دانلود رایگان مقاله استاندارد سازی فرایند و کاهش خطا: بازبینی از رویکرد انتخاب

ABSTRACT

This study aims at advancing our understanding of the conditions under which standardization is associated with error reduction. Specifically, we identify a particular condition, referred to as employees’ choice, which is associated with standardization. Standardization can, on the one hand, weaken the employees’ choice by guiding them to operate uniformly and follow instructions in order not to make errors. On the other hand, counterintuitively, standardization creates and strengthens situations of choice because employees decide the extent to which they adhere and execute said standardization. Following the choice approach, we distinguish between employees’ perception of their unit’s standardization rigidity as planned by their managers, and employees’ actual adherence to standardization. We also refer to the situation in which, contrary to the use of standardization while enabling employees to cope with unexpected situations, organizations directly increase their employees’ choice by encouraging them, especially professionals, to use and rely on their own discretion. Our study was made possible through the participation of 298 nurses from 37 departments in two hospitals. The results show that choice plays a significant role in determining the relationship between standardization and error reduction. The highest level of error reduction is found in circumstances in which employees are granted a high degree of discretion, standardization rigidity is intermediate and, as a result, adherence to standardization is high. Situations of high levels of standardization rigidity are not associated with error reduction.

5.2. Limitation and future research

This study contributes to our understanding and advances the theory of standardization and errors while also raising new directions and challenges that need to be explored. Methodologically, a major advantage of this study is that we varied the sources of the data by using questionnaires for the independent variables and a longitudinal objective variable provided by the hospitals' Risk Management unit for the dependent variable, errors, for the year in which the questionnaires were distributed and the year before. Thought we used acceptable and solid measurements and methods for measuring and collecting the independent variables, future studies may benefit from developing additional sources of data for these variables. For example, in addition to carrying out subjective measurements, objective measurements may possible be developed, enabling the collection of data from customers, suppliers, and auditors. Additional sectors may be included in order to check possible context influence. For example, a comparison with aviation and other service or manufacturing sectors may be interesting, as well as concentrating on specific units within organizations such as Research and Development departments. From the standpoint of theory, three directions for further research can be explored: the understanding of standardization, choices, and error reduction. First, future studies may further develop the understanding of the interaction between standardization and discretion. Different additional research lenses can be adopted; a dynamic lens may explore whether the relationship presented in this study is dynamic and changes over time, i.e., whether the degree of adherence to standardization is different over time. Using a level-of-analysis lens may allow researchers to find out whether all employees are equally good at practicing each combination of structure and flexibility, or whether some are better at specific combinations, and why.