Understanding the wide range of outcomes achieved by firms trying to implement TQM and similar process improvement initiatives presents a challenge to management science and organization theory: a few firms reap sustained benefits from their programs, but most efforts fail and are abandoned. A defining feature of such techniques is the reliance on the front-line workforce to do the work of improvement, thus creating the possibility of agency problems; different incentives facing managers and workers. Specifically, successfully improving productivity can lead to lay-offs. The literature provides two opposing theories of how agency interacts with the ability of quality-oriented improvement techniques to dramaticlly increase productivity. The 'Drive Out Fear' school argues that firms must commit to job security, while the 'Drive In Fear' school emphasizes the positive role that insecurity plays in motivating change. In this study a contract theoretic model is developed to analyze the role of agency in process improvement. The main insight of the study is that there are two types of job security, internal and external, that have opposite impacts on the firm's abilty to implement improvement initiatives. The distinction is useful in explaining the results of different case studies and can reconcile the two change theories. / National Science Foundation, grant SBR-9422228, the Ford Motor Company and the Harley-Davidson Motor Company

Purpose: this thesis study aims to provide an analysis and an assessment of the current operations’ performance effectiveness at Nobel Biocare’s production plant in Karlskoga, Sweden and to describe the potential for improvement. It intends to clarify the importance of performance measurement and explain Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in particular.Furthermore, it strives to identify causes for inefficiency in production and suggest recommendations to minimize losses. Methodology: the study is using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in parallel as measurements are implemented to discover effectiveness rates and detect causes for production losses while assessments are made using different models, such as the Capability Maturity Model(CMM) and OEE assessments, in order to evaluate the current development level and the potential for improvement. Findings: the research finds that major losses are closely related to frequency of changeovers in machining processes, where average effectiveness rates were 68%. In surface treatment and packaging equipment inspected, the values were found to be between 46% and 59% as the major common cause was the absence of work due to unstable flow of orders. Assessing process orientation and maturity levels, the findings indicate on high levels in general. However, areas of weakness were identified in the different processes in which the potential for improvement is embedded. In those areas, lower OEE values were registered; low levels of maturity and process orientation were found, as low development of losses improvement were assessed. The study finally suggests that the areas of weakness suffer from lack of learning orientation that is ought to be improved and at the same time, a variety of specific recommendations are provided.

Purpose:this thesis study aims to provide an analysis and an assessment of the current operations’ performance effectiveness at Nobel Biocare’s production plant in Karlskoga, Sweden and to describe the potential for improvement. It intends to clarify the importance of performance measurement and explain Overall Equipment Effectiveness (OEE) metrics in particular. Furthermore, it strives to identify causes for inefficiency in production and suggest recommendations to minimize losses. Methodology: the study is using both qualitative and quantitative approaches in parallel as measurements are implemented to discover effectiveness rates and detect causes for production losses while assessments are made using different models, such as the Capability Maturity Model(CMM) and OEE assessments, in order to evaluate the current development level and the potential for improvement. Findings: the research finds that major losses are closely related to frequency of changeovers in machining processes, where average effectiveness rates were 68%. In surface treatment and packaging equipment inspected, the values were found to be between 46% and 59% as the major common cause was the absence of work due to unstable flow of orders. Assessing process orientation and maturity levels, the findings indicate on high levels in general. However, areas of weakness were identified in the different processes in which the potential for improvement is embedded. In those areas, lower OEE values were registered; low levels of maturity and process orientation were found, as low development of losses improvement were assessed. The study finally suggests that the areas of weakness suffer from lack of learning orientation that is ought to be improved and at the same time, a variety of specific recommendations are provided.

In this thesis we have described the role of meetings in software development and their impact on process improvement. We have investigated some factors; which could be used to improve organization process e.g. strategic management, understanding of business and its processes, learning and evaluation of resources. A survey has been conducted with the help of a questionnaire to analyze the meeting practices in the small and medium scale software companies. A process model and a simulation have been designed to measure the impacts of meetings on the productivity of organizations which claim the utilization of agile process. The designed model is an extension of Hamid & Madnick’s process model and the simulation is a newly developed web based application that performs meeting scheduling. The application is developed with the concept of Software As A Service (SAAS) by using the Framework Symfony and programming languages PHP and MySQL.

In this thesis the software development process and in particular, the requirements management processes in a major software development company have been investigated. The current problems related to requirements quality and process performances have been identified. Process improvement measures have been proposed based on the suggestions found in the relevant literature. The current process and the improved version have been compared with respect to the process evaluation metrics proposed particularly for software process improvement.

A software process improvement study is presented. The literature on software development processes and their improvement is reviewed. The current peer review process at Software Engineering Directorate of the X Company, Ankara, T&uuml / rkiye (XCOM) is studied and the static software development metrics based on a recent proposal have been evaluated. The static software metrics based improvement suggestions and the author&rsquo / s improvement suggestions discussed with the senior staff are compared. An improved peer review process is proposed. The static software development metrics have been evaluated on the improved process to see the impacts of the improvements. The improved process has been already implemented at XCOM and preliminary results have been obtained.

Reference models developed for software process improvement (SPI) provide guidelines about what to do while assessing and improving the processes, but they do not answer the questions of how. There have been a number of studies that try to find effective and strategic implementation models or to identify factors that affect the SPI success. However, these studies do not provide answers to questions about the effect of these factors on SPI program duration or accelerated SPI studies. This study aims to investigate the factors that affect CMMI-based SPI duration. It consists of two phases: in the first phase, factors that influence SPI success are identified and hypotheses related to these factors are formulated based on the case studies published in the literature. In the second phase of the study, hypotheses are revised based on the results of the qualitative research conducted in seven companies, six of which have obtained CMMI-Level 3 certification as a consequence of their SPI effort. The study has shown that management commitment and involvement as well as process documentation have had a significant shortening effect on CMMI-based SPI duration, within the context of the studied cases. Software process improvement / CMMI / Success factors / Duration factors. Enter specific words or phrases that are listed in thesis.

Business process reengineering (BPR) has been considered as one of the key approaches to increasing the competitive edge of many modern enterprises. Many big enterprises have taken diversified degree of reengineering to their business processes. The importance of understanding the existing business processes and evaluating the new business processes before they are actually deployed is commonly recognized. Without careful examination of the existing and new business processes, the change in business process. In this research, we look into the business process analysis issues under the scope of BPR. We first examine various models for business processes. As each model is invented with a purpose, e.g., for identifying the critical path in a factory manufacturing environment, for automating workflow in an office environment, etc., they may not be completely suitable for business process analysis. We try to identify the requirements of business process analysis and propose a model to meet these requirements. We finally design and implement a business process analyzer. This business process analyzer use our proposed business process model and is able to answer the queries from the BPR team expressed by our proposed query language.

Information Technology (IT) is inextricably tied to financial services; the business can no longer view IT as simply a part of discretionary spending. More particular to the financial services industry, technology is a way to gain competitive advantage through innovation. Financial services companies discover ways to utilize technology in order to generate product and process innovation, for example, consider the innovation to use scanners and, more recently, smart phones to deposit checks from home or elsewhere instead of with an ATM or a teller at a brick and mortar bank. As the market becomes more competitive, financial services companies must rely even more on product and process innovation. A key enabler of this innovation is the ability to fully understand the current state of how business value is delivered through the use of IT. This understanding can in turn help financial services companies to plan more effectively both strategically and tactically as the environmental factors change constantly. As companies spend vast amounts of money on projects, it is imperative to understand how ideas flow through a life cycle and are ultimately realized by some process or product offering that in turn deliver some value to the business. The goal of IT for the business is often stated as an improvement in triumvirate: better, faster, cheaper. The difficulty with this goal is that these facets are often mutually exclusive. How then, can IT deliver? This thesis will examine how one financial services company may improve its software project delivery process by examining its historical and current operating state and then discussing some recommendations to achieve improvement. / text

The purpose of this DBA is to develop a Customisation Blueprint so that consultancies can provide a more tailored, responsive service to clients. This study seeks to find out what matters to clients when purchasing consultancy, how clients substantiate this and how it affects their decision-making. This study also seeks to establish if the factors influencing buyer’s evaluation of the consultant can be favourably influenced by the consultants. By fulfilling client requirements more precisely and effectively, consultants are able to better serve their clients. In this way they are also able to enhance both ongoing relationship and reputation. The history of consultancy is examined to establish the unfurling and growth of the industry and to understand the forces which have shaped its evolution. Relational and Operations literature is examined to establish what previous research is able to contribute to this quest for understanding what consultants need to do to better serve their clients. Financial Services and Utilities are the two largest private-sector buyers of consultancy. Managers involved in the purchase of consulting services from a selection of these companies were interviewed to capture how consultants are engaged and what selection criteria are the most important. A combination of guidance from the literature and an understanding of what matters to clients is used to develop a systematic approach for consultants to more clearly identify and articulate client needs and thereby serve them better. The outcome is the development of a Customisation Blueprint, a framework to personalise responsiveness and thus enhance customer satisfaction.