The Influence of Continuous Improvement Practices on Learning: An Empirical Study

Abstract

Note: Review of this paper was conducted by Dr. James R. Evans, editor emeritus of the Quality Management Journal.

This paper examines whether continuous improvement practices (CIPs) directly affect organizational improvement, or whether their impact on improvement is mediated by learning, which then leads to improved performance. A survey instrument was developed using both prior scales and new items. The collected responses were then analyzed using structural equation modeling techniques, which suggested that the maturity of a firm's use of CIPs fully mediated the effects of CIPs and learning on organizational improvement. These findings provide evidence that it is essential for a firm to create an organizational structure to support continuous improvement and to help make continuous improvement the way the firm does its work.

• knowledge creation
• learning
• maturity
• quality management

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jamison V. Kovach

Jamison V. Kovach is an associate professor at the University of Houston. She received her doctorate in industrial engineering from Clemson University. Her industrial experience includes several years as a product and process engineer in the U.S. textile industry. Kovach is certified in Six Sigma Black Belt training and directs the Lean Six Sigma program for the College of Technology. She received the 2010 ASQ Feigenbaum Medal and was inducted into the International Academy for Quality in 2011. Also in 2011, Kovach was named as one of the “40 New Voices of Quality” by ASQ's premier monthly publication, Quality Progress. Her research in quality engineering and process improvement has been published in a wide variety of peer-reviewed journals and books including Quality and Reliability Engineering International, Engineering Management Journal, and Quality Engineering, and she regularly presents her research at ASQ, DSI, IIE, and POMS annual conferences, including more than 65 presentations over the past nine years.

Lawrence D. Fredendall

Lawrence Fredendall is a professor of management at Clemson University. He obtained an MBA with a concentration in supply chain management from Michigan State University in 1986, and a doctorate with a focus on operations management from Michigan State University in 1991. Since coming to Clemson University in 1990, he has taught and conducted research in lean management and continuous improvement. For the past five years he has been actively investigating the effectiveness of engineering and management tools in healthcare. In particular he has investigated barriers in the work design to the implementation of lean practices in perioperative service departments of hospitals. He has published more than 50 articles in leading research journals and has published a book on supply chain management, as well as authoring several chapters in text books for Irwin-McGraw Hill on lean operations and quality management.