Browsing by Author "Farris, Jennifer A."

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    Critical Success Factors for Sustaining Kaizen Event Outcomes
    Glover, Wiljeana Jackson (Virginia Tech, 2010-04-05)
    A Kaizen event is a focused and structured improvement project, using a dedicated cross-functional team to improve a targeted work area, with specific goals, in an accelerated timeframe. Kaizen events have been widely reported to produce positive change in business results and human resource outcomes. However, it can be difficult for many organizations to sustain or improve upon the results of a Kaizen event after it concludes. Furthermore, the sustainability of Kaizen event outcomes has received limited research attention to date. This research is based on a field study of 65 events across eight manufacturing organizations that used survey data collected at the time of the event and approximately nine to eighteen months after the event. The research model was developed from Kaizen event practitioner resources, Kaizen event literature, and related process improvement sustainability and organizational change literature. The model hypothesized that Kaizen Event Characteristics, Work Area Characteristics, and Post-Event Characteristics were related to Kaizen event Sustainability Outcomes. Furthermore, the model hypothesized that Post-Event Characteristics would mediate the relationship between Kaizen Event and Work Area Characteristics and the Sustainability Outcomes. The study hypotheses were analyzed through multiple regression models and generalized estimating equations were used to account for potential nesting effects (events within organizations). The factors that were most strongly related to each Sustainability Outcome were identified. Work Area Characteristics learning and stewardship and experimentation and continuous improvement and Post-Event Characteristics performance review and accepting changes were significant direct or indirect predictors of multiple Sustainability Outcomes and these findings were generally supported by the literature. There were also some unanticipated findings, particularly regarding the modeling of Sustainability Outcomes result sustainability and goal sustainability, which appear to illustrate potential issues regarding how organizations define and track the performance of Kaizen events over time and present areas for future research. Overall, this study advances academic knowledge regarding Kaizen event outcome sustainability. The findings also present guidelines so that practitioners may better influence the longer-term impact of Kaizen events on their organizations. The research findings may also extend to other improvement activities, thus presenting additional areas for future work.
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    An Empirical Investigation of Kaizen Event Effectiveness: Outcomes and Critical Success Factors
    Farris, Jennifer A. (Virginia Tech, 2006-12-18)
    This research presents results from a multi-site field study of 51 Kaizen event teams in six manufacturing organizations. Although Kaizen events have been growing in popularity since the mid 1990s, to date, there has been no systematic empirical research on the determinants of Kaizen event effectiveness. To address this need, a theory-driven model of event effectiveness is developed, drawn from extant Kaizen event practitioner articles and related literature on projects and teams. This model relates Kaizen event outcomes to hypothesized key input factors and hypothesized key process factors. In addition, process factors are hypothesized to partially mediate the relationship between input factors and outcomes. Following sociotechnical systems (STS) theory, both technical and social (human resource) aspects of Kaizen event performance are measured. Relationships between outcomes, process factors and input factors are analyzed through regression, using generalized estimating equations (GEE) to account for potential correlation in residuals within organizations. The research found a significant positive correlation between the two social system outcomes (attitude toward Kaizen events and employee gains in problem-solving knowledge, skills and attitudes). In addition, the research found significant positive correlations between the social system outcomes and one technical system outcome (team member perceptions of the impact of the Kaizen event on the target work area). However, none of the three technical system outcomes (employee perceptions of event impact, facilitator ratings of event success and actual percentage of team goals achieved) were significantly correlated. In addition, the research found that each outcome variable had a unique set of input and process predictors. However, management support and goal difficulty were a common predictors of three out of five outcomes. Unexpected findings include negative relationships between functional diversity, team and team leader Kaizen event experience, and action orientation and one or more outcomes. However, many of the findings confirmed recommendations in Kaizen event practitioner articles and the project and team literature. Furthermore, support for the mediation hypothesis was found for most outcome measures. These findings will be useful both for informing Kaizen event design in practicing organizations and for informing future Kaizen event research.
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    An Empirical Investigation of Performance Measurement System Use and Organizational Performance
    Chearskul, Pimsinee (Virginia Tech, 2010-12-15)
    This study contributes to the performance measurement (PM) literature by providing validated measures of PM system use and increased understanding of the impact of PM use on organizational outcomes. The purpose of this study was to articulate and test the relationships between PM system use, organizational learning, and organizational performance by taking into account the effects of PM-related technical factors (namely, PM system maturity and review process (RP) maturity). The concept of PM use was explored through the examination of its underlying processes, as reflected in the literature and two case studies, and a set of practices delineating PM use processes were proposed. Following a scale development approach, a measurement instrument of PM use was developed and validated with empirical data collected through a web-based questionnaire. The results from factor analysis showed the need to revise the initial set of PM use practices into five dimensions: monitoring, problem-finding, problem-solving, validating causal relationships, and validating improvement actions. Additionally, new measures were developed to assess PM and RP maturity factors. The factor analysis results identified four maturity variables: managed RP, optimized RP, PM design and PM implementation. Data from 216 managers participating in RP meetings were used to test the hypothesized relationships via partial least square (PLS). The results provide varying support for the hypotheses defined. First, the results show that monitoring directly impacts organizational performance while problem-finding, problem-solving and validating causal relationships indirectly impact organizational performance through shared vision and team learning. These indirect effects were positive in some cases and negative in others, depending on the direction of the relationship between the use variable and the organizational learning variable. Second, validating improvement actions did not influence organizational outcomes. Finally, the only moderating effect found was managed RP on the relationship between validating causal relationships and financial performance. Because of the weak support for moderating effects, an alternative model was proposed, exploring these maturity variables as antecedents of PM use. The results provided substantial support for this alternate model. Practical implications and areas for future research are also identified and discussed.
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    Relationship between Leadership and Characteristics of Learning Organizations in Deployed Military Units: An Exploratory Study
    Di Schiena, Raffaella; Letens, Geert; Van Aken, Eileen M.; Farris, Jennifer A. (MDPI, 2013-09-13)
    Previous research has shown that military units operating in the context of risky missions display the characteristics of a Learning Organization. The present work provides preliminary exploratory evidence about the association between Learning Organization characteristics and leadership styles used by military leaders in the field. Based on the literature, we hypothesized that higher Learning Organization characteristics would be associated with a more transformational style of leadership that inspires followers. With this purpose, the five characteristics of a Learning Organization as defined by Peter Senge (Systems Thinking, Team Learning, Shared Vision, Mental Models, and Personal Mastery) and leadership styles as defined by the multifactor leadership model of Bass and Avolio (Transformational, Transactional, and Passive-Avoidant), were measured among commanding officers who had recently served in a mission abroad. Associations with organizational outcomes (Extra-Effort, Effectiveness, and Satisfaction) were also investigated for both Learning Organization characteristics and leadership styles. The correlations showed that Learning Organization characteristics were highly related to Transformational leadership dimensions, and also with Transactional leadership based on Contingent Rewards; meanwhile no association was found with a Passive-Avoidant leadership. Organizational outcomes were also related to Transformational leadership, Contingent Rewards and to various characteristics of a Learning Organization. Implications of these results, as well as avenues for future research, are also discussed.