| 1. |
- Abrahamsson, Sten, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Adding requirements on customers to current quality models toimprove quality : development of a customer ‐ vendor interaction
- 2010
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Ingår i: 13<sup>th</sup> QMOD conference on Quality and Service Sciences ICQSS 2010. - Visby : Gotland University. ; , s. 1-9
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In most descriptions of business development and models for Corporate Governance, contacts between supplier and customer are for the most part focused on the supplier’s responsibility to identify and document customer requirements in order to enable the organization to meet customer requirements (stated and unstated). In the actual contact between customer and supplier it has been observed in several cases that there are aspects of the interaction not described in traditional theoretical quality models. What seems to be missing is a more explicit requirement for customers and for customers' actions. The logic is that a qualified customer performing based on supplier instructions will result in a better performing product. The apparent lack of theoretical models describing this aspect indicates that this is an interesting area for research and development. The purpose of this paper is to highlight a seemingly "forgotten" area within quality management, which is the lack of requirements put on customers in quality models. The first objective is to review existing quality models to explore the extent of requirement on customers included. The second objective is to propose additions to current models that include requirements placed on customers. A limited review of the award criteria and the most common models for quality and improvement techniques shows that there is no explicit and documented way to set requirements for customers. Our interpretation is that EFQM is the model closest to our description of “demands on customer” due to their clauses connected to “partnership”. The ISO/DIS 26000 is moving the requirements further against the customer for the social responsibility than the quality standards are doing. Further research could focus on how requirements on customer will affect the performance of the entire supply chain both from a quality and social point of view.
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| 2. |
- Abrahamsson, Sten, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Implementing Lean : Discussing Standardization Versus Customization with Focus on National Cultural Dimensions
- 2012
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Ingår i: Management and Production Engineering Review. - Opole : Polish Association for Production Management. - 2082-1344. ; 3:4, s. 4-13
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Lean or Toyota Production System (TPS) has more or less successfully been implemented in the Western world’s businesses and organizations for the past 20 years. Several authors have discussed what it is that creates a successful implementation, and several studies have been presented where strategies for implementations have been studied. Culture’s impact and possible mitigation for Western companies have been studied and described by for example Womak & Jones. Proponents of the concept of Lean argue that culture is not a constraint for implementation of Lean. Lean Management is called a philosophy but it is often used as a change strategy in the sense that it is implemented with the view of improving performance. A change strategy could be seen as a product that might have to be customized with the view of improving the effectiveness of the implementation. On the other hand abandoning a standardized approach comes with the risk of severely altering the change strategy, possibly to its detriment. Implementing Lean will have an effect on the company culture. Does it make any sense customizing the implementation to culture if the issue is changing the culture? The purpose of this paper is to highlight and discuss the balance between a customized implementation and a standardized implementation. Which are the main arguments for standardization and customization and how could these be reconciled? A literature study of Lean implementation has been carried out and compared with Lean principles and theories from change management with focus on change drivers and change barriers. Main drivers of Hofstede’s national cultural dimensions are compared with Lean principles to identify possible drivers and barriers in different cultures. The theory synthesis on drivers and barriers is subjected to a first test in a case study on Lean implementation according to a standardized approach. The implementation is made in a small Swedish factory belonging to a worldwide industrial company. Results from the literature review and the case study indicate that both customization and standardization are needed.
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| 3. |
- Abrahamsson, Sten, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Integrated Management Systems : testing a model for integration
- 2011
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Ingår i: 14th Toulon-Verona Conference. - Alicante : University of Alicante. - 9788890432712 ; , s. 22-35
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Management systems are widely used for creating order, minimising risks and for assuring performance. Management systems are in many occasions integrated since this has been found to be beneficial. In this paper a model for a fully integrated management system (IMS) based on the three axes of level, extent and scope of integration is tested for relevance. The studied system permits the integration of all relevant process dimensions. The research is only in a pilot stage, but the initial results are promising and indicate that there are advantages in using the process view as a base for identifying critical aspects to be managed. A review of the current situation for system integration is studied and the model is subjected to some tests using Sweden as a case. The background study shows that system integration still is limited, especially when comparing with a fully integrated IMS. The feedback from the organisations interviewed is positive and supports continued work with development of the model.
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| 4. |
- Abrahamsson, Sten, 1953-, et al.
(författare)
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Integrated Management Systems : advantages, problems and possibilities
- 2010
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Ingår i: 13th Toulon-Verona Conference. - 9789729344046 ; , s. 1-12
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Effective management in the globalized world requires an effective, efficient and flexible management system. Effective could be interpreted as addressing all relevant stakeholder concerns in a context of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Efficient would mean that it does the job with low resource use. Flexibility requires that changed conditions and new requirements easily can be included. Many organizations are already working with Integrated Management Systems (IMS). Interesting questions are to what extent current integration covers the above mentioned needs and if not what changes are needed. This conceptual paper looks at the advantages and problems of integration. Possibilities for development of fully integrated management systems are studied from the perspective of managing stakeholder needs, with the forthcoming ISO 26000 – “Guidance on social responsibility”, as inspiration. Results show that there are advantages in integration, but that the scope and level of integration often is limited. A conceptual model for integrating all stakeholder needs in value networks is presented.
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| 5. |
- Abrahamsson, Sten, et al.
(författare)
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University Services for regional Development : Ideas on Stakeholder Based Quality Management in a Region
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings : 14th QMOD Conference on Quality and Service Sciences. - Pamplona : Servicios de Publicaciones Universidad de Navarra. - 8480812117 ; , s. 36-54
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Regional Development is a permanent activity of change including long range visions and goals. This work includes both continuous and breakthrough change. Quality management practises are used for organisational improvement and could be seen as one way of supporting effective change management. Provided we can view a region as an organisation we could also view it as a process. Dealing with the region as a system of processes might make it possible to use quality management practices to support more effective regional development. Based on an analysis of the presentation of the current state and the visionary state it should be possible to analyse proposed change strategies from a process perspective. Purpose The general purpose of the study is to see how universities could contribute to regional development. Specific research questions in this study are: For a region how can the present state, the visionary state and the chosen change strategies, be described with Quality Management values and methodologies with focus on the process view How do the regional university mission, vision and goals align with defined regional objectives? Methodology A literature survey for how Quality Management has been used for regional development is carried out to create a structure for the data collection. The region of Gotland is chosen as an example for a region. The reason for this is that Gotland is a small region consisting of an island providing clear boundaries. There is only one university, which makes it easier to study the links between university and region. Available regional visions are studied as well as main presentation of regional performance with focus on the region of Gotland. The main organizational stakeholders are identified and studied. Data is gathered from web sites and from interviews. The categorisation of information is based on a process perspective using process based system models adapted to the initial literature survey. The current change process is also portrayed. In order to see how the local university performance and plans align with the regional plans the Gotland University web-site is studied for relevant documents. Main results Regional performance can seemingly be described using process based system models. The stakeholder approach can in a meaningful way be used to describe main regional requirements.
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| 6. |
- Dahlin, Gunnar, et al.
(författare)
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Business Administration and Leadership for Sustainable Development : a case study of a cross functional candidate program
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper analyses critically a three year candidate program for educating change leaders for Sustainable Development. The program was started in 2007 in co-operation between the departments of Quality Management and Business Administration in Gotland University. The analysis of the program is based on a review of learning outcomes, courses created, pedagogy applied, interviews of students, interviews of teachers and reflection on challenges in cross departmental co-operation. The program was created in consultation with companies and organizations being potential employers of the students after their education. The overall idea of the program embodies thoughts from Liberal Education and System Thinking [1], [2]. The pedagogy used could be summarized in the continuous cycle of theory-practice-understanding. Sustainable Development has been dealt with in theory and practice using the Triple Bottom Line in combination with companywide process management. Focus has been on describing components of change and change management. The theoretical foundations are found in structured methodologies for improvement such as Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Lean Management, Project Management and in leadership theory with focus on group dynamics. Successful change seems to require, apart from a good solution, the willingness to implement the solution and the ability to manage change. Working across departments is not easy in spite of the closeness typical for the small Gotland University with some 200 employees. Academia and universities could be seen as strong advocates of the old functional order where cross functional process thinking is not easy. Changing a curriculum fixed for many years and changing educational culture are formidable challenges. Not everything went according to plans which have provided some valuable learning experiences. The overall results are positive and many of the ideas of integrating theory and practice by using organizations including the campus as a study object have been successful.
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| 7. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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A Preliminary Model for Assessing University Sustainability from the Student Perspective
- 2013
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Ingår i: Sustainability. - : MDPI AG. - 2071-1050. ; 5:9, s. 3690-3701
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- This paper assesses university sustainability from the perspective of the interested student. A set of questions for a university website analysis is proposed and preliminary results for Swedish universities are presented. The university website analysis intends to emulate a student looking for a university working with sustainable development. University ranking is compared with the results from the sustainability assessment. Results from the study are based on university website analysis of 18 Swedish universities out of a total of 30. Universities are grouped in high ranked, low ranked and benchmark universities. For the majority of the studied universities it was possible to extract the information needed for a sustainability assessment from the website, which indicates that further development of the method is of interest. The average level of performance in the assessment was found to be less than 50% of the maximum of the proposed scale. With Sweden generally being a leading nation in sustainable development the results are below of what could be expected. Ranking, based on the Swedish ranking system does not seem to predict university sustainability performance. The indication is that Gothenburg University, while having further improvement potential, could be considered a benchmark in the Swedish context.
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| 8. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Barriers to and drivers for change : analysing causes for improvement potential in the building supply system in Dar es Salaam
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 13th QMOD Conference, 30 August - 01 September 2010, Cottbus, Germany. ; , s. 1-14
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Business excellence needs constant reinvention with current challenges being such as how to integrate Learnability, Innovability and Sustainability. This paper looks at learning based on Innovation Action Research with focus on process innovation with the purpose of highlighting sustainability challenges in business core processes. A system based process model in combination with sustainability indicators is used to describe a value network and the existing potential for improved sustainability. A qualitative method for specifying generic causes for the existing improvement potential is used to discuss barriers and drivers for change. Results indicate that quality methodologies can be used as a powerful support for sustainable development.
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| 9. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Change management from a stakeholder perspective
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings QMOD Conference on Quality and Service Sciences 2011. - Navarra : Servicios de Publicaciones Universidad de Navarra. ; , s. 886-901
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 10. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Change Management from a Stakeholder Perspective
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings : QMOD Conference on Quality and Service Sciences 2011. - Pamplona : Servicios de Publicaciones Universidad de Navarra. - 8480812117 ; , s. 886-901
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- With the ever increasing rate of change the pressure continues to rise on all types of organisations for quicker and more effective change. Companies of today face multiple requirements which have caused a shift from shareholder focus to a more balanced stakeholder focus. In the 80s and 90s the Japan originated quality movement with its focus on customers was by many seen as the solution for effective change. Change program focus has since shifted from Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Excellence models to 6Sigma improvement and Lean Management in parallel with behaviourally oriented change approaches with their focus on leadership. There does not seem to be any clear typology that relates different improvement approaches within the larger context of Change Management. The main purpose of this paper is to review how change management is defined and presented and to propose a stakeholder based taxonomy for organisational change management and to also portray if and how quality management could be seen as part of this. This is done with the view of increasing the understanding of what constitutes effective change. The results here form only a first iteration of a more extensive work to come. The purpose is to identify critical elements for change. Change Management has been described as a process. Elements identified have then been placed into a process based system. The first results indicate that Quality Management could be seen as part of Change Management and that the chosen approach using the process view is promising, but also that the process of change is complex and that considerable further research is required.
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| 11. |
- Isaksson, Raine
(författare)
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Defining Quality and Sustainability – Looking for Synergies
- 2013
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Ingår i: 16th QMOD−ICQSS Proceedings Quality Management and Organizational Development Conference 4th—6th September 2013 Portorož, Slovenia. - 9789612322694 ; , s. 833-843
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- IntroductionBoth quality and sustainability are frequently used and positively loaded words. On the overall level most people agree that we should both have quality and sustainability in the processes we are working with. Logically there should be synergies in improving quality and sustainability but there could also be conflicts. When assessing how well our processes are performing, it becomes more complicated to find a consensus since there are many and partly conflicting views and definitions on what quality and sustainability mean. What we cannot measure, we cannot improve and what we cannot define we cannot measure. PurposeThis paper reviews definitions for quality, sustainability and sustainable development with the purpose of highlighting synergies. Definitions and measurement principles combing quality and sustainability are proposed.Methodology/ApproachQuality and sustainability are discussed and some working definitions are proposed. Garvin’s (1984) five approaches to define quality are applied on the working definitions for quality and sustainability. The approaches are reviewed and exemplified with some products to test the feasibility of the approach. The development of quality and sustainability is studied based on a chosen change process. The resulting categorisation of quality, sustainability, quality development, sustainability development and sustainability development are reviewed for identifying synergies. FindingsFindings indicate that there are more of synergies than differences and that it is possible to define an operational definition combining quality and sustainability that can be used for assessing and improving performance.ImplicationsThe results provide help for an operationalization of combined quality and sustainability performance.Originality/Value of paperThe paper proposes a practical interpretation of how to work with quality and sustainability development.
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| 12. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Detecting Supply Chain Innovation Potential for Sustainable Development
- 2010
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Ingår i: Journal of Business Ethics. - Dordrecht : D. Reidel. - 0167-4544 .- 1573-0697. ; 3:97, s. 425-442
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a world of limited resources it could be argued that companies that aspire to be good corporate citizens need to focus on making best use of resources. User value and environmental harm is created in supply chains and it could therefore be argued that company business ethics should be extended from the company to the entire value chain from the first supplier to the last customer. Starting with a delineation of the linkages between business ethics, corporate sustainability and the stakeholder concept, this paper argues that supply chains generally have a great innovation potential for sustainable development. This potential could be highlighted with system thinking and the use of change management knowledge, promoting not only innovations within technology but also within organizational improvement. We propose process models and performance indicators as means of highlighting improvement potential and thus breaking down normative business ethics’ requirements to an operationalizable corporate level: Good business ethics should focus on maximizing stakeholder value in relation to harm done. Our results indicate that focusing on supply chains reveals previously unknown innovation potential that seems to be related to limited system understanding. The assumption is that increased visibility of opportunities will act as a driver for change. Results also highlight the importance of focusing on sustainability effects of the core business and clearly relating value created to harm done.
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| 13. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Improving Supply Networks : Identifying drivers for sustainable change using process models
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 13TH TOULON-VERONA CONFERENCE. - 9789729344046 ; , s. 1-11
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Both within the private and public sector Change Management is a frequently discussed topic. How to lead change for increased sustainability is of interest for all organisations, but also for supply chains and supply networks. For any structured change process there are a few prerequisites, such as understanding the actual position and being able to assess it and to compare it with a goal. With an identified improvement potential it should become possible to devise a strategy for change. One way of describing supply networks is to use process based system models including performance indicators. The research question is if system models can be used to clarify improvement opportunities and in that way become drivers for change. In this conceptual paper we apply the value per harm measurement concept for three different systems and compare the results with what is commonly known and understood.
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| 14. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Lean Higher Education And Lean Research
- 2013
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Ingår i: 16th Toulon – Verona Conference.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The purpose of this paper is to review possibilities for how Lean principles could be applied for university education and research – Lean Higher Learning and Lean Research. The Lean movement originating from Toyota Production Systems has inspired many different types of businesses and organisations including service and public organisations. Until now the Lean concept has not yet become widely used in university education. Universities could be facing strong competition from novel ways of teaching and learning – if the web offers lectures from Nobel Prize winners for free, why pay money to the local university to listen to a mediocre lecturer? If research proposals can be assessed and validated via a web site linking to acknowledged scholars, why wait for slow research journals? Possibly, Lean principles such as just-in time could be applied for better learning and research quality. This paper studies how traditional university education and research are performing compared to Lean principles with focus on value flow analysis.
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| 15. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Life Long Lean Learning : Case Sweden
- 2014
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Ingår i: Performance Management. - Aarhus : University of Aarhus. - 9788778826527 ; , s. 242-253
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)
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| 16. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Sustainable Development in Universities : the power and role of visions and goals
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings : QMOD Conference on Qualityand Service Sciences 2011. - Pamplona : Servicios de Publicaciones Universidad de Navarra. - 8480812117 ; , s. 902-914
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background Universities in Sweden are since 2006 based on a government decree instructed to work with sustainable development. Recent studies on progress for Sustainable Development indicate that change is relatively slow and that most of the activities could be labelled: Business as usual. One apparent challenge is to understand what Sustainable Development means and consequently what needs to be changed compared to current performance. Visions and long range goals are important in any change work and should consequently also be important in the work for sustainable universities. Interesting questions are how visions and long range goals are defined in universities and to what extent they support work for Sustainable Development. Purpose The general purpose of the study is to see how universities could work for Sustainable Development and to find out areas of further improvement. The specific research questions in this study are: How could university work with sustainable development be characterized in education and research? How are visions and goals for Sustainable Development described by universities? How could visions and goals be improved in order to better support change towards Sustainable Development? Methodology Swedish universities are chosen for the study. The reason for this is that Swedish law since 2006 explicitly requires universities to work with Sustainable Development. This means that we can choose a random sample from the total Swedish university population and look at the interpretation of work for Sustainable Development. We use common definitions for Sustainable Development and compare them with university missions and directives from the Swedish state to answer the question how university work for Sustainable Development could be characterised. We identify typical definitions for what is required for a vision and for goals. These definitions are compared with the university interpretations as per web-sites and from individual views. Main results A review of how Sustainable Development is presented in the Swedish University world.
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| 17. |
- Isaksson, Raine
(författare)
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Synergies of quality and sustainability - shared value in the building supply network
- 2014
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The field of CSR has developed from charity into an integration of shared value into the business model. In developing countries there are enormous needs for better housing. This therefore could be an area where companies might be able to create shared value. It is however unclear how shared value would look like in the building supply network and to what extent this already exists.Purpose: The purpose is to detect future areas of research by identifying opportunities for shared value in the building material supply chain. Shared value is viewed as a possible example of synergy for quality and sustainability research and development.Methodology: A literature review is carried out searching for “shared value” and “Porter”. The findings are combined with stakeholder theory, the process view and customer focus. Additionally the sustainability reports of the 15 largest cement and building material companies in the world were studied with the purpose of identifying examples of the shared value concept. Working with shared value is visualised with an example using the process of building material supply in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.Findings: Findings indicate that the concept of shared value is widely spread, but that its application in the cement and building material supply industry still is limited. The concept seems to have a good potential in identifying and creating value for both business and other stakeholders. Shared value can be seen as enlarged business focus from shareholders to stakeholders.Practical implications: The results provide both ideas for further research and indicate how companies within the building material network could work with shared value.Originality/value: The paper more clearly links shared value to stakeholder focus.
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| 18. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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The crippled bottom line : Measuring sustainability
- 2014
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Ingår i: Conference proceedings 2014 Performance management association conference.
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- PurposeGlobal development is not sustainable. Yet, both academia and practitioners are struggling with making sense of what sustainable development is. Sustainability can be assessed in the dimensions Profit, Planet and People. One of the problems with the approach is that these dimensions cannot be added while there are conflicting priorities. Another problem is that performance seldom is related to global system boundaries. The purpose of this paper is to study how sustainability on an organizational level could be operationalized while being linked to global boundaries. MethodologySustainable Development and sustainability definitions are reviewed to identify main stakeholders. Main processes required for sustainability are identified based on People and Planet as stakeholders. People value defined as utility is compared to Planet harm as carbon emissions and People harm as prices of products. The proposed theoretical concept is examined on the business level looking at the process of providing housing and cement manufacturing. FindingsThe relative indicators with focus on People utility compare to Planet and People harm seem to be relevant for measuring the level of sustainability. Practical implicationsThe practical implications of the results could be important in that the proposed approach with relative indicators linked to global limits could help companies work with sustainability. OriginalityIn spite of the inherent logic of adjusting consumption to existing means there is little written about the practical implications for organizations. Keywords: Sustainability reporting; Sustainability KPI; Triple Bottom Line; Profit-People-Planet; Eco Efficiency; Relative KPI; Value per harm. Research paper
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| 19. |
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| 20. |
- Isaksson, Raine, et al.
(författare)
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Towards a Model for Measuring University Sustainability
- 2013
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 5th European Conference on Intellectual Capital 2013. - Reading, UK : Academic Conferences and Publishing International Limited. - 9781909507159 - 9781909507135 ; , s. 213-221
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- The multitude of challenges related to sustainable development require, not only a shift in mind-set but also high competence in most sectors of employment. But how could we know if a university education is going to provide necessary competence in sustainable development? A model being developed to measure university sustainability is the Assessment Instrument of Sustainability in Higher Education (AISHE). Using the logic of self-assessment and based on the Triple Bottom Line this model deals with operations, education, research, interaction with society and core values with a so called identity module. The model makes an operationalization of sustainable development and its structure should be usable for constructing a quick assessment system similar to those of many business excellence models. Finding out the level of university sustainability is clearly not very easy for presumptive students. Furthermore, we can assume that since being sustainable is politically correct there is a risk of “sustainability washing” of information provided. Current university ranking systems do not seem to correspond well with how universities are working with sustainable development. The research question is if the AISHE-model could be converted into a credible quick assessment tool by relying on information provided by the university web-site. For this to work the university needs to have a culture that promotes transparency. With the rapid development of information technology it could be expected that more and more countries will have the conditions for using web-sites for providing the necessary information. Swedish university web-sites are used for testing the model. Sweden has a high level of transparency and is therefore thought to form a suitable example. This paper deals with conceptual development of the assessment model. Further studies will be carried out to validate the model. Results indicate that a structured web-site analysis can be used to quantify information that is organised according to chosen parts of the AISHE-model. The first results indicate that Swedish universities still have a long way to go in becoming sustainable.
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| 21. |
- Isaksson, Raine
(författare)
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University Support to Regional Development : Process Based Stakeholder Management in Gotland
- 2011
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Ingår i: Toulon-Verona Conference - 14th International Conference on Quality and Service Sciences – ICQSS - «Excellence in Services». ; , s. 1-11
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Universities could be seen to have many customers such as students, future employers, the state, parents etc. Universities normally have two main missions, which are education and research. In Sweden there is an additional requirement of societal co-operation both in education and research. Universities are traditionally not very customer focused, but rather organizations that define what is being done based on an internal focus. One question is to what extent stakeholders and their change needs have been identified and also how these needs are being addressed and used as input. This could be studied applying a process view where the main processes are defined by the university mission. This could be studied from a regional context looking at regional needs and relating them to university support. Gotland is the smallest region in Sweden and it hosts the smallest university. This forms a good base for a study on how the university supports and could support regional development. Regional performance is viewed from a process perspective. Results show that customer focus has not been a core value. Consequently it is not well defined what constitutes quality, neither by the studied university nor by the Swedish authorities. This means that customer and stakeholder needs have not been looked into systematically. It also seems that regional Sustainable Development is not getting the attentions it should. Applying customer focus on the regional level indicates several new interesting opportunities for both universities and the region. A condition for these opportunities to be realised is that there is a thorough discussion of what quality and Sustainable Development mean for universities.
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| 22. |
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| 23. |
- Johnson, Mikael, et al.
(författare)
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How to describe, define and work with sustainable development and how it relates to quality management : a study of Swedish Universities
- 2010
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Ingår i: Proceedings of the 13th QMOD Conference, 30 August - 01 September 2010, Cottbus, Germany. ; , s. 1-15
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Sustainable Development (SD) has been on the agenda for some time. SD is an overall objective of Swedish Government policies. In an official document, Strategic Challenges - a Further Elaboration of the Swedish Strategy for Sustainable Development (Comm. 2005/06:126), issued in 2005 by the Swedish Government the national strategy from 2004 is further elaborated. It is stated that the strategy covers the following three dimensions of sustainable development: economic, social and environmental. It stems from a long-term vision of sustainable development and is related to international sustainable development efforts, including UN initiatives and the EU's strategy in the area. Already 2004 it became obligatory for Swedish schools and universities to include sustainable development in the curriculum. Thus, Universities should be in a good position to interpret what sustainable development is and transferring it to actions. It is after all universities who will provide the people to live and lead the change needed. Universities in Sweden have now had 6 years to work with sustainable development and there should be good examples of how this can be done. Interesting questions are how universities have interpreted sustainable development and how they are working with it. This paper presents an explorative study on to which extent the Governments sustainability strategy has been absorbed and become part of the strategy of the Swedish universities. The main purpose of this paper is to discuss how sustainable development is being interpreted. We also look at how the value per harm concept could contribute to the understanding of sustainable development. It is an exploratory case study on how 17 Swedish universities integrate SD in its mission. It is obvious that all of the studied universities have broken down the university decree into its lowest common denominators and managed to mark some of its educations by placing a sustainability sticker here and there in their course catalogues and policy documents but we are sorry to say it but beneath this superficial surface the is not much, from a sustainability point of view, integrated, wise, insightful and sound teaching going on. The question then is, how did all this happen? The collected data show that all universities are aware of the university decree. A problem with the decree is that it is vague while it clearly calls for action. This is perhaps a possible approach if the attitude is that anything goes. But as the aim is to accomplish directed action on a sustainable development that through their activities shall promote sustainable development that ensure that both the present and coming generations are guaranteed a sound environment, economic as well as social well-being and justice, this is a not so efficient approach. This mission is too vague and there are not enough guidelines on how to interpret it, create a meaningful strategy, implement, manage, measure, or report on it.
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| 24. |
- Ljungblom, Mia, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Knowledge management challenges
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Knowledge management could be seen as identifying knowledge that needs to be managed, followed by the process of acquiring, refining, storing and using the identified knowledge. Good knowledge management could be seen as the foundation of a learning organisation. With increasing competition and a quicker pace of change it becomes more and more important to be a quick learner. In this challenge universities are no exception. A good knowledge management system assures that all relevant knowledge is being used in all important activities. This is particularly important in large change projects. A process based system view could be used to describe how knowledge management is visualised. Especially visualising knowledge management on organisational change competence could be a challenge.In this case study we analyse the implementation of a new approach in education – Liberal Education, and to what extent existing change knowledge was used. The findings are categorised and related to drivers for good change management and to organisational learning disabilities in a quality management context.The purpose of the study is to understand learning disabilities and how to describe them. The results should constitute a starting point for later work to overcome these disabilities.
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| 25. |
- Ljungblom, Mia, 1965-, et al.
(författare)
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Quality management : integrating leadership and quality methodologies
- 2010
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- In a research paper Ljungblom & Isaksson (2009) state that quality management literature in Sweden still seems to be relying heavily on quality methodologies and tools, rather than focusing on leadership and the human perspective. Ideally how to change behaviour and how to change structure would be integrated. It could be that the lack of leadership theory is overcome in quality courses by using other types of literature than the quality management literature previously studied. The main purpose of this research is to describe to what extent leadership and quality methodologies are integrated in Swedish university based quality education. Another purpose is to propose how integration could be done.Course plans for main quality courses offered in Sweden have been reviewed to assess to what extent leadership is included and how it has been integrated with quality methodologies. Focus has been on courses offered as separate courses; however a few programs have also been studied.Preliminary findings indicate that quality management is seldom integrated with leadership and that focus is on quality methodologies and tools. A model based on values, methodologies and tools together with a change model are used to describe proposed quality management content for integrating leadership and quality methodologies.The study is limited to quality management education in Swedish universities.The paper highlights how the integration of leadership in quality management education is currently handled in Swedish universities.
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| 26. |
- Ljungblom, Mia, et al.
(författare)
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University Services for Regional Development : The case of Knowledge Management of Change Competence in Gotland
- 2011
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Ingår i: Proceedings: QMOD Conference on Qualityand Service Sciences 2011. - Pamplona : Servicios de Publicaciones Universidad de Navarra. - 8480812117 ; , s. 1102-1115
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- One key element in organizational success should be the organization’s capacity to change and to develop new knowledge – to be a learning organization. A good knowledge management system assures that all relevant knowledge is being acquired and used in all activities. The practical aspects of change management should form an important part of the knowledge that needs to be managed in any organization and Universities could be seen as centres for knowledge management within different areas of competence. Universities might also be able to support regional change with competence within change management. The general purpose of the study is to see how universities could contribute to regional development. The specific research questions in this study are: How could knowledge management be described on the regional level? How could a university contribute to regional knowledge management? How could knowledge management of regional change management be described? Knowledge management theory is reviewed with focus on knowledge management of change management. The process view can generally be used to describe organizations and it should therefore also be possible to view regions as process based systems. To do this, generic process models are used. A process model integrating knowledge management is presented and discussed. Based on the regional vision, change challenges are identified and these are translated into competence needs. These needs are compared with university competences Results show that the process view can be used to describe regional knowledge management. Based on descriptions from ongoing processes it is possible to show how and to what extent universities contribute to regional needs. There are considerable improvement opportunities in improving the support of knowledge management of regional change management. The results indicate that universities should be able to contribute with important knowledge management components for regional development.
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| 27. |
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| 28. |
- Norberg, Monica, et al.
(författare)
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How Could Stereotypes Promote Diversity
- 2010
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Ingår i: The International Journal of Diversity in Organizations,Communities & Nations. - : Common Ground. - 1447-9532. ; 10:2, s. 89-103
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- It takes about 8 seconds for you to decide what kind of person is in front of you. Doing this you have classified the person using a stereotype. If your classification was correct or wrong, is something that, you probably will find out later. What happens if you made an inaccurate assessment and the person is not “allowed” to show her or his legal personality? Stereotyping is usually classified as something negative, but how could we use the knowledge from a stereotype to highlight the opportunities of diversity? Diversity: is it only another way to make stereotypes? Using a stereotype – will that make me act, to the person in front of me, as a “type”? Using diversity – will that make me act differently? Will it make me see the person more as a human being than a “type”, or does it not matter? This paper is based on a survey that shows how people categorize others. Expectations or prejudices are formed differently depending on which “stereotype” is in use. However, diversity is a “new” and modern word that could also lead us wrong even if the intention is good. A tentative synthesis of negative and positive components of stereotyping and applying diversity is presented. Results from the survey indicate that, stereotyping is generally perceived as something clearly negative, and should not be used, but is never the less in use. Using diversity is generally perceived as more positive than negative. The expression about using diversity is also put into question as a fad. The free text comments input support the model proposed that by the help of awareness permits using both stereotypes and diversity in a positive way.
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| 29. |
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| 30. |
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