Modelling continuous improvement maturity in the public sector: key stages and indicators

Abstract

This article explores the challenges in ensuring that a continuous improvement (CI) culture is diffused throughout an organisation. It presents a model of CI maturity that has been developed following a review of literature and earlier empirical work undertaken across the UK public sector. The model is based on a set of eight organisational behaviours that can be used to gauge and guide organisational progress along three key stages of CI maturity: going through the motions, transforming and embedding. Case study evidence is presented to show the applicability of the three-stage model in assessing the evolution of CI maturity. The research re-affirms that CI is not something that organisations have or do not have, but is part of a cultural transformation journey that may be impeded along the way, with different parts of organisations experiencing different blockages. This model can also be used by organisations as a form of self-assessment and to help educate staff about CI behaviours.

Keywords:

• continuous improvement
• public sector
• performance management
• quality management