Influence of team members' characteristics on the sustainability of continuous improvement initiatives

This article aims at examining the influence of teams' characteristics on the sustainability of Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives. To achieve that, two identical manufacturing cells undergoing CI implementation and subordinated to the same leadership were investigated through a combinatio...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Total quality management & business excellence 2021-05, Vol.32 (7-8), p.852-868
Main Authors: Tortorella, Guilherme Luz, Fogliatto, Flavio Sanson, Mac Cawley Vergara, Alejandro, Luis Gonçalves Quelhas, Osvaldo, Sawhney, Rapinder
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
continuous improvement
interpersonal aspects
lean production
people engagement
Sustainability
teams characteristics
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:This article aims at examining the influence of teams' characteristics on the sustainability of Continuous Improvement (CI) initiatives. To achieve that, two identical manufacturing cells undergoing CI implementation and subordinated to the same leadership were investigated through a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. While one team has shown a sustained and increased performance, the other could not maintain improvements and worsened its performance. As the only factor distinguishing cells is team composition, we verify which team characteristics impact on CI sustainability. Results indicate that workers' seniority in company and in team, as well as their age positively influence team behaviour regarding the sustainability of CI initiatives. Long-term sustainability of CI initiatives has been a major concern in most companies. Although previous studies have approached the subject from different and complementary perspectives, the understanding of how specific characteristics of team members may influence the sustainability of CI is still vague and imprecise.
ISSN:1478-3363
1478-3371
DOI:10.1080/14783363.2019.1641077