Bridging the TQ/CI Gap: The Case of Lucas Car Diesel Systems, Sudbury

Abstract

This paper will focus on the link between organisational and individual learning in the Continuous Improvement (CI) process. It argues that the relationship between Total Quality management programmes and CI is best understood through a close examination of the management processes that capture individual and, hence, Organisation learning in order to ensure that small scale innovations can be sustained on a constant and company‐wide basis. Through a longitudinal case study of Lucas Car Diesel Systems, and supported by research carried out by the CIRCA project at the University of Brighton1, it looks at CI in three stages: before a decision is made to change the organisational structure, the “shock” stage that induces organisational change and the subsequent CI phase. It argues that a long term strategic goal of achieving CI is critical to engendering the necessary cultural changes that, in turn, are essential to creating an improvement based and innovative culture. The Lucas case study demonstrates that creating a pervasive CI ethos is fundamentally a question of managing small scale, sometimes non‐pecuniary, innovations. But, as the case shows, it can be done through the effective management of communications and employee involvement.