Towards Sustainable Improvement Systems

Abstract

Improvements in general and sustainable improvements in particular are problematic areas. The failure rate is high, figures in the vicinity of 70 percent are often mentioned, but why is it so difficult to achieve sustainable improvement systems? The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to understanding of the process and its mechanisms in creating a sustainable improvement system. The research questions are: What is the process for creating a sustainable improvement system?  What mechanisms influence the sustainability of improvement systems?  How do the different mechanisms influence the sustainability of improvement systems?This dissertation is beyond searching for critical success factors for sustainable improvement systems but rather to identify and investigate mechanisms. Since mechanisms operate within a specific system they are by definition context dependent which critical success factors are not.The method used to fulfil the purpose was a series of case studies. In total 13 cases has been studied through interviews, participating in meetings, working in the organisation and shadowing.The research showed that there are major differences between different organisations in how they achieve a sustainable improvement system, despite this it was possible to a build a generic model. The model consists of three phases and three states.The phases are initiation-transition-sustain. Each phase has a certain state that need to be reached before the next phase can start. The first state which is the outcome of the first phase is that the employees regard the changes as beneficial for them. The second state is that the employees have changed their thinking and behaviour and the third state is that the improvement system is sustainable. SammanfattningFörbättringar i allmänhet och uthålliga förbättringar i synnerhet är problematiska områden. Andelen misslyckanden är hög, siffror kring 70 procent nämns ofta, men varför är det svårt att uppnå långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringar och förbättringssystem? Syftet med denna avhandling är att bidra till förståelse av processen för att skapa långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringssystem. Forskningsfrågorna är: Vilken är processen för att skapa ett uthålligt förbättringssystem?  Vilka mekanismer påverkar uthålligheten hos förbättringssystem?  Hur påverkar de olika mekanismerna förbättringssystemens uthållighet?Denna avhandling går bortom att söka efter kritiska framgångsfaktorer för långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringssystem utan identifierar och undersöker mekanismer. Eftersom mekanismer verkar i ett specifikt system är de definitionsmässigt kontextuella vilket kritiska framgångsfaktorer inte är.Metoden som använts för att uppfylla syftet är en serie fallstudier. Totalt 13 fall har studerats genom intervjuer, deltagande i möten, arbete i organisationen och skuggning.Avhandlingen visar att det finns stora skillnader mellan hur olika organisationer uppnår långsiktigt uthålliga förbättringssystem, trots detta var det möjligt att bygga en generell modell, denna best...

Using design thinking to support value-based leadership for sustainable quality development

“…He contends that a significant key factor for business success today is the presence and use of values for building sustainable quality development. This message echoes others such as Laszlo (2008) and Sapru and Schuchard (2011), Swartling (2013), who have been examining important relationships between sustainability and quality management. In their work, they have found a significant relationship between leaders who integrate values such as respect for people and zero waste, with quality development; the greater the presence of value, the more sustainable the level of quality.…”

“…This is in line with Boyatzis and McKee (2005), who talk about the importance of helping leaders build cultures of resonance rather than dissonance. Participants also recognized a positive side-effect: they believed would result in the form of employee engagement and shared decision making if they had the opportunity to focus on long-term development, once again echoing Swartling's (2013) notion that sustainability must be seen as a long-term process.…”