Evaluating a continuous improvement initiative using Stakeholder Value Mapping

Lean implementations have had a mixed record of success in organizations. One possible explanation for this observation is that lean is built upon a value system that is not always shared by the organizations trying to implement the philosophy. For example, one element of lean is that employees at all levels of the organization are expected to share ideas for improving processes. This idea might seem foreign in companies where responsibility for process improvement comes only from management or specialized departments. Lean would not be expected to flourish in an environment where employee innovation and initiative is not valued. As this example demonstrates, lean loses its effectiveness when its values are incompatible with those prevailing in an organization. Determining this compatibility has not been straightforward to date. Whereas lean literature is filled with methods and tools for discovering and removing waste, there is little guidance on how to determine if lean can be successfully applied to an organization's unique socio-technical system. Stakeholder Value Mapping (SVM), a technique adapted from the field of Enterprise Management, is presented to address this need.

Department dc:contributor.department

Leaders for Manufacturing Program at MIT

Grantor dc:publisher

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Year dc:date.issued

2006

Author dc:creator

• Lathrop, Benjamin H. (Benjamin Hurst)

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Deborah S. Nightingale and Joel Cutcher-Gershenfeld.

• Sloan School of Management.
• Chemical Engineering.
• Leaders for Manufacturing Program.

Statement dc:rights

• M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission.

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/37249

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:dspace.mit.edu:1721.1/37249