Adopting new ways of working in small and medium-sized enterprises: findings from interventions in 12 European companies

Abstract

This paper elaborates on factors to consider in order for interventions (activities aimed at introducing new ways of working through a series of focused activities in an organisation) to lead to long-term effects inside SMEs. The purpose of it is to describe how interventions can be carried out in order for small and medium-sized companies (SMEs) to adopt new ways of working by understanding the context, process and content of an intervention. The results of this study suggest that in designing interventions for the SMEs, the context aspects of an intervention must be carefully considered. Not only is the process or context of an intervention important, but so is the content. As a consequence, we suggest content that accomplishes the following: 1) supports the formulation of strategies; 2) encourages dialogue; and 3) uses company data. The paper is based on a multiple case study of twelve SMEs from six European countries undergoing similar interventions within the FutureSME project. These long-term relationships within a largescale project have provided access and a rare opportunity to conduct research on this often overlooked business sector. The empirical data has been collected through company presentations, structured reports, and narratives. The material has been subject to a cross-case analysis.

Understanding Solution Quality

“…These improvement programmes emphasise different interventions, that are seen as activities aiming at introducing new ways of working through a set of practices and techniques; for instance, control charts and Pareto-analysis (Assarlind et al 2013;Dean and Bowen 1994;Hackman and Wageman 1995;Llopis and José Tarí 2003). In the present thesis, the interventions steer the practices and techniques that, in turn, influence a change in the principle being emphasised.…”

“…That is, employee-oriented providers can change their orientation towards processes. However, this can only be accomplished after carefully chosen interventions that target a specific principle are conducted (Assarlind et al 2013). For example, interventions aiming at a change of a principle comprising external activities will improve the performance of that principle (Johansson, Witell, and Rönnbäck 2013).…”

“…In this thesis, the practices and techniques are steered by interventions used to improve a principle (Hackman and Wageman 1995); see Figure 3. Interventions are seen as activities that aim at introducing new ways of working through a series of practices (activities such as analysing processes or collecting customer information) and techniques, such as step-by-step methods (Assarlind et al 2013;Dean and Bowen 1994;Done, Voss, and Rytter 2011). Therefore, interventions are used to realise a change in a principle.…”

“…This is reflected in the interventions used to improve quality. An intervention is seen as activities that aim at introducing new ways of working through a series of practices and techniques (Assarlind et al 2013;Dean and Bowen 1994;Done, Voss, and Rytter 2011;Hackman and Wageman 1995). These are supporting internal activities, while as support for activities taking place in the customer's processes is missing.…”

Introducing the Hoshin Kanri strategic management system in manufacturing SMEs

“…This article focuses on the first phase of an implementation process where the strategic management system is introduced by externals to top managers in manufacturing SMEs. This intervention approach is rather common (Assarlind et al, 2013). However, what is not so common is the research integration into the intervention process, hereon labeled as assistance support-based research (Gibb and Scott, 1985).…”