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Item set Oxford Bibliographies [Special Series]: Continuous Improvement in Education
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  • Operating Room: Relational Spaces and Microinstitutional Change in Surgery

    One of the great paradoxes of institutional change is that even when top managers in organizations provide support for change in response to new regulation, the employees whom new programs are designed to benefit often do not use them. This 15‐month ethnographic study of two hospitals responding to new regulation demonstrates that using these programs may require subordinate employees to challenge middle managers with opposing interests. The article argues that relational spaces—areas of isolation, interaction, and inclusion that allow middle‐manager reformers and subordinate employees to develop a cross‐position collective for change—are critical to the change process. These findings have implications for research on institutional change and social movements.

  • The Study of Identity As Cultural, Institutional, Organizational, and Personal Narratives: Theoretical and Empirical Integrations

    I argue that the study of narrative identity would benefit from more sustained and explicit attention to relationships among cultural, institutional, organizational, and personal narratives of identity. I review what is known about these different types of narrative identity and argue that these narratives are created for different purposes, do different types of work, and are evaluated by different criteria. After exploring the inherently reflexive relationships between and among these various narratives of identity, I conclude with demonstrating how examining these relationships would allow a more complete understanding of the mutual relevance of social problem construction and culture, of the work of social service organizations attempting to change clients' personal narratives, and the possibilities of social change. Exploring relationships between and among different types of narrative identity would yield a better understanding of how narratives work and the work narratives do.

  • Teachers’ Professional Community in Restructuring Schools

    Professional community among teachers, the subject of a number of recent major studies, is regarded as an ingredient that may contribute to the improvement of schools. The research reported in this article is grounded in the assumption that how teachers interact with each other outside of their classrooms may be critical to the effects of restructuring on students. The analysis focuses on the type of professional community that occurs within a school and investigates both the organizational factors that facilitate its development and its consequences for teachers? sense of responsibility for student learning. The findings suggest that wide variation in professional community exists between schools, much of which is attributable to both structural features and human resources characteristics, as well as school level. Implications for current school reform efforts are discussed.

  • Institutional Change in Toque Ville: Nouvelle Cuisine as an Identity Movement in French Gastronomy

    A challenge facing cultural‐frame institutionalism is to explain how existing institutional logics and role identities are replaced by new logics and role identities. This article depicts identity movements that strive to expand individual autonomy as motors of institutional change. It proposes that the sociopolitical legitimacy of activists, extent of theorization of new roles, prior defections by peers to the new logic, and gains to prior defectors act as identity‐discrepant cues that induce actors to abandon traditional logics and role identities for new logics and role identities. A study of how the nouvelle cuisine movement in France led elite chefs to abandon classical cuisine during the period starting from 1970 and ending in 1997 provides wide‐ranging support for these arguments. Implications for research on institutional change, social movements, and social identity are outlined.

  • Culture in Action: Symbols and Strategies

    Culture influences action not by providing the ultimate values toward which action is oriented, but by shaping a repertoire or "tool kit" of habits, skills, and styles from which people construct "strategies of action." Two models of cultural influence are developed, for settled and unsettled cultural periods. In settled periods, culture independently influences action, but only by providing resources from which people can construct diverse lines of action. In unsettled cultural periods, explicit ideologies directly govern action, but structural opportunities for action determine which among competing ideologies survive in the long run. This alternative view of culture offers new opportunities for systematic, differentiated arguments about culture's causal role in shaping action.

  • A Toolkit for Analyzing Corporate Cultural Toolkits

    The cultural and discursive underpinning of industries and markets has received growing attention in recent years. I use Ann Swidler's conceptualization of culture as toolkit, and Pierre Bourdieu's concept of habitus as the starting point to further this enterprise. The article illustrates a strategy for measuring and comparing the cultural toolkits in use by different actors in a larger field. The strategy allows quantitative comparisons of similarity at the level of large comprehensive toolkits instead of selective elements or inferred deeper dimensions. It also takes into account the embeddedness of actors’ cultural toolkits in the structures of larger social fields and the specificity of toolkits to communication contexts. While this analytic strategy is potentially applicable to any actor's toolkit in a recurring communication context, I use as an illustration the repertoires that different corporations in the pharmaceutical industry employ to account for their activities in their annual reports.

  • Managing Knowledge in Organizations: An Integrative Framework and Review of Emerging Themes

    In this concluding article to the Management Science special issue on “Managing Knowledge in Organizations: Creating, Retaining, and Transferring Knowledge,” we provide an integrative framework for organizing the literature on knowledge management. The framework has two dimensions. The knowledge management outcomes of knowledge creation, retention, and transfer are represented along one dimension. Properties of the context within which knowledge management occurs are represented on the other dimension. These properties, which affect knowledge management outcomes, can be organized according to whether they are properties of a unit (e.g., individual, group, organization) involved in knowledge management, properties of relationships between units or properties of the knowledge itself. The framework is used to identify where research findings about knowledge management converge and where gaps in our understanding exist. The article discusses mechanisms of knowledge management and how those mechanisms affect a unit's ability to create, retain and transfer knowledge. Emerging themes in the literature on knowledge management are identified. Directions for future research are suggested.

  • Accessing, Documenting, and Communicating Practical Wisdom: The Phronesis of School Leadership Practice

    Successful school leaders rely on a complex blend of knowledge, skill, theory, disposition, and values in their work to improve student learning. Recent research has called for methods to access, represent, and communicate what successful school leaders know. Aristotle’s concept of “phronesis,” or practical wisdom, captures the scope of such knowledge but also points out the difficulties of representing practical knowledge apart from the context of exercise. This article argues that the artifacts, such as policies, programs, and procedures, that school leaders develop and use can serve as occasions to document the expression of phronesis in context. Developing phronetic narratives of how successful leaders use artifacts to establish the conditions for improving student learning provides a significant resource to guide the learning of aspiring school leaders.

  • Within and Beyond Communities of Practice: Making Sense of Learning Through Participation, Identity and Practice

    Situated learning theory offers a radical critique of cognitivist theories of learning, emphasizing the relational aspects of learning within communities of practice in contrast to the individualist assumptions of conventional theories. However, although many researchers have embraced the theoretical strength of situated learning theory, conceptual issues remain undeveloped in the literature. Roberts, for example, argues in this issue that the notion of ‘communities of practice’– a core concept in situated learning theory – is itself problematic. To complement her discussion, this paper explores the communities of practice concept from several perspectives. Firstly, we consider the perspective of the individual learner, and examine the processes which constitute ‘situated learning’. Secondly, we consider the broader socio-cultural context in which communities of practice are embedded. We argue that the cultural richness of this broader context generates a fluidity and heterogeneity within and beyond communities. Finally, we argue that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish conceptually between the terms ‘participation’ and ‘practice’ because of occasional duplication of meaning. We propose, instead, a refinement of the definition to allow for greater conceptual clarity.

  • Study Designs for PDSA Quality Improvement Research

    Objective:  The purpose of this article is to discuss strengths and weaknesses of quasi-experimental designs used in health care quality improvement research. The target groups for this article are investigators in plan-do-study-act (PDSA) quality improvement initiatives who wish to improve the rigor of their methodology and publish their work and reviewers who evaluate the quality of research proposals or published work. Summary:  A primary purpose of PDSA quality improvement research is to establish a functional relationship between process changes in systems of health care and variation in outcomes. The time series design is the fundamental paradigm for demonstrating such functional relationships. The rigor of a PDSA quality improvement study design is strengthened using replication schemes and research methodology to address extraneous factors that weaken validity of observational studies. Conclusion:  The design of PDSA quality improvement research should follow from the purpose and context of the project. Improving the rigor of the quality improvement literature will build a stronger foundation and more convincing justification for the study and practice of quality improvement in health care.

  • Learning and Practicing Continuous Improvement: Lessons from the CORE Districts

    The education sector is embracing the hope that continuous improvement will lead to more beneficial student outcomes than standards-based reform and other approaches to policies and practice in prior decades. This report examines attempts in California to realize the potential of continuous improvement in some of the state’s largest districts. Policy Analysis for California Education and the CORE Districts, a nonprofit collaborative of eight urban school districts, have been engaged in a research-practice partnership since 2015. This report presents lessons learned from their collaboration in 2018-19, and is accompanied by three case studies that provide a more in-depth discussion of exemplary practices in two districts and one school. The report opens by briefly defining continuous improvement and tracing the history of the CORE Districts. It then focuses on two questions that are central if California’s schools and districts are to realize the potential of continuous improvement. Through interviews, observations of professional learning events and team meetings, and analysis of artifacts created through learning events and improvement work, PACE gleaned six lessons: What do we know about how to support educators in learning continuous improvement? Lesson 1: Embedding continuous improvement processes into the existing norms of schools is complex work; approaches to teaching it need to include cycles of practice and feedback to help educators apply complicated ideas in their own local contexts. Lesson 2: Participating in a series of workshops rarely provides people the depth of knowledge necessary to lead or teach continuous improvement. Lesson 3: Improvement teams need access to content area expertise as well as continuous improvement expertise. What conditions support continuous improvement in districts and schools? Lesson 4: Leaders used four key leadership moves to build an organization in which continuous improvement can thrive. Lesson 5: Districts can take deliberate steps to build a culture conducive to continuous improvement. Lesson 6: Structures and processes to break down silos and share information across organizational units do not inherently create continuous improvement, but they are foundational components that can support or hinder its progress. The report and related policy brief explain these lessons and implications for broader continuous work in California and beyond. The three related cases provide more detail on two districts and one school within CORE: Leadership that Supports Continuous Improvement: The Case of Ayer Elementary Bridging the Knowing-Doing Gap for Continuous Improvement: The Case of Long Beach Unified School District A Student-Centered Culture of Improvement: The Case of Garden Grove Unified School District

  • Carnegie Math Pathways 2015-2016 Impact Report: A Five-Year Review

    This report provides a description of the findings from two studies examining 2015-16 outcomes for students enrolled in Statway and Quantway, the accelerated developmental math

  • The Critical Role of a Well-Articulated, Coherent Design in Professional Development: An Evaluation of a State-Wide Two-Week Program for Mathematics and Science Teachers

    This evaluation study examined a state-wide professional development program composed of two institutes, one for mathematics teachers and one for science teachers, each spanning two weeks. The program was designed to help teachers transform their practice to align with Common Core State Standards for Mathematics and Next Generation Science Standards. Data from this mixed-methods design consisted of observations, interviews, focus groups, institute documents and participant surveys. Participants experienced inquiry-based, content-specific, focused grade-band sessions, yet in some ways results indicated that the experiences fell short of having a potentially transformative effect on classroom teaching. The evaluation used a professional development framework to analyze how a seemingly well-designed program became disconnected from the participants’ classroom teaching experience. Recommendations focus on ways for policy-makers, school leaders and professional development facilitators to use the professional development framework to bridge gaps identified by the evaluation.

  • Strengthening Developmental Education Reforms: Evidence on Implementation Efforts From the Scaling Innovation Project

    Edgecombe, N., Cormier, M. S., Bickerstaff, S., & Barragan, M. (2013). Strengthening Developmental Education Reforms: Evidence on Implementation Efforts From the Scaling Innovation Project (Working Paper No. 6; pp. 1–48). Community College Research Center.

  • Lesson Study: A Japanese Approach To Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning

    Fernandez, C., & Yoshida, M. (2004). Lesson Study: A Japanese Approach To Improving Mathematics Teaching and Learning. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781410610867

  • Using Design-Based Research to Improve the Lesson Study Approach to Professional Development in Camden (London)

    Brown, C., Taylor, C., & Ponambalum, L. (2016). Using Design-Based Research to Improve the Lesson Study Approach to Professional Development in Camden (London). London Review of Education. https://doi.org/10.18546/LRE.14.2.02

  • Japanese Lesson Study: Teacher Professional Development through Communities of Inquiry

    Doig, B., & Groves, S. (2011). Japanese Lesson Study: Teacher Professional Development through Communities of Inquiry. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 13(1), Article 1.

  • Implementing Japanese Lesson Study in Foreign Countries: Misconceptions Revealed

    Fujii, T. (2014). Implementing Japanese Lesson Study in Foreign Countries: Misconceptions Revealed. Mathematics Teacher Education and Development, 16(1), Article 1.

  • Reassessing the Principal's Role in School Effectiveness: A Review of Empirical Research, 1980-1995

    Hallinger, P., & Heck, R. H. (1996). Reassessing the Principal’s Role in School Effectiveness: A Review of Empirical Research, 1980-1995. Educational Administration Quarterly, 32(1), 5–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X96032001002

  • Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction

    Hiebert, J., & Stigler, J. W. (2017). Teaching Versus Teachers as a Lever for Change: Comparing a Japanese and a U.S. Perspective on Improving Instruction. Educational Researcher, 46(4), 169–176. https://doi.org/10.3102/0013189X17711899

  • System Learning in an Urban School District: A Case Study of Intra-District Learning

    Redding, C., Cannata, M., & Miller, J. M. (2018). System Learning in an Urban School District: A Case Study of Intra-District Learning. Journal of Educational Change, 19(1), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10833-017-9310-3

  • Poco a Poco: Leadership Practices Supporting Productive Communities of Practice in Schools Serving the New Mainstream

    Scanlan, M., Kim, M., Burns, M. B., & Vuilleumier, C. (2016). Poco a Poco: Leadership Practices Supporting Productive Communities of Practice in Schools Serving the New Mainstream. Educational Administration Quarterly, 52(1), 3–44. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013161X15615390

  • Examining Capacity for “Cross-Pollination” in a Rural School District: A Social Network Analysis Case Study

    Woodland, R. H., & Mazur, R. (2019). Examining Capacity for “Cross-Pollination” in a Rural School District: A Social Network Analysis Case Study. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 47(5), 815–836. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143217751077

  • Using Research to Improve College Readiness: A Research Partnership Between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute

    Phillips, M., Yamashiro, K., Farrukh, A., Lim, C., Hayes, K., Wagner, N., White, J., & Chen, H. (2015). Using Research to Improve College Readiness: A Research Partnership Between the Los Angeles Unified School District and the Los Angeles Education Research Institute. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 20(1–2), 141–168. https://doi.org/10.1080/10824669.2014.990562

  • Creating a Culture of Data Use for Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of an Edison Project School

    Sutherland, S. (2004). Creating a Culture of Data Use for Continuous Improvement: A Case Study of an Edison Project School. The American Journal of Evaluation, 25(3), 277–293. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ameval.2004.05.009

  • The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions

    Durlak, J. A., Weissberg, R. P., Dymnicki, A. B., Taylor, R. D., & Schellinger, K. B. (2011). The Impact of Enhancing Students’ Social and Emotional Learning: A Meta-Analysis of School-Based Universal Interventions. Child Development, 82(1), 405–432. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8624.2010.01564.x

  • Engaging Families in the High School Transition: Initial Findings From a Continuous Improvement Initiative

    Iver, M. A. M., Sheldon, S., Epstein, J., Rice, E., Iver, D. M., & Simmons, A. (2018). Engaging Families in the High School Transition: Initial Findings From a Continuous Improvement Initiative. School Community Journal, 28(1), 37–66.

  • Wise Feedback as a Timely Intervention for At-Risk Students Transitioning Into High School

    Thayer, A. J., Cook, C. R., Fiat, A. E., Bartlett-Chase, M. N., & Kember, J. M. (2018). Wise Feedback as a Timely Intervention for At-Risk Students Transitioning Into High School. School Psychology Review, 47(3), 275–290. https://doi.org/10.17105/SPR-2017-0021.V47-3

  • Lesson Study: An Approach to Increase the Competency of Out-of-Field Mathematics Teacher in Building the Students Conceptual Understanding in Learning Mathematics

    Amirullah, A. H. (2018). Lesson Study: An Approach to Increase the Competency of Out-of-Field Mathematics Teacher in Building the Students Conceptual Understanding in Learning Mathematics. Journal of Educational Sciences, 2(2), Article 2. https://doi.org/10.31258/jes.2.2.p.1-13

  • University Support of Secondary STEM Teachers Through Professional Development.

    Beaudoin, C. R., Johnston, P. C., Jones, L. B., & Waggett, R. J. (2013). University Support of Secondary STEM Teachers Through Professional Development. Education, 133(3), 330–340.

  • Lesson Study to Scale Up Research-Based Knowledge: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Fractions Learning

    Lewis, C., & Perry, R. (2017). Lesson Study to Scale Up Research-Based Knowledge: A Randomized, Controlled Trial of Fractions Learning. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education, 48(3), 261–299. https://doi.org/10.5951/jresematheduc.48.3.0261

  • Learning in Practice: Exploring the Use of Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles to Support Professional Learning

    Lozano, M. (2017). Learning in Practice: Exploring the Use of Plan-Do-Study-Act Cycles to Support Professional Learning [Ph.D., UCLA]. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/3mn1j51b

  • Lesson Study in Mathematics: Three Cases from Singapore

    This chapter reports mainly the mathematics research lessons component of a two-year intervention project (2006 and 2007) funded by the Centre for Research in Pedagogy and Practice (CRPP). The project team worked closely with a government school to implement Lesson Study as a teacher-directed form of instructional improvement. The chapter introduces the conceptual framework of cultural-historic activity theory and Wenger's community of practice and how they guide our intervention. It then examines the continuous improvement processes and teacher learning through three cases of mathematics research lessons conducted in three Lesson Study cycles. The topics cover long division, area and perimeter, and equivalent fractions in Primary 3 and 4. As the cases highlight, Lesson Study has become not only a powerful tool to bring together knowledge from diverse communities but also a rich site for the induction and mentoring of novice teachers. Researchers' learning from the implementation is equally powerful.

  • How Leaders Can Support Teachers with Data-Driven Decision Making: A Framework for Understanding Capacity Building

    Marsh, J. A., & Farrell, C. C. (2015). How Leaders Can Support Teachers with Data-Driven Decision Making: A Framework for Understanding Capacity Building. Educational Management Administration & Leadership, 43(2), 269–289. https://doi.org/10.1177/1741143214537229

  • Co-Constructors of Data, Co-Constructors of Meaning: Teacher Professional Development in an Age of Accountability

    Schnellert, L. M., Butler, D. L., & Higginson, S. K. (2008). Co-Constructors of Data, Co-Constructors of Meaning: Teacher Professional Development in an Age of Accountability. Teaching and Teacher Education, 24(3), 725–750. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2007.04.001

  • Involving Teachers in Data-Driven Decision Making: Using Computer Data Systems to Support Teacher Inquiry and Reflection

    Wayman, J. C. (2005). Involving Teachers in Data-Driven Decision Making: Using Computer Data Systems to Support Teacher Inquiry and Reflection. Journal of Education for Students Placed at Risk (JESPAR), 10(3), 295–308. https://doi.org/10.1207/s15327671espr1003_5

  • Raising Test Scores through the Continuous Improvement Model

    Weller, L. D., & Weller, S. J. (1998). Raising Test Scores through the Continuous Improvement Model. The Clearing House, 71(3), 159–164. https://doi.org/10.1080/00098659809599351

  • Total Quality Management In The Public Sector: An International Perspective

    This book provides: a clear understanding of the key concepts of Total Quality Management(TQM); a critical understanding of their relevance to the public sector; empirical evidence of TQM applications in government, health and education; and exploration of the public sector TQM possibilitites yet to be realized. It draws throughout on case examples from Britain, Canada, the USA and continental Europe which illustrate the application of TQM to the public sector.

  • Juran's Quality Handbook: The Complete Guide to Performance Excellence, Seventh Edition

    The cornerstone text onquality management and performance excellence – thoroughly revised to reflectthe latest challenges and developments The “body of knowledge” for the science ofquality management and performance excellence for more than half-a-century, Juran’s Quality Handbook has been completely updated to meetthe ever-changing needs of today’s business and quality professionals. Underthe guidance of a team of top experts, this authoritative resource demonstrateshow to apply the right methods for delivering superior results and achievingexcellence in any organization, industry, or country. Juran’s Quality Handbook, Seventh Edition provides you with a complete roadmap forthe discipline -- clearly written to make sure you know where you are in theprocess and what you must do to reach the next level. Within its pages, youwill find A-Z coverage – from key concepts, methods, research, and tools topractical applications on the job. Here’s why this is the best edition yet: • Updated chapters on Lean, Six Sigma and the Shingo Prize • NEW chapters on Risk Management and Building a Quality Management System • NEW material on the history of quality management • All ISO and other regulatory standards have been updated • NEW statistical tables, charts, and data • Examples and case studies throughout demonstrate how others have appliedthe methods and tools discussed in real-world situations

  • Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs

    #1 New York Times BestsellerLegendary venture capitalist John Doerr reveals how the goal-setting system of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs) has helped tech giants from Intel to Google achieve explosive growth—and how it can help any organization thrive. In the fall of 1999, John Doerr met with the founders of a start-up whom he'd just given $12.5 million, the biggest investment of his career. Larry Page and Sergey Brin had amazing technology, entrepreneurial energy, and sky-high ambitions, but no real business plan. For Google to change the world (or even to survive), Page and Brin had to learn how to make tough choices on priorities while keeping their team on track. They'd have to know when to pull the plug on losing propositions, to fail fast. And they needed timely, relevant data to track their progress—to measure what mattered.Doerr taught them about a proven approach to operating excellence: Objectives and Key Results. He had first discovered OKRs in the 1970s as an engineer at Intel, where the legendary Andy Grove ("the greatest manager of his or any era") drove the best-run company Doerr had ever seen. Later, as a venture capitalist, Doerr shared Grove's brainchild with more than fifty companies. Wherever the process was faithfully practiced, it worked.In this goal-setting system, objectives define what we seek to achieve; key results are how those top-priority goals will be attained with specific, measurable actions within a set time frame. Everyone's goals, from entry level to CEO, are transparent to the entire organization. The benefits are profound. OKRs surface an organization's most important work. They focus effort and foster coordination. They keep employees on track. They link objectives across silos to unify and strengthen the entire company. Along the way, OKRs enhance workplace satisfaction and boost retention.In Measure What Matters, Doerr shares a broad range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies, with narrators including Bono and Bill Gates, to demonstrate the focus, agility, and explosive growth that OKRs have spurred at so many great organizations. This book will help a new generation of leaders capture the same magic.

  • Systems Thinking in the Public Sector

    John Seddon's book correctly identifies why the present regime of measurements and targets is failing our citizens and customers. More importantly, it gives the reader a proven method by which to bring about real improvement in service performance and cost.

  • Building a Learning Organization

    Continuous improvement programs are proliferating as corporations seek to better themselves and gain an edge. Unfortunately, however, failed programs far outnumber successes, and improvement rates remain low. That’s because most companies have failed to grasp a basic truth. Before people and companies can improve, they first must learn. And to do this, they need to look beyond rhetoric and high philosophy and focus on the fundamentals. Three critical issues must be addressed before a company can truly become a learning organization, writes HBS Professor David Garvin. First is the question of ITAL-meaning: a well-grounded easy-to-apply definition of a learning organization. Second comes ITAL-management: clearer operational guidelines for practice. Finally, better tools for ITAL-measurement can assess an organization’s rate and level of learning. Using these “three Ms” as a framework, Garvin defines learning organizations as skilled at five main activities: systematic problem solving, experimentation with new approaches, learning from past experiences, learning from the best practices of others, and trans£erring knowledge quickly and efficiently throughout the organization. And since you can’t manage something if you can’t measure it, a complete learning audit is a must. That includes measuring cognitive and behavioral changes as well as tangible improvements in results. No learning organization is built overnight. Success comes from carefully cultivated attitudes, commitments, and management processes that accrue slowly and steadily. The first step is to foster an environment conducive to learning. Analog Devices, Chaparral Steel, Xerox, GE, and other companies provide enlightened examples.

  • Transforming the Balanced Scorecard from Performance Measurement to Strategic Management: Part I

  • The Toyota Way in Services: The Case of Lean Product Development

    Toyota's Production System (TPS) is based on “lean” principles including a focus on the customer, continual improvement and quality through waste reduction, and tightly integrated upstream and downstream processes as part of a lean value chain. Most manufacturing companies have adopted some type of “lean initiative,” and the lean movement recently has gone beyond the shop floor to white-collar offices and is even spreading to service industries. Unfortunately, most of these efforts represent limited, piecemeal approaches—quick fixes to reduce lead time and costs and to increase quality—that almost never create a true learning culture. We outline and illustrate the management principles of TPS that can be applied beyond manufacturing to any technical or service process. It is a true systems approach that effectively integrates people, processes, and technology—one that must be adopted as a continual, comprehensive, and coordinated effort for change and learning across the organization.

  • Six Sigma: A Goal-Theoretic Perspective

    Six Sigma is a phenomenon that is gaining wide acceptance in industry, but lacks a theoretical underpinning and a basis for research other than “best practice” studies. Rigorous academic research of Six Sigma requires the formulation and identification of useful theories related to the phenomenon. Accordingly, this paper develops an understanding of the Six Sigma phenomena from a goal theoretic perspective. After reviewing the goal theory literature, these concepts, when applied to Six Sigma, suggest some propositions for future research. This paper can help serve as a foundation for developing scientific knowledge about Six Sigma.

  • Systems Thinking and Organizational Learning: Acting Locally and Thinking Globally in the Organization of the Future

    To learn more rapidly and increase flexibility in a world of growing complexity and change, firms are experimenting with new modes of organization, new reward systems, and less authoritarian values — for example, reducing hierarchy, increasing local decision-making responsibility and individual incentives, and rewarding innovation. But local decision making and individual autonomy lead to management anarchy unless managers account for the interconnections and long-term side-effects of their local decisions. Laudable goals such as ‘empowering’ and ‘enabling’ individuals often prove counterproductive unless managers can act locally and think globally. Managers must become ‘systems thinkers’ as well as better learners. This paper reports on one approach to these issues: forming collaborative action research partnerships with corporations to 1) develop new tools to accelerate learning, and 2) test those tools in real organizations where managers face pressing issues. We argue that simulation is an important element of successful learning laboratories to develop systems thinking and promote organizational learning. A case study focused on improving quality and total cost performance in the insurance industry is presented to illustrate how these tools can both produce insight and focus change.

  • How to Root Out Waste and Pursue Perfection

    Lantech achieved unimaginable results by applying lean thinking to every aspect of its business.

  • Continuous Improvement as an Ideal in Health Care

    Imagine two assembly lines, monitored by two foremen. Foreman 1 walks the line, watching carefully. "I can see you all," he warns. "I have the means to measure your work, and I will do so. I will find those among you who are unprepared or unwilling to do your jobs, and when I do there will be consequences. There are many workers available for these jobs, and you can be replaced." Foreman 2 walks a different line, and he too watches. "I am here to help you if I can," he says. "We are in this together for the long . . .

  • Lean Health Care: What Can Hospitals Learn from a World-Class Automaker?

    Kim, C. S., Spahlinger, D. A., Kin, J. M., & Billi, J. E. (2006). Lean Health Care: What Can Hospitals Learn from a World-Class Automaker? Journal of Hospital Medicine, 1(3), 191–199. https://doi.org/10.1002/jhm.68

  • Learning to Walk Before We Try to Run: Adapting Lean for the Public Sector

    Radnor, Z., & Walley, P. (2008). Learning to Walk Before We Try to Run: Adapting Lean for the Public Sector. Public Money & Management, 28(1), 13–20. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9302.2008.00613.x