Continuous Improvement

11) The idea of continuous improvement is to constantly seek ways to improve the business processes to add value to products and services. This continual change, in turn, will increase customer satisfaction and loyalty and ensure long-term profitability. Manufacturing companies make continual product changes and improvements. Service organizations regu ar y find ways to provide faster and more effective assistance to customers. By doing so, these companies increase customer loyalty, minimize the chance of customer dissatisfaction, and diminish the opportunity for competitive inroads. ArvinMeritor, Inc., for example, has a vice president of continuous improvement and quality to constantly improve the quality of its products and services.14 The company is a large, $7-billion global supplier of automotive parts and supplies.

12) Organizational commitment to goals such as continuous improvement can be supported by the strategic use of information systems. Continuous improvement involves constantly improving and modifying products and services to remain competitive and to keep a strong customer base. Table 2.2 compares reengineering and continuous improvement. 

1. Answer the questions:

· What are the main principles of organizational culture?

· What factors can provide an organizational change?

· Are employees always open to any organizational changes?

· What kinds of change do you know?

· What is organizational learning? What can it include?

 

2. Decide whether the following sentences are true or false. Correct the wrong ones:

· Many European countries adopted the euro which changed how financiai companies do business and how they use their information systems.

· Employees are not usually involved in the decision to implement the change, and are not fully informed about the reasons of change and the benefits that will accrue to the organization.

· Reengineering, also called continuous improvement, involves the radical redesign of business processes, organizational structures, information systems, and values of the organization to achieve a breakthrough in business results.

· Reengineering challenges the fundamental assumptions governing their designbut does not require finding and vigorously challenging old rules blocking major business process changes.

· Organizational structure involves constantly improving and modifying products and services to remain competitive and to keep a strong customer base.

3. Fill the gaps with an appropriate word:

change model handle corporation improve reliability headquarters alterations time-consuming reengineering marketplace

1) The major understandings and assumptions for a business, a _____________ , or an organization are called organizational culture.

2) Organizational change is the responses that are necessary for for-profit and nonprofit organi­zations to plan for, implement, and __________ change.

3) Together, the companies can provide better coverage, improve _________________ , enhance call quality, and offer a wide array of new and innovative services for consumers.

4) Organizational learning provides adaptations to new conditions or _____________ of organizational prac­tices over time.

5) _____________ involves the radical redesign of business processes, organizational structure, information systems, and values of the organization to achieve a breakthrough in business results.

6) With the increased volume of securities trading in the global _________________ , the Securities Industry Association has released a new model to reengineer the process for settling and clearing transactions that reduces costs and saves time.

7) All merchandising decision are made at ___________________________.

8) continuous improvement means Constantly seeking ways to ______________ the business processes to add value to products and services.

9) A _________________ is a representation of change theories that identifies the phases of change and the best way to implement them.

10) Reengineering, however, can be disruptive, expensive, and ____________ to implement.

 

4. Match the word with its definition:

 

1. corporation	A. providing of something that is needed.
2. supply	B. an accidental wrong action or a false statement not made deliberately
3. benefit	C. a group of individuals, created by law or under authority of law, having a continuous existence independent of the existences of its members, and powers and liabilities distinct from those of its members.
4. error	D. fulfillment of a need or desire
5. satisfaction	E. an advantage that a particular product or service has
6. to affect	F. a title of a chief officer or administrator, especially one who can make significant decisions on her/his own authority
7. for-profit	G. to influence or alter
8. to overcome	H. for the purpose of making money
9. executive	I. the act of improving; advancement or growth; promotion in desirable qualities; progress toward what is better
10. improvement	J. to surmount (a physical or abstract obstacle); to prevail over, to get the better of

 

5. Find the word in the text that means:

· one who owns stock (p. 3)

· to deliberately destroy or damage something in order to prevent it from being successful (p. 5)

· the process of ceasing old habits and creating a climate receptive to change (p. 6)

· capable of competing successfully (p. 8)

· extent to which time is well used or extent to which a resource is used for the intended purposeSelect targeted languages (p. 10)

 

6. Points for discussion:

· Think of a real organization you know and say what its organizational culture looks like. In what way does it change?

· Why do companies need reengineering and continuous improvement?

· What is better: to make radical changes called reingeneering or gradually keep to continuous improvement? What would you prefer?

· What practical advice can you give to a company to improve its efficiency and reduce costs?

· If you had a chance to create your own company, what business rules would you establish?