Freek Hermkens - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Freek Hermkens

Research paper thumbnail of Middle Management’ Responses to Continuous Improvement Initiatives by Top Management

International Journal of Social Sciences and Management Review

This essay demonstrates that leadership by top managers is important in creating a sense of urgen... more This essay demonstrates that leadership by top managers is important in creating a sense of urgency regarding the need for an organizational culture of continuous improvement. Middle managers cannot be successful on their own. They depend on the efforts of top management. For continuous improvement programs, the commitment, involvement and leadership of the entire management of the organization are critical. However if top management's behavior is not in line with what they say, middle managers cannot trust the change process and ultimately cannot cooperate. If top management thinks of continuous improvement from an integrated approach, this has a positive effect on the expectations of middle managers, who therefore believe that continuous improvement can be included in the organizational culture in a sustainable manner. Such an approach is more holistic, thereby helping to ensure that an organization does not end with "just another tool", but with substantial improvements in behavior and culture.

Research paper thumbnail of An Exploratory Study of Middle Manager’s Roles in Continuous Improvement

International Business Research

Floyd and Wooldridge have developed a widely used model regarding the middle managers’ contributi... more Floyd and Wooldridge have developed a widely used model regarding the middle managers’ contribution to strategic change, in which four strategic roles for middle managers are considered: championing, synthesizing, facilitating and implementing. Although there is an extensive body of knowledge about the roles and influence of middle managers in implementing strategy, insight in which roles are activated in continuous improvement (CI) initiatives is underdeveloped and highly dispersed. Therefore, in this study we seek to understand which middle management roles (i.e. championing, synthesizing, facilitating, implementing) contribute to accomplishing CI. To explore which of these roles are activated when middle managers are confronted with a CI initiative, we developed a scenario experiment. Our findings indicate that the implementing and synthesizing roles appear to be of key importance in the context of CI initiatives, while the facilitating and championing roles appear to be less rel...

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Middle Managers in Becoming Lean: A Systematic Review and Synthesis of the Literature

Journal of Economics, Management and Trade

Aims: Many organizations adopt the Lean management approach to create a culture of continuous imp... more Aims: Many organizations adopt the Lean management approach to create a culture of continuous improvement (CI), but often fail to accomplish such a change. Previous studies have explained this high failure rate in terms of poor leadership and management, including the role of middle managers. However, the body of knowledge about the role and influence of middle management in Lean CI is underdeveloped and highly dispersed. Some earlier work suggests that middle managers can both enable and hinder CI initiatives, but a systematic overview is missing. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature to develop a mechanism-based framework that explains the success and failure of CI initiatives in which middle managers are key agents. This study therefore aims to develop an evidence-based framework of key aspects of middle management roles in CI practices drawing on Lean. Methodology: We conducted a mechanism-based systematic review of the literature. In total, 203 publications were selected and then reviewed in detail. This review focuses on how middle managers influence the implementation and success/failure of Lean CI initiatives. Results: The review of the literature on CI/Lean and middle management results in two frameworks. Each of these frameworks assumes that top management consistently seeks to implement a particular (archetypical) philosophy of CI/Lean: the first framework assumes an integral

Research paper thumbnail of A Vignette Study of Middle Managers’ Responses to Continuous Improvement Initiatives by Top Management

International Journal of Business and Social Science

DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of t... more DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the "Taverne" license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement:

Research paper thumbnail of Middle Management’ Responses to Continuous Improvement Initiatives by Top Management

International Journal of Social Sciences and Management Review

This essay demonstrates that leadership by top managers is important in creating a sense of urgen... more This essay demonstrates that leadership by top managers is important in creating a sense of urgency regarding the need for an organizational culture of continuous improvement. Middle managers cannot be successful on their own. They depend on the efforts of top management. For continuous improvement programs, the commitment, involvement and leadership of the entire management of the organization are critical. However if top management's behavior is not in line with what they say, middle managers cannot trust the change process and ultimately cannot cooperate. If top management thinks of continuous improvement from an integrated approach, this has a positive effect on the expectations of middle managers, who therefore believe that continuous improvement can be included in the organizational culture in a sustainable manner. Such an approach is more holistic, thereby helping to ensure that an organization does not end with "just another tool", but with substantial improvements in behavior and culture.

Research paper thumbnail of An Exploratory Study of Middle Manager’s Roles in Continuous Improvement

International Business Research

Floyd and Wooldridge have developed a widely used model regarding the middle managers’ contributi... more Floyd and Wooldridge have developed a widely used model regarding the middle managers’ contribution to strategic change, in which four strategic roles for middle managers are considered: championing, synthesizing, facilitating and implementing. Although there is an extensive body of knowledge about the roles and influence of middle managers in implementing strategy, insight in which roles are activated in continuous improvement (CI) initiatives is underdeveloped and highly dispersed. Therefore, in this study we seek to understand which middle management roles (i.e. championing, synthesizing, facilitating, implementing) contribute to accomplishing CI. To explore which of these roles are activated when middle managers are confronted with a CI initiative, we developed a scenario experiment. Our findings indicate that the implementing and synthesizing roles appear to be of key importance in the context of CI initiatives, while the facilitating and championing roles appear to be less rel...

Research paper thumbnail of The Role of Middle Managers in Becoming Lean: A Systematic Review and Synthesis of the Literature

Journal of Economics, Management and Trade

Aims: Many organizations adopt the Lean management approach to create a culture of continuous imp... more Aims: Many organizations adopt the Lean management approach to create a culture of continuous improvement (CI), but often fail to accomplish such a change. Previous studies have explained this high failure rate in terms of poor leadership and management, including the role of middle managers. However, the body of knowledge about the role and influence of middle management in Lean CI is underdeveloped and highly dispersed. Some earlier work suggests that middle managers can both enable and hinder CI initiatives, but a systematic overview is missing. This paper provides a systematic review of the literature to develop a mechanism-based framework that explains the success and failure of CI initiatives in which middle managers are key agents. This study therefore aims to develop an evidence-based framework of key aspects of middle management roles in CI practices drawing on Lean. Methodology: We conducted a mechanism-based systematic review of the literature. In total, 203 publications were selected and then reviewed in detail. This review focuses on how middle managers influence the implementation and success/failure of Lean CI initiatives. Results: The review of the literature on CI/Lean and middle management results in two frameworks. Each of these frameworks assumes that top management consistently seeks to implement a particular (archetypical) philosophy of CI/Lean: the first framework assumes an integral

Research paper thumbnail of A Vignette Study of Middle Managers’ Responses to Continuous Improvement Initiatives by Top Management

International Journal of Business and Social Science

DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of t... more DOI to the publisher's website. • The final author version and the galley proof are versions of the publication after peer review. • The final published version features the final layout of the paper including the volume, issue and page numbers. Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal. If the publication is distributed under the terms of Article 25fa of the Dutch Copyright Act, indicated by the "Taverne" license above, please follow below link for the End User Agreement: