Abstract

Digitalisation provides both challenges and opportunities for Quality Management (QM). The purpose of this study is to identify various roles QM practitioners play in digitalisation initiatives to uncover the challenges and potential of QM’s digitalisation journey. This issue is addressed through an analytical framework that stresses two dimensions: the exploration and exploitation of digitalised QM processes and value creation, which is performed by the customer or in interactions facilitated by the provider. Through a multiple-case study of four large Swedish organisations, we propose six different challenges and corresponding roles for QM. Further, the study identifies challenges of digitalisation affecting both exploitative and explorative practices throughout an organisation’s value creation process. This research contributes to the existing literature with empirical evidence on the challenges induced by digitalisation, an area often discussed but not as often studied empirically.

摘要

数字化为质量管理 (QM) 带来了挑战和机遇。本研究的目的是确定 QM 从业者在数字化计划中扮演的各种角色，以揭示 QM 数字化之旅的挑战和潜力。这个问题是通过一个强调两个维度的分析框架来解决的：探索和利用数字化 QM 流程和价值创造，由客户执行或在提供商促进的交互中进行。通过对四个瑞典大型组织的多案例研究，我们提出了 QM 的六种不同挑战和相应的角色。此外，该研究确定了数字化的挑战，影响了整个组织价值创造过程中的剥削性和探索性实践。