Continuous Improvement
Many organizations focus on continuous improvement processes to aid efficiency improvement, reduce waste,
and/or maximize profits. In your posting, discuss three of the continuous improvement foci areas you have
experienced in your job or organization and discuss the effectiveness (or benefits) of such initiatives. Decide what
change management issues are present that limit the organization’s efforts in continuous improvement. What are the
forces driving the initiative? What practices could be improved? What should be abandoned? Respond to at least
two of your fellow classmates’ postings.
One of the continuous improvement focus areas that I have experienced with in organization was the lesson learn
factors. Learning from your mistakes in my opinion one of the best tools and skill set to have. The way I like to
learn form a lesion is to learned from a bad experience or mistakes that I have done. I like to review all collected
data as well so see if there is any pattern or measurable discrepancies. Therefore after the behavior issues are
corrected and I have learned from the adverse experience then I am lead to a process improving not only myself but
the team. The textbook explains that one of the “organization must create lessons learned files from the debriefing
sessions at the end of each project. Case studies on each project, disusing mistakes made and knowledge learned, are
articles so that mistakes are not repeated.” (Kerzner, H. 2005)
Furthermore, improving the productivity and efficiency of a process on a continuous improvement thinking only
helps an organization. I truly believe that knowledge gained through the experience of those who have gone before
them only helps the team to continuously improve. What I try to bring to organizations is the thinking that if the
organization is a “learning organizations” then the continuous improvement process is ongoing. My second
continuous improvement focus areas is the process of m work and the team work making the organization stand out
by being the best in its class. When a Project Manager works with the thought that standards, and objectives will be
the best at all times and the only thing that is excepted is excellence this is what is called benchmarking you and
your organization. In my opinion a company should always strive to lead by example and be competitive to meet the
needs of their customers. The textbook states that benchmarking “contains the recognition that process improvement
is necessary to maintain a competitive advantage. Benchmarking must be performed on a continuous basis.”
(Kerzner, H. 2005).
Third, managerial issues have always been a issue for me. Therefore, In my opinion communication is one of the
most important for a organization to have. Effective communication, In my organization information flows like fluid
between team members. Since we are a communication system our focus is to make the flow of information by
properly communicating go from one person to person or persons in order to be transparent with the learning
process of knowledge. The best way I could relate tour my organization information communication flow is
Shannon-Weaver Model the 8 key elements of communication flow theory that are required for communication, or
information transmission, to occur. These elements are “Source, Encoder, Message, Channel, Decoder, Receiver,
Noise, and Feedback”. In my opinion the only thing that we have a issues with is when it comes to the
communication flow is “Noise”. However, I do not believe that the teams my hold back in order not to give away an
advantage. Let me explain when dealing with many forms of communication there is potential barriers that teams
have to deal with and the biggest issue we have is noise that may affect the communication process.“Noise: The
messages are transferred from encoder to decoder through channel. During this process the messages may distracted
or affected by physical noise like horn sounds, thunder and crowd noise or encoded signals may distract in the
channel during the transmission process which affect the communication flow or the receiver may not receive the
correct message.” (Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W., 1949) Management and Project managers have problems with
this. However, if the culture is re formalized then the climate may change from noise to proper communication.
(Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. 1949).
Kerzner, H. (2005). Using the Project Management Maturity Model: Strategic planning for project management
(2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.
Shannon, C.E., & Weaver, W. (1949). The mathematical theory of communication. Urbana: University of Illinois
Press.