Consultant
Q&A
Vincent Ventresca Responds:
Your question poses an interesting challenge that many
organizations face, and has variables that you will need
to explore further to arrive at the best conclusion. Some
questions:
1. Does your organization have a Human Resource-based
performance recognition system?
2. Does your organization have an infrastructure that
will support a database to facilitate the collection of
improvement opportunities?
3. Is your organization currently of the mindset that
improvement ideas are a way of doing business and that
recognition for them is a standard behavioral norm?
4. Does your company currently recognize employee-based
improvement via financial, job-based or corporate
communications rewards?
Some of the following recommendations may be
beneficial for you.
Explore some of the existing recognition programs
in the marketplace. You’ll find that several
companies offer software, infrastructure and processes to
support rewards that are built around the variables you
wish to measure. Some organizations utilize them from a
human resource standpoint, others use them from a
productivity standpoint, and many use them to recognize
improvements that are made within a process.
It may also behoove you to read up on the Japanese
principle known as Kaizen. Kaizen means small incremental
improvements. Many U.S. and international companies adopt
this method. Its premise is that small incremental
improvements made by each employee will inevitably add up
to a greater organizational sum.
Regarding the build-out of a system, we have seen
some organizations simply implement a database which is
managed and observed by a Continuous Improvement
Committee. That committee prioritizes it, and then
presents it to a Steering Committee that allows
management and executives to evaluate the potential
improvement opportunities and set projects in
place.
In my opinion, this approach to continuous
improvement is the most efficient because your
organization will have bought into a homegrown solution
to improving the business. Attaching a rewards and
recognition system to this type of program can be done
simply by a column in the corporate newsletter or sending
an e-mail to acknowledge receipt of an individual’s
suggestion and whether or not it was accepted and
implemented. Once a program has been implemented for a
period of time, you will see morale shift, and
individuals take a more entrepreneurial approach to
participation. It is also beneficial to have more
detailed quarterly follow-ups on the portfolio of
improvement projects to expose your organization to the
outcome.
In terms of possible companies to benchmark,
organizations such as General Electric who practice
advanced quality methods including Six Sigma would
probably not be opposed to hearing from you. Other
organizations include Ford Motor Company, Motorola and
Federal Express.
In closing, the best continuous improvement
programs are internally built, open, allow for creativity
and most importantly, have the organization responding to
the participants. Your next step might be evaluating what
the cultural norms are within the organization, and
ensuring that they represent, or will accept, the mindset
of excellence.
VINCENT VENTRESCA, PMP is a project
consultant at Advanced Management Services, Inc. His firm
consults and trains in continuous improvement, project
management and management development. He focuses on
integrating quality principles into project and
organizational development practices and the synergy of
people, process and technology. He can be reached at
vventresca@amsconsulting.com.
H. James
Harrington Responds
Question for
Consultants
September 2000 NFC
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