Is lean a theory? Viewpoints and outlook

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Pär Åhlström ◽  
Pamela Danese ◽  
Peter Hines ◽  
Torbjørn H. Netland ◽  
Daryl Powell ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Private And Public ◽  
Public Sectors

PurposeLean remains popular in a wide range of private and public sectors and continues to attract a significant amount of research. However, most of this research is not grounded in theory. This paper presents and discusses different expert viewpoints on the role of theory in lean research and practice and provides guidelines for future research.Design/methodology/approachSeven experienced lean authors independently provide their views to the question “is Lean a theory?” before Rachna Shah summarizes the viewpoints and provides a holistic outlook for lean research.FindingsAuthors agree, disagree and sometimes agree to disagree. However, a close look reveals agreement on several key points. The paper concludes that Lean is not a theory but has plenty of theoretical underpinnings. Many lean-related theories provide promising opportunities for future research.Originality/valueAs researchers, we are asked to justify our research drawing on “theory,” but what does that mean for a practice-driven phenomenon such as lean? This paper provides answers and directions for future research.

scholarly journals Organisational and professional challenges amid the evolution of sustainability reporting: a theoretical framework and an agenda for future research

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandro Lai ◽  
Riccardo Stacchezzini
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Sustainability Reporting ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Professional Capital ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Corporate Reporting ◽  
Professional Challenges ◽  
Reporting Practice

Purpose This paper aims to trace subsequent steps of the sustainability reporting evolution in terms of changes in the organisation fields and professional jurisdictions involved. As such, it highlights the (interrelated) organisational and professional challenges associated with the progressive incorporation of “sustainability” within corporate reporting. Design/methodology/approach The paper draws on Suddaby and Viale’s (2011) theorisation of how professionals reshape organisational fields to highlight how organisational spaces, actors, rules and professional capital evolve alongside the incorporation of sustainability within corporate reporting. Findings The paper shows organisational spaces, actors, rules and professional capital mobilised during the recent evolution of sustainability reporting, starting from a period in which there was no space for sustainability, to more recent periods in which sustainability gained increasing momentum beyond initial niches, and culminating in more integrated forms of sustainability reporting. Research limitations/implications Although the analysis is limited to empirical evidence collected by prior research and practice on sustainability reporting, the paper offers a view to imagine how the incorporation of sustainability within corporate reporting relies on and affects organisational fields and professional jurisdictions. Originality/value The paper offers a lens to interpret corporate and professional challenges associated with the more recent evolutions of sustainability reporting practice and standard setting. It also allows framing the papers accepted in the special issue on “new challenges in sustainability reporting” and concludes by suggesting an agenda for future research.

scholarly journals Fresh perspectives on customer experience

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (6/7) ◽  
pp. 430-435 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janet R. McColl-Kennedy ◽  
Anders Gustafsson ◽  
Elina Jaakkola ◽  
Phil Klaus ◽  
Zoe Jane Radnor ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Agenda ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Customer Experience ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Dynamic Nature ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research Questions ◽  
Advance Theory ◽  
Over Time

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide directions for future research on: broadening the role of customers in customer experience; taking a practice-based approach to customer experience; and recognizing the holistic, dynamic nature of customer experience across all touch points and over time. Design/methodology/approach – The approach is conceptual identifying current gaps in research on customer experience. Findings – The findings include a set of research questions and research agenda for future research on customer experience. Originality/value – This research suggests fresh perspectives for understanding the customer experience which can inspire future research and advance theory and managerial practice.

Power asymmetry, egalitarianism and team learning – Part 1: conceptualizing the moderating role of environmental hardship

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (5) ◽  
pp. 389-401 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruchi Sinha ◽  
Christina Stothard
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Team Learning ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Power Dynamics ◽  
Power Asymmetry ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Military Teams ◽  
Moderating Role

Purpose This paper aims to understand the effects of team power asymmetry (hierarchy) on team learning. Design/methodology/approach Literature suggests that power asymmetry can hurt team learning due to unequal interactions. The authors integrate the situated focus theory of power and the theory of adversarial growth to propose that environmental hardship can moderate this relationship. Such that, under environmental hardship there is a shift in power relations within hierarchical teams, such that power asymmetry positively relates to team learning via increased team egalitarianism (interactional equality). Findings The study is presented in two parts. Part 1 reviews the literature and builds the theoretical arguments for the conceptual model, while Part 2 empirically examines the model on a sample of military teams. In Part 1, the authors propose a theoretically derived model and directions for future research in team power, dynamics and learning. Research limitations/implications It provides directions to empirically validate a contingency-based model to resolve the dilemma of creating equality and high levels of team learning in hierarchical teams. Originality/value The conceptual model and hypotheses contribute to the team learning literature by theoretically clarifying the conditions under which power asymmetry is likely to improve team learning.

Customer dominant value formation in service

2013 ◽  
Vol 25 (2) ◽  
pp. 104-123 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristina Heinonen ◽  
Tore Strandvik ◽  
Päivi Voima
Keyword(s):  
Value Creation ◽  
Customer Value ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Conceptual Analysis ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Service Strategy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Practical Implications ◽  
Contextual Reality

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to extend current discussions of value creation and propose a customer dominant value perspective. The point of origin in a customer‐dominant marketing logic (C‐D logic) is the customer, rather than the service provider, interaction or the system. The focus is shifted from the company's service processes involving the customer, to the customer's multi‐contextual value formation, involving the company.Design/methodology/approachValue formation is contrasted to earlier views on the company's role in value creation in a conceptual analysis focusing on five central aspects. Implications of the proposed characteristics of value formation compared to earlier approaches are put forward.FindingsThe paper highlights earlier hidden aspects on the role of a service for the customer. It is proposed that value is not always an active process of creation; instead, value is embedded and formed in the highly dynamic and multi‐contextual reality and life of the customer. This leads to a need to look beyond the line of visibility focused on visible customer‐company interactions, to the invisible and mental life of the customer. From this follows a need to extend the temporal scope, from exchange and use even further to accumulated experiences in the customer's life and ecosystem.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper is conceptual. It discusses and presents a customer‐dominant value perspective and suggests implications for empirical research and practice.Practical implicationsAwareness of the mechanism of the customer value formation process provides companies with new insight on the service strategy, service design and new service innovations.Originality/valueThe paper contributes by extending the value construct through a new customer dominant value perspective, recognizing value as multi‐contextual and dynamic based on customers' life and ecosystem. The findings mark out new avenues for future research.

Spiritual quotient towards organizational sustainability: the Islamic perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 163-170 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sohail Akhtar ◽  
Mohd Anuar Arshad ◽  
Arshad Mahmood ◽  
Adeel Ahmed
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Well Being ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Organizational Sustainability ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Spiritual Awareness ◽  
Islamic Perspective ◽  
Conceptual Paper ◽  
The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of spiritual quotient (SQ) on the organisational sustainability from the Islamic perspective. Till date, many organisations around the world are facing environmental, social and economic issues affecting their organisational sustainability. Design/methodology/approach The present paper is conceptual paper based on literature review on employee’s behavioural issues and role of SQ for organisational sustainability. Findings This present paper argues that SQ must be considered as the important factor for employee development in the organisation. It develops spiritual awareness among employees which enhances their productivity within the organisation. Furthermore, SQ is necessary means of identifying and harnessing deeper inner resources with the capacity to care for the well-being of the organisation and advance its development. Research limitations/implications The paper suggests SQ and its multi-dimensions with the implication for future research in organisational sustainability. Originality/value The paper discusses the development of the concept of SQ from the Islamic perspective.

Interpretation and tourism: holy grail or emperor’s robes?

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 462-476 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gianna Moscardo
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Management Tool ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Limited Evidence ◽  
Critical Perspective ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Academic Literature ◽  
Tourism Management ◽  
Heritage Interpretation

Purpose – This paper aims to address the question – is heritage interpretation an effective tool in tourism? Design/methodology/approach – The author takes a critical stance seeking to identify and evaluate key assumptions and questions about the nature and effectiveness of heritage interpretation as a tourism management tool. Findings – There are significant gaps in the available research into interpretation and in those areas that have been studied, there is only limited evidence that interpretation is effective. There are few important findings in this area and even where there are some sound and useful conclusions, they still do not address some of the more fundamental concerns about interpretation more broadly. Research limitations/implications – The paper identifies a set of topics for future research based on the outcomes of the review and consideration of the critiques of interpretation that could be used to improve and extend interpretation in tourism. Originality/value – By taking a critical perspective on interpretation and questioning the untested and implicit assumptions about the nature and role of this activity within tourism, the paper identifies issues relevant to the conduct of tourism research more generally that have been given little attention in the academic literature to date.

Innovation and Chinese HRM research and practice

2013 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 105-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
Greg G. Wang ◽  
David Lamond ◽  
Yichi Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Organizational Level ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Conceptual Clarity ◽  
Innovation Ability ◽  
Creativity And Innovation

Purpose – This article aims to highlight the importance of creativity and innovation in Chinese HRM research and practice. The authors first seek to bring some conceptual clarity to the term “innovation”, especially in relation to the notion of creativity. The authors then discuss Chinese HRM research and policies and practices associated with innovation. The authors conclude the article by introducing the forum articles that constitute this issue of the journal. Design/methodology/approach – Literature review and analysis. Findings – The authors discuss the conceptual difference and similarity between innovation and creativity. The literature analysis shows that Chinese HRM research is in a transitioning stage from local private novelty to global novelty, and innovation at individual and organizational level is determined by a sound national innovation system (NIS) that either fosters or hinders the overall ability of innovation in a sub-system. Originality/value – The article differentiates creativity and innovation conceptually and specifies the critical role of NIS in fostering innovation ability at individual and organizational levels.

Metaphors we manage and develop quality by

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 405-416
Author(s):  
Johan Lilja ◽  
Pernilla Ingelsson ◽  
Kristen Snyder ◽  
Ingela Bäckström ◽  
Christer Hedlund
Keyword(s):  
Quality Management ◽  
Literature Review ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Dynamic Properties ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Critical Discussion ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Selection Of

Purpose Metaphors are a powerful and human way of understanding and experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another. In quality management (QM), several metaphors are used to describe and bring to life the often-abstract QM concepts and systems. These metaphors are of great importance for how QM is understood, communicated and practiced. However, the metaphors of QM have seldom been systematically screened or put in focus, neither the topic of a critical discussion. The purpose of this paper is hence to contribute with a screening of the metaphors currently used, within QM literature and in practice among QM leaders, and then elaborate on their potential for improvement and development. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on a literature review combined with interviews of QM leaders. Findings The paper highlights that the current QM metaphors provide intuitive associations to properties such as stability, shelter, and structure, but not to the important dynamic properties of QM, such as learning, or to the critical role of people in QM. What can be seen as core properties of QM are communicated by texts or labels added on to metaphors with properties that often are in sharp contrast to them. The paper also provides suggestions for further improvements and development. Originality/value The paper highlights the area of metaphors within QM as an important area for future research. It also provides insights concerning the successful use and selection of metaphors in future QM practice.

scholarly journals An ideological analysis of sustainable careers: identifying the role of fantasy and a way forward

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Matthijs Bal ◽  
Lee Matthews ◽  
Edina Dóci ◽  
Lucy P. McCarthy
Keyword(s):  
Design Methodology ◽  
Current Paper ◽  
Future Research ◽  
General Interest ◽  
Theoretical Understanding ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Individual Agency ◽  
The Individual

PurposeScholarly and general interest in sustainable careers is flourishing. Sustainable careers are focused on the long-term opportunities and experiences of workers across dynamic employment situations, and are characterized by flexibility, meaning and individual agency. The current paper analyzes and challenges the underlying ideological assumptions of how sustainable careers are conceptualized and advocates the inclusion of the ecological meaning of sustainability and the notion of dignity into the sustainable careers concept.Design/methodology/approachUsing Slavoj Žižek's (1989, 2001) conceptualization of ideology as fantasy-construction, the authors explore how the use of sustainable careers is influenced by fantasies about the contemporary workplace and the role of the individual in the workplace. This is a conceptual method.FindingsThe authors argue that the concept of sustainable careers is grounded in the neoliberal fantasy of the individual. The paper concludes by presenting an alternative concept of sustainable careers grounded in a dignity-perspective on sustainability, which offers an alternative theoretical understanding of sustainable careers in the contemporary workplace, sharpening its contours and usefulness in theorizing careers.Originality/valueThis paper is the first to systematically analyze the use and conceptualization of sustainable careers in the literate and to expose the ideological underpinnings of the concept. Propositions are developed to be explored by future research.

A dialogic account of reader–text interactions

2015 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-349 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis S. Davis ◽  
Dot McElhone ◽  
F. Blake Tenore
Keyword(s):  
Reading Comprehension ◽  
Design Methodology ◽  
Meaning Making ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Research And Practice ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Moment

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a conceptualization of reading comprehension that extends beyond the traditional cognitive viewpoint on comprehension common in the field. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on literature and theory from various perspectives (cognitive, sociocultural and critical), the authors propose a conceptual heuristic that can inform future scholarship. Findings – Using four foundational principles of reader–text interactions as a starting point (non-neutrality, tethered polysemy, variable agency and unruliness), the authors describe reader–text interactions in terms of the tethers/resources that are brought into the interaction, the moment-to-moment improvisation that occurs when readers meet a text and the changes at the intra- and interpersonal levels that result from and influence future reader–text interactions. Originality/value – The conceptualization can inform future research and practice in literacy by situating meaning making within a broader understanding of the processes and consequences of textual interaction.

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