Search results

This paper aims to identify conditions affecting sustainability of Lean implementations in Swedish psychiatric healthcare, from a socio-technical perspective.

Longitudinal focus group interviews were conducted with 24 first-line managers within Swedish psychiatric healthcare. The analysis was made using Cherns’ ten socio-technical principles and a framework for sustainable development work in healthcare.

The most critical socio-technical principles for a sustainable Lean implementation were boundary location; power and authority; and compatibility. At hospital level, socio-technical principles were inhibited by the weak ownership of the Lean implementation. However, strong ownership at division level meant the same principles were supported. Unclear goals made follow-ups difficult which had negative effects on the learning processes in the Lean implementation. The role and responsibility of first-line managers were unclear in that they perceived they lacked power and authority resulting in negative effects on the participation – an important sustainability concept.

Empirically based papers assessing Lean implementations in psychiatry are rare. This study is a contribution to the research area of sustainable Lean implementations in healthcare. The practical implication of this study is that decision makers, senior managers, first-line managers and psychiatrists can be supported in reaching sustainable implementations of Lean.

This paper seeks to deal with affective design of waiting areas (servicescapes) and has twofold aims. The first, is to explore affective values for waiting areas. The second, is to identify interactions between physical design attributes and affective values.

This study included a free association method for data collection, applying Kansei engineering methodology to extract design solutions relating to specific feelings. The study was undertaken at six primary health centres in Östergötland County, Sweden. In total, 88 participants (60 patients and 28 staff) were interviewed.

The selected waiting areas show significant differences for their perceived affective qualities. The most desired feeling for creating affective values is found to be “calm”. The core design attributes contributing to this feeling are privacy, colours, child play‐areas and green plants. Good design of lighting, seating arrangements and a low sound level are also important design attributes to give a more complete design solution.

The study provides useful insights for understanding affective needs in servicescapes, and it provides design suggestions. The results have not been analysed separately for gender or different age groups.

The paper proposes a framework model to be applied when dealing with affective values in servicescapes.

This paper makes an original contribution to understand affective values towards the physical environment in servicescape design. It offers a methodology to study complex environments with many alternative design solutions using limited resources. Moreover, this study uses a combination of a free association method and Rough Sets theory in affective design.

This paper aims to present and discuss the current state of quality‐improvement activities in Swedish companies. The paper focuses on the drivers for quality improvement; types of approaches, tools and techniques, and organizational aspects influenced by quality improvement; and potential areas for improvement.

This paper presents results from a survey on quality improvement work in Swedish industry. Data for this paper were collected using a web‐based questionnaire that was distributed to 800 production managers working in Swedish service and manufacturing organizations. Of the 800 questionnaires sent, a total of 118 questionnaires were filled out, which resulted in a response rate of 16 percent.

The result shows that the major drivers for quality improvement work in Swedish industry are economical aspects as the need for cost reduction, the need to become more competitive and the wish to increase market share. Drivers such as pressure from shareholders and trends in management have a minor role. The underlying approaches for quality improvement work are standards such as ISO 9000 and ISO 14000. A total of 72 percent of respondents stated that they work with quality management systems; 59 percent, with environmental management systems. The aspects that were most positively influenced by the improvement work were employee motivation, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, product/service quality, and flow in internal processes.

Empirical results obtained in Sweden may differ to some extent in other countries.

This paper is intended as a source of inspiration for researchers, consultants, and managers who are interested in the current trends and future developments in the quality field.

The paper provides valuable insights into the current state of quality improvement activities in Swedish industry, as seen from the perspective of the production manager.

ISO 14000 is based on the concept that better environmental performance can be achieved when environmental aspects are systematically identified and managed. Despite the growing interest in voluntary environmental management standards, little empirical information exists and only a few survey studies have been made. This paper contains an evaluation of results from a survey on ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 companies. The study presents experiences from the standards implementation processes in Sweden. It focuses on motives for implementation, perceived benefits and key implementation factors. Further, comparisons are made between ISO 14000 and ISO 9000 systems. Swedish companies mainly use the standard to demonstrate their commitment to environmental protection. Most benefits are also perceived in the improved relations with stakeholders and in marketing advantages. Since the standard requires companies to set their environmental policy and objectives themselves, the identification of environmental aspects was stated as most important and also as the factor requiring most effort. Organizations require their suppliers to implement ISO 9000 to a greater extent than ISO 14000.

The aim of the study is to investigate and to understand the practice of implementing and operating the QMS in an organisational context, providing an analysis of the way ISO 9001:2000 was implemented and operated and focusing on identifying factors which have negatively or positively influenced the effects of the quality management system (QMS).

Three case studies of small organisations were examined. The methodological approach was based on Porras and Robertson's model. The data collection methods included interviews, a questionnaire survey of all employees and document studies.

ISO 9001:2000 was implemented and operated with minimum effort and little change was experienced. QMS was not perceived as a tool for managing processes, but as a tool for handling documentation. Consequently, this was reflected in the benefits achieved. Despite the external benefits which followed from obtaining the certificates, only minor internal benefits were found. Internal motivation, engaged and trained employees, a competent quality manager, committed CEO and development‐oriented auditors were identified as critical, influencing the effects from ISO 9000. In general, in the way ISO 9001:2000 was implemented and operated many opportunities for improvement were lost.

The choice of small organisations for the case studies has important implications for the results. Small organisations often lack resources, which limits the initiatives that they can take.

The QMS and its effects are not determined by the ISO 9001 requirements, but by the organisational context and the way the system is implemented and operated.

The paper provides an explanation why organisations achieve very different results from ISO 9001 implementation. It also shows that certification bodies may have an important role for the effectiveness of the QMS.

Significant interest in Integrated Management Systems (IMS), as a key area within ISO-related Management System Standards (MSS) literature, has been evident from both academia and industry over the past three decades. This study aims to map the evolution and current state of IMS research and propose possible directions for future studies.

A comprehensive content and bibliometric analysis of 846 documents from the Scopus database across the period 1995 to 2023 was conducted. This included performance analysis to track publication trends and identify key contributors, and content analysis to specify dominant research methodologies and the MSS most commonly integrated. Furthermore, science mapping techniques—such as co-authorship networks, keyword co-occurrence analysis, and bibliographic coupling—were utilized to outline the collaborative networks and the conceptual and intellectual structure of the field.

The study identifies three principal IMS research themes: the practical implementation of IMS, their role in promoting sustainability and social responsibility, and their impact on continuous performance improvement. It also highlights the field’s evolution and key research constituents—including influential works, prolific authors, leading academic institutions and countries, and top publishing journals. It further reveals that IMS research exhibits strong collaboration across authors and countries, and a rich methodological plurality, notably with a marked increase in empirical surveys in recent years. Additionally, it identifies the most frequently referenced MSS for integration, prominently featuring ISO 9001, ISO 14001, and ISO 45001/OHSAS 18001.

This study is original in its application of a dual analytical approach—bibliometric and content analysis—to provide a holistic overview of IMS research. It offers new insights into the integration of diverse MSS and proposes several promising paths for future research. Among the most prominent are standardizing IMS fundamental specifications, conducting more empirical research with advanced methods to evaluate the effects of MSS integration, providing practical support for organizations in IMS implementation through tailored methodologies and tools, and exploring the potential of Industry 4.0 and 5.0 technologies to advance IMS practices.

This paper explores a type of organizing that can be found in tourist destinations that are administratively bound to a specific geographic area in the intersection of public and private context. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the understanding of the organizing of activities within destinations and also to contribute theoretically and conceptually to how place dependency and public/private can be understood from an industrial marketing and purchasing (IMP) network perspective.

The research approach has its origin in an ongoing multi-disciplinary and longitudinal case study.

By applying a network approach to the organizing of destinations, where interaction of relationships, resources, actors and activities play an essential role, a number of propositions have been put forth so as to provide for a better understanding of place-specific organizing, in the intersection between public and private interests.

The paper is conceptual and more empirical studies are needed to test the findings. One implication to consider in future empirical studies is the tensions between created and organic networks that exist in public and private place partnerships.

The paper provides insights into factors affecting destination management.

With an emphasis on a socio-political context, the opportunities and limitations that exist between public and private sectors are discussed.

The paper sheds light on a neglected aspect of a contemporary phenomenon where the IMP network approach could contribute to the understanding of destination marketing or management organization that are bound to a specific place in the intersection between the public and private context. The area of public-private organizing is a topic that may also add new aspects to the IMP community.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contributions of successful continuous improvement (CI) strategic implementation to competitive manufacturing. It also seeks to critically examine the level of importance of CI strategy implementation in Indian manufacturing organizations.

A reasonably large number of manufacturing organizations with successful experience of CI approach have been surveyed to assess the contributions of CI strategies and approach towards accruing useful benefits. The study involves working out the correlations between various CI strategies and manufacturing performance parameters to ascertain the contributions of significant strategies towards realization of manufacturing performance improvement.

The results of investigation demonstrated that CI strategies and approach significantly aimed at improving the quality of product manufactured by small- and medium-scale manufacturing enterprises. Supportive tools have negative impact on manufacturing performance parameters. Total productive maintenance strategies have highly significant impact on manufacturing performance improvement.

The study establishes that CI strategic implementation can systematically contribute towards realization of significant manufacturing performance enhancements.

The study highlights both positive and negative potentials of CI strategic implementation affecting performance improvements. The achievements of Indian manufacturing organizations through proactive CI approach have been evaluated and the critical impact of CI strategies has been identified for enhancing the effectiveness of CI activities in the Indian context.