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Organizing Viable Development Work in Operations

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Innovative Quality Improvements in Operations

Part of the book series: International Series in Operations Research & Management Science ((ISOR,volume 255))

Abstract

The aim of this chapter is to give an account of and discuss how viable development work can be organized and engage employees on all levels of an organization, which, depending on the specific needs, enables the emergence of both exploitation and exploration. A further aim is to describe the relationship between how development work is carried out and the opportunities afforded by such work for continuous learning of development work competence. The empirical material contains several examples of how employees are committed to improving their own operations, which in itself is an important prerequisite for a continuous work-integrated learning. However, the empirical findings presented in this chapter indicate that this is not a sufficient condition for the long-term development of skills relevant to pursuing structured development work. One conclusion to draw is that development work needs to be treated as a domain-specific competence in itself, which in turn needs to be distributed throughout the organization.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Lean Six Sigma is an adaptation of the principles from lean production and Six Sigma. The latter was developed by the Motorola Company. Within the practice of Six Sigma several levels of experts are differentiated: Master Black Belts, Black Belts, Green Belts, and White Belts.

  2. 2.

    A3 methodology refers to a specific kind of methodology for problem solving and originates from the Toyota Production System.

  3. 3.

    DMAIC is an acronym for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control and originates from Six Sigma.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden

    Peter E. Johansson

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  1. Peter E. Johansson
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Correspondence to Peter E. Johansson .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden

    Tomas Backström

  2. School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden

    Anders Fundin

  3. School of Innovation, Design and Engineering, Mälardalen University, Eskilstuna, Sweden

    Peter E. Johansson

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Johansson, P.E. (2017). Organizing Viable Development Work in Operations. In: Backström, T., Fundin, A., Johansson, P. (eds) Innovative Quality Improvements in Operations. International Series in Operations Research & Management Science, vol 255. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-55985-8_4

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