Interfaces in service modularity: A typology developed in modular health care provision

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2014.03.001
• Author: Bert Meijboom,Roger Schroeder,Carolien Blok,Katrien Luijkx,Jos Schols
• Published date: 01 May 2014
• Date: 01 May 2014

Journal

of

Operations

Management

32

(2014)

175–189

Contents

lists

available

at

ScienceDirect

Journal

of

Operations

Management

j

o

ur

na

l

ho

mepage:

www.elsevier.com/locate

/jom

Interfaces

in

service

modularity:

A

typology

developed

in

modular

health

care

provision

Carolien

de

Bloka,∗,

Bert

Meijboomb,c,

Katrien

Luijkxc,

Jos

Scholsc,d,

Roger

Schroederb,e

aDepartment

of

Operations,

Groningen

University,

Nettelbosje

2,

9747

AE

Groningen,

The

Netherlands

bDepartment

of

Organization

and

Strategy,

Tilburg

University,

P.O.

Box

90153,

5000

LE

Tilburg,

The

Netherlands

cDepartment

of

Tranzo,

Tilburg

University,

P.O.

Box

90153,

5000

LE

Tilburg,

The

Netherlands

dDepartment

of

General

Practice,

Maastricht

University,

P.O.

Box

616,

6200

MD

Maastricht,

The

Netherlands

eCarlson

School

of

Management,

University

of

Minnesota,

Minneapolis,

MN,

United

States

a

r

t

i

c

l

e

i

n

f

o

Article

history:

Received

18

June

2013

Received

in

revised

form

18

February

2014

Accepted

3

March

2014

Available

online

18

March

2014

Keywords:

Service

modularity

Interfaces

Elderly

care

Case

study

Typology

a

b

s

t

r

a

c

t

We

conduct

case

research

in

a

particular

service

context,

i.e.

the

sector

for

elderly

care,

in

order

to

explore

characteristics

of

interfaces

and

the

role

they

play

in

service

customization.

Even

though

the

study

of

modularity

in

areas

other

than

goods

production

is

increasing,

little

is

known

about

interfaces

outside

the

context

of

modular

goods.

From

our

case

research,

it

follows

that

interfaces

can

be

distin-

guished

at

the

component

level

(linkages

between

components’

contents)

and

at

the

service

package

level

(linkages

between

service

providers

involved).

The

contribution

of

the

paper

is

a

first

typology

on

interfaces

in

modular

services.

Four

interface

categories

are

distinguished,

which

offer

a

specification

of

the

interfaces’

function

in

creating

variety

and

coherence,

when

linking

content

components

as

well

as

service

providers.

In

addition,

we

provide

a

new

definition

of

interfaces

for

services

that

differs

from

the

accepted

manufacturing

definition.

©

2014

Elsevier

B.V.

All

rights

reserved.

1.

Introduction

Modularization,

in

general,

is

an

approach

to

organize

complex-

ity

in

an

efficient

manner

(Baldwin

and

Clark,

1997)

and

from

a

systems

point

of

view

refers

to

the

degree

to

which

a

system’s

components

can

be

separated

and

recombined

(Schilling,

2000).

In

the

field

of

Operations

Management,

modularity

is

mainly

under-

stood

from

the

perspective

of

component

combinability;

by

mixing

and

matching

components

taken

from

a

given

set,

different

product

configurations

can

be

obtained

(Salvador,

2007).

As

such,

heteroge-

neous

customer

needs

can

be

addressed

(Hsuan

and

Skjøtt-Larsen,

2004;

Muffato,

1999;

Starr,

1965)

while

at

the

same

time

standard-

ization

is

allowed

as

a

few

components

are

available

in

a

limited

number

of

variations

(Sanchez,

1999).

Modularity,

thus,

provides

a

basis

for

product

customization

at

reasonable

costs.

An

important

aspect

of

modularity,

both

in

products

and

ser-

vices,

is

the

notion

of

interface

(e.g.

Baldwin

and

Clark,

1997;

Van

∗Corresponding

author.

E-mail

addresses:

c.de.blok@rug.nl

(C.

de

Blok),

b.r.meijboom@tilburguniversity.edu

(B.

Meijboom),

k.g.luijkx@tilburguniversity.edu

(K.

Luijkx),

j.m.g.a.schols@tilburguniversity.edu

(J.

Schols),

rschroed@umn.edu

(R.

Schroeder).

der

Aa

and

Elfring,

2002;

Voss

and

Hsuan,

2009;

Vahatalo,

2012).

Interfaces,

in

general,

prescribe

how

two

components

or

service

providers

in

a

modular

system

mutually

interact

(Salvador,

2007).

In

modular

products,

interfaces

manage

the

connections

and

inter-

dependencies

across

various

types

of

physical

components

that

comprise

the

final

product

and

are

typically

standardized.

Fur-

thermore,

interfaces

enable

the

substitution

and

exchange

of

these

components

(Sanchez

and

Mahoney,

1996).

In

modular

services,

interfaces

also

enable

the

substitution

and

exchange

of

compo-

nents,

but

it

is

suggested

that

interfaces

include

people,

information

and

rules

governing

the

flow

of

information

(e.g.

Pekkarinen

and

Ulkuniemi,

2008;

Voss

and

Hsuan,

2009).

In

health

care

settings,

for

example,

standards

of

care

are

used

to

describe

the

package

of

care

components

to

be

provided

by

mul-

tiple

care

providers

to

patients

suffering

from

a

particular

chronic

disease,

such

as

diabetes

or

COPD.

Good

quality

of

care

should

result

from

this

if

proper

interfaces

are

also

present.

Problems

can

occur

among

health

care

providers

(e.g.

doctors,

nurses,

GP,

staff)

as

they

handoff

the

patient

from

one

provider

to

another

without

having

defined

rules

or

guidelines

on

what

information

to

provide

and

to

whom

(i.e.

lack

of

interfaces,

Manser

et

al.,

2010).

Likewise,

the

order

of

delivery

of

components

may

be

crucial

and

problems

can

occur

when

no

coordination

is

provided

in

the

delivery

of

several

services

such

as

medication

management,

special

meals,

wound

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2014.03.001

0272-6963/©

2014

Elsevier

B.V.

All

rights

reserved.