A stakeholder perspective on process improvement behaviours: delivering the triple bottom line in SMEs

Abstract

The primary focus of operations management is to add value through operational processes. Considerable attention has been given to using process improvement (PI) techniques to reduce costs and time, in order to develop a competitive advantage for the wider organization. However, this narrow definition of value at times overlooks the triple bottom line (TBL) which can result in a number of unintended consequences, specifically issues related to environmental and social measures of performance. To address this, a stakeholder theory lens will be used to analyze PI activities within the context of small and medium-sized enterprises. The TBL will be used to complement the stakeholder perspective, to interpret the benefits that are realized from PI activities. This article highlights both the direct benefits from PI as well as more indirect benefits realized by involving a selection of salient stakeholders in PI. It will show how a developed view of PI can provide an important mechanism for delivering improvements to a firm’s TBL. The work concludes by highlighting the contributions made to both PI practice and stakeholder theory, while acknowledging the need for more research on PI, both from a stakeholder perspective and how it impacts a firm’s TBL.     

Accounting for the man-information interface in management information systems

A primary cause for the failure of both formal and informal management information systems to live up to expectations stems from the designer's lack of awareness or improper conception of the interfaces existing between information and man, its user. This underscores the need for a better understanding of the relationship between man, psychologically and sociologically, and information. The results of several experiments performed in a simulated financial setting are presented as illustrations of human information processing tendencies in both individuals and committees. Design options to attenuate human foibles and limitations and to counterveil propensities to subvert systems are discussed. Areas for further research are suggested.     

A Note on Analysing Time Series Data which Accumulate Over Unequal Observation Intervals

The problem of analysing flow series observed over unequal periods of time is discussed, and a suggestion is made for dealing with situations where the lengths of the periods follow a simple pattern     

The free rider argument for compulsory union dues

This paper examines the free rider argument for compulsory union dues. The contemporary theory of collective goods does not support the union argument because a free rider problem is not a sufficient condition to rationalize the private use of coercion. The paper evaluates quantitative data on union security and applies the theory of local public goods to union services. The focus is on efficiency aspects of security arrangements.     

New evidence on the value of birth expectations

Past national surveys regarding birth expectations have usually been restricted to currently married women, a fact which has led demographers to question the usefulness of these data. Because the June 1976 Current Population Survey includes the expectations of all women in a cohort regardless of marital status, it provides the data needed to evaluate biases due to restricted survey universes. At older ages, where there are substantial differences in lifetime expectations between currently married and single women, there are relatively few single women; at younger ages, however, where the proportion of single women in a cohort is relatively large, the differences in expectations are small. This counterbalancing effect makes the lifetime birth expectations of currently married women a close approximation of all women in a cohort. The analysis also indicates that the observed intracohort declines in lifetime birth expectations since 1967 were due largely to the addition at subsequent survey dates of previously unmarried women; nevertheless, some “true” cohort declines also seem to have occurred.     

Self-Interest and Civilians' Attitudes Toward the Vietnam War

The possible consequences of self-interest on American publicopinion were examined in the context of the United States militaryinvolvement in Vietnam Civilians' personal connections to thewar, in terms of their friends' and relatives' military service,did make them pay more attention to the war, but such connectionsseemed to have only weak effects on the salience of the waras a political issue. Similarly, there was no evidence thatthe self-interested had distinctively self-serving policy attitudestoward the war. Rather, the more important determinants of attitudestoward the war were attitudes toward various political symbolsassociated with the war. Finally, self-interest made very littledifference in enhancing the consistency of partisan attitudesinvolved in the 1968 presidential decision.