Method and Psychological Effects on Learning Behaviors and Knowledge Creation in Quality Improvement Projects

This study investigates two mechanisms of knowledge creation---one that is method driven and the other that is psychologically driven. Results show that the two mechanisms have different effects on the learning behaviors and knowledge created in Six Sigma projects. The method mechanism directly influences learning behaviors, while the psychological mechanism directly affects knowledge creation. The effects of both mechanisms on knowledge creation are complementary, yet independent. Findings suggest that the value of adhering to a method may lie in modifying the learning behaviors that subsequently create knowledge. When a firm adopts a quality program such as Six Sigma, the method and the degree of its adherence can shape how the firm innovates and creates knowledge.

[1]  J. Dutton,et al.  Discerning threats and opportunities. , 1988 .

[2]  W. A. Shewhart,et al.  Statistical method from the viewpoint of quality control , 1939 .

[3]  James Algina,et al.  A Note on Estimating the Jöreskog-Yang Model for Latent Variable Interaction Using LISREL 8.3 , 2001 .

[4]  Reid Hastie,et al.  Contemporary Approaches to the Study of Thinking and Problem Solving , 1994 .

[5]  M. Feldman.  Organizational Routines as a Source of Continuous Change , 2000 .

[6]  P. Ring,et al.  Structuring cooperative relationships between organizations , 1992 .

[7]  Jack A. Nickerson,et al.  A Knowledge-based Theory of the Firm - A Problem-solving Perspective , 2004, Organ. Sci..

[8]  D. A. Kenny,et al.  Estimating the nonlinear and interactive effects of latent variables. , 1984 .

[9]  J. Hackman,et al.  Total Quality Management: Empirical, Conceptual, and Practical Issues , 1995 .

[10]  George Li,et al.  The impact of quality on learning , 1997 .

[11]  Pervaiz K. Ahmed,et al.  Managing for quality through knowledge management , 1999 .

[12]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  Knowledge-Based View: A New Theory of Strategy? , 2006 .

[13]  Andrew C. Boynton,et al.  The Effective Design of Work Under Total Quality Management , 2000 .

[14]  Mary J. Benner,et al.  Exploitation, Exploration, and Process Management: The Productivity Dilemma Revisited , 2003 .

[15]  Randall E. Schumacker,et al.  Latent Variable Interaction Modeling , 2002 .

[16]  S. Winter.  Knowledge and Competence as Strategic Assets , 1987 .

[17]  Thomas H. Davenport,et al.  Book review:Working knowledge: How organizations manage what they know. Thomas H. Davenport and Laurence Prusak. Harvard Business School Press, 1998. $29.95US. ISBN 0‐87584‐655‐6 , 1998 .

[18]  S. Sackmann.  Culture and Subcultures: An Analysis of Organizational Knowledge , 1992 .

[19]  I. Nonaka,et al.  How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation , 1995 .

[20]  R. Grant.  Toward a Knowledge-Based Theory of the Firm,” Strategic Management Journal (17), pp. , 1996 .

[21]  C. Argyris.  Double Loop Learning in Organizations , 1996 .

[22]  M. Terziovski,et al.  The relationship between total quality management practices and operational performance , 1999 .

[23]  Luk N. Van Wassenhove,et al.  Knowledge Driven Quality Improvement , 1998 .

[24]  P. Bentler,et al.  Cutoff criteria for fit indexes in covariance structure analysis : Conventional criteria versus new alternatives , 1999 .

[25]  Teresa M. Amabile,et al.  Creativity In Context: Update To The Social Psychology Of Creativity , 1996 .

[26]  K. Mardia.  Measures of multivariate skewness and kurtosis with applications , 1970 .

[27]  L. James,et al.  Estimating within-group interrater reliability with and without response bias. , 1984 .

[28]  Deborah G. . Ancona,et al.  Bridging the Boundary: External Activity and Performance in Organizational Teams. , 1992 .

[29]  M. Gordon,et al.  PUBLICATION RECORDS AND TENURE DECISIONS IN THE FIELD OF STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT , 1996 .

[30]  Soumen Ghosh,et al.  The Effects of Knowledge Management on Team Members' Ratings of Project Success and Impact , 2003, Decis. Sci..

[31]  James C. Anderson,et al.  STRUCTURAL EQUATION MODELING IN PRACTICE: A REVIEW AND RECOMMENDED TWO-STEP APPROACH , 1988 .

[32]  M. Polanyi.  Chapter 7 – The Tacit Dimension , 1997 .

[33]  R. Grant,et al.  Environments: Organizational Capability as Knowledge Integration , 2022 .

[34]  D. Larcker,et al.  The Performance Effects of Process Management Techniques , 1997 .

[35]  Cheryl Hild,et al.  A DISCUSSION OF STRATEGIES FOR SIX SIGMA* IMPLEMENTATION , 2000 .

[36]  S. Winter,et al.  An evolutionary theory of economic change , 1983 .

[37]  D. Garvin.  Building a learning organization. , 1993, Harvard business review.

[38]  Peter S. Pande,et al.  The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance , 2000 .

[39]  Stephen G. West,et al.  Structural equation models with non-normal variables: Problems and remedies , 1995 .

[40]  A. Edmondson.  Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams , 1999 .

[41]  Luk N. Van Wassenhove,et al.  Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction , 2000 .

[42]  Charles H. Fine.  Quality Improvement and Learning in Productive Systems , 1986 .

[43]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  The myopia of learning , 1993 .

[44]  R. Bagozzi,et al.  Multitrait-Multimethod Matrices in Consumer Research , 1991 .

[45]  J. H. Davis,et al.  An Integrative Model Of Organizational Trust , 1995 .

[46]  Mark J. Zbaracki.  The Rhetoric and Reality of Total Quality Management , 1998 .

[47]  P. Adler,et al.  Flexibility Versus Efficiency? a Case Study of Model Changeovers in the Toyota Production System , 1999 .

[48]  T. C. Powell.  Total Quality Management as Competitive Advantage , 1995 .

[49]  Olivier Boiral,et al.  ISO 9000: Outside the Iron Cage , 2003, Organ. Sci..

[50]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[51]  G. Pisano.  Knowledge Integration and the Locus of Learning: An Empirical Analysis , 1994 .

[52]  Forrest W. Iii Breyfogle.  Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods , 1999 .

[53]  Matt Barney.  Motorola's Second Generation , 2002 .

[54]  John Paul MacDuffie,et al.  The Road to Root Cause: Shop-Floor Problem-Solving at Three Auto Assembly Plants , 1997 .

[55]  D. Leonard-Barton,et al.  Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation , 1995 .

[56]  Gary P. Pisano,et al.  Learning How and Learning What: Effects of Tacit and Codified Knowledge on Performance Improvement Following Technology Adoption , 2003, Decis. Sci..

[57]  M. Schulz.  Limits to Bureaucratic Growth: The Density Dependence of Organizational Rule Births. , 1998 .

[58]  Douglas M. Hawkins,et al.  Interactive LISREL : user's guide , 2001 .

[59]  Rita Gunther McGrath.  Exploratory Learning, Innovative Capacity, and Managerial Oversight , 2001 .

[60]  J. Spender.  Making knowledge the basis of a dynamic theory of the firm , 1996 .

[61]  R. Sitgreaves.  Psychometric theory (2nd ed.). , 1979 .

[62]  A. Satorra,et al.  Corrections to test statistics and standard errors in covariance structure analysis. , 1994 .

[63]  S. Sitkin,et al.  DISTINGUISHING CONTROL FROM LEARNING IN TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT: A CONTINGENCY PERSPECTIVE , 1994 .

[64]  Karl G. Jöreskog,et al.  Lisrel 8: User's Reference Guide , 1997 .

[65]  A. Roth,et al.  Strategic Determinants of Service Quality and Performance: Evidence from the Banking Industry , 1995 .

[66]  J. March.  Exploration and exploitation in organizational learning , 1991, STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI.

[67]  Luk N. Van Wassenhove,et al.  Creating and Transferring Knowledge for Productivity Improvement in Factories , 2001, Manag. Sci..

[68]  Kathleen D. Ryan,et al.  Driving fear out of the workplace: Creating the high-trust, high-performance organization, 2nd ed. , 1998 .

[69]  G. Huber.  Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures , 1991 .

[70]  R. Schroeder,et al.  A THEORY OF QUALITY MANAGEMENT UNDERLYING THE DEMING MANAGEMENT METHOD , 1994 .

[71]  John P. Robinson,et al.  CHAPTER 1 – Criteria for Scale Selection and Evaluation , 1991 .

[72]  B. Kogut,et al.  Knowledge of the Firm, Combinative Capabilities, and the Replication of Technology , 1992 .

[73]  Daniel Z. Levin,et al.  Organizational Learning and the Transfer of Knowledge: An Investigation of Quality Improvement , 2000 .

[74]  W. Edwards Deming,et al.  Out of the Crisis , 1982 .

[75]  Allen Newell,et al.  Elements of a theory of human problem solving. , 1958 .

[76]  W. James,et al.  The Principles of Psychology. , 1983 .

[77]  Richard Schroeder,et al.  Six Sigma: The Breakthrough Management Strategy Revolutionizing the World's Top Corporations , 1999 .

[78]  Christopher Ittner,et al.  An Empirical Examination of Dynamic Quality-Based Learning Models , 2001, Manag. Sci..