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Tanveer Ahmed
OIC000026P
Table of Contents
What is a continuous improvement:........................................................................................................1
Importance of continuous improvement in companies:..........................................................................2
The importance of establishing formal systems and processes to support continuous.........................2
Improvement:............................................................................................................................................2
A description of two key elements of a formal continuous improvement system:................................3
An explanation of how the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle can be used to support effective continuous
improvement:.............................................................................................................................................4
A description of how brainstorming with staff can be used for effective continuous improvement:. .5
Relationship between continuous improvement and knowledge management:....................................6
How continuous improvement works as part of a quality management system:..................................7
How the goals of lean manufacturing and sustainability are synonymous:..........................................7
Synonyms goals of lean and sustainability manufacturing:...................................................................7
Relationship between performance management and continuous improvement within an
organization:..............................................................................................................................................8

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Introduction:

What is a continuous improvement:

A continual improvement process is the process of ongoing effort for improving the quality of
products, services and processes. It can be incremental improvement over time or breakthrough
improvement at once. The processes of delivery are constantly improved and then evaluated for
effectiveness and flexibility. According to the institute of quality assurance, the continuous
improvement is a gradual never-ending improvement in the processes for achieving the
organizational goals of efficiency and effectiveness. The term continuous improvement does not
limit only to the improvement of processes rather it also covers the improvement in business
strategy, the improvement in the relationships of customers, suppliers and employees as well as
the business results. In short it covers the definition of getting better all the time.

Importance of continuous improvement in companies:

The most successful companies are never satisfied with the status quo. They constantly have
their eye on the next innovation, the next level of performance. They know the importance of
continuous improvement in all areas of the business. Even if things are going well, they are
looking at what could be improved upon so that they can perform better. They are finding ways
to work smarter to be more efficient and profitable. The most successful companies are always
innovating and developing new ways to deliver top-notch quality to their customers.

The importance of establishing formal systems and processes to

support continuous improvement:
Companies must communicate the value and importance of continuous improvement and build
it into every aspect of the business as a disciplined strategy. They must train their employees to
study internal processes and create ways to make them more efficient.

Following are some of the most common challenges and required processes

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1. Generates “buy-in” and support from all employees:
By involving every employee – from the CEO to the maintenance staff of your federation
– all employees can have a sense of ownership and contribution to the federation’s larger
mission. This is particularly true for larger federations where the size of the organisation
can begin to make individual employees feel less significant or more detached from the
central mission.
2. Creates synergy between management and staff:
Synchronised swimmers rely on synergy, communication and mutual trust and
understanding to deliver their most precise and performances. Your federation also needs
synergy between your executive management, department managers and general staff to
be efficient and portray a positive image to your customers. By bringing all levels of the
organisation together to develop continuous improvement strategies, each employee can
have a better understanding of why certain changes are being made and how those
changes are good for aquatics sports and internal federation operations.

3 Provides factual, objective basis for decision making:

In many organisations, well-intentioned changes to internal operations can be perceived
as arbitrary decisions made by executives who do not really understand what it takes for
general staff to do their jobs. By creating measurable, quantizable strategies, your
federation can explain how and why you are doing certain things based on objective
criteria.
4 Reinforces your image as an organisation driven by performance
Many organisations and federations open in a way that is at odds with the basic concept
and ideals of athleticism which are striving to improve, dedication to achieving goals and
motivated by a desire to be the best. By creating continuous improvement strategies, you
demonstrate to your staff, your customers and your competitors that your federation is
driven by the same thing that your athletes are performance.

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A description of two key elements of a formal continuous improvement
system:
Sustainable continuous improvement requires engagement at all levels as well as a robust
management system that addresses the long-term, incremental nature of culture-based change.
Such a system requires three key structural components to effectively drive the transformation
process. Key components are,

1. Maturity-based transformation:
There’s no quick-fix approach to changing an organization’s culture. Engaging all
employees, developing their skills and competencies to effect process improvements, and
the fundamental shift in leadership style from ‘cop to coach’ take effort and time.
Transferring process improvement ownership from technical experts to front-line workers
requires structural reorganization around lateral processes. Employee skills and
knowledge must also be built. We can only hold them accountable as they become
competent in every new work element.
2. Functional integration:
One of the key principles of an integrative improvement approach is that the organization
should be designed around processes, products and customers. Multifunctional teams
optimize processes and value streams to deliver superior products to ‘delighted’
customers. The system must drive this process-based approach and prevent possible sub-
optimization of functional improvement approaches. This means that functional
improvement requirements (quality, maintenance, demand and supply planning, HR, etc.)
and the various continuous improvement methodologies used are on the same platform
and are executed simultaneously and in concert with one another.
3. Sustainability through a three-tiered system:
Sustainable improvement does not result from the mere application of continuous
improvement tools. The introduction of process maps, autonomous maintenance checks,
5 Why problem-solving forms, visual scoreboards, and so on are not sustainable without
supporting systems and underpinning management principles, systems and tools.

An explanation of how the Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle can be used to
support effective continuous improvement:
PDCA (plan-do-check-act, sometimes seen as plan-do-check-adjust) is a repetitive four-
stage model for continuous improvement (CI) in business process management. The PDCA
model is also known as the Deming circle/cycle/wheel, Shewhart cycle, control circle/cycle,
or plan–do–study–act (PDSA).

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The four phases are:

 Plan: Identify and analyse the problem or opportunity, develop hypotheses about what
the issues may be, and decide which one to test.

 Do: Test the potential solution, ideally on a small scale, and measure the results.

 Check/Study: Study the result, measure effectiveness, and decide whether the hypothesis
is supported or not.

 Act: If the solution was successful, implement it.

A description of how brainstorming with staff can be used for effective

continuous improvement:
Brainstorming is the rapid pooling of all and any ideas that a group of people can come up with
before any discussion or judgement takes place. Every idea is recorded no matter how bizarre or
irrational. Sometimes it can be difficult to start thinking about how to go about achieving a goal
or solving a problem. Brainstorming is a quick way to generate lots of ideas and possibilities.
One of the strengths of this tool is that it stimulates creative, unconstrained thinking. This can
help us think about new and different ways of doing things.

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  Brainstorming can be used in groups or by individuals. Business teams can use it to share
and build on each other's ideas.

How to Brainstorm:

1. Keep a relaxed atmosphere. Meetings should be disciplined but informal. If

possible, choose an informal venue.
2. Get the right size of team. The technique seems to work best with groups of 5 to 7
people.
3. Choose a leader. The leader checks that everyone understands what is going on
and why.
4. Define the problem clearly.
5. Generate as many ideas as possible.
6. Do not allow any evaluation and discussion.
7. Give everyone equal opportunity to contribute.
8. Write down EVERY idea — clearly and where everyone can see them.
9. When all the ideas are listed, review them for clarification, making sure everyone
understands each item. At this point you can eliminate duplications and remove
ideas the group feels are no longer appropriate.
10. Allow ideas to incubate. Brainstorm in sessions with perhaps a few days in
between. This gives time for the team to let the ideas turn over in their mind,
which often results in new ideas at a later session.

Relationship between continuous improvement and knowledge

management:
A continuous improvement approach to business activities will enable an organization to
improve its competitive position either by increasing its revenue through improved relationships
with customers or by achieving cost efficiencies through process improvement.

1 It is suggested that the achievement of such goals is dependent upon the organization
having a learning culture to promote improved performance and manage the
knowledge.  The decision to adopt continuous improvement implies a knowledge
management and learning approach, as the organization will be focused on improving its
current business operations. 
2 KM and learning develop insights, knowledge and associations between past actions, the
effectiveness of those actions, and future actions (Fiol & Lyles, 1985). Organizational
learning is about the acquisition of new knowledge and highlights the importance of
acquiring and disseminating information to assist organization actions (Miller, 1996).
Learning can be seen to occur when organization’s perform in changed and better ways,
with the goal of better outcomes for the organization.
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 3 Knowledge management is the highest form of adaptation thereby raising the probability
of survival.  It is argued that the knowledge management organization will have goals to
thrive by systematically using its learning to progress beyond mere adaptation (Dodgson,
1993).  Learning will involve the process of building procedural knowledge, cognitive
strategies and attitudes. Learning can concentrate on methods and tools to improve what
is already being done, known as single-loop learning, or on testing the assumptions
underlying what is being done, known as double-loop learning (Argyris & Schon,
1978).  

How continuous improvement works as part of a quality management

system:
 Continual improvement is an important principle of total quality management and also
new quality management principle involved to the revised ISO 9000 family of standards,
which were officially released on 15th December 2000. It is an important part of the
achievement and keeping of organization competitiveness and should be a permanent
objective of the organization.
 Practical experience show that many companies are going out of business simply because
they are not able to improve as quickly as their competitors. According to the definition
continual improvement is recurring activity to increase the ability to fulfil requirements.
Its base is quality improvement, which is defined as part of quality management, focused
on increasing the ability to fulfil quality requirements (ISO/FDIS 9000, 2000).

How the goals of lean manufacturing and sustainability are

synonymous:
Lean manufacturing:

Lean Production is defined as a business system for organizing and managing product
development, operations, suppliers, and customer relations that requires less human effort, less
space, less capital, less material, and less time to make products with fewer defects to precise
customer desires, compared with the previous system of mass production.
Sustainable manufacturing:
Sustainable manufacturing is defined as the creation of manufactured products that use processes
that are non-polluting, conserve energy and natural resources, and are economically sound and
safe for employees, communities, and consumers.

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Tanveer Ahmed
OIC000026P
Synonyms goals of lean and sustainability manufacturing:
LEAN SUSTAINABILITY
Long term philosophy- create value for Invest in long term- consider people,
people, community/ including environment/, community, financials, environment
economy
Create the right process to produce the right
Ensure the ecosystem is in balance, if
result necessary, intervene in system
Add value by developing people and partnersInvest in people consider stockholders
including your staff and partners/suppliers
Continuously making problems visible a Be transparent and consider the whole
solving root causes drivers organizational system vs. treating symptoms
learning
Minimize or eliminate waste of any kind Creating waste harms something else in the
system

Relationship between performance management and continuous

improvement within an organization:

1 The relationship between performance management and continuous quality

improvement is that they are related concepts. They both have the same generally
principles. The continuous quality improvement method uses its data to improve polices,
programs, and other outcomes.
2 Total quality includes ‘soft’ aspects of management such as leadership and organizational
culture, and ‘hard’ aspects such as organizational systems and statistical techniques
(Chang, 2005). Oakland (2000) observes that total quality is a management philosophy
that has developed incrementally over time and continues to do so using CI as an
important driver.
3 As both quality and maintenance go hand in hand in a manufacturing set up, total quality
management (TQM) and TPM share many threads of commonalties like employee
involvement, cross-functional approach and continuous improvement (Cooke, 2000). The
CI consists of establishing customer requirements (internal or external), meeting the
requirements, measuring success, and continuing to check customers’ requirements to
find areas in which improvements can be made (Chang, 2005).
4 According to Bessant et al. (2001) CI is viewed as a set of routines that can help an
organization to improve performance. Many researchers view CI as a dynamic process,
focus on improvement programs and their relationship to other organizational elements in
the organization and its environment (Nilsson-Witell et al., 2005).

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Tanveer Ahmed
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