Johan Lilja

Obstacles to the creation of attractive quality

Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to contribute to the solution, and understanding, of the current lack of activity concerning the development of practices, such as engineering methods, for the creation of attractive quality. The current situation is clearly problematic given the important positive effects assigned to attractive quality in the literature.Design/methodology/approach – First, different descriptions of attractive quality are examined in order to determine whether there is a common understanding of the concept. Second, the ability to manage attractive quality creation in accordance to a proactive ideal is approached by an examination of the current ability to predict the occurrence of attractive quality.Findings – Two obstacles that currently hinder the development of practices for attractive quality creation are identified. The first obstacle is the diversity of meanings given to the concept of attractive quality, resulting in confusion about what to obtain. The second obstacle identifie...

Can selecting the right values help TQM implementation? A case study about organisational homogeneity at the Walt Disney Company

Total quality management (TQM) is often referred to as a value-based management philosophy, built on a set of core values. These TQM values should ideally be conformed to by all employees in order to achieve a thriving organisation. A strong organisational culture with shared core values can therefore be identified as of importance for a successful TQM implementation. This paper discusses how organisations can act to achieve shared values among co-workers. In theory, two strategies appear: to select people who appear to possess the desired values in the first place and to socialise employees once hired. When working with TQM, several examples of socialisation can be found in described techniques and tools, however the selection strategy seems to be both unapplied and underestimated. In order to find empirical examples, a case study was conducted at an organisation which is renowned for the way in which it works with values. A conclusion of this paper is that, as a complement to the use of socialisation, a selection strategy is proposed to achieve shared values in order to facilitate TQM implementation.

Commercial experiences from a customer perspective: Elaborated, defined and distinguished

Purpose – A new type of business offering is currently gaining much attention, a type which in some aspects appears to be distinct from goods and services. These offerings are usually denoted as commercial experiences and are claimed to provide higher customer value than other types of offerings as they, for example, engage customers in an inherently memorable way. The understanding of what constitutes commercial experiences is however still scant. The purpose of this paper is to take a closer look at the commercial experience concept from a customer perspective. The paper aims specifically at elaborating and defining commercial experiences as well as distinguishing them from goods and services.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on literature studies.Findings – The authors identify memorable as the fundamental distinctive characteristic for commercial experiences. Memorable events are then shown to be strongly emotional events. Finally the two‐factor structure of affect is used to show that ...

The challenge of integrating innovation and quality management practice

Following in the footsteps of ‘New Public Management’, where quality management and quality control have become widely implemented concepts among public authorities, there is now a subsequent government demand to also be innovative. However, integrating and achieving a balance between improved quality and increased innovation is not an easy task. Previous research indicates a complex and ambiguous relation, raising questions as to how to optimally combine these two approaches organisationally, operationally, and culturally. Is there an ‘edge of chaos’ where there is maximal flexibility for innovation while maintaining sufficient order for quality? The purpose of this paper is to examine the potential integration of innovation and quality management practice within the public sector. The paper is based on a multiple case study design, confronted with existing literature, and shows that the current quality management practice is perceived as being related to standardisation, leading to a decrease in the space for innovation. Second, that there is an expectation and belief that innovation and quality management can be handled in parallel and reinforce each other instead of being mutually detrimental.

A Two-Dimensional Perspective on Attractive Quality

Abstract Attractive quality has for two decades been accentuated as a strong driver of loyalty, word-of-mouth and saleability. Recent elaborations of the concept of attractive quality however point to obstacles to the development of quality practices, such as engineering methods, to support the creation of attractive quality in practice. One obstacle is the lack of explanations as to why certain aspects of an offer are perceived as an attractive quality. There is a need to understand why attractive quality occurs. This paper aims to address these obstacles by presenting the results of a search for mechanisms claimed to cause attractive quality in literature. As a result, the paper identifies and relates two fundamentally different mechanisms considered important for the generation of attractive quality. The need-based roots of attractive quality point at an explanation in terms of the satisfaction of high-level needs. This is in sharp contrast to the currently dominant explanation of attractive quality as the exceeding of expectations. The two mechanisms are further distinguished and related to each other resulting in the classification of three different types of attractive quality. The three types are designated as ‘Surprisers’, ‘Life Enrichers’, and ‘Attraction Boosters’. The ‘Life Enrichers’, which are defined as satisfying high-level needs of the customer, are highlighted as an important and promising area for future research.

Getting emotional about quality: questioning and elaborating the satisfaction concept

Consumption has generally become more fragmented, hedonic and individual specific, satisfying not only functional but also emotional needs. In parallel, customer satisfaction is now thought to be both a cognitive and affective response, and the closely related concept of job satisfaction is commonly seen as an emotional reaction. The reasoning within quality management does, however, still lean heavily toward cognitive judgements (i.e. performance ratings), the emotional component clearly being under explored. Further, performance variables have shown not to be significant in predicting satisfaction for certain “experience products”, the effect fully mediated by emotions. as a consequence a cognitive judgement based quality cocnept has lost its ability to predict satisfaction, which clearly contradicts with the modern quality definition, stressing quality as the ability to satisfy the customer. Emotions have however entered the quality discourse and it has been proposed that having customers that are merely feeling satisfied will not suffice. Instead, there has been a plethora of executive exhortations in the trade press calling on business to “delight the customer”. Strategies for doing so have however usually been imprecise and unclear, and the different drivers of delight and satisfaction are not well explored. This paper aims to complement the previous cognitive dominance by exploring the multiple emotional responses involved in customer satisfaction. A conclusion being that we currently are measuring something, in terms of satisfied, that is more or less independent of what we aim for, in terms of delight. It is also most likely that ‐ depending on the situation, product, and person – other positive and negative emotions are more important outcomes of purchase and usage than merely satisfaction. It is questioned whether a single, summary response such as satisfaction is feasible or even desirable.

Agencies, it’s Time to Innovate! : Exploring the current understanding of the Swedish government’s call for innovation

PurposeInnovation is currently at the top of many agendas worldwide: not only in the private sector, but also when it comes to increasing quality, efficiency, and effectiveness in public administra ...

Key enabling factors for organizational ambidexterity in the public sector

Purpose – The capability of an organization to perform not only incremental quality improvements to the existing processes and products but also innovative or radical improvements that explore new ...

Putting appreciative design into practice: A case study of a course evaluation and design process

Purpose – Appreciative inquiry (AI) is an inquiry into the “best of” what already exists in a system. Applying AI at the start of a design process gives a process that is very different from traditional design approaches, in other words “appreciative design” is achieved. The overall purpose of this paper is to explore and contribute to a process of putting appreciative design into practice.Design/methodology/approach – The researchers have, in their role as educational leaders, developed and applied a process for appreciative design within the context of the entrepreneurial educational program “Skarp Are, Business and product development” at Mid Sweden University.Findings – The process introduced is referred to as Appreciative Course Evaluation and Design (ACED). The benefits of ACED, found in comparison to conventional practice, include higher commitment by the course participants, lower risk in the design process, and increased student involvement in the evaluation and design process.Originality/value –...

Is innovation the future of quality management?: Searching for signs of quality and innovation management merging

Purpose Upcoming as well as mature industries are facing pressure as regards successfully managing operational excellence, and, at the same time, driving and managing innovation. Quality management concepts and practices’ ability to tackle this challenge have been questioned. It has even been suggested that there is a need to provide and promote an updated/changed, and even re-branded, version of Total Quality Management, merging quality management (QM) and innovation management (IM). Can such a shift then actually be spotted? The purpose of this paper is to explore and see if there are any signs suggesting that QM and IM actually are about to merge. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on literature reviews, document studies and interviews. Findings The paper highlights three signs indicating that QM and IM indeed are approaching each other, and that it is a movement driven from both sectors, e.g., in the work with new ISO-standards and the Toyota Kata framework. Originality/value The indicated development has fundamental and extensive practical implications. It will for example have to be followed by a similar merging of the two fields in the educational system, and in the competences of future managers.