Peter Cronemyr

Process Management 1-2-3 – a maturity model and diagnostics tool

In this article, we provide an insight into Process Management that offers a simple hands-on method to improve Process Management. Organisations implementing ‘some modern’ management concept sometimes fail or do not achieve the expected results. From our own industrial experiences, we found that organisations implementing Process Management sometimes start off on a ‘too-advanced’ level without having fulfilled the necessary prerequisites. For that purpose, in this article, we present a Process Management maturity model developed in an environment of industrial and academic cooperation. In addition to the model, we present a diagnostics tool that has been developed together with several companies to be used by organisations to assess their current level of process maturity. By using this, it is the purpose that organisations could reduce their risk of starting off ‘too high’ and thus failing in their efforts.

Six Sigma diplomacy – the impact of Six Sigma on national patterns of corporate culture

Taking cultural aspects into account is seldom mentioned as a success factor in implementing Six Sigma. In this paper, we elaborate on the implications of implementing and applying Six Sigma in countries with different national cultures, especially in those with non-American cultures. Based on two longitudinal case studies, we show how to take cultural aspects into account when implementing Six Sigma, and also, how implementing Six Sigma influences the local national culture of the company. We argue that taking different aspects of national cultures into account when implementing Six Sigma within a global organisation will enhance understanding, cooperation and performance of the organisation.

Changing from a product to a process perspective for service improvements in a manufacturing company

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate service improvements in a manufacturing context.Design/methodology/approach – Action research at the gas turbine manufacturer Siemens was perfo ...

From expectations and needs of service customers to control chart specification limits

Purpose – The aim of this paper is to develop a model to help service organizations to set the specification limits according to the customer expectations.Design/methodology/approach – A review of ...

Practise what you preach: quality of education in education on quality

The quality of teaching should be the central theme in the education on quality management (QM). Delivering bad courses about QM would reduce the legitimacy of the subject, since we do not practise what we preach. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how the quality of education can be enhanced through effective course design based on quality thinking and higher education theory. The study covers three university courses in the field of QM; an introductory course in QM, and courses in Six Sigma and Lean Production, respectively. Each course has been analysed and described in terms of factors affecting student learning and the perceived quality of the courses. The impact of course design on examination results and student evaluation has been studied and compared to historical data. The study demonstrates that course design can have a profound impact on student learning as well as course evaluation. Analysis of the three examples provided in this paper indicates that the QM principles can effectively be used in course design processes. Attention to the principles presented in this paper facilitates the design of courses that enhance learning and ensure higher student satisfaction. The application of QM principles in higher education has a long theoretical tradition. This paper provides three strong examples of how this can be done in practise.

Measuring quality in elderly care: possibilities and limitations of the vignette method

Listening to citizens is seen as an important source of information about public service performance. In Sweden, to secure the quality of elderly care, the National Board of Health and Welfare conducts a yearly survey of in-home elderly care services and nursing homes. A central problem of the existing survey methodology is the interpersonal incomparability of survey responses due to differences in preferences and health conditions. One way to deal with this problem is to use the survey methodology with anchoring vignettes. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the possibilities and limitations of using anchoring vignettes as a general survey method and specifically to test the method for measuring elderly care quality. The vignettes were developed interactively with professionals working in elderly care and evaluated with 1600 users of in-home elderly care services and nursing homes. The results showed that anchoring vignettes reduce the impact of respondents’ personal characteristics on survey results. In general, anchoring vignettes give more robust answers that reduce the problem of incomparability. However, anchoring vignettes increase the complexity of the questionnaire and have limited value in elderly care. Our results indicate that the method might be applicable when using healthier and younger respondents.

Greening logistics by introducing process management– a viable tool for freight transport companies going green

ABSTRACT While the usage of process management within the freight transport industry is unknown and presumed low, it has been used within other sectors as an efficient approach for dealing with and fulfilling customer demands as well as environmental requirements. The purpose of this paper is to investigate how process management can enhance a customer focused greening in the transport and logistics sector. We present a literature review of the intersections of process management, freight transport and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, we conducted a case study of how two environmentally ambitious Swedish freight transport companies use process management to enhance environmental sustainability. We found that environmentally ambitious freight transport companies do not proactively use process management, and that workshops with topical experts and practitioners can be a way for introducing process management to enhance environmental sustainability in such companies.

Quality culture deployment – using behaviours to explain, diagnose and improve a quality culture

Purpose Today’s organisations face the challenge of measuring the right things and then using those measurements as a starting point to work with improved quality. The failure to generate a shared value base is pointed out as one main cause for the inability to effectively apply quality management and lean within organisations; thus, it appears central to measure these values. However, the measuring of values and behaviours seems to be missing within both concepts. Therefore, there is a need for a tool that measures not only quality values but also behaviours that support or obstruct a quality culture. The purpose of this paper is to describe how a measuring tool which measures quality culture can be designed and structured. Design/methodology/approach A project with the aim to measure and develop quality culture started in 2015 by three Swedish universities/institutes and seven organisations. During several workshops, quality values and supportive and obstructive behaviours were developed and described. This resulted in a survey where employees of the participating organisations ranked performance and importance of the described behaviours. The results were presented and discussed in a fourth workshop. Findings A framework of behaviours and a measurement tool for a quality culture are presented in this paper. Originality/value The framework of behaviours, supporting or obstructing a quality culture, is original and may be very useful to diagnose and develop a quality culture.