A system dynamics perspective on the influence of the interconnection of behavioural processes and the innovation of work processes on firm performance in the railway branch

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Issue Date
2018-07-02
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en
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Abstract
Messy problems are complex, hard to solve, ill-defined and have no agreement on what the actual and desired situation is. One of these problems is the process of strategic renewal which can be done by the introduction of lean management. Lean focusses, broadly speaking, on maximizing value for customers while minimizing waste. Besides the positive effects of lean, lean could lead to negative effects as well, of which many effects are considered behavioural effects. The implementation of lean in the (semi) public branch is considered difficult due to different barriers. This study focused on the implementation of lean (with a continuous improvement team) and its barriers in the railway branch. This has been studied by organizing two Group Model Building (GMB) sessions in which a qualitative System Dynamics (SD) is created, called a Causal Loop Diagram (CLD). The CLD of these sessions has partly been validated during the second session. After the sessions eight semi-structured interviews have been held, trying to falsify what has been said during the GMB sessions. These interviews have been held with people who didn’t participate in these sessions. Afterwards, internal documents have been analysed to try to falsify the result of the GMB sessions and the interviews. The results concerning lean railroading are limited, because it has become clear during the study that the materials department is the only department specially focussing on lean. They seem to focus on inadequate track maintenance, unsafe operations, operations done twice due to mistakes and limiting variability. The focus of the entire improvement programme lies mainly on improving punctuality and customer care. The barriers which the improvement programme encounters are strategic barriers, technical barriers, cultural barriers, market-related barriers and knowledge-related barriers of which the strongest evidence has been found about strategic barriers. To overcome these barriers, a focus on the quality of communication to line managers seems appropriate and the team should be complete, meaning that the team should exist of analysts, external consultants and representatives of all departments, all with the right skills, experience and knowledge to understand the process of initiating and implementing improvement measures. However, a remark should be made that the current system shows oscillating behaviour and that it seems policy resistant, meaning that different parties have different goals which are counteractive.
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Faculteit der Managementwetenschappen