Working Papers

by Tim Brown

Historically, design has been treated as a downstream step in the development process—the point where designers, who have played no earlier role in the substantive work of innovation, come along and put a beautiful wrapper around the idea. To be sure, this approach has stimulated market growth in many areas by making new products and technologies aesthetically attractive and therefore more desirable to consumers or by enhancing brand perception through smart, evocative advertising and communication strategies. During the latter half of the twentieth century design became an increasingly valuable competitive asset in, for example, the consumer electronics, automotive, and consumer packaged goods industries. But in most others it remained a late-stage add-on. Read more...

by Lance A. Bettencourt and Anthony W. Ulwick

We all know that people “hire” products and services to get a job done. Office workers hire word-processing software to create documents and digital recorders to capture meeting notes. Surgeons hire scalpels to dissect soft tissue and electrocautery devices to control patient bleeding. Janitors hire soap dispensers, paper towels, and cleansing fluid to help remove grime from their hands.

While all this seems obvious, very few companies use the perspective of “getting the job done” to discover opportunities for innovation. In fact, the innovation journey for many companies is little more than hopeful wandering through customer interviews. Such unsystematic inquiry may occasionally turn up interesting tidbits of information, but it rarely uncovers the best ideas or an exhaustive set of opportunities for growth. Read more...

By Scott-Jackson, William; Edney, Terry; Rushent, Ceri

This whitepaper contains the results of a study initiated by the Chartered Management Institute, carried out by the Centre for Applied HR Research at Oxford Brookes Business School. The purpose of the study was to analyse the value from on-line learning in management development.

By P. Dillenbourg, M. Baker, A. Blaye, C. O'Malley

For many years, theories of collaborative learning tended to focus on how individuals function in a group. More recently, the focus has shifted so that the group itself has become the unit of analysis. In terms of empirical research, the initial goal was to establish whether and under what circumstances
collaborative learning was more effective than learning alone. Researchers controlled several independent variables (size of the group, composition of the group, nature of the task,
communication media, and so on). However, these variables interacted with one another in a way that made it almost impossible to establish causal links between the conditions and the
effects of collaboration. Hence, empirical studies have more recently started to focus less on establishing parameters for effective collaboration and more on trying to understand the role
which such variables play in mediating interaction. In this chapter, we argue that this shift to a more process-oriented account requires new tools for analysing and modelling interactions. Read more...

By T. Snyder

Lean manufacturing is a management philosophy focusing on reduction of the seven wastes (Over-production, Waiting time, Transportation, Processing, Inventory, Motion and Scrap) in manufactured products or any type of business.
The five core concepts of lean are:
1. Specify value in the eyes of the customer
2. Identify the value stream and eliminate waste
3. Make value flow at the pull of the customer
4. Involve and empower employees
5. Continuously improve in the pursuit of perfection.

This is an excellent presentation (.Pdf) which describes:
1. The origins of Lean and Six Sigma,
2. What makes Lean Six Sigma effective,
3. How organizations are implementing it,
4. Some keys to success.

By Jacobsen, Ushma; Brath, Poul

This paper (.PDF) aims to provide a literature survery on managers' learning in the workplace. The survey of the two authors was conducted between June and September 2007 and was mainly focused on the research questions: why, when and how managers learn whilst going about their daily work. And more specificially, how action learning can be a benefit for management development whilst an organisational problem can be solved in addition.

By Qi Wang

Quality is an old and nevertheless current subject in the field of education. This article (.PDF) deals with the questions how to measure and continuously improve quality of online programs (for instance in distance education). Based on the so-called five pillars of quality which were published in by the Sloan Consortium in their report "Elements of Quality: The Sloan-C Framework", the author takes a closer look at the current movement towards quality assurance for online programs, reviews benchmarks recommended by accreditation agencies and provides an overview on current best practices for quality assurance. Quality assurance is not only demanded by the state and national accreditation agencies, but also by students, their parents or employers. This movement towards the need for more information may be partly due to the recognition of the knowledge worker by the economy and society, but also due to the fact that we have moved towards an information society where knowledge and information, also about educational programs, is "the key competitive advantage".
Quality assurance can provide a means for educational institutions to stand out from the growing crowd of competing providers of online programs. In the meantime, a number of guidelines, principles, and benchmarks were developed by accreditation agencies and other institutions.

By Terry Freedman

Professor John Stein, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oxford, made an admirable attempt to show how knowledge about the brain is relevant to educational ICT. For example, it turns out that males are better visuospatially than verbally, which means that the visual world of ICT will favour their style of learning. Read more...

DMADV methodology is a key element of the Six Sigma approach. It not only provides the framework for setting up new business processes, but also for redesigning processes that have reached their inherent performance limits. Read more...

Six Sigma and improvement approaches such as CMM, CMMISM, PSPSM/TSPSM are complementary and mutually supportive. Depending on current organizational, project or individual circumstances, Six Sigma could be an enabler to launch CMM®, CMMISM, PSPSM, or TSPSM. Or, it could be a refinement toolkit/methodology within these initiatives. For instance, it might be used to select highest priority Process Areas within CMMISM or to select highest leverage metrics within PSPSM. Read more...

By George Siemens

Current developments with technology and social software are
significantly altering how learners access information and knowledge,
and how learners dialogue with the instructor and each other. Read
Read more...(.PDF)

By Franziska Zellweger

Various higher education institutions in German speaking Europe are in the process of establishing educational technology support structures. Educational technology support brings together a variety of academics as well as administrative units such as IT services, multimedia shops, faculty development, or the libraries.
The following contribution describes academic and support subcultures, unfolds areas of conflict and suggests strategies to overcome cultural barriers in edtech support. The paper recommends to anticipate cultural barriers between support groups and to eliminate those through the strategic planning of structural adjustments. Furthermore leadership on various levels is considered as being critical to reach cultural reconciliation and a productive support climate. Read more...(.PDF)

Begun in 1990, The Campus Computing Project is the largest continuing study of the role of information technology in American higher education. The project's national studies draw on qualitative and quantitative data to help inform faculty, campus administrators, and others interested in the use of information technology in American colleges and universities. The US Campus Computing Project also provides the foundation for affiliated research projects in other nations, including Brazil Canada, China, and Hong Kong.

Each year some 600 two-and four-year public and private colleges and universities in the United States participate in the annual Campus Computing Survey, which focuses on campus planning and policy issues affecting the role of information technology in teaching, learning, and scholarship. Read more...

By Robert Tripp

Kaizen is seductive and efficient. It can deliver results quickly and on a significant scale, utilize the collective insight and experience of those who know most about the process and inspire employees with a relentless curiosity about and discomfort with waste, defects and constraints to throughput. But it is also overrated.
Six Sigma, or DMAIC, can assist in filling the gap that Kaizen fails to address. Six Sigma is not a substitute for Lean and does not necessarily cultivate a learning culture. It is effective in supplying the analytical discipline and rigor necessary to thoroughly understand the nature of processes and problems. Read more...

By Nayantara Padhi

Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organization of a company that strives to provide customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspects of the company's operations, with processes being done right the first time and defects and waste eradicated from operations. Read more...