Continuous Improvement and Staff Management

This assignment delves into the crucial aspects of continuous improvement within organizations. It examines effective planning and communication strategies for implementing changes, emphasizing the importance of keeping staff informed and engaged throughout the process. The document also explores methods for documenting work performance, highlighting performance management plans and key performance indicators (KPIs). Finally, it stresses the significance of maintaining secure and accessible records while ensuring compliance with privacy and security regulations.

Running head: IMPLEMENT CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMET
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author’s Note:

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Executive Summary
In this report, the eight questions related to continuous improvement of organizational processes
of task two are answered. The report provides a personal insight to each question and suggests
ways by which continuous improvement can be monitored and implemented in an organization.

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Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................2
Discussion........................................................................................................................................2
Answer to Question 1...................................................................................................................2
Answer to question 2....................................................................................................................2
Answer to Question 3...................................................................................................................3
Answer to Question 4...................................................................................................................4
Answer to Question 5...................................................................................................................4
Answer to Question 6...................................................................................................................5
Answer to Question 7...................................................................................................................5
Answer to Question 8...................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................6
Reference Lists................................................................................................................................7

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Introduction
Continuous improvement of process, policy and procedures are vital for an organization and
should be implemented so that organization can sustain and grow in this competitive world.
Changes should be communicated and managed properly as a part of continuous improvement.
Discussion
The discussion will provide an insight to the eight questions.
Answer to Question 1
It is of paramount importance to involve all departments within an organization for
continuous improvement. In modern days, organizations do not follow a strict formal structure
with greater hierarchical levels and stronger span of control. Rather a more hybrid structure is
incorporated by organizations where people from various departments are involved in a
particular project and helps in continuous improvement. Collaboration among various
departments for continuous improvement ensures utilization of cross-talent. Specific talent and
skills of the employees can be utilized and organization can improve continuously if all the
departments function as one unit. Greater collaboration among department ensures proper flow
of communication in the organization. All the departments can function as a single unit using
centralized software system. Silo effect should be reduced in an organization to increase
performance and efficiency and ensure open communication. Silo effect can be reduced
substantially if various departments collaborate. It is easier to manage the business process or

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implement a new strategy and improve continuously when the internal values of each department
are in proper alignment with the mission and vision of the organization. Departments should
interact to work on the overall strategic goals of the organization and to improve continuously.
The possible issue of the failure is the silo effect, departments are often deeply involved
in meeting individual team targets and they fail to communicate with other departments which
can be a hurdle to achieve collaboration among departments (Matos Marques Simoes and
Esposito 2014).
Answer to question 2
Three ways to obtain feedback from a staff are as follows:
a) Brainstorming sessions b) Suggestion boxes 3) Surveys and questionnaires.
It is of prime importance for organization to empower its employees in order to sustain
the process of continuous improvement. To do so companies must follow and inverted pyramid
structure. This will ensure that all the staff members feel self sufficient and self-reliant. The top-
level management should take a supportive roles and it should be ensured that the front-line
staffs feel empowered and motivated. Companies can do so by communicating the continuous
improvement process to the staff members so that loyalty and productivity of staffs are not
decreased. The resistance to change should be communicated among staff members and their
feedback is necessary to avoid resentment of staffs (Doyle, Francis and Tannenbaum 2013).
Brainstorming sessions will allow free flow of ideas among staff members and the
contribution of each staff member will ensure reliable and fair assessment of the feedback.

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Suggestion boxes will ensure feedback of the recommendations of the staff member
about a change management process or continuous improvement process is acknowledged.
Surveys and questionnaires will let staff members to freely state their point of view about
a particular change management or continuous improvement process.
Answer to Question 3
Beneficial effects of workplace coaches and mentors
It is of paramount importance to have workplace coaches and mentors who will guide
new members to learn and grow and be proficient in their job roles. Mentors and coaches assist
employees in their on-the-job training and helps in personally communicating the change
management process to the staff members which will aid in the continuous change management
process (MacLennan 2017).
 Trustworthy- The mentors and coaches should be able to gain trust of staffs so
that staffs can freely communicate with them and confide to them the problems
that they are facing in the organization. Staffs are often intimidated to
communicate with the senior management and the one-to-one sessions with
trustworthy mentors will enable the staffs to present their problems and ideas in
front of them.
 Familiar with principles- The mentors should be familiar with principles of the
change management process and should to ensure continuous improvement.
Familiarity with principles will ensure that the gap between knowledge and

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practice is bridged and mentors or coaches who are familiar with principles can
enlighten staff with their vast knowledge about organizational strategic vision and
goals.
 Experienced within their own role- The mentors and coaches should be
experienced within their own roles because sometimes they have to train the
employees to be proficient in certain technical skills. Experience within their own
role will enable mentors or coaches to assist newer staffs with their job roles.

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Answer to Question 4
Use of organization’s systems and technology to ensure that all staffs have received the
require training.
Every staff of an organization should be trained so that they can understand their job
roles and responsibilities and can perform efficiently to contribute to the continuous
improvement and overall objectives of the organization.
The need for training of every staff can be identified and they can be trained adequately
by using existing organization’s systems and technology to closely monitor the performance of
staffs. It should be ensured that the technology used to train staffs is upgraded continuously so
that the motivation levels of staffs do not decrease due to monotonous technology and systems of
training of organization. The use of employee developmental tools like 360 degree feedback
mechanism is an important part of training every employee so that each staff receive individual
feedback from peers, self, customers and managers. These feedbacks are often anonymous and
are an important part of training tools. Post training feedback of every staff should be enlisted in
the system and technology of the organization so that it can be ensured later that every staff has
received adequate training. The tools of training should be designed effectively to bridge gaps in
training of staffs which will ensure loyalty of staffs toward the organization (Jehanzeb and
Bashir 2013).

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Answer to Question 5
Company can ensure that they are providing best possible customer service in the
following ways-
Customers of a company can be both internal and external. Internal customers are the
employees of an organization and often companies train the employees or internal members to
serve the external members of customers or consumers but they overlook the concerns of their
own employees. Happy employees can only lead to a happy customer. So it is of prime
importance to provide best possible service to employees by proving them Continued
Professional Development training which will upgrade the knowledge and skills of employees.
Also different measures should be taken so that employees feel safe and valued within the
organization. Such measures include work-life balance, competitive salary, bonus and incentives
(Lam and Mayer 2014).
The external customers of a company are the consumers or customers or government or
vendors. Company can ensure best possible service to these customers by adopting Information
Technology Systems like Customer Relationship Management Software, Enterprise Resource
Planning Software and Supply Chain Management software. Company should take feedbacks
from external customers about the quality of service and implement effective management tools
to bridge the service gaps. Internal customers or staffs should be trained adequately and follow a
proper code of conduct to provide best service to external customers (Lam, O'Donnell and
Robertson 2015). The external customers play a significant role in revenue generation and in
achieving the targeted market share of the company and they should be served well. External

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customers have high bargaining power in this competitive world and the service provided to
them should be of prime quality.
Answer to Question 6
The negative effects of communicating recommendations to a particular department or
individual:
a) Recommendations are often taken personally. However recommendations are feedback
mechanisms and are given to an individual and department to highlight the areas that need
improvement and should not be taken as personal attack.
b) Every individual is different and the way they perceive the world is different. So a well
planned communication strategy for recommendation should be adopted so to manage any
misinterpretation of recommendations.
c) Sometimes more personal recommendations on an individual should not be given in blogs or
group meetings but can be given in a one-to-one interaction (Lazaroiu 2015).
d) Recommendations should not highlight the flaws but should only focus on the processes or
policies that require improvement. Negative impact of recommendations could be that they are
often perceived as complaints and the morale of individuals are lowered and they feel unhappy
about the recommendations.
f) Recommendations should be given in group meetings if they concern departments to discuss
the areas where the department would require improvement. It should be ensured that right
words, tone of speech and proper use of information is achieved while giving recommendations
so that department never perceive them as complaints.

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Answer to Question 7
Change should be handled in a good way or else it could damage the business. The
internal and external customers of any organization offer resistance to change and changes can
often be perceived as something unwanted(Hamraz, Caldwell and Clarkson 2013).People are
intimidated of changes and that is why each member of the organization should be informed
clearly about the changes in policies, procedures and business functions. The changes can be
communicated individually or in groups using company mails, blogs and newsletters. Mentors
can communicate changes to the staffs and feedback from the members about the changes should
be obtained so that staffs of a company do not feel unhappy about changes. Changes often lead to
decrease in productivity and turnover of employees due to lack of feeling of loyalty if they are
not communicated effectively (Hayes 2014).Staffs should feel safe and protected and feedbacks
about changes can be taken from them using surveys, brainstorming sessions or suggestion
boxes. It should be taken care that staffs are not left alone and small changes are brought at a
time so that staffs can adjust to changes. They should be made aware of company objectives.
Answer to Question 8
A method of documenting work performance among staff is the Performance
Management Plan which communicates the job role and expected performance to the staffs
clearly. The performance of the staffs is monitored and feedback is given by supervisors or
managers. Key Performance indicators are used to give feedbacks. Staffs should rate themselves
and then supervisors can give them necessary advice. Performance Management Plan can be
implemented using software tools so that any gap where performance requires improvement can
be identified and staffs can be trained accordingly.

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It is important to keep a record of who has accessed the file and when so that the records
are safe and secure. Records should be retrieved by someone who needs it , access to records
should be restricted to ensure legal requirement with privacy and security is met .
This can be implemented by ensuring that all records are systematically handled with
restricted access is provided to the records. Records should be kept in computer systems rather
than pen and paper for effective management (Majore, Yoo and Shon 2013).
Conclusion
For continuous improvement, organizations should plan changes effectively and
communicate it to staffs. Continuous improvement processes should be identified and managed
effectively using a proper action plan so that there is no scope of mismanagement.

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Reference Lists
Doyle, J.C., Francis, B.A. and Tannenbaum, A.R., 2013. Feedback control theory. Courier
Corporation.
Hamraz, B., Caldwell, N.H. and Clarkson, P.J., 2013. A holistic categorization framework for
literature on engineering change management. Systems Engineering, 16(4), pp.473-505.
Hayes, J., 2014. The theory and practice of change management. Palgrave Macmillan.
Jehanzeb, K. and Bashir, N.A., 2013. Training and development program and its benefits to
employee and organization: A conceptual study. European Journal of business and
management, 5(2).
Lam, C.F. and Mayer, D.M., 2014. When do employees speak up for their customers? A model
of voice in a customer service context. Personnel Psychology, 67(3), pp.637-666.
Lam, M., O'Donnell, M. and Robertson, D., 2015. Achieving employee commitment for
continuous improvement initiatives. International Journal of Operations & Production
Management, 35(2), pp.201-215.
Lazaroiu, G., 2015. Employee Motivation and Job Performance. Linguistic and Philosophical
Investigations, 14, p.97.
MacLennan, N., 2017. Coaching and mentoring. Taylor & Francis.

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Majore, S.A., Yoo, H. and Shon, T., 2013. Next generation electronic record management
system based on digital forensics. International Journal of Security and Its Applications, 7(1),
pp.189-194.
Matos Marques Simoes, P. and Esposito, M., 2014. Improving change management: How
communication nature influences resistance to change. Journal of Management
Development, 33(4), pp.324-341.