Factors that affect the outcome of process improvement programmes in South African firms.
Date
2012-09-14
Authors
Simon, Smija.
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Abstract
Process Improvement programmes are often embarked on in organisations to
close gaps in performance. It is becoming increasingly important to understand
what the drivers of success are of these improvement programmes to maximise
the investment (effort and monetary) in these programmes.
Using the Process Improvement classification of Slack and Lewis (2008) and the
framework Lok et al. (2005) as the premise of this research, the study aimed to
identify what factors affect the outcome of Process Improvement programmes in
South African firms.
To answer the research question and evaluate the hypotheses, a qualitative
study was undertaken. Using purposive sampling, a set of companies that met
the criteria of having undergone Process Improvement programmes in the past 0-
5 years was determined. A total of 20 individuals from 15 different organisations
were interviewed.
The study has confirmed that the factors as identified by Lok et al. (2005) are
considered important factors that influence the outcome of Process Improvement
programmes in selected South African organisations as well. The factors that
were confirmed included: strategic alignment, structural alignment, IT alignment,
executive commitment and employee empowerment. In addition, a further set of
five factors were identified in the study that were of significance and were critical
to the success of Process Improvement programmes: value and clarity of the
proposed changes; pace of the change; inherent culture of an organisation;
sustainability of the change; and skills.