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In this concluding chapter, each of the previous chapters are reflected upon based on the emergent quality management paradigm presented in Chap. 9 by Backström. This book introduces four processes: innovation, production, knowledge creation, and value creation processes. It is emphasised that companies must prioritise and develop all four of these processes to survive and prosper. Throughout the book, dichotomies associated with these processes have been elaborated on and discussed. Historically, these dichotomies have often created dilemmas owing to the current understanding of their relations. However, as suggested in this book, alternative perspectives can be used in a constructive way to resolve these potentially high-impact dilemmas. Recognising the dichotomies as mutually dependent gives further possibilities for the development of production systems.

It is well known that the development of successful business and production systems are full of conflicting forces; initiatives that seem conducive to one line of work can be a constraint on another line of work. This kind of dilemma is the core subject of the current book, and by applying alternative perspectives to such dilemmas, the book will present ideas on how these could be managed in organizations. Organizations need to manage a number of challenges in terms of dualities in order to create a contemporary production system, which seems to be key to future innovative quality improvements in operations. The challenges and dichotomies that are addressed in this book are all part of four interrelated processes that together constitute key elements of a contemporary production system: The innovation process—creation and implementation of new offerings and solutions, The production process—production and distribution of offerings and solutions, The knowledge creation process—emergence and distribution of knowledge, The value creation process—created customer value based on the offerings and solutions developed. 

This book examines current and emerging challenges in manufacturing related to the ideal of developing production processes with variability and agility on one level of the system, combined with structures ensuring stability and robustness on another level; close to what by other scholars has been discussed in terms of continuous innovation.  However, this ideal has proven to be difficult to achieve in practice, and there is a need for enhanced and more sophisticated theoretical models dealing with the complexity surrounding organizational conditions to foster incremental as well as radical change in production systems, and, at the same time to ensure stability over time.

As a theoretical frame of reference, a perspective on change where conflicting demands and conflicting activities, e.g., exploration and exploitation, are seen as intertwined and interdependent, is used throughout the book. The ideal from this perspective is to make use of such conflicting forces and to develop the change dynamics by keeping them in the same social system, not to structurally separate them in different departments or different initiatives.

The main purpose of the book is to address an increased need for quality improvement through innovation and disruptive change in production. Traditional theories and managerial models of production systems are developed with a focus on stability and improvement. There is a need for enhanced models to reach an ability to develop new future production systems. The goal of the book is to provide nuances and new perspectives giving more realistic models of the production system to be able to increase the change potentiality of the organization and thus the long-term competiveness. Learning and organizational perspectives are in focus as enablers to increase the understanding of a production system as such. Long-term competitiveness through adaptability and the potential for radical improvement is of importance throughout the book. The use of dualities and the concept of ambidextrous organizations as a frame of understanding is the innovative strength for this area.

—This article is a first step toward a visualization and classification system for studying dynamic organizing structures of work. As a first step toward this researchobjective, this study brings together two active projects. One called “relatonics” studies work group formation and is primarily empirical and inductive. The other called “Human Interaction Dynamics (HID)” imports concepts, relationships and modeling from complexity science and is therefore primarily theoretical and deductive. The vision is to use social media, data gathering, and process simulation technologies to rigorously describe, systematically visualize, and validly model the complex dynamics of work processes of different types. This work will serve as a means to classify, study and improve the performance of work systems. We describe our progress to data and suggest further research.

 Employee-driven innovation involves all employees at all levels in improvement work in the organisation. Rather than only accessing the capabilities of research and development employees – the unique competence, insights and ideas of all staff can be activated. We use a longitudinal design to test the impact of leader training on third-level EDI as part of a psychosocial risk assessment process. Leaders are trained to listen to employees and work together to solve work environment problems. We found that idea generation and time to take a break to test new ideas increases after only six months, and this increase is sustained at 18 months compared to a control group. However, 'keenness to share ideas' and 'being listened to' were not significant compared to the control group. These findings and their implications for future research are discussed.

Although plant role issues have been discussed in a number of studies, there is limited insights in literature on the capabilities that are required for the core plant to be excellent. Drawing on a capability based perspective, the purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of core plant capabilities for competitive production development by analysing the multidisciplinary literature on the core plant concept. We synthesis our findings into a conceptual model that distinguishing capabilities required to be (come) and act as an excellent core plant and thus widen the core plant concept and offer several contributions.

A core plant should be a centre of excellence, have a central role for knowledge creation, and ensure that the latest knowledge is diffused in the organisation's production network. Core plants can yield a range of benefits, such as increased resource efficiency and decreased costs in the production network. However, core plants face immense challenges in performing their roles, given the different interests of the different stakeholders that need to be satisfied. We use data gathered from an in-depth study of six core plants in Sweden to analyse the prerequisites. We conclude that the core plant prerequisites are influenced by human, organisational, and technological aspects, i.e., successful development of core plant capabilities can only be achieved if all the three components are considered together. Our findings are relevant to operation managers, plant managers, and others interested in developing and maintaining core plant excellence.

Purpose – This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of learning-oriented leadership as being integrated in managers’ daily work. The particular focus is on managers’ efforts to change how work is carried out through indirect acts of influence. In their daily work, managers influence the organisation’s learning conditions in ways that go beyond face-to-face interaction. Neither the influencer nor those influenced are necessarily aware that they are engaged in learning processes. Design/methodology/approach – The research was part of a larger case study. The data set comprised interviews with nine middle managers about ways of working during a period of organisational change. A learning-theoretical analysis model was used to categorise managerial acts of influence. The key concept concerned pedagogic interventions. Findings – Two qualitatively different routes for indirect influence were identified concerning social and organisational structures: one aligning, that narrows organisational members’ discretion, and one freeing, that widens discretion. Alignment is built on fixed views of objectives and on control of their interpretation. The freeing of structures is built on confidence in emerging competence and involvement of others. Research limitations/implications – The study was limited to managers’ descriptions in a specific context. An issue for future research is to see whether the identified categories of learning-oriented leadership are found in other organisations. Practical implications – The learning-oriented leadership categories cover a repertoire of acts of influence that create different learning conditions. These may be significant for the creation of a learning-conducive environment. Originality/value – Managerial work that creates conducive conditions for learning does not need to be a specific task. Learning-oriented elements are inherent in aspects of managerial work, and managers’ daily tasks can be understood as expressions of different kinds of pedagogic intervention.

This paper examines the potential contribution of organisation images where there is a need to understand and lead change. It is theoretically based on the dual assumption that leaders and co-workers learn when carrying out their work tasks, and that they act and make decisions according to their own conceptions. Intended change and development in organisations are as necessary as they are challenging. The paper aims to advance the idea of understanding organisational images as potential practical and pedagogical tools for informal change. Therefore, the paper discusses qualities of different types of organisation images in terms of their potential contribution to intended informal change, and how these images may provide support in the leading and organising of learning and development in organisations. In addition to the usual organisational chart, the visualisations ‘organisational circle’ and ‘task network’ are displayed and discussed and suggested to aid the asking of new questions, which may qualify the understanding of organisational change.

This paper examines the potential contribution of organisation images where there is a need to understand and lead change. It is theoretically based on the dual assumption that leaders and co-workers learn when carrying out their work tasks, and that they act and make decisions according to their own conceptions. Intended change and development in organisations are as necessary as they are challenging. The paper aims to advance the idea of understanding organisational images as potential practical and pedagogical tools for informal change. Therefore, the paper discusses qualities of different types of organisation images in terms of their potential contribution to intended informal change, and how these images may provide support in the leading and organising of learning and development in organisations. In addition to the usual organisational chart, the visualisations ‘organisational circle’ and ‘task network’ are displayed and discussed and suggested to aid the asking of new questions, which may qualify the understanding of organisational change.

This paper attempts to explore an analogy between individual and organizational learning within experiential learning theory (ELT). The focus is on both the possibility of identifying a learning subject that learns in action, and on the genesis process behind the learning of a suggested learning subject at organizational level. The exploration uses an empirical study of a global software communication organization. The research adopts a qualitative approach, with data from three middle-management layers of a research and development (R&D) unit with 5,000 employees. During the study, shifts of emphasis occurred between two organizational logics, which required work-integrated learning. Metaphorically speaking, the organization was portrayed as ‘teeming with interaction’, and a growing wave of change decisively altered both the thinking and work processes within the organization. The organizational learning process is theoretically understood as an ‘augmented intense interaction’ around a specific content. The subject that learns and upholds the outcome is suggested to be the teeming activity, comprehended as a living organism. In practice, the awareness of an organization as a body that teems with interaction has potential to offer new understanding about how to manage change.

One challenge for the global market is to overcome communication problems of different kinds. The largest communication problem is language, people speak different languages and have limited knowledge in other languages. This problem is central in manuals and instructions for assembly and installations. One hopeful solution is that pictures can replace verbal instructions. In this paper we will discuss how illustrations in flat perspective can be useful for showing action in drawings.

Background: Supplier involvement in product development has proven beneficial for companies and is a phenomenon researched in various domains. The definitions of supplier involvement represent points of origin and dimensions addressed in research. Still, there is no overview of these definitions and dimensions. This study reviews current definitions of the phenomenon of supplier involvement in product development and develops a conceptual model outlining its main dimensions. Methods: A systematic literature review is conducted to provide an overview of explicit definitions of supplier involvement in product development. By identifying the elements of these definitions, a conceptual model is developed to demonstrate how the phenomenon has been conceptualized in literature. Results: The results include an overview of 47 explicit definitions of supplier involvement in product development, a conceptual model including the identified dimensions, research gaps, and questions for future research. Conclusions: Supplier involvement in product development is a complex phenomenon with interdependencies between its key dimensions. A conceptual model of supplier involvement is presented, which is useful for categorizing research to identify research gaps and avenues for future research.

The development of successful production systems is affected by conflicting forces, that is, initiatives seemingly conducive for one line of work can be a constraint for another. Consequently, this paper presents an alternative perspective on how these issues could be managed in organisations. There are a number of key challenges in terms of the involved dichotomies for future innovative quality improvements in operations. These dichotomies are part of four interrelated processes that are the central elements of a production system. As such, aiming for stability or change is a production process dilemma in terms of the production and distribution of offerings and solutions. Control and creativity are the main dilemmas of the innovation process, that is, the creation and implementation of new offerings and solutions, while exploitation and exploration are the dilemmas of the knowledge creation process and efficiency and effectiveness of the value creation process. As the simultaneous existence of both parts of the dichotomy seems to be a paradox, this paper suggests the emergent quality management paradigm as an alternative perspective providing the guidance, examples, and practical solutions necessary to solve these dilemmas by recognising the dichotomies as mutually dependent.

This paper deepens the understanding of the lead factory concept by examining how the lead factory role is operationalised and what challenges are associated with it. The research is based on an explorative case study of eight Swedish lead factories in the manufacturing industry. The empirical findings suggest that the understanding of the lead factory concept should be extended as it is not restricted to one type of set-up. The findings show a spectrum ranging from an entire manufacturing plant, parts of a plant, to a virtual plant considered to be the lead factory. The research also shows a broad range of challenges experienced by lead factories. Several of these are related to and originate from unclear role, responsibility and mandate of the lead factory. The lack of dedicated resources for lead factory activities, specifically long-term development and difficulties in measuring the benefits of the role, were other challenges faced.

Exploration and exploitation capabilities are both important within Operations as means for improvement when managed separately, and for establishing dynamic improvement capabilities when combined in balance. However, it is unclear what exploration and exploitation capabilities imply in improvement and development work within an Operations context. So, in order to better understand how to develop exploration and exploitation capabilities within Operations, the main characteristics of these constructs needs to be identified and further understood. Thus, the objective of this research is to increase the understanding about exploitation and exploration characteristics, to concretize what they translates to within the context of improvement and development work in an Operations unit, and to identify practical challenges. A literature review and a case study are presented. In the literature review, different interpretations of exploration and exploitation are portrayed, key characteristics have been identified, and a deepened understanding of exploration and exploitation characteristics is described. The case in the study is an Operations unit, and the aim is to explore to what extent and in what ways exploration and exploitation activities are part of the improvement structures and processes. The contribution includes an identification of key characteristics of exploitation and exploration, as well as an interpretation of the constructs. Further, some practical challenges are identified. For instance, exploration activities tend to be given low priority, both in daily work as in the manufacturing strategy. Also, the overall understanding about the concepts of exploitation and exploration (or any similar aspect of dynamic improvement capabilities) is very low.

Entrepreneurship and innovation has gained an increased focus in Sweden, as well as in the rest of the European Union, during the last decades. Entrepreneurship is listed as one of eight key competences for lifelong learning (EU-Parliament, 2006) and in 2012 the Swedish government released “the Swedish Innovation Strategy” as a key strategy for Sweden to remain a strong economy (Government Offices of Sweden, 2012). An important part of this strategy entrepreneurial learning and entrepreneurship have been included in the Swedish national school curriculum (Skolverket, 2011), making it mandatory for all Swedish elementary and secondary schools to prepare the young for their future as an entrepreneurial work force. The language of entrepreneurial learning is adopted from the industrial sector where skills such as, for example creativity are emphasized, in order to make it possible to bring new ideas and products out on expanding and globalized markets. Entrepreneurship has also been introduced to the cultural sector in Sweden, through a governmental initiative in 2009. The term has emphasized the need of museums to become economically self-sufficient without loosing their traditional role. Cultural entrepreneurship is, just as theoretical ideas about learning, nowadays central to many museums. The current development give rise to questions of how meaning is attributed to entrepreneurship, as it is introduced in new and dispersed institutional contexts.

The aim of this paper is to present and discuss a forthcoming comparative case study on how entrepreneurship is enacted in three different sectors; educational, industrial and cultural sectors. The study investigates how knowledge and competence associated with entrepreneurship is recognized by the participants and how this approach contributes to the design of learning environments. By doing cross-sectorial comparisons the objective of the study is to provide perspectives on entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning in school.

The following sets of research questions have been established to meet the objectives of the study:

How do the representatives from different sectors define entrepreneurship? How is it defined in local policy documents?

How do different sectors design for entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial learning?

What is recognized as entrepreneurial knowledge and skills?

How does, what is recognized as entrepreneurship in the school context, change the very understanding of education?

Institution-theory is used as a theoretical perspective to examine how entrepreneurship is being recognized and evaluated in different learning settings. What counts as meaningful and what is recognized as valuable knowledge is always dependent on the social framing.  Institutions, such as schools, workplaces and museums, are guided by rules, routines and conventions which regulate the agency of the participants. The institutional frame implies that certain actions and ways of regarding knowledge become normative. The notion of institution entails the idea that individuals are part of a collective set of regulations that has been shaped over time (Douglas, 1986, Berger & Luckman 1966/1991, Searl 1995). What has been selected and considered relevant and valuable knowledge in a certain context, is depending on the cultures of recognition that has been established (Selander & Kress, 2010).

The project is designed as a comparative case study with an ethnographic oriented approach. A total of three cases are selected, one from each sector. Data will be derived from document studies, observations and interviews with participants from the different contexts, and used as a basis for comparison. There will be a strategic selection of participating contexts, in the sense that our aim is to study settings that are considered to be in the fore front when it comes to realizing a vision of entrepreneurship. Part A, Educational, will be conducted in a compulsory school, Part B, Industrial, will be conducted in an organization with proven experience of developing entrepreneurial skills. Part C, Cultural, will be conducted in a museum that has a clear focus on entrepreneurship and is driven primarily by commercial objectives.

A review of earlier research has shown that the notion of entrepreneurship, as used in education, appear to be insufficiently theorized. The study will contribute to didactic research by examining how meaning is attributed to a specific knowledge area (entrepreneurship) and how different assessment practices are shaped and articulated in different settings. Earlier research has primarily been conducted within each sector while this study takes a wider, institutional perspective. An expected outcome of the project is that it will provide a critical perspective on entrepreneurial learning as a concept. We will in addition to this also be able to discuss what impact entrepreneurial ideas have for the very understanding of what education in schools is.

Förbättrings- och utvecklingsarbete drivs inom tillverkande industri i många fall med en ambition att involvera medarbetare på alla nivåer i en organisation. I artikeln adresseras hur förbättrings- och utvecklingsarbete kan organiseras inom industriell produktion och hur det inverkar på förutsättningarna för ett kompetent utförande av förbättrings- och utvecklingsarbete. Två fallstudier från tillverkande industri utgör det empiriska underlaget. I resultatet identifieras två spänningsfält för förbättrings- och utvecklingsarbete: självorganiserat-avsiktligt organiserat, samt självreglerande-expertstött arbete. I spänningsfälten identifieras fyra positioner: Den intuitivt drivna, den gruppdrivna, den coachdrivna och den vägledningsdrivna. En slutsats är att en begränsad distribuerad kompetens är en allt för svag katalysator för att bedriva förbättrings- och utvecklingsarbete i de självreglerande positionerna. Expertstöd i form av en kompetent andre kan genom facilitering eller handledning möjliggöra mer av utforskande aktiviteter och kan då bidra till att bryta med invanda handlingsmönster i sökandet efter nya lösningar. Det möjliggör mer av ett arbetsintegrerat lärande samt utgör en viktig grund för framväxt av praktikbaserad innovation.

The aim of this chapter is to give an account of and discuss how viable development work can be organized and engage employees on all levels of an organization, which, depending on the specific needs, enables the emergence of both exploitation and exploration. A further aim is to describe the relationship between how development work is carried out and the opportunities afforded by such work for continuous learning of development work competence. The empirical material contains several examples of how employees are committed to improving their own operations, which in itself is an important prerequisite for a continuous work-integrated learning. However, the empirical findings presented in this chapter indicate that this is not a sufficient condition for the long-term development of skills relevant to pursuing structured development work. One conclusion to draw is that development work needs to be treated as a domain-specific competence in itself, which in turn needs to be distributed throughout the organization. 

The aim of this paper is to provide new perspectives on the implementation of new operations management practices by applying three different but interrelated frameworks: Human Interaction Dynamics, Normalization Process Theory, and Professional competence as ways of being. The empirical material in this paper is based on a case study within a global manufacturing company, and more specific the development and implementation of a new OM practice for knowledge sharing at one of the sites in Sweden. A mixed-method approach is used, and the empirical material is collected through analysis of a database, two group interviews, and a survey.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to advance the understanding of paradoxes, underlying tensions and potential management strategies when integrating digital technologies into existing lean-based production systems (LPSs), with the aim of achieving synergies and fostering the development of production systems.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopts a collaborative management research (CMR) approach to identify patterns of organisational tensions and paradoxes and explore management strategies to overcome them. The data were collected through interviews and focus group interviews with experts on lean and/or digital technologies from the companies, from documents and from workshops with the in-case researchers.FindingsThe findings of this paper provide insights into the salient organisational paradoxes embraced in the integration of digital technologies in LPS by identifying different aspects of the performing, organising, learning and belonging paradoxes. Furthermore, the findings demonstrate the intricacies and relatedness between different paradoxes and their resolutions, and more specifically, how a resolution strategy adopted to manage one paradox might unintentionally generate new tensions. This, in turn, calls for either re-contextualising actions to counteract the drift or the adoption of new resolution strategies.Originality/valueThis paper adds perspective to operations management (OM) research through the use of paradox theory, and we (1) provide a fine-grained perspective on why integration sometimes "fails" and label the forces of internal drift as mechanisms of imbalances and (2) provide detailed insights into how different management and resolution strategies are adopted, especially by identifying re-contextualising actions as a key to rebalancing organisational paradoxes in favour of the integration of digital technologies in LPSs.

This chapter aims to explore the possibilities of visualising work-integrated competence networks—here referred to as relatonics—and contribute to the understanding of how to support efforts of organising change. The competence-generating processes of an organisation are problematic in that they are largely hidden in the midst of everyday practice. If not receiving adequate attention, there is the risk of conducting too frequent, disruptive, and unhealthy reorganisations. This strengthens the reason why visualisations of relatonics are of value. The demarcation line between what is hidden, and what is not, is relocated through the use of visualisations of relatonics. A conclusion is that images representing relatonics can be utilised to support informed change decisions.

Today’s research on workplace learning stresses the importance of the environment in which learning takes place. On the basis of an empirical study of a Vocational Education and Training (VET) program this thesis aims to create knowledge about how a learning environment is constructed. Theoretically, the study is based within action theory and takes an organizational pedagogical point of departure. It is rooted both in constructivist theory, as well as draws on the theory of learning as culturally and socially situated. The study is designed as a single case study. Data was primarily collected during periods of field studies through the observation of teachers’ work inside and outside classroom settings; recurring in-depth interviews with six teachers and eight participants, and reflection group interviews with the teachers. The study reveals a difference between participants’ and teachers’ educational goals and ambitions. This is important to acknowledge due to the necessity for the teachers to handle the difference. It gives information on daily work in the VET-program and the important work tasks that emerge. The program is influenced by the ideological foundations developed by its principal organizer, which comes to play as a special way of reasoning, the Yes-thought. Much of the daily work consists of an adjustable way of working and an approach that supports it. However, two tension fields can be identified in which discretion in work tasks is created. The first concerns the approach to work tasks, and is a tension between dynamic and instrumental approaches. The second concerns the organizing of work tasks and is a tension between adjustable and regulating ways of working. Micro context is introduced as a concept, referring to the context of meaning which is created around work tasks. Depending on the micro context’s position in the two tension fields, different conditions of learning can be identified. The micro contexts can then be understood as the learning environments in the work place.

This chapter is based on theorising and analysis from an ongoing research and development project exploring the use of visualisations in task-based development, specifically the potential of new types of organisational images that may support understanding about work-integrated learning. Thus, the aim of the chapter is to explore the possibilities of visualising work-integrated competence networks—here referred to as relatonics—and contribute to the understanding of how such visualisations can support efforts of organising change when organisational boundary-crossing cooperation is needed for a significant task. A conclusion is that images representing relatonic can be utilised to identify areas with a developmental need and, in this way, are a resource to make more knowledgeable interventions and enable a relatonic to emerge in certain directions.

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to increase the understanding regarding how managers attempt to make purposeful use of innovation management self-assessments (IMSA) and performance information (PI).

Design/methodology/approach

An interpretative perspective on purposeful use is used as an analytical framework, and the paper is based on empirical material from two research projects exploring the use of IMSA and PI in three case companies. Based on the empirical data, consisting of interviews and observations of workshops and project meetings, qualitative content analysis has been conducted.

Findings

The findings of this paper indicate that how managers achieve a purposeful use of PI is related to their approach toward how to use the specific PI at hand, and two basic approaches are analytically separated: a rule-based approach and a reflective approach. Consequently, whether or not the right thing is being measured also becomes a question of how the PI is actually being interpreted and used. Thus, the extensive focus on what to measure and how to measure it becomes edgeless unless equal attention is given to how managers are able to use the PI to make knowledgeable decisions regarding what actions to take to achieve the desired changes.

Practical implications

Given the results, it comes with a managerial responsibility to make sure that all managers who are supposed to be engaged in using the PI are given roles in the self-assessments that are aligned with the level of knowledge they possess, or can access.

Originality/value

How managers purposefully use PI is a key to understand the potential impact of self-assessments.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the competence in use when working with interactive research, which is a continuation and elaboration of action research.

Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative research approach was adopted for the study. The main body of empirical material in this paper is based on two sources of data – a survey comprising open-ended questions, followed by a series of focus group interviews. The respondents were researchers with varying degrees of experience in using interactive research.

Findings: The findings provide illustrations of what characterises interactive research as work and identify an additional set of activities that go beyond traditional research activities. Some activities are relatively easy to describe, while others exist in the gaps between other activities – e.g. boundary spanning – and are harder to explicitly define in terms of implications for the involved researchers’ competence. The work activities reaching beyond the traditional research boundaries are implicit and are not a common shared practice. From a competence point of view, this implies that the competence in use for these implicit tasks of interactive research becomes individually carried. Based on these findings, a number of individual aspects of what constitutes competence in use are suggested.

Research limitations/implications: In future studies, it would be valuable to use a mixed-method approach that also includes longitudinal observations of the actual work of conducting interactive research.

Practical implications: The findings and suggestions for how to understand the competence of interactive researchers can be used as guidance for training in research education.

Originality/value: This study contributes to previous research by describing important requirements and critical elements of competence in use when conducting interactive research.

As the research process, i.e. how researchers conduct research, may be disrupted by Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based tools, this research in progress stresses the need for research on the future role of researchers. Prior research on AI-based tools used in the research process, focuses primarily on technological development related to, for example, language recognition, text extraction, and paper summaries. Recently, scientific texts are generated by AI. In this research in progress, four sub-areas of interest are identified: Black-box dilemma. What part or parts of the research process, if any, can trustfully be replaced by AI-based tools? Quality. What is required for AI-based tools to become an integrated part of the research process? Benefits/limitations. What are the potential benefits and limitations with AI-based tools as an integrated part of the research process? Progress in use: What is the progress of the use and development of AI-based tools for research? Research design, potential contribution, and practical implications of this research are discussed.

In this article, we explore how the key concepts of lean manufacturing, value, value adding and waste are conceived and operationally used by Lean trainers in operational work processes. A comparative case study with a mixed method approach, using an explanatory sequential design, was conducted. This means that a set of quantitative data were collected, which was followed by the collection of qualitative data with the purpose of explaining and understanding the quantitative measures. An interpretivist approach is used as a framework, which implies a perspective on contemporary operations management paradigms, such as lean manufacturing, as a continuous construction of inter-subjective experiences. What becomes evident in the empirical findings is that there are both similarities and differences in the Lean trainers conceptions and use of value adding and waste. The similarities and differences can be explained by variations in two dimensions: (a) the character of the work process, which ranges between mechanical and craftsmanship, and (b) Lean trainers approach to key concepts, which ranges between being rule-based and reflective. By using a research design where the concepts of value adding and waste were used simultaneously, and adopting an interpretivist approach on lean manufacturing, we were able to reveal conditions that in other cases remain hidden.

This paper aims to generate new insights to the complex issue of developing dynamic capabilities ( DC) for digital transformation (DT )in healthcare, and addressing the RQ: How are the microfoundations of DCs enabled or constrained in the context of DT initiatives in healthcare? In the findings, three levels of DC are identified: Ad hoc capabilities(AC), Micro-context and Shared DC. Further, the analysis identified enablers and constraints for AC, micro-context DC and shared DC. In some situations, the factors that act as constraints at shared DC level were also identified as enablers for AC and micro-context. This indicates that some of the very things that lay the grounds for microfoundations of DC may also hamper organisationally shared DC. This points to a continuous dynamic between the AC, micro-context and shared DC levels, where calibration at all levels is necessary in order to obtain and maintain DC on all organisational levels

Digital transformation is crucial for the healthcare sector, yet research shows that it also possesses a series of challenges at system-, organisational-, and individual levels, which require balancing. In this study, we adopt paradox theory to understand the balancing practices and requirements for digitalisation in healthcare. Based on gaps in previous research and practice, this paper aims to explore what characterises the different kinds of tensions and organisational paradoxes related to digital transformation. Also, this paper discusses how balancing practices in digital transformation are constrained and enabled. The paper is based on a project run in co-production between researchers at the Mälardalen University and project partners at a healthcare Region in Sweden. In the findings, two kinds of tensions are identified in digital transformation initiatives: Divergence at different organisational levels and competing demands between past, present and future needs. The divergent views are characterised by being latent while the competing demands are characterised by being salient to the organisation. This is followed by a discussion about balancing practices enabling digital ambidexterity and spurring virtuous cycles.

Recently, the ISO guidance standard “Innovation management - Innovation management system” - ISO56002:2019 (ISO56002) has gained a lot of interest within the innovation management community. Recent research calls for an increased understanding of what innovation pedagogics are needed to support innovation management consultants and advisors (innovation advisors) in their work supporting its clients in the ISO56002 and the relevance of ISO56002’s content for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). In this study, building on an existing tool for measuring innovation maturity, the Innovation Management Capability Assessment and Reflection tool (IMCAR) was developed to also include a reflective part of the ISO56002 content’s relevance for the responding organisation. Using the IMCAR tool, this study indicates that the ISO56002 is relevant for both SMEs and innovation advisors but also the need for further development of innovation pedagogics related to vocabulary, knowledge, facilitated reflections, and visualisation tools. Limitations and further research avenues are discussed.

This chapter explores how Artificial Intelligence (AI) will potentially disrupt how Innovation Management (IM) research will be conducted. In the recent decades, the research process has remained virtually unchanged, i.e., a structured, stepwise process. Recently, AI has shown new opportunities that affect this process. AI applications have been developed supporting researchers for specific tasks to ease their work, for example, database searching, transcribing and data management. For example, an autonomous literature review (i.e., database search, selection, analyzing, concluding, and writing) has been conducted by AI, vastly exceeding what human research could achieve in the same time frame, which paves the way for interesting reflections on how AI applications affect research from here on going forward. As we have explored AI techniques and AI applications and discussed their potential for conducting research, three themes emerged regarding how future research might be conducted: simplification thorough the use of computational power, augmentation of a researcher’s capabilities, and replacement by automation: Three critical questions are identified: (1) The future use of AI applications in research; (2) Exploring the trust in AI — The black box dilemma, and; (3) Benefits and limitations of AI applications. These topics are discussed, paving a way towards a research agenda.

Innovation management auditing (IMA) is valuable to assessinnovation capability. A review of literature shows that research-based IMAmodelsare few and there are considerable variations in IMA-related researchand models. The quality of different models is often unclear or limited. Thepurpose of this paper is to clarify the basis for valid and reliable auditingthrough discussing and developing a quality framework. Findings point to thatthere are different aims and purposes of IMA; measuring, learning about orchanging innovation capability as well as improved business performancethrough capability enhancement. Different aims imply different focus andformulation of quality to be achieved through IMA efforts. A qualityframework for IMA is developed based on aims and the trustworthiness (validity, reliability and objectivity) in achieving respective aims. Theframework is proposed as a way to assess quality of different models, as aguide to enhance quality through research, and for practitioners to use modelsand tools in a quality-conscious way.

A core plant should be a centre of excellence, have a central role for production development and should ensure that latest knowledge is to be diffused in the organization’s production network. This paper widens the core plant concept by exploring the core plant role including perquisites required for acting as a core plant and challenges faced of being core plant. Based on a multiple-case study with seven manufacturing companies our findings extent current knowledge about the core plant. Although the core plant concept is not new, our findings show that the core plant role is unclear including how to achieve a strong networking capability and specifically with regard to coordinating the network of different plants all over the world. Core plants do not want to lose control while at the same time local development activities of subsidiaries should be supported. The findings also reveals the urgent need of a core plant the handle the trade?off of being both process innovative and cost efficient to stay competitive and also to secure the core plant role in the future.