Towards a theory of operational excellence (original) (raw)

Background and purpose: The quality management field has been studied for more than 100 years dating back to the early 1900s when Fredrick W. Taylor is known as the father of Scientific Management, stressed the importance of quality inspection. This paper describes how quality management field has developed and evolved to date, particularly by tracking its focus over time. Design/Methodology/Approach: A systematic approach to literature review was adapted in this research. Identifying the gurus and the scholars in this field makes it possible for the researchers to review their works, which are, mainly, in the form of books and journal articles. Process in getting literature review that has been conducted include quality management in general, as well as 'evolution of quality management' and 'development of quality manage-ment' respectively in capturing the field of quality management and thus, illustrating how the quality management field has evolved over the time. Results: It appears that quality management literature have evolved through time, and as they evolved, the principles , systems, tools and techniques have changed. As a result of the study, this paper also provides the synthesis of quality management literature over time according to the key focus and gives a new perspective for the further research. Conclusions: The historical review allows the researchers to establish the pattern of quality-the 'focus, principles, systems, and tools and techniques' over time. Our observations have confirmed that as the focus has changed, the principles have also changed and as the principles have changed, the systems, tools and techniques also have changed in quality management field.

Background and purpose: The quality management field has been studied for more than 100 years dating back to the early 1900s when Fredrick W. Taylor is known as the father of Scientific Management, stressed the importance of quality inspection. This paper describes how quality management field has developed and evolved to date, particularly by tracking its focus over time. Design/Methodology/Approach: A systematic approach to literature review was adapted in this research. Identifying the gurus and the scholars in this field makes it possible for the researchers to review their works, which are, mainly, in the form of books and journal articles. Process in getting literature review that has been conducted include quality management in general, as well as ‘evolution of quality management’ and ‘development of quality management’ respectively in capturing the field of quality management and thus, illustrating how the quality management field has evolved over the time. Results: It appea...

The purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of the relationship between Lean’s soft factors on Lean’s hard factors and operational excellence of Malaysia manufacturing companies. The study will focus on deployment within Lean’s hard factors included the Lean operation and Lean supply chain under Lean deployment. Based on the literature review, the author has established a linkage that the effect created by Lean’s hard factors is likely to contribute positively to the operational excellence of the company. Besides, the author also wishes to ascertain whether the potential of Lean’s soft factors or Lean engagement has full or partial mediating effect on the model. The theoretical framework is guided by innovation diffusion technology (IDT). The gap in the literature also warrants the need for a contextual study of the Malaysian E&E industry. The limitation suggests a gap for a future research by validating its effectiveness with other industries. Practical adoption of Le...

Problem – When lean is adopted in traditional organisations it requires a widespread organisational change and many businesses fail to sustain lean practices. Purpose – The purpose of this work was to define lean implementation based on the organisational development (OD) body of knowledge. Approach – The literature in lean and organisational change was reviewed and amalgamated to develop a novel conceptual framework. Findings – Lean implementation begins with a planned changed that is episodic. However, the ultimate goal is to develop a learning organisation where change is continuous and emergent from all levels. Respect for people, everyone in the organisations contribution, is considered key to successful implementation of lean. Implications– Practitioners should not focus on isolated improvements, but foster change from within for a permeable transformation to become a lean learning organisation. Originality - This paper provides new insights into lean implementation and its tr...

The aim of this paper is to explore similarities and differences between TQM and Lean Production with an emphasis on Lean strategy approach. This paper investigates the related literature of various studies, analyzes, and finally reviews them systematically. This study finds that, although Lean and TQM both aim to improve quality, TQM reaches a certain point or stage at which no more improvements can be made. Lean, however, focuses on taking quality improvement to the next level. It is clear that Lean journey is deeper and more extensive in comparative to TQM Journey. Lean production evolution is Lean thinking; Lean was reconsidered to this renown. And, the result of this research discloses that TQM and Lean Production have many concepts in common. However, based on Lean strategies; TQM, similar to many improvement approaches, can be a tool to support and create synergy for making a more competitive factors market place amid firms. JEL Classifications: L15, M11, O14, O33