Question 1.

1 List at least six factors that facilitate continuous improvement and at

least six factors that hinder continuous improvement.
Factors that facilitate continuous improvement
 Employees who are satisfied and productive.
 Employees who are willing to use their own initiative and accept
Responsibility for their own work.
 A workplace where stress is minimized.
 A culture of honesty, trust and disclosure.
 Role and task clarity
 Effective workplace relationships
Factors that hinder continuous improvement
 Insecure and/or incompetent middle managers are afraid to share
responsibility and authority, therefore, try to hold power by controlling
information.
 Mangers tend to believe that employees are work drones who do not
require information
 Instructions are unclear or contradictory
 Worker role and tasks have not been clearly outlined
 People are unaware od the lines of authority and responsibility.
 There are too many managers giving conflicting orders
Question 1.2 Continuous improvement is the process of identifying and solving
problems. A problem can be said to exist whenever there is a difference between
an actual situation and a desired situation. List at least five problems and at least
five opportunities that an organisation might face.
Problems that an organization might face:
 Something you wish to do but cannot do because of a barrier, obstacle or
blockage of some kind.
 Future trouble.
 A difficult choice.
 Something that has gone wrong or is the cause of something going wrong.
 A complex situation that requires action.
An opportunities an organization might face:
 Learn new skills.
 Find ways of doing things.
 Improve process and procedures.
 Improve employee/ customer and/ or stakeholder relationships.
 Improve product/service quality.
Question 1.3.a List at least six steps in an effective problem-solving and decision-
making processes.
 Monitor and evaluate the decision to determine the success or need for changes
to the intervention.
 Implement the chosen actions.
 Express solutions as a set of targets or goals.
 Define the intended solution/s, also in measurable terms.
 Assess costs and benefits.
 Assess associated risks and benefits, in terms of organizational objectives.
Question 1.3.b When new procedures are put in place to facilitate continuous
improvement, employees need be informed. List at least six methods that could
be used to communicate procedures to internal staff.
 Formal presentations
 Conferences
 Meetings
 Face-to-face group communications
 Face-to face individual communications
 Chat rooms
Question 1.3.c When new procedures are put in place to facilitate continuous
improvement eternal stakeholders need be informed. List at least six external
stakeholders that might need to be informed.
 Business or government contracts
 Funding bodies/organisations
 Organisations’s clients and customers
 Professional associations
 Licensing bodies
 Shareholders and networking partners
Question 1.4. a Why should organisations actively encourage employees to
participate in decision-making processes, assume responsibility and exercise
initiative?
Employees should be encourage to take responsibility for improving the quality of
goods and services through involvement in a rigorous program of ongoing self-
assessment and analysis, benchmarking against competitors, explicit change control
and meaningful progress measurement.
Question 1.4. b. How can group decision making assist with involving employees
in continuous improvement?
 Group decision-making, were appropriate, will act to encourage employees to
self-monitor and self-improve. This because if they are included in the decision-making
processes they believe that their ideas are valued and valuable. They will then continue
to contribute toward the success of the organization. If employees’ ideas are not asked
for, are ignored or are denigrated, the employees might stop making improvement
suggestions and might develop pay packet mentalities.
Question 1.5 a. What impact does the knowledge management policies and
procedures of an organisation have on its overall effectiveness?
Within organization there are different levels of knowledge held and required by
individuals, departments and teams. Not everybody needs to know everything, but they
do need to know information and have access to knowledge that helps them to do their
job effectively complete tasks within given time frames and contribute to the
organisation’s performance.
No matter what position or level people hold within an organization, they all have
access to information which somebody will need at some stage. A knowledge
management system allows people within organisations to access and share
knowledge, that they can ue which is specific to their needs.
Question 1.5 b. Databases are a commonly used form of knowledge storage. The
databases allow different levels of security and views, so that specific
information which is needed by appropriate people can be accessed and viewed,
but does not allow access to all people within the organisation. List at least six
procedures for accessing information in a database knowledge storage system.
Procedures for accessing of information:
 How to access the database, files or knowledge system.
 What the different levels of information are that staff can access.
 When is access available?
 What the security requirements of the system are.
 Meet the requirements of relevant legislation.
 The organizational structure for access and security responsibilities of the
knowledge management system.

Question 1.6 Describe the following systems and that facilitate continuous
improvement:

1. Systems management- the system approach to management involves

recognizing that all organizational processes and procedures are part of a
system. A system is a group of independent but interrelated elements comprising
a unified whole. Systems activate and support organizational requirements; The
systems in an organization are interconnected and so something that affects one
 part of the system will necessarily have a follow-on—effect. When making
changes to oganisational systems, you need to consider the effect of the
changes on not only your own process areas, but on the other systems and
sections in the organization. A small change in your section/department might
have a massive impact on another section. You need to assess whether this
impact will be positive or negative.
2. Building and managing teams to improve productivity- teams maximise the
benefit if each member’s strengths, while minimizing their weaknesses. Many
successful organisations are seeking ways to capitalize n the strengths of
individual employees through appropriately constituted teams. This means
setting up teams in which all competencies exist to complete a significant block
of work.
3. Change management- continuous improvement necessarily implies change. New
values and behaviours which focus on measuring customer satisfaction and
acting on results should be built around customer-oriented workplace cultures.
4. Understanding organisational processes: SIPOCC- Organisational processes
can be described by what is known as the SIPOCC model: Suppliers, Inputs,
Processes, Outputs, Constraints, Customer outcomes. This model describes the
organizatin’s inputs, core processes, outputs and outcomes and seeks to identify
constraints affecting each process sector.
5. Fact-based decision-making- decisions and actions are based on the analysis of
data and information. Management fact is model for preventing management by
opinion. Facts are unknown until they established through the collection of
measurement data. The analysis of relevant and reliable data allows informed
performance improvement decisions to be made and significantly reduces the
risk of decisions based on opinion.
6. Process mapping- is based on gathered information that allows a model of the
activities/tasks/actions involved in a work process. Process maps aid in
understanding processes therefore, in identifying problems, issues, bottlenecks
or oppurtunities for improvement.

Question 1.7 What Improvement information might be passed on to employees

about continuous improvement outcomes? Why is this necessary and how will
this contribute toward further improvements?
Improvement information that might be passed on to employees could include:
 Organizational development and growth
 Cost cuts
 Quality checking processes
 Sales figures
 Profit
 Technological changes/ impromptus
 Process improvement
  Excellence in customer service
 Customer satisfaction results
 Employee satisfaction
 Cultural change
 Group/team performance evaluations
Quality improvement should improve job satisfaction through the removal of
tedious checking and error correction. This should also create efficiencies and
allow opportunities for job enrichment. The process of continuous improvement
should involve employees at all levels and provide employees with ownership of
the improvement activities, whether this be t an operational, supervisory or
managerial level.