Developing organisational learning through QC story

Abstract

Continuous improvement or more generally improvement is a necessity for companies in a dynamic context. The effectiveness and efficiency of such improvement can foster company sustainability, particularly if it exhibits characteristics of a learning organisation. This paper shows a methodology to develop organisational learning through the use of one quality improvement methodology known as Quality Control (QC) Story. The work is based on a case study from a manufacturer of electronic products. It describes QC Story application over 10 years and its effects on key performance indicators. Organisational learning is assessed through a questionnaire survey. A method to manage knowledge based on a lessons-learned procedure is described and a generalisation is induced. Results suggest that repetitive use of QC story along with the presented procedure of lessons-learned contributes to improving processes performance over long periods. It is also concluded that this company using the presented procedure exhibit characteristics of a learning organisation.

Keywords:

• electronic products
• knowledge management
• manufacturing
• organisational learning
• performance management
• quality control story
• quality improvement

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work has been supported by FCT – Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, through COMPETE: POCI-01-0145-FEDER-007043, within the Project Scope: UID/CEC/00319/2013.