Linking self‐assessment to the external environment

Abstract

Self-assessment is increasingly prevalent in many organizations. Although managers perceive self-assessment as internally driven, the well-known link between organizational activities and the external environment suggests that outside forces play a significant role. This investigation explores the external motivators of self-assessment through a field study of 14 organizations. Five factors were found to link the conduct of self-assessment to the external environment: availability of an externally developed or sponsored model, presence of a boundary spanning individual, affiliation with professional and trade associations, pressure from powerful external entities, and potential for external reward or recognition. These findings suggest that self-assessment is driven significantly by forces external to the organization. How these external factors combine to form the context of self-assessment may affect the outcomes of the project.

Self‐assessment processes: the importance of follow‐up for success

“…Self-assessment processes have been successfully adopted for the achievement of continuous improvement in manufacturing and service organisations, both in the private and in the public sector (Ritchie and Dale, 2000;Samuelsson and Nilsson, 2002;Wilkes and Dale, 1998;Ford et al, 2004;Hartley and Downe, 2007). Generally speaking, most core concepts of quality management are equally as valid in the public sector as elsewhere, considering that some adaptations need to be made for successful implementation (Morgan and Murgatroyd, 1994;Boyne and Walker, 2002).…”

Using grounded theory method for theory building in operations management research

“…Similarly, Flint et al (2005) explain how the early theory emerging from their first data analysis was used to modify the interview guide for later interviews. Ford et al (2004) went through the same process by making theoretical comparisons until the marginal findings of additional comparisons were judged insignificant. Fleury and Fleury (2007) state that the data were coded both during and after the fieldwork.…”

“…case study 47 Lockamy (1998) 2 Referring to GTM as a method used by others 15 Lewis and Suchan (2003) 3 Using "Grounded Theory" as a general term referring to a theory that is grounded rather than GTM 19 Coughlan and Coghlan (2002) 4 Using an approach related to GTM, or some ideas from GTM, but not actually GTM in the sense of Glaser and Strauss (1967) 25 Field and Sroufe (2003) 5 Claiming to be an explicit attempt to use GTM in OM research 28 Giunipero et al (2006), Ford et al (2004) Of these 28, no fewer than 12 are co-written by one or more of just four authors (Flint, McAdam, Mentzer, and one of the co-authors of this paper). In addition, not all appear "within" the OM literature: five papers are in Marketing journals, and only 15 appear in Operations & Supply Chain Management journals, as defined for the analysis in Table 2 below.…”

“…Similarly, Giunipero et al (2006) show no sign of engaging in axial coding in their research on key skill sets for supply managers in the future. Also emphasising the need to work in a systematic fashion, Ford et al (2004) use "memoing" to help find meaning in the data and create the higher-level theoretical categories, concepts, and relationships.…”

Competitive Benchmarking Adoption Issues in the Hotel Sector in Petra, Jordan

“…Hence, organisations must embrace strong acceptance and maintenance of total quality measurement and benchmarking plans according to Motwani (2001). The benefits of these quality measurements techniques are summarized as controlling process to verify variations; determining problem areas, opportunities, savings and action priorities; pinpointing potential improvements; and controlling quality management and performance (Ahire, Golhar & Waller, 1996;Roden & Dale, 2000;Oakland, 2003;Biazzo & Bernardi, 2003;Al-Omaim, 2003;Ford, Evans & Matthews, 2004;Evans, 2005).…”