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Although lean popularity is rapidly growing, its implementation is far from problem-free and companies may experience difficulties in sustaining long-term success. On this premises, the purpose of this paper is to understand to what extent human factors, affected by the implementation of both hard (defined as technical and analytical tools) and soft (concerning people and relations) lean practices, play a key role in achieving long-term superior performance.

The analysis of the relationships between lean practices implementation, human factors and operational performance is carried out in a single exploratory case study. A retrospective approach is adopted to trace the changes of human and operational performance before, during and after the introduction of lean management (LM) implementation. In particular, a mixed method concurrent design merging results of a qualitative analysis with data collected from a survey is selected to provide a more realistic benefit in the exploration of the proposed research questions.

The results show a short-term direct relationship between the implementation of lean practices (hard and soft) and physical work environment and job characteristics, directly connected to operational outcome. In the long term, operational performance is influenced by employee behaviour outcome and conditioned by physical work environment and job characteristics with the mediating effect of individual characteristics.

The proposed model supports the building of a roadmap for LM implementation, taking into account the role of the human factors to achieve superior operational performance. Moreover, it helps managers to implement a monitoring system to check how social and technical components of a LM system evolve over time. Finally, it supports the definition of specific training programs, tailored for specific workers’ types.

This paper extends theory in LM, highlighting how hard and soft lean practices have to interact to enable a successful LM implementation.

Only recently have significant art and architecture Internet resources been made available. As a reference librarian in a fine arts library, I try to keep track of important resources for my patrons. Managing Internet resources is a challenge: Internet sites with images require high‐end computers and connections, and evaluating the quality of Internet resources is often more difficult and time‐consuming than evaluating print sources. Simply identifying potentially valuable resources amid all the flashy insubstantiality on the Internet is enervating.

The issues raised by bioethics have been discussed broadly within medical sociology. Scholars such as Bosk (2002), Rothman (1986), DeVries (2004), DeVries and Subedi (1998), and others have discussed the social origins, organization, and consequences of various aspects of bioethics, while many authors have discussed the ways in which bioethics may be blind to social context. Fox and DeVries note that all contributors to the DeVries and Subedi (1998) text fault bioethicists for their failure to recognize the multiple social, cultural, and historical influences on their ethical thinking and the failure to recognize the broader implications of their work for society. The collection of essays in DeVries and Subedi is an exceptionally rich source of sociological reflection about bioethics, its origin, social organization, and implications. This text stands in contrast to previous work by sociologists who served within bioethics as consultants or advisors to bioethics committees. Since its publication, relatively fewer works have sought to understand the world of bioethics through a sociological lens, although the number of books and journals on bioethics has proliferated.

Purpose – To fill the gap between conflict theories and ethnographic methods. In fact, if one considers recent sociological production as a whole, one notes that, on the one hand, scholars belonging to the European Marxian and Weberian traditions have indeed centered their analytical interests on the theme of conflict and power, on the other hand they have studied them using the tools of macro-analysis and historical sociology, and therefore in more abstract and general terms. For their part, interactionists and ethnographers, especially American, have closely and efficaciously studied society at the elementary level of micro-interactions and everyday life; but they have often (with some felicitous exceptions) underestimated the weight and importance of conflicts and power.

Findings – The paper shows that the situation was different (better) in the 1950s and 1960s, and that recently, the field of conflict methodology (or critical ethnography) has been left almost entirely to brilliant investigative journalists. One of the causes of this has certainly been the spread, in recent decades, of an ethical regulation of research and of a deontological conception of the ethics of social research.

The paper calls for the discovery of a new ethical conception (utilitarian, ethics of responsibility) alternative to the dominant deontological approach and for the adoption, following the sociologist Jack Douglas, of an investigative method of social research. In the final part of the paper, some concrete research examples are provided and a final appeal for critical ethnography and the study of powerful organizations has been made.

This paper aims to investigate how firms such as Xerox, which have transitioned to a digital servitization business model, bridge relational asymmetry. It continues the theme of sustainability from the traditional three pillars—environmental, economic and social sustainability—to relational in terms of the quality of the relationship between the service provider and the customers.

Using an exploratory method, qualitative data from the case of Xerox, a pioneering company that embraces servitization business models, has been gathered. The combination of exploratory archival and literature searches allows for a more in-depth understanding of servitization and how it bridges (or does not bridge) the relational asymmetry.

The results reveal that a relational dimension is inherent in the servitization business model, whereas in order to achieve sustainability, it must leverage transparency, which may be either an enabler or an impairing factor. A borderline for a transparent relationship that distinguishes these two parameters is established.

The study's single-case firm was limited to Xerox as an industry forerunner and could only represent mature and multinational enterprises.

With the purpose of providing high-quality service, this exploratory paper gives managers rational insight into whether and when it is sustainable to fill the relational asymmetry between them as service providers and their customers.

From the relational asymmetry perspective, the authors shed light on the aspect of transparency, which is a pivotal cause of any asymmetric relationship. Through the case of Xerox, the study further sheds light on the dual effect of transparency, which could either be an “enabling” or an “impairing” factor. Putting it together, the use of interaction as a basis for co-creation is at the crux of the emerging reality.

This paper examines servitization from a new perspective, proposing that the relational asymmetry bridged by servitization will determine the future of organizations that differentiate themselves through quality relationships.