This paper presents a new paradigm for conceptualizing the relationship between individual, family, and work. The language and focus of the balance approach is limiting and keeps individuals from creating integrated lives. Based on previous research and the authors’ experiences in facilitating...

Purpose – The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between organizational structure and lean implementation success and to explore the impact of a lean implementation on the development of employee problem-solving skills. Organizations that implement lean manufacturing...

Kaizen events are an increasingly common organizational improvement mechanism aimed at work area transformation and employee development. While many anecdotal design prescriptions exist, there is little empirical evidence of which input and process factors are most strongly related to Kaizen...

Purpose – Quality Circles and Kaizen Events have resulted in productivity and quality improvements for organizations. There is limited empirical research comparing these two approaches. This research study was designed to understand the similarities and differences in the structure and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe a study investigating the role of organizational context on the effectiveness of engineering work teams. Design/methodology/approach – Previous research was used to operationalize organizational context and work team effectiveness, and a...

Kaizen events have been widely reported to produce positive change in business results and human resource outcomes. However, sustaining or improving upon the results of a Kaizen event over time can be difficult for many organizations and has received limited empirical research attention to date....

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the application of an assessment methodology to empirically measure and evaluate the impact of kaizen events on organizational performance, including human resource outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – A field study of two kaizen events...

Time to market, product quality, and product complexity are key organizational drivers. Many organizations have responded to these pressures by creating teams. While teams provide the right mix of personnel to respond to business and technical challenges faced by the organization, many...

Purpose – Quality Circles and Kaizen Events have resulted in productivity and quality improvements for organizations. There is limited empirical research comparing these two approaches. This research study was designed to understand the similarities and differences in the structure and...

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to understand and measure the impact of goal clarity, goal difficulty, and management support on five social and technical outcomes for quality circles (QCs) in a Chinese company. Design/methodology/approach – Survey scales were developed based on...