Peter B. Southard and Diane H. Parente
To determine the criteria for internal benchmarking candidate processes. Using those criteria, to develop a decision flowchart to employ internal or external benchmarking. To then…
Abstract
Purpose
To determine the criteria for internal benchmarking candidate processes. Using those criteria, to develop a decision flowchart to employ internal or external benchmarking. To then propose a framework for implementing internal benchmarking in an organization. Finally, to use a case study to apply both the Decision Flowchart and the proposed implementation framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The method is theoretical framework design supported by a case study.
Findings
The development of a practical flowchart and framework is achieved. This is successfully used in improving a business process thorough an actual case study.
Research limitations/implications
The information is limited to situations where quality programs including benchmarking are used or anticipated. Information is drawn from a single successful case study and existing literature.
Practical implications
Provides a practical prescriptive approach for identifying and applying the quality tool of benchmarking to internal processes.
Originality/value
This provides a new method of evaluating processes for improvement based on the availability of internal knowledge. No such flowchart has been proposed to date. It should be of use to both practitioners and academics by offering a step‐by‐step approach to improving their business processes and profitability.
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Peter B. Southard, Charu Chandra and Sameer Kumar
The purpose of this paper is to develop a business model to generate quantitative evidence of the benefits of implementing radio frequency identification (RFID) technology…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to develop a business model to generate quantitative evidence of the benefits of implementing radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, limiting the scope to outpatient surgical processes in hospitals.
Design/methodology/approach
The study primarily uses the define‐measure‐analyze‐improve‐control (DMAIC) approach, and draws on various analytical tools such as work flow diagrams, value stream mapping, and discrete event simulation to examine the effect of implementing RFID technology on improving effectiveness (quality and timeliness) and efficiency (cost reduction) of outpatient surgical processes.
Findings
The analysis showed significant estimated annual cost and time savings in carrying out patients' surgical procedures with RFID technology implementation for the outpatient surgery processes in a hospital. This is largely due to the elimination of both non‐value added activities of locating supplies and equipment and also the elimination of the “return” loop created by preventable post operative infections. Several poka‐yokes developed using RFID technology were identified to eliminate those two issues.
Practical implications
Several poka‐yokes developed using RFID technology were identified for improving the safety of the patient and cost effectiveness of the operation to ensure the success of the outpatient surgical process.
Originality/value
Many stakeholders in the hospital environment will be impacted including patients, physicians, nurses, technicians, administrators and other hospital personnel. Different levels of training of hospital personnel will be required, based on the degree of interaction with the RFID system. Computations of costs and savings will help decision makers understand the benefits and implications of the technology in the hospital environment.
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Peter B. Southard and Scott R. Swenseth
As businesses progress through their organizational lifecycle, many experience growing pains associated with increased volume, product line breadth, personnel, and the complexity…
Abstract
As businesses progress through their organizational lifecycle, many experience growing pains associated with increased volume, product line breadth, personnel, and the complexity associated with managing larger businesses. It is essential that the company have the ability to recognize these and develop methods of dealing with them if they expect to survive. While many authors address the area of how to grow in terms of marketing, product development and financing and, while they note that there are risks to rapid growth, little information is available on how to recognize trouble spots, analyze them and accommodate them. The product profile is a management tool that helps decision‐makers to identify problems that have evolved through time and to identify impending opportunities on the horizon. Discusses the advantages of adapting product profiling to services to identify and accommodate growing pains and then provides an example of its successful use by a service company.
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Scott R. Swenseth, John R. Olson and Peter B. Southard
Manufacturing strategy literature continues to be split between process and content. Content has continually evolved and more precise applications have been developed. Process has…
Abstract
Manufacturing strategy literature continues to be split between process and content. Content has continually evolved and more precise applications have been developed. Process has lagged behind because of the difficulty in conducting research in this area. Little has been developed since the introduction of the product profiling mechanism. This study presents a methodology that extends the product profiling technique, resulting in more appropriate content recommendations. Two case examples, one manufacturing operation and one service operation, are provided to demonstrate the improved performance of the product profile when combined with simulation. In both cases, problem symptoms caused the organization to seek help in scheduling operations. Cursory study clearly indicated that neither organization had a scheduling problem, but rather, an improper relationship between the marketing and operations functions of the organizations. In both cases, it was possible to demonstrate, with product profiling, the lack of coordination between the marketing and operating functions of the organizations. Product profiling alone, however, was not sufficient to convince either organization to implement proper solutions. When changes were supplemented with a graphical simulation analysis, both organizations agreed with the recommendations and began implementing change.
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This paper aims (1) to create a sense of resonance with Maida Herman Solomon and her ideas, (2) to inspire a reconsideration of current management history (the unquestioned block…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims (1) to create a sense of resonance with Maida Herman Solomon and her ideas, (2) to inspire a reconsideration of current management history (the unquestioned block box of dominant figures, dominant foci and dominant practices), (3) to bring Solomon’s contributions to clinical social work into present discourse in management and organizational studies and (4) to foster recognition for Solomon in her own field of social work, as forerunner in a developing profession. Guiding this study is the question: “What are Solomon’s key contributions and why is she overlooked?”
Design/methodology/approach
This paper features a novel methodology, ficto-feminism. The feminism in ficto-feminism is presented as ontology, epistemology, method and mode of writing. Ficto-feminism combines polemical (or prowoman writing) with aspects of collective biography, autoethnography and fictocriticism. As such, the paper contributes to the emerging feminist tradition of writing differently. The approach is an embodied and reflexive approach that engages with history to investigate the absence of women.
Findings
Maida Solomon was an educator, researcher, practitioner and advocate. Her contributions to the development and practice of clinical social work spanned over 60 years, and yet, she is little more than a footnote in the history of the field. Her contributions include authoring and implementing graduate programming, which continues to be the taken for granted training; penning some of the most seminal works and advancing theory; introducing academic and scientific approaches, which saw the field professionalize and adopt new standards; and helping to change the way that society thought about mental health and sexual health. A confluence of factors contributes to her marginalization and neglect: gender, ethnicity, the feminized field of social work and the stigmatized focus for her practice.
Originality/value
The paper combines assertive autobiographical and literary strategies to foreground an overlooked female leader in the field of clinical social work, namely, Maida Solomon. Drawing on biographical material, literature, media and archival material, this paper features a fictional but truthful conversation between the present-day author/writer/historian and the posthumous, historical protagonist (Maida Solomon). In so doing, the engagement with history is both one that deconstructs while reconstructing a historical account with both aesthetic and political implications.
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The growth of organized labor during the latter part of the nineteenth century triggered an organizational impulse on the part of employers across the country. Although some…
Abstract
The growth of organized labor during the latter part of the nineteenth century triggered an organizational impulse on the part of employers across the country. Although some employers’ associations began as “negotiatory” bodies engaged in collective bargaining, the vast majority of them shifted toward a more “belligerent” approach. Academic scholarship has generally focused on the belligerents at the national level. Recently, some scholars have begun to study organized employers at the community level, but they continue to feature the more typical staunchly anti-union associations. This study of Columbus, Ohio's master printers’ association reveals a different pattern of local labor relations during the years between 1887 and 1960 – an association that had generally smooth bargaining relationships with craft unions. Columbus’ conservative and sheltered economy enabled the longstanding cooperative shared printing craft culture to thrive. But changes in Columbus’ economy, shifts in larger patterns of industrial relations, the hard-line influence of the national employers’ association, and technological changes altered the context of local labor relations. The result was that, by 1960, the Columbus association sought the upper hand in labor relations by becoming a more traditional and belligerent employers’ association. This story of “latecomers” adds to our understanding of organized employer behavior under different historical periods and circumstances.
Bodo Steiner, Kevin Lan, Jim Unterschultz and Peter Boxall
The purpose of this paper is to explore drivers of alliance formation in a specialized supply chain from a manager’s perspective, focussing on firm-specific resources, resources…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore drivers of alliance formation in a specialized supply chain from a manager’s perspective, focussing on firm-specific resources, resources embedded in inter-firm relationships and capabilities under the control of the focal firm.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper focusses on the resource-based view to obtain insights from the analysis of a manager survey conducted in Canada’s beef sector, applying a logistic regression approach to study alliance formation.
Findings
In identifying significant roles for resource richness and diversification of resource usage, the analysis highlights the importance of resource characteristics underlying factor market imperfections as drivers of alliance formation in a single primary input supply chain. The results suggest that resource heterogeneity is important for alliance formation and organizational success in specialized supply chains.
Research limitations/implications
If previous alliance-related experience of managers, controlled for in the underlying cross-sectional survey, serves as an approximation for persistent unobservables impacting the alliance formation decision, we may face spurious state-dependence.
Practical implications
Managers interested in building compatible alliances in specialized single primary input supply chains may benefit from an improved understanding of the differential role of resource characteristics and resource heterogeneity for alliance formation, as these can function as a source of competitive advantage.
Originality/value
The analysis provides new insights from an individual manager’s perspective on alliance formation drivers in a specialized agri-food supply chain, thereby solidifying extant findings on alliance formation obtained in other sectors. The study contributes to the understanding of the role of resources in alliance formation with regard to prior relationship experience, resource heterogeneity and thus causal ambiguity, thereby also contributing to the debate of the role of relational capabilities vs firm-internal resources for sustained competitive advantage.
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Thomas Lager, Peter Samuelsson and Per Storm
In the process industries, it is essential to have a well-articulated manufacturing strategy within companies. However, to facilitate manufacturing strategy development, it is…
Abstract
Purpose
In the process industries, it is essential to have a well-articulated manufacturing strategy within companies. However, to facilitate manufacturing strategy development, it is important to start with a good characterisation of the material transformation system and company production capabilities. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
A grounded theory approach, with inspiration from configuration modelling, attempted to characterize the material transformation system as a set of variables. The variable development was based on a literature review and the knowledge base of five industry experts. Two exploratory mini-case studies were carried out, primarily to illustrate the use of the model, but additionally to test its industrial usability.
Findings
A set of 31 variables was developed, and related measures and scales were tentatively defined. Two mini-cases supported the usability of the model. The model, focussing on company generic process capabilities, is a conceptual taxonomy and the study’s theoretical contribution.
Research limitations/implications
The lucidity of the definitions and scales for the variables are open to further refinement, and the limited discussions of variable relationships in this study are addressed in an agenda for further research.
Practical implications
The model can be deployed as a facilitative instrument in the analysis of company material transformation systems and may serve as a platform in further discussions on companies’ strategy development.
Originality/value
The model is a new instrument for analysing company generic process capabilities and an effort to build new theory rather than to test an existing one.
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Monika Koller and Thomas Salzberger
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the temporal development of the customers' psychological state, described by a multitude of constructs, throughout the whole…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the temporal development of the customers' psychological state, described by a multitude of constructs, throughout the whole decision‐making process in a service context in order to derive ideas for customer‐focused benchmarking.
Design/methodology/approach
A combination of qualitative and quantitative data contributes to a better understanding of psychological phenomena during purchase decision making. The present longitudinal study investigates the consumers' psychological state during the decision‐making process considering services in tourism industry applying the diary method. Qualitative in‐depth investigation of individual case studies provides further information for interpreting the results of quantitative analyses which aim at measuring constructs such as perceived risk, cognitive dissonance (CD), satisfaction and arousal on a higher level of abstraction.
Findings
Findings show that qualitative and quantitative data not only complement one another but also their interaction provides additional information about the individual consumer decision‐making process. As the longitudinal quantitative analysis shows that CD does not completely dissolve over time and significantly influences the level of satisfaction, complaint behaviour and word‐of‐mouth, additional qualitative data help interpret these findings and derive more effective marketing implications.
Research limitations/implications
Implications for the marketing‐mix of service companies in general and travel agencies in particular are derived. The paper underlines the potential of innovational methodological approaches in marketing research.
Originality/value
The paper introduces a longitudinal mixed‐method approach to collect customer‐focused information relevant for benchmarking purposes of service companies. It contributes to scientific knowledge of decision making in general and CD in particular.
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Salvatore Polizzi, Fabio Lupo and Sara Testella
Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP) is defined as “an ongoing and periodic assessment of the entire spectrum of audit and consulting work performed by the internal…
Abstract
Purpose
Quality Assurance and Improvement Program (QAIP) is defined as “an ongoing and periodic assessment of the entire spectrum of audit and consulting work performed by the internal audit (IA) activity”. QAIP is an important component of internal auditors’ commitment to improve internal audit (IA) quality. The pressure towards improvement is urgent for central banks, in light of the vulnerabilities of their IA functions identified by the International Monetary Fund. The authors analyse the professional standards and the literature on IA and QAIP, aiming to propose general considerations to enhance IA quality and to develop and maintain a QAIP, with reference to central banks, also shedding light on the synergies among IA, QAIP and total quality management (TQM).
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews the most relevant professional standards in light of the professional and academic literature regarding IA quality, QAIP and their relationship with TQM. The analysis of these sources represents an important step to identify general measures to improve IA quality and develop effective QAIP in central banks.
Findings
This analysis shows that it is important to understand the rationale behind the development of an IA function and its theoretical and practical foundation, especially for complex organisations such as central banks. In addition, the authors show that QAIP represents an important tool to exploit the synergies between TQM and IA. These synergies could result in higher levels of quality for the IA function and more effective implementation of TQM within the whole organisation. Lastly, the authors provide practical suggestions to support the implementation of an effective QAIP in central banks and to spread TQM philosophy within the organisation.
Originality/value
The authors contribute to the scant literature on IA quality and QAIP by focusing on central banks and shedding light on the relationship with TQM. Regardless of their importance, these topics have been largely neglected by the extant literature.