of lean practices, performance, and learning.

Using repeated-measures tests, difference-in-difference regressions analyses, and structural equation models, the authors find that a package of contemporary lean practices for problem-solving, along with leaders who function as learning facilitators, significantly improved learning organization dimensions while also enhancing efficiency and quality and that learning organizations positively mediate the relationship between the lean intervention and quality-related performance, while efficiency is directly affected by the lean interventions. Data from LEGO's key performance indicators (KPIs), benefit trackers, on-site observations and more than 40 interviews with managers provided results that were consistent with the survey data. A detailed description of the lean practices implemented is provided to inspire future implementations in non-operations environments and to assist educators.

The authors contribute to the learning literature by showing that a learning-to-learn approach to lean management can serve as an active and deliberate intervention in helping an organization becoming a learning organization as perceived by the individual organizational members. The authors also add to the lean literature by showing how a learning approach to lean, as used by LEGO, can positively affect short-term efficiency and quality and create a foundation for a longer-term competitive advantage (i.e. a learning organization) in a non-production context. By contrast, most of the lean literature streams treat efficiency separately from a learning organization and mainly examine lean in a production context.

The extant literature shows three research streams on lean, learning, and performance. The authors built on these streams by trying to emphasize both learning and efficiency. Prior research has not empirically tested whether and how the application of problem-solving lean practices combined with leaders as learning facilitators helps to create a comprehensive learning organization while enhancing performance in a non-production context.

This paper investigates how manufacturers can develop a learning-to-learn capability for enabling Industry 4.0 adoption.

This research design is guided by our research question: How can manufacturers develop a learning-to-learn capability that enables Industry 4.0 adoption? The authors adopt action research to generate actionable knowledge from a two-year-long action learning intervention at the Danish rooftop window manufacturer VELUX.

Drawing on emergent insights from the action learning intervention, it was found that a learning-to-learn capability based on lean was a core construct and enabler for manufacturers to adopt Industry 4.0 successfully. Institutionalizing an organizational learning scaffold encompassing the intertwined learning processes of systems Alpha, Beta and Gamma served as a significant way to develop a learning-to-learn capability for Industry 4.0 adoption (systematic problem-solving abilities, leaders as learning facilitators, presence of a supportive learning environment and Industry 4.0 knowledge). Moreover, group coaching is a practical action learning intervention for invoking system Gamma and developing leaders to become learning facilitators – an essential leadership role during Industry 4.0 adoption.

The study contributes to theory and practice by adopting action research and action learning to explore learning-to-learn as a core construct for enabling Industry 4.0 adoption and providing a set of conditions for developing a learning-to-learn capability. Furthermore, the study reveals that leaders are required to act as learning facilitators instead of relying on learning about and implementing Industry 4.0 best practices for enabling adoption.

This technological article deals with a case study to implement an improvement to reduce the machine setup of an industrial process, in addition to the development of people using the A3 methodology for problem-solving.

As a research method, action research was used in a single-case study applied to a motorcycle production company, using the concept of the A3 report for problem-solving as the theoretical basis.

The implementation of the improvement in the process resulted in a reduction of 70.4% of the preparation time (setup) of the machines, thus eliminating the need to add a third production shift.

It has been applied to only one company, so it lacks a feasibility check to be implemented in other companies.

Regarding its practical contribution, the authors first consider that the proposed method can also be applied in small and medium-sized companies (SMEs), since the investment in this problem-solving approach is low without necessarily implementing the lean production system that, it is usually complex, time-consuming and requires the allocation of a substantial amount of resources by companies. The second practical contribution of this work is that the proposed A3 problem-solving methodology can serve as a guide for managers to implement or improve different industrial and service processes.

It has been applied to only one company, so it lacks a feasibility check to be implemented in other companies.