 Research Interests
My research seeks to deepen our theoretical understanding of business processes in order to provide a basis for understanding the implementation and value of lean operations in manufacturing and services. The majority of my research has examined the design of the multiple processes that exist in any business and how this design affects business performance.
C. Lean Operations – Teams and Empowerment
The importance of involving the entire workforce in the firm’s efforts to become lean is well recognized. Multiple studies have documented the importance of developing practices that involve shop floor teams in improvement efforts. My research has investigated what practices firms take to empower their work force to make improvements and how this empowerment affects firm performance (see Fredendall et al., 2000).
My research contributions is organized into 4 research streams whose relationship to lean operations is discussed below. While the research focus of each stream is different, each research stream contributes to our understanding of how lean combines sets of capabilities.
Lean Operations and Quality Management: Quality management is necessary but not sufficient to achieve lean operations. Quality management involves both the application of tools to solve problems and more importantly it requires developing business systems that support quality efforts and ensure that continuous improvement.
Lean Operations – Capacity and Scheduling: The importance of controlling the flow of work has long been recognized and has been an ongoing research question that is intertwined with the firm’s capacity decisions.
Lean Operations – Teams and Empowerment: The importance of involving the entire workforce in the firm’s efforts to become lean is well recognized. My research has investigated what practices firms take to empower their work force to make improvements and how this empowerment affects firm performance (see Fredendall et al., 2000)
Lean Operations – Maintenance Management: The importance of machine uptime has long been recognized as a determinant of performance. Research PublicationsResearch Publications since 2008
Fowler, Patricia H., Janet Craig, Lawrence D. Fredendall and Uzay Damali, “Perioperative Workflow: Barriers to Efficiency, Risk, and Satisfaction,” AORN, January, 87 (1), 187-208, 2008.
Zu, Xingxing, L.D. Fredendall and T.J. Douglas. “The Evolving Theory of Quality Management: The Role of Six Sigma,” Journal of Operations Management, 26, 730-748, 2008.
Laohavichien, Tipparat, L.D. Fredendall and R. Stephen Cantrell. “The Effects of Transformational and Transactional Leadership on Quality Improvement”, Quality Management Journal, 16(2), 7-24, 2009.
Fredendall, L. D., Janet B. Craig, Pat J. Fowler, and Uzay Damali, “Barriers to Swift, Even Flow in the Internal Supply Chain of Peri-Operative Services: A Case Study,” Decision Sciences, 40(2), 327-350, 2009.
Zu, Xingxing, and Lawrence D. Fredendall. “Enhancing Six Sigma Implementation through Human Resource Management,” Quality Management Journal 16 (4), 41-54, 2009.
Fredendall, L.D., Divesh Ojha and J. W. Patterson. “An Examination of Bottleneck Management Practices on Ease of Management, Shop Parameters and Customer Variables,” European Journal of Operational Research, 201, 99-111, 2010
Zu, Xingxing, Tina L. Robbins, and Lawrence D. Fredendall. “Mapping the critical links between organizational culture and TQM/Six Sigma practices,” International Journal of Production Economics 123 (1), 86-106, 2010.
Laohavichien, Tipparat, Lawrence D. Fredendall and R. S. Cantrell. "Transformational and Transactional Leadership’s Influence on Quality Management Practices in the Context of an Emerging Economy." Revision accepted by International Journal of Operations & Production Management in February, 2011.
Huynh, Nathan, Kevin Taaffe, Lawrence D Fredendall, Robert Burris, A.K. Childers, J. Livingston, and T. Diller, “The Use of Mobile Application to Track Process Work Flow in Perioperative Services,” CIN: Computers, Informatics, Nursing, 29, 6, 368-374, 2011.
Thürer, Matthias; Stevenson, Mark; Silva, Cristovao; Land, Martin; Fredendall, Lawrence. “Workload Control and Order Release: A Lean Solution for Make-To-Order Companies" Production and Operations Management, Vol. 21, No. 5, (September-October), pp. 939-953, 2012.DOI: 10.1111/j.937-5956.2011.01307.x
Kovach, Jamison, Lawrence D. Fredendall. “The Influence of Continuous Improvement Practices on Learning: An Empirical Study” Quality Management Journal, 20 (4), 6020, 2013.
Thürer, Matthias; Stevenson, Mark; Silva, Cristovao; Land, Martin; Fredendall, Lawrence; Melnyk, Steve. “Lean Control for Make-to-Order Companies: Integrating Customer Enquiry Management and Order Release”, Production and Operations Management, Vol. 23 (3), 463-476, 2014. DOI: 10.1111/poms.12058
Shockley, Jeff; Lawrence Plummer, Aleda V. Roth,, Lawrence D. Fredendall “Strategic Design Responsiveness: An Empirical Analysis of U.S. Retail Store Networks,” Production Operations Management 24 (3), 2015. doi:10.1111/poms.12241
Lawrence D. Fredendall, Peter Letmathe and Nadine Uebe-Emden. “Supply chain management practices and intellectual property protection in China,” International Journal of Operations & Production Management. Vol. 36, (2), 2016. pp. 135-163
Kovach, Jamison V., Lawrence D. Fredendall (2015) “Learning During Design for Six Sigma Projects—A Preliminary Investigation in Behavioral Healthcare”, Engineering Management Journal, 27:3, 109-123, 2015. DOI: 10.1080/10429247.2015.1047478
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