It is beginning to be accepted among management that continuous improvement (CI) requires appropriate organizational culture change to create sustainable improvement and a stream of benefits.
While this emanates from research dating back to the early 1990s, it has been slow to gain acceptance among business leaders, possibly due to skepticism, since many consider organizational culture to be intangible after all,’ soft and fluffy’.
Practical experiences and setbacks in the successful adoption of continuous improvement by professionals, along with ongoing research (for example, see Jager et al, 2004; Gallear & Ghobadian, 2004; Tennant & Warwood & Chiang, 2002; Warwood & Roberts 2004) has led to this final acceptance that organizational culture is a contributing factor to the successful adoption of Continuous Improvement.
The study.
As part of a PhD research programme, a pilot study was carried out among UK manufacturing companies. All the companies in the sample had implemented lean manufacturing techniques, albeit at different times, so each could be considered to be at different points in the ‘journey’, but all shared their dissatisfaction with the results they had obtained with their products. Lean programs.
Organizational culture assessments, consisting of both quantitative and qualitative approaches, were conducted with each of the companies, involving several days with each. The approach was applied consistently in all the companies in the sample.
Some of the finds.
The results were analyzed and the findings that were drawn from these showed that, overall, the top three categories of organizational culture that ‘resisted’ Lean implementation were Communications, Employee Training and Development, and Planning.
Employees found the type and level of communications inadequate to engage them with Lean, often inconsistent and contradictory.
Insufficient staff training and development before and after the initial implementation of Lean meant that employees did not know what it was all about and how to operate in the new ways of working. This extended to managers as well.
The planning category included both lean planning and strategic and operational planning. Overall, employees felt there was a lack of coherent planning and direction, leading them to doubt management’s ability to manage as well as ‘lead’ Lean implementation.
discovering more
If you’d like to learn more about the results of this research and practical ways to improve your CI program, you can come and hear Tim Franklin speak at the Southern Manufacturing event and exhibition in Thorpe Park on Wednesday 8th February. 2006. (“How Bad Is Your Lean?”), plus Thursday, February 9, 2006 (“Accelerate Your Business Improvement”). Alternatively you can contact Tim [email protected]
Sources:
Jager, Bd: Minnie, C; Jager, J.D.; Welgemoed, M; Besant, J; and Francisco, D. (2004).
Enabling Continuous Improvement: An Implementation Case Study. Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol 15, Number 4.
Gallear, D; and Ghobadian, A. (2004). An empirical investigation of the channels that facilitate a culture of total quality. Total Quality Management, Vol 15, Number 8.
Tennant, C; Warwood, SJ; & & Chiang, MMP (2002). A continuous improvement process at Severn Trent Water. TQM Magazine, volume 14, number 5.
Warwood, SJ; and Roberts, PAB (2004). A survey of TQM success factors in the UK. Total Quality Management, Volume 15, number 8.
Tim Franklin MBA