TOPIC 1:

1.1 List at least six factors that facilitate continuous improvement and at least
six factors that hinder continuous improvement.
Factors that facilitate continuous improvement:
1. Effective workplace relationships
2. A culture of honesty, trust and disclosure
3. Employees who are satisfied and productive
4. employees who are willing to use their own initiative and accept responsibility
for their own work
5. A workplace where stress is minimized.
6. clarification of quality standards and requirements
Factors that hinder continuous improvement:
1. People are unaware of the lines of authority and responsibility.
2. Too many layers of management result in communication taking too long to
reach the intended recipient, or, as in the Chinese whisper scenario, content
and/or meaning pass through so many layers that vital components are
missing or changed.
3. Worker roles and tasks have not been clearly outlined.
4. Instructions are unclear or contradictory.
5. Managers tend to believe that employees are work drones who do not
require information.
6. Insecure and/or incompetent middle managers are afraid to share
responsibility and authority, therefore, try to hold power by controlling
information.
1.2 Continuous improvement is the process of identifying and solving
problems. A problem can be said to exist whenever there is a difference
between an actual situation and a desired situation. List at least five problems
and at least five opportunities that an organization might face.
A problem might be:
1. A complex situation that requires action.
2. Something that has gone wrong or is the cause of something going wrong.
3. A difficult choice.
4. Future trouble.
5. Something you wish to do but cannot do because of a barrier, obstacle or
blockage of some kind.
An opportunity to:
1. Learn new skills.
2. Find new ways of doing things.
3. Expand the organization.
4. Improve processes and procedures.
5. Improve employee/customer and/or stakeholder relationships.
1.3.A List at least six steps in effective problem-solving and decision-making
processes
1. Communicating changes
2. Internal communication
3. Training
4. External communication
5. Reports
6. Overcoming resistance
1.3.B When new procedures are put in place to facilitate continuous
improvement, employees need be informed. List at least six methods that
could be used to communicate procedures to internal staff.
1. memos
2. reports
3. email/intranet communications
 4. web-based message boards
5. video-conferencing
6. chat rooms
1.3.C When new procedures are put in place to facilitate continuous
improvement eternal stakeholders need be informed. List at least six external
stakeholders that might need to be informed.
1. Business or Government contacts
2. Funding bodies/organizations
3. Organization's clients and customers
4. Professional Associations
5. Unions/employee groups
6. Auditors

1.4.A Why should organizations actively encourage employees to participate in

decision-making processes, assume responsibility and exercise initiative?
That is what I would say Workers are encouraged to take ownership of
increasing the quality of products and services by participating in a competitive
program of continual self-assessment and research, comparison against rivals, clear
change management, and significant progress reports. They should indeed be
provided an opportunity to improve their abilities. They must also be vested with the
power they require to accomplish their jobs correctly, inside an organizational
institution that offers one another both the help and opportunities they require.
Employees will be more efficient while support systems match their requirements and
everyone recognizes that they have consistency and transparency. Under
performance companies are usually ones whereby management and staff feel
frustrated because they lack sufficient power to accomplish respective duties, have
trouble locating someone else that can assist them, and are unable to build
unstructured mechanisms of dealing with these issues.

1.4.B How can group decision making assist with involving employees in
continuous improvement?
Group decision-making, where appropriate, will act to encourage employees
to self-monitor and self-improve. This is precisely many feel that if individuals are
shown in decision-making processes, their opinions are recognized and useful.
Individuals will thereafter keep contributing to the company's development. Workers
may cease suggesting adjustments and acquire monthly salary thoughts if their
recommendations just aren't solicited, rejected, or disrespected. Group decision-
making allows teams to leverage most of their real concern abilities. Groups, project
teams, and varied individuals in the office may offer creativity and quality
improvement to the workplace since they have a diverse range of concepts,
inspiration, cognitive style, creative abilities, as well as perspectives to pull into.
When it comes to identifying challenges that may arise, conflict, and reasoning,
workplaces that foster plurality may depend on a broad range of individual views and
qualities. Everyone on the team must be provided adequate opportunity to voice their
perspectives and seek explanations for concerns. Workers must have the
professional competence to conduct confidence, responsible investment in a working
wherein they think confident in knowing that their ideas and judgments will be
appreciated, and how the knowledge upon which progress can be taken is commonly
accessible.

1.5.A What impact does the knowledge management policies and procedures
of an organization have on its overall effectiveness?
We are all aware that knowledge is power, and that in today's world, innovation
is necessary. We demand technological and organizational skills that are demanded
by various businesses and large organizations. Of course, attracting highly
competent staff necessitates some expenditure. If a contemporary company wants to
maintain a creative working environment, this comprehensive approach must be
implemented. Fortunately, the necessary technology is now widely available, more
inexpensive than ever before, and simple to use. Knowledge management is crucial
for a variety of reasons. All of this leads to faster and more effective decision making,
as well as easier teamwork. More significantly, it promotes growth and innovation.

1.5.B Databases are commonly used form of knowledge storage. The

databases allow different levels of security and views, so that specific
information which is needed by appropriate people can be accessed and
viewed, but does not allow access to all people within the organization. List at
least six produces for accessing information in a database knowledge storage
system.

Six produces for accessing information in a database knowledge storage system:

1. The content of databases is growing richer as information technology's
capabilities develop. Traditional databases have been primarily focused on
numerical data or short text fragments arranged into well-structured entries.
2. The primary resource of every company is data. Data recorded in computer
systems has a hierarchical structure that extends from a single bit to a database,
which is the principal record-keeping entity of a business.
3. There are three basic methods for organizing files, only two of which provide for
the instant access required by online systems.
4. The database not only records the values of distinct entities' properties, but also
the relationships between these entities.
5. The DBMS user interface serves as the foundation for the date modeling phases,
which identify the connections between data pieces. These data models
establish the logical links between the data pieces required to support a
fundamental business operation.
6. The links between the numerous individual records in databases are based on
one of several logical data structures or models.

1.6 Describe the following systems and facilitate continuous improvement:

1. System management the administration of information technology (IT) systems in

a business network or data center is known as systems management. In a hybrid IT
infrastructure, this entails monitoring the data center's design and day-to-day
operations. It also involves monitoring of third-party cloud service integration.
2. Building and managing teams to improve productivity- workload is distributed
among team members with varying skill levels and experience. Members pool their
abilities to do more in less time than a single individual could.
3. Change management- another factor influencing productivity is management. It is
more efficient to arrange work and establish a list of priorities for the entire team. It is
also more beneficial to use team management software to track the tasks each
person is working on. This does not preclude employees from communicating with
one another.
4. Understanding organizational processes: sipoc- you will acquire a better grasp of
how each item will affect the process benefits by mapping a process on a SIPOC
diagram (outputs). SIPOC diagrams can be useful for measuring and controlling
variances by assisting in the identification of the fundamental causes of process
variation.
5. Fact based decision making- factual decision making provides several advantages
in the quality management process, including the capacity to make judgments based
on conditions needing action. Improved capacity to demonstrate the effectiveness of
prior judgments by referring to factual records.
6. Process mapping is a management tool for visualizing the flow of work in a
company process. A process map depicts the processes and individuals involved in a
business process. Understanding the various roles and responsibilities of process
diagrams, process mapping, and process modeling is critical.

1.7 What Improvement information might be passed on to employees about

continuous improvement outcomes? Why is this necessary and how will this
contribute toward further improvements?
Improvement information that might be passed on to employees could include:
 Organizational development and growth
 Cost cuts
 Quality checking processes
 Sales figures
 Technological changes/impromptus
 Process improvement
 Excellence in customer service
 Customer satisfaction results
 Employee satisfaction
 Cultural change
 Group/team performance evaluations
It's indeed necessary for one of them to choose when they will continue improving
or search for alternative techniques to develop. Impact in people or members of the
team about the status of implementation activities and the results of process
improvements fosters overall awareness about the implementation procedure. It
enables people to comprehend advances in spite of the highest view, rather than just
the limited perspective or the current view. It is therefore feasible to prevent causing
difficulties somewhere in the approach. Fewer trials, that could be quickly altered
when conditions for growth are offered, are replacing huge planning ahead and
detailed work activities. It'll still contribute to job satisfaction by eliminating laborious
testing as well as errors repair. It will also lead to increased efficiency and prospects
for employment advancement.