Employee participation

Key aspect in the success of Continuous Improvement Systems

Abstract

21st century companies are immersed in a fierce competition to survive and excel. In order to achieve excellence, the key is to develop holistic strategies aimed at continuous improvement of processes within the organization. However, one of the main obstacles to overcome on this path towards excellence is precisely the involvement and commitment of all workers over time. This problem is well mentioned in the literature, but the reasons why people choose to participate or not in these initiatives are still not entirely clear. Motivated by this, this article seeks to contribute to the understanding of the relationship between continuous improvement systems elements and employees’ intention to participate. Based on a survey of Spanish companies, it was found that those companies applying a series of continuous improvement habits believe their systems to be more sustainable over time and their workers to be more engaged. In view of these results, a Delphi panel was conducted to deepen into what
were the key elements that managers must consider when deploying a system of continuous improvement, in order to encourage employee participation.