Continuous improvement
Continuous improvement refers to the ongoing improvement of services, products, or processes, to acquire long-term results (Fagan, 2018). The process is achieved through breakthrough improvements and increments. Continuous assessment is done using a set of tools, including planning, doing, checking, and acting. Planning involves identification of the opportunities or chances, then planning for the change. The aspect of doing refers to the implementation of the stated change, within small scale dimensions. Checking involves the process through which the results obtained are analyzed. Using this tool, the organization can tell if the change brings a change to the results; positive, negative, or neutral (Fagan, 2018). The final tool involves acting whereby organizations implement the desired change to wider dimensions, after obtaining positive results in the small-scale dimensions. However, when the change does not yield positive results, leaders must start new cycles.
Continuous improvement aims at achieving three key outcomes; efficiency, quality, and reduction in costs (Fagan, 2018). Through continuous improvement, organizations can achieve efficiency in operations, management, and customer relations. Successful improvement processes result in increased products, services, and relationships between the organizations and the customers and employees. Continuous improvement is achieved through gradual improvements tat take long periods. By implementing change in small dimensions (Fagan, 2018), managers reduce the effect of resistance during the change process. Small-scale changes also enable managers to create an ethical culture of improvement, create better improvement projects, observe and analyze results faster, and get all the senior management officers onboard.
The continuous improvement comprises four distinct models; Sic Sigma, Fail fast, fail forward, Kaizen, and Perpetual beta. The Six Sigma model aims at minimizing the faults and variations in the implementation (Delphine, 2018). This model thus achieves improvement in the output quality. Six Sigma defines the ratio of the expected faulty products. The Kaizen model has a Japanese origin, with the word meaning improvement. Kaizen models aim at the elimination of waste (Delphine, 2018). The model was developed during the Second World War and has gained momentum all over the world. In this model, the opportunities for a change are inclusive, which implies that everyone within an organization can identify the need and initiate it. The model is commonly used in manufacturing, a sector whereby front-line employees have higher experience and opportunity to detect inefficiencies in the production process or the production cycle. The flow of Kaizen deals with the flow of services, information, and products within the organization. The process Kaizen deals with small organizational changes (Delphine, 2018), which can lead to improved quality or efficiency. In essence, the Kaizen model applies the underlying process like; PDCA and the root cause analysis.
The “Fail fast, fail forward” model involves moving relentlessly towards achieving better solutions through mistakes, and learning from these mistakes (Investors in People, 2020). This model allows managers to make mistakes; however, they must be geared towards achieving improvement. Failures are viewed as steps towards achieving success for this model. Inherently, this model aims at a fearless approach to new ideas within the organization, and it involves taking all the challenges experienced during the improvement process as learning opportunities. Finally, the perpetual beta plan shows the strategy and mindset that services, solutions, or products can never be completed or perfected. The model has its origin on software development
Continuous improvement brings numerous challenges to an organization, with both barriers and new challenges arising as a result of the improvement. The organization’s management faces various problems during the implementation of a continuous improvement plan (Investors in People, 2020). First, the staff is faced with limited time, whereby most organizations lack time for the implementation. When the need for continuous improvement arises, most organizations have already lost much; thus, they need to develop new strategies faster. The urgency experienced by these organizations poses a considerable problem with limited time to go through the whole process of change.
Resistance from employees and other stakeholders also affects the staff’s bid for a continuous improvement strategy. Organizational change brings uncertainties among the members within an organization (Ray, 2018). For instance, some employees are afraid of a change, while others think it could adequately affect them. The outcome is that the continuous improvement process will face resistance from the employees. The staff members have to overcome this challenge through real communication with employees to remove any uncertainties concerning the expected changes.
Continuous improvement also faces opposition from top management, with the feeling that too much is at stake (Wilson, 2015). The process of continuous improvement involves a complete replacement of processes, services, and products. The change may bring uncertainties among the top management, with feelings that failure could lead to the organization (Ray, 2018). Fear of making losses or getting irrelevant in the market is thus a massive problem that managers must address to achieve success. Therefore the director and managers leading this initiative must encourage the top management to take the risk, by affirming that the process would yield positive outcomes.
There is a wide range of continuous improvement strategies that aim to achieve a better result for organizations (Millard, 2018). The first principle states improvements can be based on small changes; hence new inventions and dominant paradigms are not the only focus of development. Implementing substantial changes could present considerable risks to an organization; therefore, managers must implement the changes in small scale dimensions before making large-scale steps towards the improvement (Millard, 2018). The second principle involves the incorporation of the employees. In this phase, managers must take the employees’ views and opinions for the improvement to achieve success. In identifying opportunities, the best-suited parties are the employees; hence the management must credit them the role of identifying the areas that require development. Employees are the closest organ to the real-life problems within an organization, therefore incorporating them in the change process leads to sustainable improvement (Millard, 2018). Managers must thus conduct reviews by asking the various stakeholders within the organization, any underlying problems, and proposals to solving the issues.
The third principle involves making incremental improvements within the plan. Incremental improvements include taking small steps towards achieving more significant outcomes within the organization (Wilson, 2015). The last principle involves setting goals for improvement. Managers must set potentially repeatable and measurable improvement goals. In achieving real improvement, top management must look at the change and acknowledge the presence of improvement (Millard, 2018). In essence, the improvement must be measurable for senior management to accept it.
All the members of an organization play varied roles in achieving the desired improvement. The junior employees, staff, and management have a role to play in implementing a continuous improvement plan. Continuous improvement defines various roles and responsibilities for the different elements within it (Wilkins, 2017). The improvement leader or the manager plays the most significant role within this plan. First, managers are involved in the education of others about the need for the change, and how the improvement will be implemented. The manager also provides mentorship and support to the staff and other members of the organization. Managers must also focus on cultural transformation and the creating of core continuous improvement teams. Finally, managers also help solve problems, measure results, and incorporate all the stakeholders in the continuous improvement.
The staff and other employees are assigned various roles by the management. For instance, the staff is made individual contributors, whereby they lead the multiple teams. As individual contributors and team leaders, the staff must establish environments for detecting the opportunities of improvement, increasing the effectiveness of solutions, and participating in the improvement projects (Ray, 2018). The staff is also appointed to be project team leaders. A team comprises both the staff and junior employees, hence having a staff leader lead the team is crucial for the success of continuous improvement. As team leaders, the staff secure resources and manage the execution of the plans. Project sponsors and stakeholders also play a crucial role in achieving the success of the plan. Supervisors, for instance, oversee the project formulation and implementation.
To incorporate the staff and the managers must clarify the goals to be achieved, nurture new ideas, and provide reinforcement to the teams. In specifying the end goals, managers must define what the continuous improvement aims at achieving, which implies that managers must have clear goals so that the staff can efficiently follow in performing their roles for the project (Ray, 2018). Nurturing ideas involves taking the ideas from the staff and the other stakeholders within the organization. A manager must encourage the employees to give suggestions and ideas for improvements. However, employees are afraid to present their ideas to the management; hence the manager must create an employee suggestion program. Through this program, the employees will freely give their opinions, thus enabling the implementation of the continuous improvement initiative.
PART B
Victorian Department Store is faced with numerous challenges that must be improved for success and sustainability to be achieved within the organization. The first area that needs immediate improvement is the product line, whereby various strategies must be implemented to attain a sustainable product line. Currently, the company operates classical traditional and luxury brands. The products define the company, and the company has operated with the products for over a hundred years. However, the company must realize the changing customer demands to attain improvement. Currently, the most reliable and available customers within the store environment are the youths. International colleges, universities, a premiership football team, and the college of further education, are avenues occupied by a huge percentage of young people. As a company within this environment, the products must reflect the majority of the customers within this area. The target market in the current system is the middle-class women, who have, to a huge extent, been out-numbered by the growing youth presence in the town. Apart from schools and the football team, the town also hosts parties every weekend, which implies that these are potential customers that the company must move quickly into accommodating. Current products and management cannot effectively address market demands. Finally, the international airport brings customers from diverse environments; hence our products must show diversity. The company must have products reflecting all the diverse cultures within the town.
The management structure must also undergo improvement for the company to witness success. The current departmental structure has undoubtedly contributed to the company’s downfall, with customers not feeling encouraged to purchase in our store. The best structure the store can adopt is the matrix structure whereby the departmental structure remains but is blended with the functional structure. The matrix structure allows employees and staff to be grouped into functional departments, with specializations. These departments will further be subdivided into smaller divisional products and projects. For instance, having identified the youths as the most appropriate customers for the store, a new department covering the youths’ needs will be designed. The new department will further be subdivided to cover college and university students, and a further group that covers youths in football teams, and other youths with higher financial abilities. The implication is that these subdivisions will be based on the product demands for the specific groups. The middle-class women, the current customer target for the organization, will be allocated a department whereby the customer demands of this specific group will be handled. By adopting this management structure, the customers will be free to shop with the company. For instance, the youths who currently feel the company’s pricing is exaggerated will have a chance to bargain with a new team within the organization. This structure will also help improve the sales department, whereby sales assistants will be allocated departments that best suit them. For instance, youths will feel free purchasing from a youthful assistant. Improving management will greatly our target customers’ purchase from us.
The ordering strategy must also be improved to cater for the needs of all the customers. Currently, the company faces a huge problem with its ordering strategy, whereby orders are placed, and individuals refuse to pay for them. To curb this problem, the company must change its strategy to avail of the products that their owners have cleared. Seasonal events present the company with a perfect opportunity to make huge sales; hence the company must utilize it. However, overproduction or underproduction of goods could have led to massive losses for the company. For instance, during some seasons, the company avails few products for the season, while in other seasons, the company avails overproduces. To curb this problem, we must encourage our customers to make accurate orders by requiring them to place deposits on products. Additionally, the company should also estimate a small number of products above the orders placed. This strategy will save the company a huge problem of under and overproduction of goods.
The pricing strategy and service delivery by our sales assistant present a huge challenge to potential customers. Currently, young people fear to be in the stores because of the high prices of products within the stores. Customers want to roam within the store and leave without making any purchase. Notably, pricing is the cause of this behaviour, and we must encourage people to b within our store by adopting better pricing strategies. We must adopt the lowest market pricing, to win the customers who have migrated to Amazon and Alibaba. Similarly, the behaviour and conduct of our sales assistants must be improved through training. Most customers fear to interact with these sales assistants, yet our existence as a company depends on the customers. For this reason, our sales-assistants need to be improved.
Having identified the various problems, we use the Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) model for conducting a continuous involvement strategy. The product section will be implemented in small scale-dimensions whereby the company will introduce a new brand that covers the youths. The line will include more than 1000 pieces of clothes and shoes that reflect the target market. The marketing team will then advertise the presence of these clothes through any suitable marketing strategy. After one month of sales, the change will be tested through the financial outcomes of the sales. The financial assessment will help in determining the percentage of sales made within the first two weeks. The financial data for the two weeks will then be compared to sales in other departments made within those two weeks.
The improvement in the management structure will see the adoption of the matrix structure. In this new structure, the functional and departmental functions will be incorporated to see success in the efficiency and the quality of services offered. The assessment of this improvement will be conducted through customer reviews. For instance, the company will use surveys to collect information on how new management operates effectively randomly. The customers will tell about their experiences buying under subdivision manned by sales assistants relevant to the stores. After buying in the store, the customers will be provided with an anonymous platform to express their opinion concerning the new management structure. The review will be conducted after the fourth week, whereby the management will determine the success of the improvement.
The third area of improvement, ordering strategy, will be implanted during a specific season. For instance, during the Christmas holidays, the store will market the new ordering strategy by requiring customers to pay discounts before making their orders. For instance, with 1000 orders, the company will avail 1500 commodities, whereby the 500 will cover the customers who do not make orders. After the season, an assessment of the improvement will be conducted. In this assessment, both a financial assessment and a review of the sales will be done. The assessment will determine the number of customers who paid for their ordered products. For instance, if 900 customers complete their payment and pick the products, continuous improvement will be a success. The excess number of 500 items will be used to approximate how the company over or under produces.
Finally, the implementation of the pricing and service-delivery strategies will be done in one phase. Both the sales-assistants and other staff will undergo weekly training for three months. In these training sessions, they will be taught how to relate with the customers effectively. The training will also acquaint the employees with their roles in the new management structure. Job descriptions, ethics, and customer relations will be covered in these sessions. After the three months of training and practice in the work stations, a review will be done to determine if the improvement has positive outcomes on the employees and customers. The assessment in this section will be done using surveys, whereby customers will be requested to fill online surveys. Additionally, questionnaires could also be sued to determine the quality of service delivery. The pricing strategy will also be assessed through these surveys and questionnaires.
After collecting data using surveys, questionnaires, and reviews, the data will be used to analyze the improvement (Wilkins, 2017). The variable data like profits, cycle times, pricing, and duration that customers stay within the store will be recorded used for analysis. Histograms will be used to determine means, modes, and medians. Normal distribution tools and standard deviation will also be used in making analysis. For instance, means will determine net profits from the sales, customer satisfaction from surveys, and views on pricing.
During the implementation of the continuous assessment, numerous challenges could be experienced. First, the plan puts too much time and focus on the system being improved. Putting much emphasis on the areas of improvement could keep the other departments at the loop, thus slowing the company (Conway Management, 2020). The solution to this challenge is embracing cultural change for the whole company. Upon the implementation of the improvement, the manager must adopt a new organizational culture to ensure that all people move in the same direction.
Continuous improvement leads to the emergence of new leadership views. With the newly created positions, new leaders could emerge with new ideas, which could be detrimental to an organization (Conway Management, 2020). To solve this problem, the manager must use the current staff in implementing the change. Using the current team, the manager prevents new ideas, cultures, and views from new leaders.