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The purpose of this paper is to present findings from a qualitative research study that was designed to examine the application of the management index (MI) to support effectiveness among management teams. Specifically, the research was twofold: to examine the usefulness of the MI as a tool to enhance effectiveness in management teams; and to identify conditions necessary for successful use of the MI.

A three-year multi-site qualitative case study was conducted with five medium- to large-scale organizations, from public and private sectors, to apply and examine the use of the MI. Data were collected from participants during a series of workshops designed to examine the ways in which the tool was used to enhance effectiveness in management teams, and conditions that were determined supportive or a hinder to using the tool.

Findings from the qualitative data demonstrate four primary uses of the in which the MI: pulse reader, navigation, systematic dialog, management team development. It is, however, not clear yet if the use of the MI contributes to improvement in efficiency and effectiveness. The degree of maturity within the organization and teams, as defined by open and transparent communication and clarity of purpose of direction, appear to be key factors for how well teams benefit from the MI. Furthermore, the tool appears to benefit from longer term usage rather than quick-fix usage, although this claim has yet to be validated by further investigations.

The MI was developed by Swedish Institute of Quality to provide a simpler performance measurement tool for management teams to support quality improvement processes in organizations in Sweden. The MI was developed to provide management teams with access to vital information that could serve as the basis for prioritizing areas of needed improvement, while reducing time and complexity associated with traditional business excellence models.

This study contributes to an ongoing dialogue about how to support quality management through the use of performance measurement tools. In particular, the study supports the need to develop understanding about the importance of dialogue and process combined with the use of measures to achieve results.

This paper aims to holistically reconcile internal and external customer satisfaction using probabilistic graphical models. The models are useful not only in the identification of the most sensitive factors for the creation of both internal and external customer satisfaction but also in the generation of improvement scenarios in a probabilistic way.

Standard Bayesian networks and object-oriented Bayesian networks are used to build probabilistic graphical models for internal and external customers. For each ward, the model is used to evaluate satisfaction drivers by category, and scenarios for the improvement of overall satisfaction variables are developed. A global model that is based on an object-oriented network is modularly built to provide a holistic view of internal and external satisfaction. The linkage is created by building a global index of internal and external satisfaction based on a linear combination. The model parameters are derived from survey data from an Italian hospital.

The results that were achieved with the Bayesian networks are consistent with the results of previous research, and they were obtained by using a partial least squares path modelling tool. The variable ‘Experience’ is the most relevant internal factor for the improvement of overall patient satisfaction. To improve overall employee satisfaction, the variable ‘Product/service results’ is the most important. Finally, for a given target of overall internal and external satisfaction, external satisfaction is more sensitive to improvement than internal satisfaction.

The novelty of the paper lies in the efforts to link internal and external satisfaction based on a probabilistic expert system that can generate improvement scenarios. From an academic viewpoint, this study moves the service profit chain theory (Heskett et al., 1994) forward by delivering operational guidelines for jointly managing the factors that affect internal and external customer satisfaction in service organizations using a holistic approach.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the differences between public and private organizations in the paths of business excellence models and to identify the key drivers for creating business results and customer satisfaction.

The partial least squares structural equation modeling technique is used to compare the path coefficients and to identify the key driver constructs for creating business results.

The variation in endogenous constructs is found to be more difficult to explain or predict for private organizations than for public organizations, despite the fact that the performance of private organizations is almost always higher than or equal to the performance of public ones in all criteria. The effect of “leadership” on “management of processes” is significantly higher in public organizations than in private ones. However, “management of processes” in public organizations does not seem to translate into “results.” The effect of “strategic planning” on creating business “results” is negative for public organizations and remains inconclusive, due to insufficient evidence, for private organizations.

The results may not be generally applicable to other countries. However, they do support the move toward more tailor-made models for specific sectors.

It is necessary to review the national business excellence model in order to fit specific sectors.

This is the first study to investigate the differences between private and public organizations in the Swedish business excellence model.

Sustainability is regarded as a core value that the coworking movement aspires to. However, most sustainability efforts focus on the providers’ perspective while neglecting the coworking members’ role. Therefore, this paper aims to explore sustainable coworking from the members perspective by focusing on sustainable behaviors.

This study uses a flexible pattern matching approach. Theoretical patterns are identified using literature on coworking space and sustainable behavior while matching them with the empirical data. Data were collected from three different coworking spaces in Sweden through interviews and observations.

Based on the theoretical patterns, three constructs for sustainable coworking were identified, namely, productive behavior, prosocial behavior and responsible space sharing behavior. Through the empirical data, the constructs were further concretized to understand their different aspects. The findings uncovered a new layer of complexity where members can show the same behavior and be perceived differently.

This study offers a more holistic understanding of sustainable coworking by highlighting the members’ role and identifying different member perceptions on sustainable coworking behaviors.

The purpose of this paper is to identify actual (as-is) patient pathway variation among breast cancer patients and to investigate the relationship between pathways and the cost incurred by patients.

Both quantitative and qualitative methods were employed to analyze data from four Swedish hospital groups. Quantitative methods include event-log data mining and statistical analyses on the related patient cost from the Swedish breast cancer quality registry and case-costing system. Qualitative methods included collaboration with and interviewing domain experts.

Unique pathways, followed by only one patient, were generally costlier than the most and less frequent pathways. Earlier study findings are confirmed for mastectomy patients, with more frequent pathways having a lower cost, whereas contradicting and inconclusive results emerged for the partial mastectomy patient groups. Highest variation in pathways was identified for patients receiving chemotherapy.

The common belief – if one follows a standardized patient pathway, then the cost will be lower – should be re-examined based on the actual pathways that occur in reality.

The relationships between patient pathways and patient cost allow more complex insights, beyond the general causal relationship between successfully implementing a “to-be” care pathway and lower cost. This highlights data-driven research’s importance, where actual pathways (as-is) provide more useful information than to-be care pathways.

This study aims to explore factors that contribute to auditee satisfaction in external audit fieldwork of ISO 9001, and relationships between these factors.

The purpose is addressed through a single case study and based upon data collected by a questionnaire. Data were analysed using probabilistic graphical models.

An auditor's knowledge of operations is shown to be the single most important factor contributing to auditee satisfaction in the study. Furthermore, establishing a co-operative audit atmosphere and focussing on business improvements support the co-creation of value in the interaction between auditor and auditee, while a focus on ISO compliance appears to be more of a hygiene factor.

This paper is based on a study of one company and its interactions with one of the certification bodies for external auditing. Hence, the generalisability of the findings is limited by the case study method.

This paper identifies that an auditor's knowledge of operations and a focus on improvements and co-creation of value can improve auditee satisfaction and appreciation of the audit process.

Previous research has concluded that audit fieldwork is a key attribute associated with auditee satisfaction. This paper adds to this body of knowledge by empirically examining the specific factors within audit fieldwork that contribute to auditee satisfaction and focuses on value-creation in the audit process. By understanding these factors and moving towards a service perspective on audits with value co-creation as focus, it is possible to enhance the value of external audits.

This paper aims to identify and prioritize the needs of coworking members. The authors focus on maintaining the existing members rather than attracting new ones.

The authors use two phases and multiple methods. The first phase focuses on a qualitative approach using observations and interviews to uncover and formulate the members’ needs. The second phase focuses on prioritizing the needs using a quantitative approach.

The authors discovered 19 member needs from the coworking spaces. Based on an online survey, the authors classified those needs into three main Kano model’s categories.

The resulting member needs and their strategic priorities provide a useful basis for coworking providers to direct their improvement efforts towards achieving greater member satisfaction.

The purpose of this paper is to provide a methodology to integrate both the dynamics of competitors' performance and the dynamics of customer preference, along with their interaction, into a quality function deployment (QFD) analysis.

A systematic dynamic benchmarking methodology is proposed with an illustrative example.

The analytic hierarchy process's (AHP's) relative measurement might serve as a better way to elicit the customer's judgment over time in the QFD, not only in the importance rating part, but also in the competitive benchmarking part. It is also possible to quantitatively model the AHP priorities' change over time, and incorporate it in the QFD decision‐making process.

It might take a certain amount of time and efforts to collect the necessary data over time. However, it might be justified considering the improved accuracy of the QFD results. It is also important that the data collection should be carried out in a specific customer segment.

QFD practitioners may find a more systematic method to continually evaluate the current performance, identify areas for improvement, and eventually set goals for the future.

There are two novel approaches used in the methodology. First, it is the use of an exponential smoothing‐based forecasting technique to model the trend of the AHP‐based importance rating values and the competitive benchmarking information. Second, it is a strength‐weakness‐opportunity‐threat‐based competitive weighting scheme, which serves as a more systematic way to substitute the traditional QFD customer competitive target setting and sales point value determination.

This article aims to provide a literature review on the use of quality function deployment (QFD) in healthcare and a case study in order to provide contextual knowledge as a means of improving applications of QFD in healthcare.

The literature search was done via Google Scholar, PubMed/MEDLINE, and Web of Science using the keywords “quality function deployment” and “healthcare”; focusing on journal publications and their related citations. The case study was done within a design for Six Sigma project (DFSS) in a Swedish hospital. Empirical data were collected through face‐to‐face interviews and project documentation.

Four potentials (better understanding of customers' needs and wants, identification of opportunities for process improvement, effective system thinking approach, and better communication and more transparent process) and three antecedents (understanding the customer, understanding the customer's needs, and finding ways to prioritize and translate those needs) of QFD application in healthcare were identified from the literature review. From the case study, the application of QFD leads to an increased awareness of a complex multiple‐customer concept, traceability of the improvement strategies in a more structured way, and the formation of a new process organization. A time study at one clinic (cardiology) before and after the project within which the QFD was used showed that the time spent on prescription of medication has decreased by more than 20 percent. This has increased the time that doctors can spend with their patients.

This paper highlights the potentials and antecedents of applying QFD in healthcare from previous research. Furthermore, the practical findings obtained from applying QFD in the project can also provide some useful insights for practitioners.

The novel contribution is two‐fold. First, it is the identification of the potentials and antecedents of using QFD in healthcare context. Second, it is the findings and learning from a practical application of QFD for improving a medication process in the hospital.

This paper aims to investigate the need of normalizing the relationship matrix in quality function deployment (QFD), especially when it leads to rank reversal, and eventually provide a guideline to know when it should be done.

The research was carried out based on some empirical observations and previous research data.

A rule of thumb is proposed to know when the rank reversal, as a result of normalizing QFD relationship matrix, can be desirable or undesirable.

Since the rule of thumb is based on empirical basis, it might not work perfectly for every single case, especially for large‐sized QFD matrices. Hence, this opens up a new challenge for future research to complement the current findings.

This paper shows that any QFD practitioner should be aware of the fact that normalization in the QFD relationship matrix is not a trivial issue, especially when it causes rank reversal. Ignoring normalization might cause potentially misleading results. However, using normalization does not always guarantee that one may obtain reliable results.

There are two novel findings in this paper. First, it is the exposition of the pros and cons of normalization in QFD relationship matrix. Second, it is the proposed rule of thumb which may serve as an important guideline for any QFD practitioner when dealing with the relationship matrix.