1. Lecture 6 Continuous Improvement
Managing Change
Lecture 6
Continuous Improvement

2. Lecture Outline The role of learning Value management
The learning organization
Benefits & disadvantages of continuous improvement

3. THE ROLE OF LEARNING Change is constant, ongoing and inevitable.
Change and learning are inextricably bound
Learning – acquiring new skills, behaviours and attitudes.
Learning Change

4. Continuous Improvement
A process of gradual, ongoing change and learning that involves everyone in the organization.
Ongoing process of adjustment & modification rather than a series of radical changes.
Involves answering 3 questions:
- Where are we now?
- Where do we want to be?
- What do we need to do to get there?

5. Continuous Improvement (cont.)
Also known as Kaizen.
Change through continuous improvement is brought about by employees of an organization at all levels, & focuses on their own work processes and practices.
The key to continuous improvement is that the change is initiated & agreed by a team that is designed to increase efficiency & effectiveness & thus increase customer satisfaction.

6. VALUE MANAGEMENT
Not a single method, but a framework within which proven methods are systematically brought together to identify better value from projects, products & services.
Help organizations achieve best performance in their class through a carefully designed & systematic strategy.
Links organizational objectives with the operations that deliver the required business results.
Link external influences with performance inside the organization.

7. Essentials to Implementation of Value Management Projects
Management commitment to the approach.
Adequate resources in terms of time & people.
Teamwork that involves not only staff & management but also customers & suppliers.
Careful planning.
The use of techniques such as flowcharting, functional analysis & financial analysis.

8. The Value Management Framework
Planning phase
Information stage
Analysis phase
Creative phase
Evaluation phase
Reporting phase
Implementation phase
Follow-up phase

9. LEARNING ORGANIZATION
Author
Definition
Senge (1990)
“Learning organizations are organizations where people continually expand their capacity to create the results they truly desire, where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured, where collective aspiration is set free, and where people are continually learning how to learn together.” (p.3)
Pedler et al. (1991)
“A learning company is an organization that facilitates the learning of all of its members and continuously transforms itself.” (p.1)
Watkins &
Marsick (1993)
“A learning organization is one that learns continuously and transforms itself… it proactively uses learning in an integrated way to support and catalyze growth for individuals, teams, entire organizations, and the institutions and communities with which they are linked” (p.8)

10. Senge’s 5 Learning Organization Disciplines
Systems thinking
Personal mastery
Mental models
Shared vision
Team learning

11. Roles of Managers in Learning Organizations
Encouraging employees to be open to new ideas.
Stimulating & encouraging open communication.
Understanding how the systems in their organizations operate.
Helping the staff to form a shared vision & work together to achieve their goals.

12. Organizational Learning
The way firms build, supplement and organise knowledge and routines around their activities and within their cultures. (Dodgson, 1993)
Learning How – developing processes that transfer & improve skills.
Learning Why – using diagnostic skills to look at the reasons why things happen.

13. BENEFITS of Continuous Improvement
It is a change that the team can control, so people feel that they can influence what happens.
Decisions are made by those who are directly involved with customers.
It can create strong team alliances & a sense of purpose.
It can empower team members & give them a strong sense of ownership.

14. DISADVANTAGES of Continuous Improvement
It demands a strong commitment from team members to working for the good of the organization as a whole.
Team decisions can take longer & be harder to implement than those of a management board, particularly if the team is quite large.
The success of the team operations depends to some extent on good team leadership.

15. Additional Readings http://www.ivm.org.uk/vm_whatis.htm
Mohd Fairuz, A.R., Chong, S.C. & Chew, K.W. (2008). Internet usage in learning organisations: Malaysia’s perspective, International Journal of Innovation and Learning, 5(2),
Mohd Fairuz, A.R., Chong, S.C. & Chew, K.W. (2008). Learning organisation disciplines and internet usage: an empirical study from Malaysia, International Journal of Management and Enterprise Development, 5(4),
Mohd Fairuz, A.R., Chong, S.C. & Talha, M. (2005). Internet Usage and Learning Organisations: A Study on MSC Status Companies, International Journal of Knowledge, Culture and Change Management, 5(8),

16. References
Dodgson, M. (1999). Globalisation. Paper presented at the National Innovation Summit, Melbourne, 9-11 February 2000 [Online]. Available:
Pedler, M., Burgoyne, J. & Boydell, T. (1991). The learning company: a strategy for sustainable development. London: McGraw-Hill.
Senge, P.M. (1990). The Fifth Discipline: The art and practice of the Learning Organization. New York: Doubleday.
Watkins, K. & Marsick, V., (Eds.). (1993). Sculpting the learning organization: Lessons in the art and science of systematic change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.