Kevin Linderman

University of Minnesota | UMN · Carlson School of Management

Purpose- Despite technological advancements within Process Improvement (PI) projects, two out of three PI projects Failed. This paper aims to identify the Critical Failure Factors (CFFs) linked to PI projects and propose suitable mitigation strategies. It also examines how PI practitioners can leverage unsuccessful projects to stimulate learning fr...

Does the speed of adopting environmental practices impact financial benefits? The strategy literature discusses the contingencies under which firms can gain an early‐mover advantage or a late‐mover advantage. This research examines the effect of adoption speed on two types of environmental practices: environmental innovation practices (EIP) and env...

In the highly competitive e‐commerce industry, customer‐facing warehouses are crucial as the “order penetration points” for e‐commerce last‐mile operations. This research examines how warehouses use last‐minute coordination, an unstructured mechanism, to ensure sufficient inventory at the order penetration points. Previous research has focused on s...

Purpose: The purpose of this article is to examine the Critical Failure Factors (CFFs) linked to various types of Process improvement (PI) projects such as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Agile. Proposing a mitigation framework accordingly is also an aim of this study. Design/ Methodology/ Approach: This research undertakes a systemati...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to examine the critical failure factors (CFFs) linked to various types of process improvement (PI) projects such as Kaizen, Lean, Six Sigma, Lean Six Sigma and Agile. Proposing a mitigation framework accordingly is also an aim of this study. Design/methodology/approach This research undertakes a systematic lite...

Firms innovate their new processes and products not only within their countries, but also across national boundaries. This is known as cross‐border innovation, and many countries have initiated policies to support it. But how does government support influence cross‐border innovation? Through the lens of Porter's Diamond Model, this study conceptual...

This research examines the influence of a firm's portfolio of environmental projects on its ability to efficiently improve environmental outcomes. The data comes from Chinese automotive suppliers of a western manufacturer and consists of 154 environmental project portfolios that contain 614 environmental improvement projects as well as firm-level d...

Purpose The purpose of this study is to discover the learning mechanisms and temporal dynamics of implementing systems (Six Sigma) as it unfolds over time. Design/methodology/approach The data come from a European engineering company that was implementing a Six Sigma-based quality management system (QMS) over a seven-year period. The analysis is b...

Purpose Although scholars have considered the success factors of process improvement (PI) projects, limited research has considered the factors that influence failure. The purpose of this paper is to extend the understanding of PI project failure by systematically reviewing the research on generic project failure, and developing research propositio...

Retail inventory shrinkage, resulting primarily from employee theft and shoplifting, costs retailers nearly $70 billion annually. With brick‐and‐mortar retailers today confronting increased competition and low future growth expectations, reducing inventory shrinkage is becoming even more critical to becoming profitable. This paper analyzes a unique...

Despite the abundance of literature on Six Sigma, we know only a little about how project leaders’ behaviours create and manage effective Six Sigma teams. To address this gap, the present study investigates the influence of leaders’ coaching behaviours on operational absorptive capacity in Six Sigma teams. Hypotheses linking leaders’ coaching behav...

Problem definition: We examine the importance of expert services in online materials and waste exchanges (OMWEs), which are online business-to-business markets for coordinating transactions of industrial surplus, by-products, and waste. Academic/practical relevance: OMWEs face unique challenges because of their product mix and market characteristic...

Using a resource-based approach to innovation, this study proposes an alternative innovation model to the existing market-based Product Life Cycle (PLC) model. In particular, this study explores how the attributes of corporate strategic resources affect product and process innovation patterns. This study covers the development of new theory, as wel...

Operations management scholars have long suggested that processes play a critical role in a firm's competitive advantage. ISO 9001, in particular, provides a standard to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of processes. Similarly, network researchers argue that a firm's embedded position in the network plays a critical role in their competitiv...

While cognition is the knowledge structure used by people to make an assessment or decision, metacognition is the higher-order process controlling that existing knowledge structure. Thus, the functional role of metacognition in process improvement practices (PIP) is quite different from the role of cognition. Metacognition has been studied in sever...

Online material and waste exchanges (OMWEs) provide an online platform connecting suppliers of surplus material with potential buyers. These exchanges aim to improve the environment by helping industrial organizations repurpose surplus material and avoid landfill disposal. OMWEs represent an emerging surplus‐driven supply network, which exhibits di...

Progression of knowledge in operations management (OM) relies on researchers building and testing theories using data from practice. However, standalone empirical research designs have inherent limitations and may not adequately capture complex OM problems. This may result in researchers narrowing the scope of the problems that they create epistemo...

Managing quality in healthcare involves critical decision making at the intersections of multiple supply chain and operations processes. These intersections occur within an interdependent healthcare system, where changes in one part of the system affect another part of the system. Building on an integrated supply chain perspective, the authors deve...

Regulatory agencies, auditing firms, and supply chain partners externally promote change in firms. To this end, they commonly employ two different and somewhat contradictory intervention approaches. One approach uses punitive tactics to coerce firms to change, while the other approach uses supportive tactics to encourage change. Using the context o...

Many organizations that were once quality leaders have had challenges sustaining high-quality performance. Although research has examined frameworks and concepts that lead to high-quality performance, few studies examine how to sustain high-quality performance. Sustaining performance may require additional capabilities from what it takes to achieve...

In this study, we use a multi-method approach to examine the following questions: when faced with explicit profit gaps, does a firm's strategic orientation influence manager perceptions regarding the ability of various tactical options to resolve the gap, do managers feel pressure to pursue certain tactical options over others, and what implication...

Over the past few decades, Six Sigma has diffused to a wide array of organizations across the globe, which has been fueled by the reported financial benefits of Six Sigma. Implementing Six Sigma entails carrying out a series of Six Sigma projects that improve business processes. Scholars have investigated some mechanisms that influence project succ...

Over the past few decades, Six Sigma has diffused to a wide array of organizations across the globe, which has been fueled by the reported financial benefits of Six Sigma. Implementing Six Sigma entails carrying out a series of Six Sigma projects that improve business processes. Scholars have investigated some mechanisms that influence project succ...

... The OM research community has a long tradition of dynamic modeling, going back at least to the pioneering work of Forrester (1958) and Holt, Modigliani, Muth and Simon (1960). These innovators recognized that even core processes in organizations, such as production and supply chain management, involve critical feedbacks with other organizationa...

High-tech organizations maintain a portfolio of R&D projects that address problems with different levels of complexity. These projects use different strategies to search for technological solutions. Projects refining existing products, processes and technologies, for instance, employ a local search strategy to improve performance, while projects de...

With the rise of globalization, firms increasingly implement management standards developed by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to assure they can meet their customers’ expectations. ISO management standards reduce performance variability among suppliers and promote global trade. However, ISO standards also promote a certain...

Online Material & Waste Exchanges (OMWEs) provide online channels to repurpose by-products, unused materials and waste from industrial and commercial facilities. Unfortunately, OMWE's also have challenges. First, sellers may have access to other disposal options and, as a result, may not fully commit to the exchange. Second, buyers can face high un...

Operations managers confront the challenge of deciding when to implement various administrative innovations such as Six Sigma, ISO 9000, and Lean. This research examines the operating performance effects of early versus late adoption of Six Sigma process improvement. Using theories of organizational learning and knowledge transfer, we develop hypot...

As professionals hired to make business decisions, managers are expected to act with impartiality. While they may attempt to do so, deeply rooted preferences can emerge that affect their decisions. In particular, corporate environmental (green) investment decisions may lead to inclinations that erode impartiality. This research investigates how a m...

Many organizations have achieved high levels of quality performance only to lose it later on. These firms that were once quality leaders can no longer compete on the quality of their products or services. This research develops a theoretical understanding of how organizations can sustain a quality advantage. It offers a conceptual definition of sus...

Increasingly, scholars recognize the importance of understanding supply network disruptions. However, the literature still lacks a clear conceptualization of a network-level understanding of supply disruptions. Not having a network level understanding of supply disruptions prevents firms from fully mitigating the negative effects of a supply disrup...

Punitive regulatory actions are now being supplemented with supportive non-regulatory interventions to drive environmental improvements (EIs) in firms. An important policy and operational question is whether these two approaches have a complementary or counterproductive influence on EIs. Using an event history analysis of 300+ EIs tracked over seve...

In this study we provide a multi-method examination of firm tendencies to adopt certain tactical solutions to resolve performance dilemmas. We consider the complex and dynamic paths through which improvement tactics impact firm performance, as well as the impact of misalignment between operational strategies and the specific tactics pursued. Our ar...

Just in Time includes a multitude of practices, each of which can affect various aspects of an operation. This study investigates the effects of three groups of JIT practices on operational performance. Using cross-case analysis of eight manufacturers in the auto industry, the study investigates environmental contexts in which the three JIT practic...

High-tech organizations often struggle to manage different types of R&D projects. Evidence from research and practice suggests that managers frequently categorize and manage projects based on the extent of change triggered in product, process, technology and market dimensions. However, this can create challenges in high-tech organizations. This stu...

Purpose – Much of the practitioner literature touts the universal benefits of process management and its impact on operational performance. However, in academic literature, empirical evidence is mixed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of the competitive intensity on the effectiveness of process management. Design/methodology/ap...

Quality management (QM) has often been promoted as a universal remedy, where organizations adopt these practices to enhance performance. However, implementation of QM has led to mixed results with some high-profile failures. Some suggest that customizing QM practices to fit the organization's situational context can help avoid implementation failur...

This paper systematically reviews and synthesizes the academic research on Six Sigma and business performance. The authors track the development of this body of research based on the literature from 2000 to 2012 and synthesize various perspectives into a comprehensive multilevel framework linking leadership, Six Sigma dimensions (organizational and...

This paper systematically reviews and synthesizes the academic research on Six Sigma and business performance. The authors track the development of this body of research based on the literature from 2000 to 2012 and synthesize various perspectives into a comprehensive multilevel framework linking leadership, Six Sigma dimensions (organizational and...

Over the years organizations have implemented different types of quality management practices for various reasons. Some organizations implement quality practices as a foundation to achieve strategic goals; others implement quality practices to satisfy industry expectations and other social pressures. This research investigates the social and ration...

This paper adds to the ongoing development of the field of quality management. The purpose of this paper is to clarify the status of quality management research, to categorize the recent literature in quality management, and to better position the field for growth and maturity. The authors performed a rather extensive overview, review, and discussi...

Increasingly, companies find themselves being torn between fulfilling stakeholder demands and satisfying shareholder claims. How can they then effectively balance these divergent interests while being focused on the overarching “corporate objective” of creating firm value? Recent anecdotal evidence suggests that firms have been doing so through a c...

Increasingly manufacturers implement lean practices to improve operational performance. In addition, manufacturers operate in ever more complex and volatile environments. This research investigates the effects of environmental complexity and dynamism on lean operations and lean purchasing practices. It empirically examines these relationships using...

This study investigates how contextual factors influence the relationship between Quality Management (QM) practices and manufacturing performance. It contributes to the contingency theory of QM effectiveness. Drawing on the management literature, we differentiate two different groups of QM practices: Quality Exploitation and Quality Exploration. Th...

High tech organizations confront dual demands of exploring new products/processes and exploiting existing products/processes. Research shows that ambidextrous organizations can better manage these dual demands, but our understanding of the antecedents that lead to ambidexterity is still emerging. In addition, previous research has taken a piecemeal...

Organizations are increasingly implementing process-improvement techniques like Six Sigma, total quality management, lean, and business process re-engineering to improve organizational performance. These techniques are part of a process management system that includes the organizational infrastructure to support the improvement techniques. The know...

A number of studies have investigated the quality of journals in Operations Management. This research steps back from these studies and investigates the exchange of ideas within Operations Management journals and between other management disciplines (Management, Marketing, and Finance) during the last decade (1998–2007). Journal citation metrics pr...

Understanding national and organizational culture becomes increasingly important in the era of transnational manufacturing. As the world becomes flat and boundaries break down, manufacturers need to understand the proper role of culture in order to obtain competitive advantage. Thus, the current study conducts a multilevel investigation of the impa...

Many contributions have been made to the field of quality since the inaugural issue of Production and Operations Management in 1992. The first issue called for more research and teaching on TQM, which resulted in two special issues dedicated to TQM. Many other articles related to quality have also been published in the first fifty issues of the jou...

Combining Lean practices with Six Sigma has gained immense popularity in recent years. Whether a combined Lean-Six Sigma approach is the latest management fad, or leads to significant performance benefits that exceed isolated implementation is not yet apparent. Using implementation and performance data from a sample of 2511 plants, the research stu...

ABSTRACT Increasingly, scholars and practitioners recognize the importance of understanding organizational culture when implementing operations management practices. This study investigates the relationships among organizational culture, infrastructure and core quality management practices, and manufacturing performance using two alternative models...

Process improvement programs such as Six Sigma, Lean, and Lean Sigma are very important and deserve serious academic research attention. However, definition problems make it difficult to study any specific type of process improvement program. Therefore, this study defines two organizational level program management factors, Strategic Project Select...

This study empirically tested alternative models for effective process improvement program management. This study identified two program management factors: Strategic Project Selection (SPS) and Disciplined Project Management (DPM). Analysis of empirical data collected from 53 plants showed that SPS mediates the relationship between DPM and organiz...

Six Sigma has been gaining momentum in industry; however, academics have conducted little research on this emerging phenomenon. Understanding Six Sigma first requires providing a conceptual definition and identifying an underlying theory. In this paper we use the grounded theory approach and the scant literature available to propose an initial defi...

Organizations functioning in fast paced environments are confronted with the dual demands of innovation and improvement. Sustaining a competitive advantage requires balancing these two imperatives. Using a grounded theory building approach through multiple case studies, this research investigates the balancing capability at different levels of the...

This research develops a framework of learning and knowledge-based quality improvement by integrating the two perspectives of learning and knowledge creation. One perspective focuses on adhering to a prescribed methodology while the other emphasizes managing the context. By conceptualizing a comprehensive quality program as comprising basic context...

his study investigates two mechanisms of knowledge creation—one that is method driven and the other that is psychologically driven. Results show that the two mechanisms have different effects on the learning behaviors and knowledge created in Six Sigma projects. The method mechanism directly influences learning behaviors, while the psychological me...

The tenets of goal theory have been well established as a motivation mechanism in the management literature. However, some quality-management advocates, such as W. Edwards Deming, often criticize the use of goals. This research investigates the tension between goals and quality management in the Six Sigma context. We find empirical support that goa...

Process Improvement Programs (PIPs) such as Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, JIT, and Lean have been the subject of much research over the last two decades. Most research on PIPs examines one specific type of PIP and attempts to evaluate the impact of specific PIP practices on performance. While most scholars agree that PIP research is extremel...

Organizational leaders increasingly recognize process management as an essential element in organizational performance. Two key tools for process management––Statistical Process Control and Maintenance Management––can create profound economic benefits, particularly when they are coordinated. This paper demonstrates the value of integrating Statisti...

Several quality thought leaders have considered the role of knowledge in quality management practices. For example, Deming proposed The Deming System of Profound Knowledge™ that dealt explicitly with knowledge. However, various authors in the quality field diverge considerably when contemplating knowledge. We propose an integrated view of quality a...

We study the social and method mechanisms of knowledge creation and found them to have differential effects on the learning behaviors and knowledge created in Six Sigma projects. Further, both learning behaviors and knowledge influence performance directly and mediate the relationships between the two mechanisms and performance.

The disposal of hazardous wastes creates major economic and environmental problems. One productive use of hazardous wastes is to blend them into fuel, which mitigates damage to the environment by recycling waste into fuel and reducing fossil-fuel consumption. Operations personnel face a daunting task of efficiently blending hazardous waste into fue...

Six Sigma is a phenomenon that is gaining wide acceptance in industry, but lacks a theoretical underpinning and a basis for research other than “best practice” studies. Rigorous academic research of Six Sigma requires the formulation and identification of useful theories related to the phenomenon. Accordingly, this paper develops an understanding o...

Six Sigma is a phenomenon that is gaining wide acceptance in industry, but lacks a theoretical underpinning and a basis for research other than “best practice” studies. Rigorous academic research of Six Sigma requires the formulation and identification of useful theories related to the phenomenon. Accordingly, this paper develops an understanding o...

Designing a control chart involves making fundamental decisions about the control chart parameters. Traditionally, practitioners select design parameters using ad hoc procedures. Academic research has been challenging this tradition by introducing a more rigorous criterion for selecting the design parameters based on economic criteria. However, the...

Designing a control chart involves making fundamental decisions about the control chart parameters. Traditionally, practitioners select design parameters using ad hoc procedures. Academic research has been challenging this tradition by introducing a more rigorous criterion for selecting the design parameters based on economic criteria. However, the...

The design parameters of the multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart may be chosen according to economic and/or statistical considerations. The economic model proposed for the design of the'MEWMA chart assumes a Markovian process failure mechanism following an exponential distribution. We'assess the sensitivity of t...

Economic designs (with or without the addition of statistical constraints) provide reasonable approaches to the problem of choosing the parameters of a control chart. For the multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart, the optimal choice of control limit, sample size, exponential weights for past observations and sampl...

This paper proposes methods for determining the optimal choice of design parameters (including control limits, sample size, exponential weights for past observations, and sampling interval) for the multivariate exponentially weighted moving average (MEWMA) control chart. Extending the Lorenzen-Vance flexible cost model (Lorenzen and Vance (1986)) t...

Typescript. Department of Operations Research and Operations Management. Thesis (Ph. D.)--Case Western Reserve University, 1998. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 233-239).