The Improvement Paradox:
Designing Sustainable Quality Improvement Programs
The System Dynamics Group
Sloan School of Management
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Comments are welcome. Please direct to jsterman@mit.edu.
Research on the dynamics of Total Quality Management and related improvement techniques by the System Dynamics Group in the
Sloan School of Management at
MIT.
Purpose
The purpose of this project is to provide the basis for a dynamic framework through which to understand the key determinants of the success or failure of quality improvement programs.
For a broader explanation, examine the project summary or
case study summary.
Support
The research is being supported through funding from the Transformations to Quality Organizations program of the National Science Foundation and by the partner corporations.
Research Partners
Several Corporations are serving as project supporters and also as research sites.
Each of the partner
firms has made significant
improvements in quality and productivity. Each also faces
continuing challenges as they seek to
maintain commitment to ongoing improvement at the same time
they must respond to new
pressures. In some cases the challenges to continuous improvement
are the result of past
success.
Partners include:
Lucent Technologies,
Ford Motor Company,
Harley-Davidson, and
National Semiconductor
Staff
The research is headed by John Sterman and Nelson Repenning and includes Rogelio Oliva, Elizabeth
Krahmer, Scott Rockart, Fredrik Johnsson, Ali Mashayekhi and Andrew Jones.
Further Papers and Projects
Relevant papers by this group include:
- Sterman, J., N. Repenning (1997) Getting Quality the Old-Fashioned Way:
Self-Confirming Attributions in the Dynamics of Process Improvement
View the paper's
home page .
- Sterman, J., N. Repenning, F. Kofman. (1994) Unanticipated Side
Effects of Successful Quality Programs: Exploring a Paradox of Organizational
Improvement. View the paper's
home page .
- McPherson, A. (1995) Total Quality Management at AT&T. MS
thesis, MIT Sloan School of
Management.
- Repenning, N. (1995) Reducing Manufacturing Cycle Time at
Ford Electronics. Case history
available from author.
- Krahmer, E. & R. Oliva. (1995) A Dynamic Theory for Sustaining Process
Improvement Teams in Product Development.
View the paper's
homepage .
- Oliva, R. (1996) A Dynamic Theory of Service Delivery: Implications for Service Quality. Ph.D. Dissertation. View a condensed version of a portion of the thesis, titled
Empirical Validation of a Dynamic Hypothesis on the Web.
- Repenning, N. (1996) The Improvement Paradox: Three Essays on Process Improvement Initiatives.
Ph.D. Dissertation. View the abstract on the Web.
The MIT System Dynamics Group has created models and interactive simulations on other business-related issues, including managing growth in business [People Express] and managing delays in production and retail [The Beer Distribution Game].
Other Papers By Our Group Available on the Web
Other Related Web Sites