Introduction:

Continuous improvement:
E-Officeworks is an Australian office stationary supplier in operation for two years.
Company face a lot of problems and customers are not satisfied with services of employees.
To overcome all issue, it is necessary to apply continuous improvement process.
Continuous improvement is an active, intentional practice, ideally one that is honed across an
entire organization. To provide structure to their continuous improvement practice, many
organizations choose to follow a continuous improvement model. Continuous improvement
models vary in their rigidity of structure, but generally all aim to eliminate waste and improve
quality and efficiency of work processes.

Facilities that focus on improving continuously become more competitive over time and can
maintain their advantages in their industry, but only if the improvement efforts are done
correctly. Taking good baseline measurements and taking ongoing measurements will help
identify the effectiveness of the efforts being made.
Benefits of implementing continuous improvement systems and processes at E-
Officeworks:
It is not surprising that  continuous improvement requires a lot of work. Before starting a
continuous improvement program for E-Officeworks it is important to understand the
benefits of it.
1. More engaged employees:
Continuous improvement is designed to empower employees to solve problems that
bugs them and gradually improve the efficiency of their work processes. When an
employee suggests for improvement, the idea can be carefully tested; and if successful
implemented company-wide. This changes the employee’s role and responsibilities
from being a passive actor to be an active participant of the business processes.
 2. Lower employee turnover:
Turnover in organizations is very expensive. A continuous improvement culture has
been shown to boost employee engagement and reduce turnover rates. Employees
who actively participate in the betterment of the company gain a sense of pride and
accomplishment. This leads to a greater sense of belonging and fewer reasons to leave
the organization.
3. More competitive products & services:
Continuous improvement drives both the improvement of processes and products.
Companies that actively look for ways to enhance their business will invariably
increase the value of their products and services. This will lead to more sophisticated
and overall more economically competitive offerings.
4. Better customer service:
Customer service starts with understanding what the customer finds value and
working to deliver that value. Organizations that apply Lean are better able to align
their products and services to latent customer values. This will lead to products and
services that “anticipate” the needs of customers even before they know the need
themselves.
5. Having a proactive learning culture:
Customer service starts with understanding what the customer finds value and
working to deliver that value. Continuous improvement provides a framework for
identifying customer values and for minimizing waste in the value delivery process.

Continuous improvement models:

1 Plan-Do-Check-Act:
This is a cyclical process that walks a company or group through the four steps of
improvement. By continuing to cycle through these steps, improvement is always being
worked on and evaluated.
Each step builds on the previous step, and then feeds into the next.
  Plan: In the planning phase, teams will measure current standards, come up with
ideas for improvements, identify how those improvements should be
implemented, set objectives, and make the plan of action.
 Do: Implement the plan that was created in the first step. This includes not only
changing processes, but also providing any necessary training, increasing
awareness, and adding in any controls to avoid potential problems.
 Check: Taking new measurements to compare with those taken prior to the
change is an important step here.
 Act: All the data from the change is analysed by management teams to determine
whether the change will become permanent or if further adjustments are needed. 

2) Six Sigma:
Six Sigma is a continuous improvement model that focuses on eliminating variability and
improving predictability in organizations. The goals of Six Sigma are to achieve stable and
predictable process results, through clearly defined, measurable processes, and a commitment
to sustained quality improvement. With its statistical tools, certification programs, defined
roles and responsibilities, Six Sigma is a highly structured continuous improvement model,
ideal for organizations already organized in a structured, corporate way.
The central tool is the five-step DMAIC (define, measure, analyse, improve, control)
roadmap, pictured here and discussed in greater detail below.
DEMIC model of Six sigma:

3) Kaizen:
Kaizen is a Japanese word meaning “change for better,”. Kaizen describes a continuous
improvement model that works to improve both flow and process. Compared to Six Sigma,
Kaizen is far less structured and rigid. Kaizen is a mindset, a way of working that enables
organizations to eliminate waste, improve work quality, and boost morale, empowering all
employees to actively participate in the improvement of their daily work.
Unlike Six Sigma, there is no defined hierarchy of roles in this continuous improvement
model. Everyone from the CEO to frontline workers, and even stakeholders when applicable,
is encouraged to participate in Kaizen.
Comparison of all models:
To choose most suitable continuous improvement model for E-Officeworks, it is necessary to
see first the good and bad areas of all model.
Best model for E-Officeworks:
E-officeworks key values include a strong commitment to quality, customer service,
sustainability and a satisfied workforce. However, company recently facing the problems of
high employees’ turnover and unsatisfied customers. Staff also face various issues such as
lack of proper training and supporting documentation about the products as well as there are
no formal systems or processes in place for continuous improvement to ensure that the
company meets its overall vision and values.
Plan-Do-Check-Act model:

 E-Officeworks face a lot of challenges and problems, yet company wants to expand
its business. These objectives cannot be meet until E-Officeworks change its
procedures and business model and correct the problem from core.
 To meet all these issue Plan- Do-Check-Act model is suitable for E-Officeworks,
because it includes everyone on organization in process and make aware of them
continuously about the progress and outcomes of the process.
 This model ultimately increases the morale of all employees and the become more
efficient and committed to organizational goal.
Strategies for implementing continuous improvement into business systems
and Procedures:
Continuous improvement Strategies:
Choosing the right strategies for a facility will help maximize results and ensure the long-
term success of the efforts for E-Officeworks. Different areas of the company, or even
different departments within an area, can each work off a separate strategy to maximize
results.
1) Lean & Continuously Improving strategy:
Lean continuous improvement is a strategy designed to help eliminate waste throughout a
company. Waste is anything that doesn't add value for the customer. In many ways, this
continuous process improvement strategy works to eliminate problems rather than directly
improve a process.
2) Value Stream Mapping strategy:
 Is one of the most important continuous improvement strategies because it can be used
within almost all others. This process looks at the design and flow of processes within a
company to see where value is being added. A value stream map can also be a great
brainstorming tool for areas that could be improved. 

3) Kaizen strategy:
Kaizen is a popular continual improvement strategy that has been around since the 1980s.
This concept helps focus on improvements that are based on making a lot of small changes
rather than fewer larger changes. The ideas for the changes typically come from the front-line
employees rather than the management team or other planning department. This is effective
because those working on the front-line are directly impacted by problems and will be able to
more easily identify where improvements can be made.
 4) Total Quality Management strategy:
It focuses on improving employee involvement, customer satisfaction, communication, and
other key elements for success within a company. This is a continuous improvement strategy
that is often incorporated into or alongside, other strategies to help maximize the successes.
5) The 5S Strategy:
It is an organization method that helps identify how a workspace should be organized to
improve efficiency and effectiveness. This is done by identifying what is needed at each step
of a process and ensuring it is immediately available. There are many ways to do this
including organizing tools, so they are easy to find, moving machinery around so that a part
flows from one to the next, and ensuring stored parts or equipment are available when
needed.

Existing issues within E-Officeworks:

Though E-Officeworks has recently participated in a strategic planning process. The key
vision of the company is to become the leading online supplier of office supplies, but this
could not be possible until to resolve the following issues. E-Officeworks key values include
a strong commitment to quality, customer service, sustainability and a satisfied workforce.
However, company recently facing the problems of high employees’ turnover, unsatisfied
customers.
Because the staff is not highly motivated and do their work with low motivation as a result
customers complaint such as customers service staff unable to provide adequate product
advice, unfriendly behaviours of staff. Staff also face various issues such as lack of proper
training and supporting documentation about the products as well as there are no formal
systems or processes in place for continuous improvement to ensure that the company meets
its overall vision and values.
Internal issues:
Company face many challenges not only from customers and competitors but also from
employees as the turnover of customer service staff is currently at around 30% annually. On
average of two customer complaints are received each month. These complaints are related to
1 Customer service staff are unable to provide adequate product advice.
2 Customer service staff are not friendly at times.
3 Lengthy wait times on the telephone to discuss products or chase up deliveries.
4 Differences between delivery time stated and actual delivery time.
5 Delayed in responding to complaints.
6 High staff turnover.
7 Lack of supporting documentation to assist with overall quality such as staff training
manuals.
Above all are the issue facing by E-Officeworks recently. They want to become the leading
online office suppliers and it could not be possible until company implement a new
continuous improvement system

Continual Improvement Tools:

Having the right continuous improvement tools is essential to the long-term success of any
strategy. These tools can be anything that helps ensure the quality improvement process can
move forward successfully. Some simple examples of this include
1) Cause and effect diagram:
A cause and effect diagram examine why something happened or might happen by
organizing potential causes into smaller categories. It can also be useful for showing
relationships between contributing factors. It is often referred to as a fishbone diagram or
Ishikawa diagram.
2) Continuous improvement software:

Continuous improvement software also makes analysis and reporting a breeze. Instead of

spending time creating complex spreadsheets or gathering key performance indicators from
different departments, reports can be generated instantly. This enables you to see how your
company is progressing towards its continuous improvement goals and how productivity,
profitability, or quality are being impacted.
3) Revers:
Revers is all about sharing and reusing, doing and tracking through a software. Continuous
improvement becomes a hundred times easier with our innovative digital platform. Using
Revers dashboard, manager can monitor the performances of teams, the summary of their
impact, and easily identify the people making the biggest difference at your company.
4) Kanban:
Kanban helps you harness the power of visual information by using sticky notes on a
whiteboard to create a “picture” of your work. Seeing how your work flows within your
team’s process lets you not only communicate status but also give and receive context for the
work.
5) The 5 Whys:
The 5 Whys is a thinking tool for identifying the root causes of problems. By using the 5
Whys, teams practicing continuous improvement can move past blame, think beyond the
specific context of a problem, and identify a proper, sustainable solution to resolve the issue.
Strategies for encouraging staff to participate in continuous improvement
decision-making.
1. Communicate Expectations. Managers and team members should communicate
expectations on a regular basis.
2. Manage Small Improvements. Each team member must work together to initiate, monitor
and promote small improvements on processes, programs and activities.
3. Give Feedback.
Give employees feedback not just on yearend reviews, instead all throughout the year. This
practice helps the employees know what they are doing best and the areas to improve further.
Celebrate Innovation.
Empower employees and let them explore. You must give your employees venue to
experiment, to try and test their ideas. No one will take risks in the company if they feel there
is lack of support and understanding. Innovation has a process, one that is flawed and has
moments of glaring imperfection.
6. Promote a Creative Work Environment.
Allow your team members to have fun in the workplace. Having fun during work allows
employees to be more relaxed yet productive and that is when they begin to be inspired and
produce new and exceptional ideas.
7. Organize Continuous Improvement Teams
A more efficient way of encouraging continuous improvement in the workplace is to set up
cross functional or continuous improvement teams.
8. Reward Improvements.
Encourage employees to think out-of-the-box by coming-up with enticing rewards if ideas
will be feasible and implemented successfully.
9. Every Employee Matters.
This is essential in building a culture of improvement. Every single team member who
welcomes clients in the workplace, answers phone calls, cleans the offices – every single one
matters, and their work brings integrity to the company.

Strategies for ensuring that staff are informed about continuous

improvement processes:
Continuous improvement consists of incremental initiatives and innovations to achieve best
practices. All expectations and objectives should be deployed to stakeholders clearly.
Providing encouragement and implementing incentive plans should help in developing a
culture of continuous improvement.
 1) A sustainable continuous improvement (CI) requires the following thinking and
action,
2) Accept continuous improvement as a "VALUE" of the organization; inculcate it in all.
3) CI is an attitude, shape it by linking it with rewards and recognition.
4) Create a buy-in of the people in CI, so that they see in it why they should do it.
5) Do it not through direction but by empowerment/Involvement/suggestions.
6) Develop a shared vision of the organization; and link it with that.
7) Identify training need, deliver first-rate training, & measure its effectiveness.
8) Create an environment of continuous learning among all employees.
9) Create an atmosphere of people care, dignity, positivity, inspiration, and fun.

Mechanisms for obtaining feedback from customers, suppliers and staff.

Collecting and acting upon customer feedback is a must for any business looking to provide
users with the products they need. Customer feedback guides and informs your decision
making and influences your product roadmap. It’s also essential for measuring customer
satisfaction among your current customers.
Ways to collect customer feedback:
1) Customer feedback surveys:
There are so many potential questions you could be asking customers, but you must be
careful in your approach.
2) Email and customer contact forms:
Email is one of the most valuable ways to gather candid customer feedback.
However, you can improve the way customers reach out to you via email and maximize this
channel’s effectiveness.
3) Usability Tests:
Usability testing requires more upfront planning but delivers more insights than any of the
methods listed here. It uncovers things customers sometimes don’t know they’re thinking
about or struggling with, and usually provides with a clear path to make the experience better.
4) Exploratory customer interviews:
Understanding your customers is often as easy as talking to them directly. This direct
outreach can also help fill in the gaps that less personal forms of feedback tend to create.
5) Social media:
Listening through social media can prove particularly useful for gathering candid feedback
from customers.
 6) On-site activity (via analytics):
Sometimes the best feedback is found when users are candidly using your product (and not
being asked how they use it). To get a peek at these sorts of insights, turn to analytics that
showcase how users are interacting with site.
7) Comment boxes:
Strategically inserted comment boxes at the end of pages draw candid feedback that doesn’t
require employee monitoring or interrupt a user while they’re browsing the page.
Ongoing mentoring and coaching processes to support continuous improvement
processes:
Coaching Tips and Strategies
1) Devise clear goals that include benchmarks and deadlines. The employee should
always know what is expected of him and how he should achieve it.
2) Be prepared to help with time management. Many employees want  to learn new
tasks but are often befuddled about how to structure their time to master them.
3) Frame feedback in a forthright and positive manner. 
4) Follow up on feedback. It's called accountability, and the best coaches devise a
system (formal or informal in nature) that constantly tracks the contributions
of both parties.
5) Emphasize effort over ability.  Acknowledging effort usually inspires people to try
harder. And when they try harder, they often succeed.
6) Celebrate accomplishments. Accomplishment represents a step forward. And each
one is worth celebrating to build an employee's self-confidence.
7) Listen more; speak less. Active listening is a learned skill, and good coaches can
elevate it to an art form with practice. While feedback is important, it really should be
secondary to securing someone's confidence by assuring them that they are being
heard.

Strategies for ensuring continuous improvement sustainability:

Making continuous improvement somewhat exciting and important in the minds of the
workforce is one element of creating sustainability for the program. It is part of building a
continuous improvement culture.
1) Align Continuous Improvement Efforts with Strategy:
Continuous improvement projects are identified, and a continuous improvement strategy is
developed in alignment with the overall organization strategy.
 2) Ensure the Plan Is Clear and Metrics Are Aligned:
Communications are vital to effectiveness and sustainability of any organizational effort, and
especially continuous improvement. Because improvement efforts are somewhat separate
from day-to-day operational tasks, it’s important to tie them intimately to strategic vision and
operational goals.

3) Build Leadership Commitment and Engagement:

Create true motivation and commitment among leaders to continuous improvement efforts by
building CI expectations into their operational goals and compensation objectives.
4) Manage Change:
Training and resources for managing change can help get people beyond the resistance seen
in early stages of change to embracing the change. With appropriate training,
communications, and reinforcement, the culture can shift so much that workers thrive in an
environment built on regular change.

Two knowledge management strategies to ensure that learnings are

accessible to all staff.
There are many approaches for developing a knowledge management strategy, each
supported by a holistic model of KM processes
These can be classified into two main approaches:

 Top-down: The overall strategic direction of the organisation is used to identify the

focus of the knowledge management initiative. This is reflected in a series of
activities designed to meet this broad goal.

 Bottom-up: Research is conducted into the activities of staff involved in key business

processes. The findings of this research highlight key staff needs and issues, which
are then tackled through a range of knowledge management initiatives.
Conclusion:
E-Officeworks is a suppliers of office stationary and all office related material. Company
currently facing a lot of challenges such as changing economy, new technology, budget
concerns, and staff shortages are all dynamics that will eventually force the company to be
adjust. If E-Officeworks embraces continuous improvements, then it will be able to act on
these changes and stay on course. To create the continuous improvement culture in E-
Officeworks, company needs to apply the PDCA model of continuous improvement and
provide training to all staff members so that company can reduce complaints and customers
loyalty can be achieved.

References:
https://www.ceosuite.com/10-tips-engage-employees-continuous-improvement/
https://www.helpscout.com/blog/customer-feedback/
https://www.carnegiefoundation.org/blog/quality-improvement-approaches-six-sigma/
Filardo, A. (2008, July). Continuous Improvement and Six Sigma. Concept
Introduction. Employee Development Program Slides, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ.
Nave, D. (2002, March).  How To Compare Six Sigma, Lean and the Theory of Constraints,
A framework for choosing what’s best for your organization. Retrieved
from http://www.lean.org/Search/Documents/242.pdf.