Search results

The purpose of this paper is to extend the People Value Stream concept further by developing a view of what the world would look like through the eyes of a positive psychology employee-centred lens. The authors hope to provide a frame for further discussion, research and practical application in this area.

In this conceptual paper, the authors draw on their collective 120 plus years of experience with Lean and Human Resource Management through leading, teaching, researching and consulting in the area.

The People Value Stream concept is extended here by ideating how the “Voice of the Employee” could be used to enhance the existing knowledge of Lean. Relying on a range of cognitive psychological theories, particularly Self-Determination Theory, the authors show how it might be possible to develop a highly engaged workforce primarily by unlocking their intrinsic motivation through a “Self-Development and Growth Cycle”. This cycle is the people-improvement version of the seminal Deming process-improvement PDCA cycle. It can be applied within a job crafting “Personal Cockpit”. The authors also highlight a range of outputs and wider implications that create a pull for team leaders and senior management wishing to move to a real Servant Leader model. It will also help those developing and supporting people-related policies and procedures both within organisations and in trade unions.

This paper turns the existing literature about people within Lean upside down. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, for the first time in an academic paper, it discusses what would be the implications for the Lean world if the authors truly started understanding and deploying the explicit “Voice of the Employee” rather than just the established Lean “Voice of the Owner”-led Hoshin Kanri approach. The authors show how a lack of knowledge in these areas by the Lean community is limiting Lean’s engagement of people and its sustainability.

Value Stream Management is a new strategic and operational approach to the data capture, analysis, planning and implementation of effective change within the core cross‐functional or cross‐company processes required to achieve a truly lean enterprise. This paper describes the method in detail including a summary of the previous Value Stream Mapping approach and its weaknesses. The new approach involves a strategic review of a business or supply chain's activities, the delimitation of key processes and the mapping of these processes. A description of how to analyze and synthesize these data is followed by a section on an approach to planning strategic and operational change together with a framework in which to do this. The benefits and limitations of the new approach are summarized.

The demand amplification effect has been well described in the literature over many years. This paper reports the results of a research project carried out in the UK automotive component supply chain, which set out to eliminate the effect in practice. The paper describes the progression from the identification of demand amplification, through a practical approach for its measurement, to the development of a methodology to overcome the negative impacts of the effect across three echelons of the supply chain. The results of a six‐month trial implementation are reported.

As managers throughout the UK's public sector face up to the challenge of change, how will they respond? If they default to established practice, largely imported over the past 30 years from the private sector, they are likely to place most emphasis on changing the formal processes, systems and structures of their various institutions, and on getting these ‘right’ through rational analysis, project management techniques, detailed implementation programmes and other ‘tools of the trade’. But organisations are made up of dynamic networks of people interacting with each other. And people have a habit of not conforming to the mechanistic assumptions that still channel much of mainstream management thinking about organisational change and performance. Ever‐present features of organisational life ‐ such as power and politics, informal processes, tensions and contradictions, and other aspects of the complex social dynamics of organisations ‐ tend to be dealt with superficially or ignored altogether. Research consistently suggests that, despite the plethora of tools and techniques, the success rate of organisational change is poor. This paper argues that this is due, in large part, to the failure of conventional management practice to take account of the inherent messiness of ‘real‐world’ organisations. And it suggests an alternative change‐leadership agenda that seeks to address this.

Details a Library Association one‐day workshop aimed to raise among librarians and to encourage senior managers of and information services to devise appropriate strategies coping with the process of demographic change on the Library Service (LIS) workforce. Covers issues for the LIS including gender, graduates and returners to work and on solutions proposed. Concludes that it will become that library schools reduce their drop‐out rates after if employers are to fill the posts which become available.

Examines burials, grave rights and how problems connected with these events require sensitive and positive handling. Demonstrates feelings of perceived discrimination not falling within normal areas of the topic recognized by law – such as exhumations. Gives case examples and also gives verdicts and explanations to aid with research. Concludes that there are difficulties with regard to advice for the bereaved, whether for valid or invalid reasons of exhumation.

This study aims to examine how variations in the perceived gender (a)typicality of front-line staff impact on consumer spending. Gender typicality is defined here as traditionally masculine-looking men and feminine-looking women, whereas gender atypicality, in contrast, refers to feminine-looking men and masculine-looking women.

Using an experimental design, the authors use simulated consumption scenarios across two separate studies, one in the USA and the other in South Korea. In each study, the authors investigate main and interaction effects in relation to front-line employees’ race (white vis-à-vis Asian) and baseline gender (originally male vis-à-vis originally female).

Across the two studies, consumers spent more money with gender-typical female front-line staff or, alternatively stated, less money with more masculine-looking female front-line staff. The effect of the male service staff was more complicated. In both countries, the authors found a significant consumer preference for gender-atypical (i.e. more feminine-looking), Asian male employees, compared to more masculine-looking Asian men.

The experimental design strengthens claims of not only good internal validity but also weakens the generalizability of the findings. Field research is needed to explore these effects in various workplaces and sectors. The authors also acknowledge the limitations of operationalizing the gender (a)typicality of front-line staff by manipulating facial structures. Future research should manipulate gender (a)typicality using sociological and performative indicators.

The authors contribute to ongoing debates surrounding the legality and ethics of regulating employee appearance in the workplace. Employers must consider whether this type of “lookism” is legally and morally defensible.

This is, to the knowledge, the first-ever study to examine the effect of front-line employee gender non-conformity on consumer behavior and decision-making. The authors show how variations in perceived gender (a)typicality can, variously, promote or retard consumer spending. The study is original in that it shifts the debate from traditional studies of between-gender differences to a focus on within-gender differences. The key value of the research is that it shines a much-needed light on the changing role of gender in the workplace.

Glaxo has developed a corporate source of comprehensive information on hazardous substances, which is available to staff throughout the Glaxo Group as an online Substance Information Database (SID) or via print. A structured approach has been taken to data collection, with key hard copy and computerised health and safety information sources being searched in a hierarchical fashion. Through a knowledge of the coverage of the sources, and practical experience of their use, a complete substance information profile is built up through selective searching. The data is evaluated by in‐house specialists in toxicology, occupational health and safety and the compiled data sheet is authorised by the appropriate Company Safety Co‐ordinator before it is released onto SID.

Describes how a large service organisation, Post Office Counters Ltd, has applied total quality principles to the development of customer care initiative. Reviews the organisation′s approach to customer care and details its customer charter, a complete package which comprised training for staff and a series of service commitments. Discusses how the customer charter fits in with the government′s recently imposed Citizen′s Charter. Outlines two keys for achieving total quality.

Prior to the launch of Valuing People (DH, 2001), Gordon Grant and Paul Ramcharan were appointed by the Department of Health as co‐ordinators of the Learning Disability Research Initiative (LDRI). The LDRI was a £2m research initiative, funded through the Department of Health's Policy Research Programme, linked to the implementation of Valuing People. The LDRI was brought to a conclusion in November 2007 with a final conference at which an overview report and accessible summary of the findings were launched (Grant & Ramcharan, 2007a, 2007b). In this paper we summarise the main findings of the LDRI with reference to Valuing People's main principles of rights, choice, inclusion and independence. In conclusion we consider how to build on the evidence base.