Operational excellence, digital technologies and behavioural practices: a configurational approach

A business approach purely focused on profit and technological performance is no longer sufficient. The issues of environmental sustainability and employees' well-being in the workplace are becoming increasingly socially relevant. Industry 5.0 aims to implement the current economic and production system by placing technological and production performance together with values of human centricity, sustainability, and resilience. Although this approach is promising, it is still in its early stages of development. In this dissertation, the question was posed on what conditions make it possible to efficiently implement the Industry 5.0 approach within a company. In order to do that, the technological and the human aspects were considered. In particular, the focus was on the behavioural practices adopted by workers and practices that facilitate the diffusion of the human-centricity principle. Literature suggest that they are practices of operational excellence. A qualitative comparative analysis was conducted on data from different manufacturing companies which investigated what are the combinations of operational excellence, digital technologies and behavioural practices that lead to superior performance. Analyses show the importance of taking a holistic view of all conditions influencing outcome. Furthermore, configurations that generate efficient Industry 5.0 solutions always have technological aspects such as ERP and MES and human aspects such as proactive behaviour and job autonomy. Just-in-time practices can enable Industry 5.0, but their effect on job autonomy and proactive behaviour is not unique and depends on the whole set of conditions.