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This paper aims to expand the knowledge about Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementation in the public sector. By analyzing an LSS improvement initiative in a German municipality, examples of success, barriers and challenges are discussed. A comparison with literature regarding the production and service sectors unfolds similarities and differences.

The paper applies the action research method. Especially for the broad field of project management, methods focusing on actual experience from practice have been recommended by many researchers.

Implementations of LSS in the public sector seem to be particularly challenging and lengthy. Change and communication management have proved to be the most important aspects to successful acceptance, cooperation and improvement sustainability. In the analyzed cases, the needed volume of data could often not be procured. The applied Six Sigma methodology primarily included the DMAIC project phases as well as selected standard instruments. In contrast, the lean elements of LSS achieved more results and were appreciated by project team members.

The LSS application in this paper provides insights into practical implementation experience in a municipality, as well as lessons learned. Until now, most research addressed the single application of lean, continuous improvement or Six Sigma. This paper represents the first academic report of a LSS program in a German municipality and underlines the need for scientific support of those initiatives in further municipalities worldwide.

The current evaluation standards in German higher education institutions (HEIs) do not often lead to measurable quality improvement. The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate whether Kaizen can improve the quality of teaching. The presented concept illustrates the evaluation of each course unit to continuously encourage quality feedback from the learners and intensify the exchange with lecturers.

Action research is used to combine the continuous improvement philosophy of Kaizen with student course evaluations. A pilot study of the concept provides data from four course cycles to analyze learnings and setbacks.

Learners in the pilot courses welcomed the intense participation and allowed improvements to elements such as course concept, course material, presentation style and content or detail selection. The participation rate declined during each term and was highly influenced by triggers like exam and grade relevance. Kaizen could successfully improve course quality, especially in the first two years of newly developed courses.

The presented results have been collected from one course over four years in one institution. The next stage of research would be the application of the approach in other institutions to validate results and make potential adjustments to the concept, for example, toward continuous learning.

Although course evaluation has become standard in German HEIs, most institutions only implement it once per term or year. This paper discusses a new approach to expedite the evaluation of teaching quality at the point of action (Gemba) to facilitate the short-term reactions of lecturers.

Many everyday situations involve the performance of a task and the inference of competence from the results. Here, we focus on situations in which two or more persons who differ on status (e.g., sex category, skin tone) perform a valued task with equivalent, objectively judged results, and yet are not granted equal competence. We examine the conditions under which such a conclusion derives from the use of different standards for each status level.

We review and assess the findings of all the 17 social psychological experiments completed to date and designed to investigate the hypothesis that the lower a person’s social status is perceived to be, the stricter the competence standard applied to him or her.

We find substantial support for this hypothesis, but there are also factors that either moderate (e.g., qualifications level) or even reverse (e.g., participant’s sex category) such link. Of particular interest among those factors is whether competence is measured directly or indirectly. For example, we found overall that the specific question about competence often restrains the use of double standards, whereas the wider questions (e.g., about suitability) are more likely to allow that practice to emerge.

We also identify and expand interventions from three different research traditions designed to deter bias, and propose ways of applying them to block double standards in the assessment of equivalent performances. The interventions involve (1) increasing assessor’s accountability, (2) increasing similarity across the performers, and (3) disrupting the often taken-for-granted association between higher status and good performance – as well as the corresponding link between lower status and poor performance.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the case of Kish, which is a small island off the coast of Iran, using the creative indicators of a creative economy.

Based on the extant literature, a set of performance measures and factors are identified for the creative economy. This set is mainly based on Florida’s theory on the creative class. The case of Kish Island is evaluated based on these indicators, and after analysis, conclusions are drawn.

Kish Island, with its numerous tourist attractions, shows remarkable creative industries that highlight the presence of the creative class and the development of a creative economy in this area.

The paper illustrates the model of a creative economy assessment for the small Kish Island and finally provides a good understanding of the concept of the creative economy as a key element of the creative city.