From Continuous Improvement to Centralized Information: The Life and Times of a Systems Thinking Intervention

摘要

This multi-method retrospective case study examines the implementation of a systems thinking intervention - The Manufacturing Game~R - as part of a comprehensive approach to "Proactive Manufacturing" and workforce involvement in continuous improvement at an American oil refinery. Notable gains in local reliability metrics such as equipment failure rate were achieved as a result of these efforts, which contributed to impressive gains in financial, safety, and environmental performance. At the same time, the overall contribution of the program to the refinery's performance is ambiguous, confounded by simultaneous investments in the physical capacity and technical capabilities of the plant, along with increases in the crude-gasoline price spread that all together generated significant value. This ambiguity created interpretive flexibility for employees of the plant, who were able to both interpret and shape the continuous improvement activities based on prior political divisions, mental models, and interpretive biases. To make sense of these emergent and unintended consequences, a speculative model of relational conflict that undermines workforce participation in continuous improvement is proposed.