SIQ

Category Archive: Research

1. Navigating a changing world

   January 22, 2025 12:45 Comments Off on Navigating a changing world

   The article "Change-driven process management: exploring a new process paradigm adaptable to societal changes" was recently published and is available open access: https://lnkd.in/dnaHbcVj

   This research, published in Business Process Management Journalis based on a study carried out in close collaboration with SIQ's members in business and the public sector. The study also included participants from Sweden, France and Germany and represented industries such as automotive, energy, medical technology, healthcare, telecom and social services.

   It is thanks to valuable collaboration that made this study possible and it is also gratifying to see that new insights are already being used in several organizations. The results provide decision support in the development of a more trust-based process management where both innovation and change-driven process management provide additional power in that work.

   "Together with my co-authors - Peter Cronemyr at Linköping University and Lars Wemme, former project manager at SIQ - we are grateful for the valuable collaboration that made this study possible and it is also gratifying to see that new insights are already being put to use in several organizations", says Anders Fundin, Research Leader at SIQ.

   The result provides decision support in the development of a more change-driven process management where both trust-based and innovation-driven process management provide additional power in that work.

2. New study released - On organizations' main challenges

   11 November, 2024 06 :01 Comments Off on New study released - On organizations' main challenges

   The Management Academy has conducted two national Delphi studies since 2012 to understand the main challenges facing organizations. These studies, with the help of qualified representatives from different sectors, have helped to create a comprehensive understanding of the main challenges facing organizations in the short and long term.

   The results have not only been a source of reflection but have also led to research projects and the development of new knowledge that benefits both organizations and professionals. Since the 2018 study, organizations are facing new challenges due to rapid societal changes, including the pandemic. Therefore, a new study has been initiated to identify current challenges. The results are based on 285 responses with representatives from both private and public organizations and civil society.

   Participants in the study have, through the three-step Delphi methodology, selected and prioritized challenges, with six new challenges identified, three of which were included in the top ten challenges: 1) Addressing short-term and long-term skills supply, 2) Integrating AI into operations, and 3) Developing an organizational culture that supports learning and development.

   In the overall list of ranked challenges, the previous challenges also remain among the top five challenges: 1) Making systematic quality work a management issue, 2) Understanding the needs and expectations of our customers and stakeholders, and 3) Designing effective management processes.

   In this year's study, we also analyze the differences between private and public activities. There are differences in the prioritization of the challenges, but also similarities. Meeting short-term and long-term skills needs is a difficult challenge in both the private and public sectors. The new challenge of developing an organizational culture that supports learning and development is also prioritized among the top ten in both sectors. In the study, we also see that the need to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become increasingly apparent. Integrating AI into business is prioritized in the private sector among the top five challenges. In the public sector, the challenge is ranked 12th.

   The report presents a more in-depth analysis on several differences with regard to main challenges over the next 10 years.

   See the presentation of the study in the video below. 

   

    

   Download the study

3. SIQ Guide to developing quality in partnerships

   April 10, 2024 08:47 Comments Off on SIQ Guide to developing quality in partnerships

   Background and purpose

   Passenger transport is an industry where sustainable success and high customer satisfaction are to a very large extent based on close cooperation or partnership between the actors who together provide the service to the passenger. In light of increasingly rapid changes in the world around us, combined with the growth of organizations and employee turnover, the need for more systematic cooperation is also increasing. Despite this realization, industry representatives believe that there is great potential in developing a closer partnership that could lead to an improved service and, in turn, more sustainable results.

   Effective partnerships have proved to be a challenge to establish in an environment characterized by public procurement regulations where the client side primarily takes the role of the demand side versus the supply side. But there are also good examples where the partnership works well. With a guide for developing partnerships, the ambition is to take advantage of the experience gained and thus make it easier to achieve common goals.

   SIQ Passenger transport network

   The SIQ passenger transport network, which is made up of representatives from both the client side and the provider side, has the drive, competence and interest to develop quality and customer satisfaction through better partnerships during the contract period. The ambition is to produce general but at the same time concrete and practically useful recommendations that support the development of the partnership. The guide should primarily be used as a common guide and does not presuppose any specific procurement model.

   However, the development of a partnership is greatly facilitated to the extent that the procurement and contract itself does not constitute an obstacle to closer cooperation between the parties. In order to succeed, a dynamic approach is needed regarding what provides the best conditions, but also a systematic approach.

   SIQ Guide to developing quality in partnerships

   The guide is based on guiding principles for what should characterize a good partnership, as well as generic success factors that characterize leading organizations described in SIQ Managementmodell. In the spring of 2021, we conducted a workshop with SIQ passenger transport networks in two stages:

   In step one, factors that are important in the context of quality and partnership in public procurement were defined. In step two, these factors were placed in the process from public procurement, partnership development to the end of the contract period.

   In spring 2022, we identified challenges and ways of working in partnership to focus on the passenger's perspective. During the autumn, we continued to prioritize focus areas and working methods to establish a well-functioning partnership. In 2023, the development work focused on process development, common goals and results in the partnership.

4. A Model for Change Driven Process Management

   10 October, 2022 17 :05 Comments Off on A Model for Change Driven Process Management

   To managing innovation and change of processes that are 'controlled & stable' and 'creative & stable' in an efficient way, organizations experience a need to add a set of tools to drive the change. Organizations need to run current operations in parallel with developing new innovative ways of working in an agile way with trust in individuals and teams. A pre-study conducted during the spring 2021 together with SIQ Excellence Center organizations in the Automotive, Telecom, Healthcare and Social services businesses underlines that most organizations have a need for knowledge and methods to support their change driven transformation. Based on the input and learning from the pre-study, a research project to develop tools for 'Change driven Process Management' was initiated. The project was carried out June 2021 - February 2022 together with four SIQ Excellence Center organizations within the Automotive, Energy and Health care businesses.

   The agile research project resulted in a toolbox for developing and implementing radically different ways of working with process management enforced by a changing and complex environment. It also resulted in a more holistic view of enablers and principles on how to manage agile process improvements. The results are summarized in a model for Change Driven Process Management that describes different principles for conscious process management decisions in a dynamic environment. The model describes four ways of managing change driven processes with different purposes and subsequent principles: Traditional Process Management, Trust Based Process Management, Process Innovation Management, and Process Change Management.

5. Telework during the COVID-19 pandemic and psychosocial health

   3 October, 2022 16 :03 Comments Off on Telework during the COVID-19 pandemic and psychosocial health

   A survey was conducted in five different organizations in the spring of 2021 and 2022. The survey is part of a larger study that aims to investigate employees' organizational and social work environment, mental well-being, motivation, and performance while working from home during the pandemic. The results of the research study are expected to contribute to understanding how the transition to working from home during COVID-19 affects an individual's mental health and well-being; how work-life boundaries have been reworked; how employees will go back to the new normal after COVID-19; and the role of managers in supporting their employees during these transitions and how their support affects productivity.

    

    

6. How NorDan AB applies the UN SDGs in a pragmatic way and contributes to a more sustainable Scandinavian building industry

   10 June, 2022 11 :09 Comments Off on How NorDan AB applies the UN SDGs in a pragmatic way and contributes to a more sustainable Scandinavian building industry?

   Furthermore, it has actively applied the Swedish business excellence model, the SIQ Management Model, to assess its current sustainability status, identify areas for improvement, and develop in a systematic and sustainable way. Today, the company and its product offering have a clear sustainability profile, recognized by many customers and stakeholders within the industry.

7. SIQ research with Linköping University launches new course in change-driven process management

   9 June, 2022 09 :39 Comments Off on SIQ's research with Linköping University launches new course in change-driven process management

   Change management has been identified as a priority area by the private and public sector together with SIQ, the Institute for Quality Development, but is relatively unexplored.

   - The fact that change management has been identified as a key success factor in both the private and public sectors makes it important to continue exploring the area. The next step is to take the research further together with our members, research networks and other partners, says Anders Fundin, research leader at SIQ.

   There is great interest in this type of research around the world. The results from the research conducted in change-driven process management under the auspices of SIQ, and which forms the basis for the new PhD course, will be presented by SIQ and Linköping University at the annual EUROMA conference in Berlin.

   - The idea is to contribute new knowledge about process management in relation to the changing society we live in with the challenge of balancing economic, social and ecological sustainability. With the new research, we therefore want to strengthen the ability to lead and steer businesses towards sustainable success with the need for adaptability and speed of change, says Anders.

8. SIQ Organizational Culture Index

   14 December, 2021 08 :11 Comments Off on SIQ Organizational Culture Index

   We are looking for organizations that want to strengthen their organizational culture

   Leading and managing towards sustainable success by measuring your organizational culture

   Background

   SQMA - Swedish Quality Management Academy conducts research in co-production with organizations in the private and public sector on behaviors that drive or hinder a desired culture. Based on the research, a generic measurement tool has been developed to measure a culture that leads to sustainable success. The measurement tool is digital and SIQ has today conducted about 50 measurements in organizations in business and the public sector. With the support of the measurement tool, it is now possible to adapt the measurement based on your organization's own values.

   Research shows that employees with good conditions to perform and develop their tasks feel better and create more value for customers and stakeholders. Developing and strengthening culture requires an organization to have knowledge of the behaviours that support - but also hinder - the organization's values. Above all, the crucial knowledge is to understand how the values are expressed in practice. An organization with a strong organizational culture is better able to cope with the rapid pace of change in society, difficult crisis situations and difficult economic conditions. An important prerequisite is therefore to be able to measure organizational culture over time, where trend measurements can provide the organization with valuable support in its own value-based work.

   Purpose, objectives and benefits

   The purpose of the project is to develop, test and evaluate a way of measuring organizational culture that is designed and adapted to the organization's defined values in combination with the values that provide the basis for a quality culture. The project aims to enable an organization's own values to be expressed as behaviours in practice and to measure and evaluate them. After a measurement and evaluation, the organization will receive a current situation analysis as a decision support for priorities in an organizational development work. In this, the emphasis is on increasing the insight into what strengthens behaviors that support the development of an organizational culture, but also the insight into behaviors that need to be removed as they hinder the development of an organizational culture. The project is aimed at organizations that want to develop organizational culture activities through mutual learning with researchers in SQMA.

   Implementation

   The project will run Q1 2022 - Q1 2023 with participating organizations and SQMA researchers with a focus on developing a new measurement of organizational culture based on the organization's own values. Subsequently, tests with measurements in participating organizations are planned to validate that the new measurement tool works in practice. The time commitment for a participating organization is estimated at three workshops before a measurement and then with two follow-up workshops. The project is aimed at those who have a work role and an interest in developing your organizational culture. At least two people from each organization should be represented throughout the project. The work is led and facilitated by SIQ with the support of SQMA and SKI (Swedish Quality Index). SIQ is responsible for planning and implementation, including measurements and review of the results of the measurements. The project includes planning, monitoring, literature studies, facilitation and follow-up of workshops, development of measurements, and review of reports from measurements.

   Participation fee for taking part in the research project:

   • Businesses that are members of SIQ Excellence Center: 120 000 SEK
   • Organizations that are members of SIQ Intressentförening: 140 000 SEK
   • Activities that are not members of SIQ Intressentförening: 180 000 SEK

   We look forward to receiving your expression of interest. For more information, please contact Anders Fundin, Research Manager at SIQ - Institute for Quality Development.

   E-mail: anders.fundin@siq.se, mobile: 0730 32 99 44.

9. Innocities - smart and sustainable community development

   20 October, 2021 10 :00 Comments Off on Innocities - smart and sustainable community development

   Vinnova has granted support for the project Innocities - smart and sustainable community development through innovation and collaboration

   The transition work to achieve the 2030 Agenda requires a high degree of social innovation and collaboration in order to implement the necessary systemic transformations, not least in municipalities and other publicly owned businesses.

   The project will develop and disseminate the Innocities innovation program to municipalities, ports and energy companies in Sweden and the Nordic region. Innocities provides a systemic innovation process and methodology for local operational interaction with the aim of accelerating the transition to achieve the 2030 Agenda and contribute to smart and sustainable social and economic development.

   By further developing a successful Norwegian innovation program for Swedish conditions, the project will contribute to developing the innovation and collaboration capacity of municipalities and publicly owned ports and energy companies so that the involvement of individual residents, civil society, academia and business is utilized in a systematic way and interwoven with established activities and social missions.

   SIQ is participating in the project, which runs from October 2021 to March 2023, in collaboration with Smart Innovation Norway, Mälardalen University and Sweco.

10. Margareta Karlsson, LTU newly awarded PhD in Quality Engineering

    6 October, 2021 11 :46 Comments Off on Margareta Karlsson, LTU new PhD in Quality Engineering

    Swedish healthcare is facing challenges to meet changing needs, new treatment methods and new technologies. Coordination and collaboration can improve quality for patients while reducing costs.

    Organizational collaboration involves actors, across organizational boundaries, working together to achieve the purpose of the collaboration, e.g. to facilitate the care of a patient or group of patients in a care pathway.

    The thesis shows that organizational collaboration can promote improvement work and learning in processes by sharing knowledge within and between functions and organizations.

    Professor Anders Fundin, also Research Director at SIQ was the main opponent.

    We congratulate Margareta for a well done research work and especially for her PhD in Quality Engineering.