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The study of internal and external consistency of manufacturing choices is a central theme in the literature of manufacturing strategy. However, most empirical studies lack dynamic perspective in facing this problem. This paper explores on an empirical, longitudinal basis the role of strategic priorities and past experience in driving the selection of manufacturing improvement programmes. A completely aligned selection is expected when the choice of the improvement programme is coherent with both the change in manufacturing priorities and the past experience of the programme implementation. Partially aligned and misaligned choices derive from the coherence with only one or none of the two driving factors. Different patterns of selection have been detected that depend both on the programme and on company‐specific factors. Starting from the level of strategic alignment of company’s choices, guidelines are provided in order to manage effectively the process of manufacturing strategy formulation.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate behavioural changes and operational outcomes resulting from a Master’s programme on improvement knowledge and leadership in the Swedish welfare sector. The welfare sector is the collective term for tax-funded services the state, county councils and municipalities are responsible to provide.

A survey combined open-ended and closed questions using a five-point Likert scale. The questions were based on the learning objectives of the Master’s programme. The survey was sent to 139 graduates and achieved a response rate of 41 per cent (57 respondents). Responses were entered into a survey programme to enable the descriptive presentation of data; open-ended responses were analysed using conventional content analysis.

Respondents reported their increased knowledge and changed behaviours had impacted operational outcomes, e.g. processes efficiency, compliance with guidelines and quality. They said the programme was of value to themselves and society but requested more leadership knowledge. All respondents recommended the programme to others.

By operationalizing the Kirkpatrick framework, the paper describes outcomes on levels three and four, and the use of numerous best practice techniques for adult learning. This is valuable knowledge for organisers of improvement knowledge educations.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: to evaluate the importance of the factors reported in the literature as enablers of Continuous Improvement (CI) programmes and to determine the perception of managers of different companies in the Basque Country and Navarre (Spain) regarding the relevance of these factors to their improvement programmes.

In total, 15 elements have been considered to be key issues for the sustainability of CI programmes. Semi‐structured interviews were conducted with 36 companies in order to assess how the companies value the factors and how the factors are applied and measured.

The findings regarding the application and evaluation of such factors have revealed that companies are focused on the agents associated with the achievement of results. Other factors, such as management commitment or the promotion of team working, are highly scored and applied, but few companies evaluate them or take actions to improve their application.

This paper analyzes the application of some factors considered to be enablers or key factors for the sustainability of continuous improvement systems. Furthermore, it examines the mechanisms or indicators which are used by some companies to measure the application of those factors.

Today, to improve productivity in manufacturing, one has a large variety of improvement programmes at one′s disposal. Zero defects, value analysis, just‐in‐time, manufacturing lead time reduction are just a few of a long list of potential action programmes. Their real impact is not always clearly described, and manufacturing managers often have to start implementation on a basis of belief. In this article we use the database of the European Manufacturing Futures Survey to explore some of the medium‐term effects of these improvement programmes on manufacturing performance. The conclusions show that there are no simple cause‐effect relationships between single improvement programmes and manufacturing performance. Tenacity in implementation is required since some programmes have negative effects in the short term, but can have positive effects in the long term.

Total quality management programmes emphasizing continuous improvement have become increasingly popular as companies perceive the importance of quality in maintaining or enhancing their competitive position. Although improvement programmes are extremely valuable, they do not eliminate the need for control. Unfortunately, companies striving for quality improvement may de‐emphasize, or even abandon, the use of process control charts, believing that process control cannot be applied during periods of change. There is a need for a procedure formally linking the methodology of statistical process control – which assumes process stability – to the management of quality improvement programmes – which assumes constant positive change. Provides a procedure to develop and use process goal charts. The procedure uses a straightforward adaptation of the standard process control chart methodology to support and control the planned change of a continuous improvement programme. The procedure is illustrated with a simple example and possible extensions of the procedure are suggested.

The purpose of this paper is to present a co‐authored reflection on the health improvement leadership development programme and the key evaluation messages derived from piloting in an English National Health Service region. It highlights the specific attributes of this approach to health improvement leadership development and clarifies health improvement development issues.

Appreciative inquiry and soft systems methodology are combined in an evaluation approach designed to capture individual as well as organisation learning and how it impacts on leadership in specific contexts.

The evaluation exposes the health improvement leadership needs of a multi‐organisation cohort, offers some explanations for successful achievement of learning needs while also exposing of the challenges and paradoxes faced in this endeavour.

There are limited reported templates of how to develop leadership for health improvement. This paper details a whole systems approach, acknowledging the impact of context on leadership and an approach to evaluating such complex initiatives.

Argues that organizations are in the midst of a competitive revolution and quality improvement is an important factor in the quest to remain competitive. Companies are realizing they need to initiate a quality improvement programme and that training is a critical variable in the success of that programme. Improvement involves change, and training prepares employees for the change by providing the skills needed to work as a team member, communicate effectively, and identify and solve problems. A quality training programme requires certain elements for it to be successful: a change in the company’s culture; support of top management; a strategy to guide the company; communicating to employees the reason for quality improvement and how the change will affect them; providing the proper training and providing it at the proper time; and evaluating the training process.

Details how to formulate improvement programmes within manufacturing, what is current practice within several companies, and how appropriate current practice is. Presents a model of the manufacturing system together with a morphological representation of the system. Uses this model to assess the configuration of the manufacturing systems of ten companies (divided into three groups) and the efforts they put into improving the performance of the system. Compares these efforts, or action programmes, with the order winning criteria and the internal performance criteria in each group. It appears that the order winning criteria and the improvement programmes are often in line. However observations suggest that the action programmes are not the result of a conscious manufacturing strategy formulation and implementation so we can speak of a strategic neglect. Distinguishes some trends in managing manufacturing which result in an incremental improvement of the performance of manufacturing systems: more quality control process awareness; the decentralization of quality control and planning processes while trying integratively to design a consistent manufacturing system; and the creation of work cells throughout the plant.

The purpose of this paper is to explore why some firms succeed while others flounder or fail to implement quality improvement programmes. It synthesises self-efficacy literature to propose a model of self-efficacy’s role in affecting implementation success of quality improvement programmes in organisations.

A review of scholarly articles on the topics of self-efficacy and quality initiatives brings to light self-efficacy’s role in successful quality programme implementation. When considered in the context of organisation barriers, it can lead to organisational success.

It is determined that quality training programmes play an important role in affecting existing efficacies and leading to “quality self-efficacy” in employees. The proposed model and related propositions suggest that right approaches of implementing quality training among certain types of employees and/or organisations can promote teamwork to achieve performance success.

Moving forward, the proposed model should be empirically tested to improve our understanding of quality self-efficacy construct and its role in aiding organisational success. Furthermore, it would offer guidelines for the implementation of quality programmes in the most optimal way.

In applying theories on self-efficacy, motivation, empowerment, and quality training, the authors posit that existing efficacy and quality self-efficacy are crucial for quality implementation efforts to overcome organisational barriers and lead to effective teamwork and performance success.

The authors postulate that deciding factors for organisational success originate from employees themselves as existing efficacies. Even though employees can foster quality self-efficacy through the implementation of quality improvement initiatives, existing self-efficacy, and organisation barriers will be moderating forces on eventual effectiveness of quality self-efficacy, teamwork, and organisational performance.

The model and related propositions, linking self- and collective efficacies to quality training, teamwork, and quality performance, offered in this paper will prove useful for organisational decision-makers in selecting quality programmes for implementation in organisation to achieve performance success.

Quality control circles, a Japanese management technique for improving quality, productivity, and worker morale, have been widely adopted in western industry. The apparent hope is that the circles are a key to competing with the Japanese. In this article QC circles are shown to resemble, and potentially overlap with, six other western work improvement programmes, most of which have had successful histories. Case observations offer limited evidence that plant configuration considerations should be foremost among the factors emphasised in an industrial work improvement programme and that western industry should not expect too much from quality control circles.