The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of existing, local performance measures in the process of developing and implementing an integrated performance measurement…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of existing, local performance measures in the process of developing and implementing an integrated performance measurement system. Performance measurement has received much attention since the 1980s, based on the notion that performance measurement systems should be adapted to modern manufacturing systems. However, relatively few empirical studies have investigated implementation processes of such systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper describes a case study of the development of a performance measurement system in a medium‐sized company.
Findings
It was found that the process was strongly guided by the need to identify existing reports and metrics at different levels within the organization, which informed the development and implementation of the new performance measurement system. This is a more significant role than has usually been proposed in the literature – one side of the gap between existing measures and an ideal system that has first been developed following a kind of “greenfield” approach.
Research limitations/implications
Future research could use other longitudinal case studies to obtain more insights into development and implementation processes, and also focus on information systems in these processes.
Originality/value
The value of this paper lies in highlighting the interplay between organizational experiences that are embedded in informal, local performance reports and new performance measurement initiatives that are initiated from a higher management‐level.
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This chapter explores expert witnessing in anthropology and the raison d’être of cultural expertise as an integrated socio-legal concept that accounts for the contribution of…
Abstract
This chapter explores expert witnessing in anthropology and the raison d’être of cultural expertise as an integrated socio-legal concept that accounts for the contribution of social sciences to the resolution of disputes and the protection of human rights. The first section of this chapter provides a short historical outline of the occurrence and reception of anthropological expertise as expert witnessing. The second section surveys the theoretical reflections on anthropologists’ engagement with law. The third section explores the potential for anthropological expertise as a broader socio-legal notion in the common law and civil law legal systems. The chapter concludes with the opportunity and raison d’être of cultural expertise grounded on a skeptical approach to culture. It suggests that expert witnessing has been viewed mainly from a technical perspective of applied social sciences, which was necessary to set the legal framework of cultural experts’ engagement with law, but had the consequence of entrenching the impossibility of a comprehensive study of anthropological expert witnessing. While this chapter adopts a skeptical approach to culture, it also argues the advantages of an interdisciplinary approach that leads to an integrated definition of cultural expertise.
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Bob Lillis and Marek Szwejczewski
The purpose of this paper is to close the gap between theoretical approaches to strategic operations auditing and empirical analysis of practice in service organisations. Through…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to close the gap between theoretical approaches to strategic operations auditing and empirical analysis of practice in service organisations. Through analysis of the two different views of strategy formulation – environment‐market and resource‐based – the paper aims to provide insights on how strategic operations audit methods are being used and under what circumstances.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study methodology was employed which involved a three‐stage data collection and analytical process. Its purpose was to identify how strategic operations audit methods were being used, why they were used and the particular circumstances of their use. Trails of operational improvement within each of six case studies show links between service operational activities, the benefits achieved by the improvements and the formulation and/or execution of each service company's business strategy. These trails of improvement provided a means by which to reveal some of the strategic operations audit methods being used. In addition, interviews and analysis of supporting documentation ensured the complete set of methods being utilised was identified.
Findings
The results indicate three main findings. First it is recognised that the service companies all look to adopt a top down approach to strategic operations auditing and seek to maintain, and where possible, gain greater strategic impact from their service operations. Second, the competitive state of the business impacts the choice of strategic operations audit method used. All companies studied employed an environment‐market method to assess operations – market fit. Only when a company is confident of its competitive position will managers then look to also devise a resource‐based method in order to assess its current ability to nurture new capabilities to exploit. Third, companies use a variety of integration techniques to verify on‐going cohesion across infrastructural decision‐making categories of the content of service operations strategy. The assessment of cohesion within service operations strategy takes place within subsets of the content of the strategy. The authors did not find integration techniques that hone structural decision categories or service operations strategy as a whole. The results also show that methods used by managers are pale imitations of the rigorous procedures originally devised by researchers.
Practical implications
Service operations managers possess inadequate understanding of how the application of a strategic operations audit method should be made and limited ability to undertake the audit in a structured and meaningful way. A strategic operations audit methods selection process is put forward to remedy this. The process acknowledges that the choice of a particular method is contingent on the stage of development of the company's service operations strategy. It guides managers through the decision‐making process of what strategic operations audit method to use and when managers should be using it. The message for academics is that new resource‐based methods need to be created that are accessible to managers and relevant when service operations strategy has successfully evolved to the point where greater influence is being sought from it in the formulation of business strategy.
Originality/value
An empirical study within service operations management of the practice of strategic operations auditing is rare. The paper's findings begin to address the gap between theory and practice. The paper presents revisions and additions to the operations manager's tool kit of strategic operations audit methods and culminates in a selection process to guide managers on which tool to use and when.
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Kim Sundtoft Hald and Chris Ellegaard
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate how supplier evaluation practices are linked to supplier performance improvements. Specifically, the paper investigates how performance…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to illuminate how supplier evaluation practices are linked to supplier performance improvements. Specifically, the paper investigates how performance information travelling between the evaluating buyer and the evaluated suppliers is shaped and reshaped in the evaluation process.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper relies on a multiple, longitudinal case research methodology. The two cases show two companies' efforts in designing, implementing, and using supplier evaluation in order to improve supplier performance.
Findings
The findings show how the dynamics of representing, reducing, amplifying, dampening, and directing shape and reshape supplier evaluation information. In both companies, evaluation practices were defined, redefined, and re‐directed by the involved actors' perception and decision making, as well as organisational structures, IT systems, and available data sources.
Research limitations/implications
The identified factors and dynamics could be empirically tested on larger samples to increase generalisability.
Practical implications
The results provide insights into how an evaluating buyer may analyse and control supplier evaluation processes thereby improving their effects. Managers must know how performance information is altered before reaching key supplier actors in order to optimise supplier performance.
Originality/value
Current studies on supplier evaluation practices are limited in their focus on design, implementation, or use. This paper explores all three phases empirically, and proposes a set of dynamics to better understand and control the often taken for granted link between intentions and outcome of such practices. In relation to future research, the authors propose a more holistic direction, which will take the entire supplier evaluation process as its unit of analysis.
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Guus Keusters, Frédérique Batelaan, Froukje SleeswijkVisser, Erik-Jan Houwing and Hans Bakker
The increasing complexity of civil engineering projects necessitates focusing on new competencies of project participants. Based on the research on team performance and design…
Abstract
Purpose
The increasing complexity of civil engineering projects necessitates focusing on new competencies of project participants. Based on the research on team performance and design processes that are more closely linked to the relevance of the project context, it is hypothesised that empathic abilities could play an important role in the performance of civil engineering projects. Therefore, this study aims to investigate whether performance can be improved by focusing on empathic abilities during the integrated design phase.
Design/methodology/approach
Semi-structured in-depth interviews with experts were conducted to explore the relevance of empathic abilities and their interaction with performance in a real-life infrastructure project. The project team’s empathy level was measured by means of a survey using Davis’ Interpersonal Reactivity Index method. Finally, differences between expected and measured levels of empathy were analysed.
Findings
The results provide insights into how empathic abilities interact with performance. The measurement indicates that, on average, professionals in the civil engineering industry score relatively low on empathy. In addition, differences were identified between the expected distribution and the measured empathy levels of the team, implying a potential for improvement, in particular by increasing the empathic abilities of the project management and increasing gender diversity.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate a relationship between empathy and the performance of civil engineering projects. The results provide initial insights into the empathic ability of civil engineering project teams and the potential of empathy to improve performance. Furthermore, from an empathy perspective, this study advocates increasing the gender diversity of project teams to improve performance.
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Deepa Mishra, Angappa Gunasekaran, Thanos Papadopoulos and Rameshwar Dubey
The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on supply chain performance measures and metrics (PMMs). It provides a critical evaluation of 234 articles published…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to review the existing literature on supply chain performance measures and metrics (PMMs). It provides a critical evaluation of 234 articles published in past 24 years.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper examines the studies published from 1991 to 2014 by adopting the bibliometric technique of citation and co-citation analysis.
Findings
The analysis of the results indicate that the number of articles on supply chain PMMs is increasing at its fastest pace in the past few years. Furthermore, the study identifies some of the most influential articles on performance measurement and metrics. Finally, it concludes that there has been a transition from traditional to more sophisticated performance measurement system.
Research limitations/implications
This study focuses only on supply chain performance measurement and metrics and excludes research on performance management and control. Thus, researchers may explore and extend this area of research.
Originality/value
To the knowledge of the authors, this is the first study to review the literature on supply chain PMMs by using citation and co-citation analysis. The study includes 234 articles over the time of 24 years (1991-2014).