CONTINUOUS

IMPROVEMENT;
VALUES,
ASSUMPTIONS
AND BELIEFS FOR
SUCCESSFUL
IMPLEMENTATION

CONTINUOUS
IMPROVEMENT;
VALUES,
ASSUMPTIONS
AND BELIEFS FOR
SUCCESSFUL
IMPLEMENTATION
Its All About the Culture

ROBERT E. HAMM JR., BETH Y. KOHSIN,

AND KATIE McSHEFFREY GUNTHER

MOMENTUM PRESS, LLC, NEW YORK

Continuous Improvement; Values, Assumptions and Beliefs for Successful

Implementation: Its All About the Culture
Copyright Momentum Press, LLC, 2017.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
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First published by Momentum Press, LLC
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ISBN-13: 978-1-94561-264-0 (print)
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Abstract
In an increasingly turbulent and competitive world, organizations are
constantly working to improve. Many organizations look to one of many
continuous process improvement methodologies available today. L
eaders
who have been able to reap the benefits of continuous improvement behave
in very specific ways. Their behaviors are centered on imbedding specific
values, assumptions and beliefs that support continuous improvement into
the way their organization executes the processes necessary to produce
goods and services.
To improve, leaders must first understand what culture is and how
it impacts everything the organization does. We describe the key values,
assumptions, beliefs and leadership behaviors we have found to be effective in organizations working to constantly improve the way work is done.

KEYWORDS
change leadership, continuous improvement, organizational, organizational
culture, organizational social subsystems, values

Contents
List of Figures

ix

List of Tables

xi

Preface

xiii

Acknowledgments

xv

1 Nothing Lasts Forever

1.1 A Series of Steps
1.2 The Life Cycle of a Process
1.3 Improve or Disappear
1.4 Why Is Change So Hard?
1.5 Its All About the Culture
1.6 Key Points

1
4
5
7
8
10
12

2 Assumptions, Beliefs, and Values

2.1 Assumptions: Stated and Unstated
2.2The Leadership Challenges of Culture
2.3 The Leaders Role in Culture Setting
2.4 Key Points

13
13
15
21
24

3 Driving the Cadillac

3.1Driving a Successful CultureLeader Attributes
and Behaviors
3.2 Attributes of a Continuous Improvement Leader
3.3 The Leader as Coach
3.4 Key Points

25
26
28
34
37

4Organizational Subsystems: Observing Culture

in Action
4.1 Production Subsystem
4.2 Supportive Subsystem

39
42
46

viii Contents

4.3
4.4
4.5
4.6

Maintenance Subsystem
Adaptive Subsystem
Leadership Subsystem
Key Points

52
55
58
65

5 Final Thoughts

67

References

69

Index

71

List of Figures
Figure 1.1. A continuous improvement model.

Figure 2.1. Cameron & Quinns competing values framework.

16

Figure 3.1.The car: Leaders driving with passion, humility,

care, and presence.

28

Figure 3.2. Leaders behaviors and associated attributes.

33

Figure 4.1. The social subsystems of organizations.

42

Figure 4.2. The production subsystem of organizations.

45

Figure 4.3. The supportive subsystem.

52

Figure 4.4. The maintenance subsystem.

54

Figure 4.5. The adaptive subsystem.

58

Figure 4.6. The leadership subsystem.

64

List of Tables
Table 2.1. Jaymahas Competing Values

18

Table 3.1.Relationship of attributes to people values of continuous

improvement36

Preface
The work of organizations is accomplished by people executing processes
designed to provide goods and services of value to consumers. Processes
that worked well when initially designed and put into use will, over time,
no longer serve the organization well; never-ending changes in the internal
and external environment will see to that! Waste, constraints, and variation
that were once acceptable will render the process inefficient and ineffective,
and if something isnt done about it, all manner of things can happen
mostly bad things. Organizations, public and private, for profit or not for
profit, that cant produce goods and services of value with a minimum of
resources wont last long in todays turbulent and ever-changing world.
Many organizations turn to continuous improvement to reduce or
eliminate the waste, variation, and constraints present in all processes
to remain effective, efficient, and competitive. In organizations where
leaders understand organizational culture and its impact on how organizations accomplish work, continuous improvement efforts result in new
processes designed to produce value at the lowest possible cost. In organizations where leaders do not understand the power of organizational culture, efforts to eliminate waste, variation, and constraints through process
improvement can lead to disappointment and frustration. Weve seen it
time and time again.
In the chapters that follow, we will explore organizational culture and
its incredible power in making continuous process improvement a reality
in organizations. We offer that unless specific norms, values, and assumptions are embedded in an organizations culture, the organizations will
most likely never realize the full benefits of continuous improvement. Culture is powerful stuff! We describe the leadership behaviors we believe to
be essential to driving continuous process improvement into the heart and
collective mindset of an organization, ultimately creating an ever-present
culture that includes continuous process improvement. Finally, using a
social subsystems approach, we provide the reader with a description of

xiv Preface

behaviors that weve found indicate the values, assumptions, and beliefs
necessary for continuous improvement to thrive are embedded in the organizations culture.
The opinions of the authors presented in this book have been formed
over years of working with leaders striving to become as efficient and
effective as possible while everything around them is changing faster
than at any time in recorded history. The book is for leaders struggling
to provide value in turbulent times; leaders that understand continuous
improvement is not a choice, it is a necessity. This book is for leaders of
organizations that work tirelessly to create a better place for their employees to work. This book is for you!

Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Dr. F. Frank Chen, Lutcher Brown Distinguished
Chair in Advanced Manufacturing, Mechanical Engineering Department,
and the Director, Center for Advanced Manufacturing & Lean Systems at
the University of Texas at San Antonio, for providing us with the opportunity to add to the body of knowledge related to continuous improvement
in organizations and for his review of our work.
We would also like to thank our families for their patience, understanding, and sacrifice while we completed this work. Thank you.

CHAPTER 1

Nothing Lasts Forever

one of the unique functions of leadership is not only to create
cultures in new groups but also to manage cultural issues in
mature organizations.
Edgar H. Schein
Bob leads an organization responsible for maintaining a large fleet of
high-performance aircraft and all the support equipment necessary to
complete repairs. A couple of years ago, he watched as employees in one
of his shops started their day by standing in line to check out their tools
and pushed their roll-around tool box 400 feet to get to their job site. Not
only did the employees push their tool boxes 400 feet, but they also had to
open three huge doors and push their tool boxes through each door to get
to their work. Once they arrived at their job sites, some employees found
that they required a tool that was not in their roll-around tool box, driving
the employee to retrace his steps back to the tool room to retrieve the
tool. With tool in hand, the employee returned to the job site after another
800-foot round trip. At the end of the shift, the employees accounted for
their tools, locked their tool box, and pushed their tool boxes 400 feet
back to the tool room where they waited in line to check in their box. The
procedure was repeated on the second and third shifts. Bob watched in
amazement. Employees traveled close to 2400 feet a day, losing time and
burning energy just to secure the tools they needed to perform their daily
tasks. Was it any wonder that his employees constantly felt compelled to
do something dumb, dangerous, or different to meet production targets?
They spent way too much time traveling and waiting and not enough time
doing what mattered, like repairing aircraft.
They needed a new process; no process is designed to last forever.
So Bob assembled a team of employees and they built a plan that called
for moving employees closer to the tools, specialized equipment, and

2 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

aterials necessary to complete their tasks. Not an easy thing to do but

m
definitely possible with some help from leadership. Now, you would think
that moving the employees and their tools closer to their work would be
a welcome change. No more waiting in line for equipment that should be
at point of use. No more pushing a roll-around tool box 400 feet to the job
site and back to the tool room every day. You would think the employees would appreciate the attempt to reduce the time spent waiting for and
transporting their tools back and forth between their work and the tool
room. You would think.
Bobs employees had been rolling their tools all that way for a long
time, years in fact. It had become the way we do things around here.
Bob was perplexed. He asked one of the employees who had been around
for a while why they pushed their tool boxes 400 feet to the job site and
back 400 feet to the tool room each day. The answer, weve done it
this way for years. Bob asked why. The employee thought for a minute and said, Well several years ago we had a rash of lost tools. In our
business we have to account for our tools so that we know a tool isnt
left on one of the airplanes we maintain. A tool left in the wrong place
on one of these jets could be catastrophic. We could lose the jet lives
could be lost. The mechanic continued, a few years ago an inspection team came to visit and noted the problem had not gone away. We
lost track of a tool and it went unnoticed for a couple of shifts. Management decided the way to solve the problem was to reduce the number of opportunities for an error to occur by reducing the number of tool
rooms. The tool room we had in our facility was consolidated with the
one we use now so that we could get a handle on tool control; fewer
tool roomsfewer opportunities for mistakes I guess. Now we walk
over to the other hangar to get our tools and bring them to this hangar to
make repairs to our aircraft. Its been that way for years. Bob asked the
employee the obvious question, Has tool control improved? He said,
Im not sure, but I dont think so. We lost a flash light just the other day.
Bob learned that no one asked the employees how to solve the problem of lost tools. The culture at the time called for management to develop
and implement solutions and the role of the employee was to dutifully
accomplish their work as dictated by management. Managers were quick
to note that they had years of experience in aircraft maintenance and that
they knew best, it would be better if everyone would just do as they were
told. As far as they were concerned, the processes dictated by management would last forever. No one, managers or employees, thought much
about the time and energy involved in the process. Management told the
employees what they wanted done and employees made it happen no

Nothing Lasts Forever3

matter what; this is not an uncommon occurrence in many organizations.

Very few leaders asked the people accomplishing the work for ideas; in the
words of one employee, our leaders do a lot of telling but not much
asking. We do as were told. This was the culture in this organization for
10 years when Bob arrived; just get it done, no matter what. Shear brute
force. When problems occurred, leaders drove the horses harder to make
up for the underperformance of tired, worn-out processes this was the
culture of the organization. Shortcuts, work-arounds, and heroics were the
order of the day. The leaders who continually made the numbers no matter
what were recognized for their heroics, rewarded, and promoted. Meanwhile, morale among the employees declined and desperation replaced
enthusiasm. Finally, after a series of serious mistakes, things began to
unravel. With the help of investigators, employees highlighted leadership
practices that led to a produce at all costs mentality, cheating and inaccurate reporting to make the numbers look better than actual and unfair
treatment of employees.
One thing led to another and the senior leaders disappeared. Suspensions were handed out to other supervisors. Confidence in the ability of the
organization to get the job done was rocked. A new leadership team was
brought in to clean up the mess; Bob is part of that team. The challenge
was to change the organizational culture from one of hierarchy and control
to one of collaboration and learning.
Bob wondered why there was such consternation when the new leaders asked a group of employees to build a new process that would reduce
the distance a mechanic had to travel to get the tools needed to make
repairs. Why wasnt everyone as excited as he was when a team of employees took the initiative to move the workers and their tools closer to the
point where work was taking place? You would think the workers would
be ecstatic! You would think. But, for ten years no one had asked them
for their ideas. To ask an employee how to make things better was not a
part of the culture. If we want your opinion, well let you know. Now, get
back to work! But under the new leadership team, a new culture developed. The role of leadership was different in the new culture. The leaders
understood that those closest to the work knew where the problems were
and are in the best position to build solutions. These leaders understood
that every time they tell an employee how to fix a problem they rob the
employee of an opportunity to learn and make things better. Now under
the new leadership team, when problems arise, it is no longer management
telling employees how to solve problems; the new culture is one of management asking employees for their ideas on how to solve problems and
holding employees responsible for improvement. Managements job is to

4 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

break down barriers that get in the way of employees working to make
things better through continuous improvement and innovation. Instead of
leaders barking orders; leaders ask questions, How can we close this performance gap? What do you need from me? How can I help?
By the way, the new process works just fine, saving thousands of
feet of unnecessary travel and recovering hundreds of hours of wasted
time. That was two years ago and now, with the new process firmly in
place, everyone is wondering what all the fuss was about. Dozens of old
processes have been rebuilt and implemented by the members of the organization working together in process improvement teams. When things
go wrong or performance gaps arise, members work hard to remove the
waste, constraints, and variation present in key processes using a structured approach to problem solving instead of trying to find someone to
blame. Redesigning and implementing new processes when old processes
no longer serve us well requires change; making that change a reality
is hard work and almost impossible if specific values, assumptions, and
beliefs arent embedded in the organizations culture. It really is all about
culture; because it is culture that dictates the way organizations deal with
problems and implement change. All organizations face change. Some
deal with change more effectively than others. The difference between
organizations that change and survive and those that do not is culture, the
basic values, assumptions, and beliefs that drive the way members of the
organization behave.

1.1A SERIES OF STEPS

A process is nothing more than a series of steps executed to produce goods
or services. Those interdependent steps are supported by a host of subprocesses, also a series of interdependent steps. Some steps are completed
quickly; maybe just fractions of a second, while others may take hours or
even days. Steps can be complex or simple. Some steps are performed by
a human, others by a robot, and others by a computer executing a program
designed by a human. Some steps are executed concurrently, while others
must be completed sequentially. All of the steps taken to produce a product or provide a service define the process. Sometimes all of the steps that
make up a process take place in a medical operating room, a classroom, or
an office, while other processes include steps executed across thousands
of acres of plant or miles of terrain.
Beth has built a career in the field of health care. Katie is a research
analyst. Bob leads an organization specializing in the maintenance, repair,

Nothing Lasts Forever5

and overhaul of aircraft. Even though we come from vastly different backgrounds, everything we do is accomplished through processes. How we
deal with processes is based on specific values, assumptions, and beliefs
developed over time and these basic building blocks of organizational
culture drive behavior. As we share our experiences with continuous
improvement and innovation; we use examples based on our experiences.
While we may not be experts in information technology, manufacturing,
or say robotics, we are very aware of the concept that everything we do
is accomplished through a process and few if any processes are designed
to last forever. As a matter of fact, we argue that it is when organizations
attempt to hold on to old processes that have become strongly embedded in the culture, processes designed to operate in a different world, that
things can go badly. Every process contains waste, produces some level of
variation, and is impacted by constraints or bottlenecks. Over time, these
processes grow old and no longer serve us well. Changes in technology,
fiscal constraints, regulations, and user requirements impact the ability
of a process to produce value. As a result, old processes have to be redesigned and implemented. Few processes last forever.

1.2THE LIFE CYCLE OF A PROCESS

The work of organizations is completed through processes. From the time
a process is put in place, it will struggle to survive as the environment it
was designed to operate in changes. Would you believe us if we told you
that up to 80 percent, or even more depending on whos book you read, of
the steps in a repeatable process are waste? Bob made the comment to a
group of senior leaders some years ago. Bob explains,
Trust me when I say that most senior leaders struggle with this idea
and many even find it insulting. They are angry and hurt. I understand and I quickly explain that it doesnt mean that employees
arent working hard because most certainly they are working hard.
But it doesnt change the fact that there is waste in every process.
Their processes were most likely designed and first executed in a
much different environment from the one in which they currently operate.
The organization looked different then, perhaps it was larger and the
employees were more experienced. Technology taken for granted today
may not have been present when the process was first introduced. The
voice of the customer may have changed; maybe speed is more important

6 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

to the customer today than before; maybe the customer can find the product or service for less somewhere else. Perhaps the operating cost of a
piece of equipment was acceptable a decade ago but is hurting the organization today in a big way. We could go on and on, but its not too much
of a stretch to see that the environment we work in today changes faster
than in any time in recorded history. Is it reasonable to expect a process
designed and introduced 5 or 10 years ago to work for us today, probably
not? But it is not uncommon for processes to become so much a part of the
organizations culture that it becomes difficult to let it go.
It is not uncommon for leaders to inherit a set of processes that
worked well for a time but have now grown old, and if not cared for, will
no longer work for the organization. If nothing is done, orders will not
be met. Quality will suffer. Costs will rise and profits will fall. Nonprofit
organizations constantly striving to make a dollar go a little farther will
find that waste is eating into scarce funds.
But what happens when organizations cant seem to let go of processes that have become, the way we do things around here, no matter what? Soon the orders of the day include shortcuts and work-arounds
to meet consumer demands. I dont care how you do it, just get that order
out on time, will become the rallying cry of middle-level managers across
the organization. Heroes begin to emerge; employees who find ways to
meet production targets through shear brute force become indispensable
because they produce despite all of the waste, variation, and constraints
inherent in every process. In his book, How to Succeed with Continuous Improvement, Ahlstrom (2015) writes, Heroes are a sign of weakness. What he means is when the organization begins to rely on heroics
instead of well-designed processes executed by professionals, something
is wrong. Injuries, accidents, and defects will increase as employees face
a moral dilemma,
do I do the job right, or do I cut this corner or take this shortcut to save time and improve the chances of providing the product
or service on time. I took the short cut last week and everything
worked out fine.
But that was last week, this time around something is slightly different and last weeks shortcut leads to this weeks injury, accident,
defect, unhappy customer, or mission failure. When employees feel
constantly compelled to do something dumb, dangerous, or different to
complete their work, something is terribly wrong. As W. Edward Deming
explained years ago, leaders can drive the horses harder to make up for the

Nothing Lasts Forever7

u nderperformance of these tired, worn-out processes but this will only

work for a while. Morale will suffer as leaders drop benefits packages to
replace money lost to wasteful process that no longer produce value in the
eyes of the customer. Absenteeism begins to rise. Those who are able, seek
employment elsewhere. The organization is in trouble and if something
doesnt change the organization could disappear.

1.3 IMPROVE OR DISAPPEAR

Continuous improvement assumes that at birth, (1) a process delivered a
product or service correctly and economically, (2) the customer was satisfied with the value provided at the time but the definition of value can
change, (3) our environment constantly changes over time, and (4)that
leaders have created an organizational culture that embraces change when
necessary to improve the performance of critical processes. Continuous
improvement leads to the replacement or complete removal of undesired activities within processes in order to produce goods and services
that meets the receivers definition of value at the lowest possible cost,
not just monetary costs, but cost in time, energy, and personnel. Failure
to replace processes when no longer efficient or effective has led to the
demise of many organizations remember processes are not designed to
last forever. Improvement comes when new processes are put into use and
become the way we do things now!
While continuous improvement may sound simple, it is far from it.
Changing the way goods and services are produced in organizations can
be messy, disruptive, and complex. Improvement can be uncomfortable
and even painful for some employees; but success for many organizations is the result of small incremental improvements made over time.
It has been proven time and time again that organizations that embrace
changeeven consider change a natural and necessary occurrence, enjoy
greater success and do not disappear. One thing is for certain, nothing
changes unless leaders are paying close attention to the values, assumptions, and beliefs that make up an organizations culture culture is the
glue that holds everything together.
Take a look at Figure 1.1. Continuous improvement involves examining processes as problems or performance gaps appear. As leaders, we
are in the business of mining new ideas from those closest to the work
to develop solutions designed to solve problems and close performance
gaps. Finally, we insure the solutions are incorporated and a new process
is put in place. The result is always incremental change designed to close

8 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

Processes

Problems
Continuous
improvement

New ideas/solutions

Figure 1.1. A continuous improvement model.

performance gaps that appear as processes tire and no longer serve the
organization well (Hamm 2015).
At first, there may be some confusion, disorientation, and anxiety;
leaders must understand that this is natural and be prepared to address
any concerns presented by members of the team. Implementing continuous improvement is difficult because the processes were most likely built
under a different set of values, assumptions, and beliefs than those existing
in the organizations culture today.
But the good news is that with the right culture in place, employees
will gain confidence in the new processes theyve built and the change.
Finally, the change becomes a part of the daily routine and many employees will wonder how anything got done using the old process. Even the
most cynical employees will wonder, What was all the fuss about? That
is, until the process is no longer useful and the need for another change
becomes apparent. Time for another pass, change never takes a day off;
nothing lasts forever.

1.4 WHY IS CHANGE SO HARD?

We humans enjoy order and consistency. Stable processes make us feel
comfortable. We learn processes and through habit we become very good
at accomplishing processes that produce value. The older the process, the

Nothing Lasts Forever9

more confident we become in our ability to execute the process. Theres

nothing wrong with our processes; we get it done every day, employees
will exclaim! Think about it, as leaders we usually reward those managers and employees who consistently meet production goals executing the
current process. But there is a better than even chance that the members
of the organization are getting it done every day with a broken process
that requires employees to take shortcuts, use work-arounds or modify the
process on the fly to meet production targets. At some point in time, that
tired old process will no longer serve the organization well and it will have
to go if the organization is to survive in a world that is changing faster than
any time in history.
In the eyes of an employee or manager, change means risk. Weve lost
track of the number of times a manager or employee has made it clear to us
that, there is nothing wrong with the way we do this; there is only one
way to build this thing; why are we changing now? We get the job done
dont we? Managers and employees alike will work hard to reduce risk
and keep current processes operating in a predictable fashion; the older the
process the harder theyll work to keep it even when its clear the process
is no longer delivering goods and services efficiently or effectively. Why?
The process has become a cultural artifact, something that is imbued with
more meaning than its function. As leaders we need to understand this
phenomenon. We need to understand the power of culture and its impact
on an organizations ability to change or redesign old processes. Leaders
must work to understand how culture influences continuous improvement
and innovation in the organizations they lead or it will never happen.
A wise individual once told me that humans dont resist change
they fear the effects of change. Employees may fight change for fear of
having to work for less or loss of control. Will I lose my job as a result
of this change? I dont understand this new technology; what if I cant
use this new contraption? Lets not kid ourselves, change is disruptive.
Employees may question the value of the change when compared to the
effort involved in implementation. Implementing change is hard work.
Expect members to question how changes to processes will affect their role
and status within the organization, their pay and benefits, and work schedules, it is a natural response to the uncertainty that accompanies change.
As leaders of organizations, we shouldnt be surprised if some members of the organization feel insulted that anyone feels a change is even
required. So, youre saying were not cutting it? Some employees fear
that new processes could cost them their jobs. All you guys are really
trying to do is reduce the size of the workforce Im going to lose my job
as a result of this crazy new process! Have you ever heard this one,

10 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

hey if this is such a great improvement why hasnt it been done before?
Or, this change is too complicated for our workforce; theyll never
understand this.
Continuous improvement is absolutely essential in organizations
working hard to stay alive in a competitive world. While continuous
improvement is difficult and challenging it is not impossible, the answer
to making continuous improvement a reality in organizations lies in the
organizations culture, the values, assumptions, and beliefs that drive how
people in the organization behave. In his book The Corporate Culture
Survival Guide, Schein (2009) explains, Culture matters because it is a
powerful, tacit, and often unconscious set of forces that determine both
our individual and collective behavior, ways of perceiving, thought patterns and values. If one expects that continuous improvement is going to
be a way of life in the organizations she or he leads, it must be embedded
in the organizations culture.

1.5 ITS ALL ABOUT THE CULTURE

It has been said that culture is the glue that holds any organization
together. In his book, The Corporate Culture Survival Guide, Schein
(2009) describes culture as, a set of structures, routines, rules and
norms that guide and constrain behavior. Culture drives how members of
organizations perceive, think, and feel about whats going on around them.
Culture helps members of an organization to understand what is and what
is not an acceptable behavior is. Leaders influence the culture of their
organizations through their behavior. Any leader who tries to implement
continuous improvement without first understanding organizational culture is in for a big surprise and a lot of disappointment.
All organizations share a culture; as a matter of fact, several cultures
can exist within the same organization. For example, the culture in the
research and development department may be different from the culture in
operations or maintenance or the culture in marketing or sales. How does
this happen? Well, it turns out that organizational culture is the result of the
experiences shared by members of a group; culture is the result of learning
over time. In reality, culture consists of a set of values, assumptions, and
beliefs formed over time as a group works together to solve problems created by changes happening inside and outside the organization, theres that
word againchange! Schein (1992) explains that solutions that work well
enough to keep the organization alive become the way we do things here

Nothing Lasts Forever11

and are taught to members. These assumptions are then taken for granted
and dictate the way the group behaves.
It is important for leaders wishing to make continuous improvement
a reality in their organizations to understand this phenomenon. Why?
Depending on whose book you read, up to 70 percent of the efforts to
implement continuous improvement in organizations fail. One of the primary reasons for the failure is that leaders seldom consider the power of
organizational culture and therefore attempt to force continuous improvement upon the workforce without first embedding the required norms in
the culture. The result 7 out of 10 times is failure. None of the continuous
improvement methodologies will work unless the culture includes values,
assumptions, and beliefs that make it possible for members of the organization to feel comfortable behaving in a manner that supports change. Sure,
organizations can go through the motions but unless there is a culture in
place that supports continuous improvement, organizations will not enjoy
the full benefits. Leaders drive that culture!
Culture influences how members of the organization deal with change,
produce value, solve problems, and improve. These assumptions about
how things are done become stronger over time. The stronger the culture,
the more difficult it is to change (Kotter and Heskett 2009). Culture drives
how organizations react to changes in the definition of value. Culture
drives how members of organizations deal with changes in the environment that hamper the production of goods and services your customers
are willing to buy or that organizations rely on to successfully accomplish
their mission. As long as the organizations culture is one that can help an
organization adapt to these changes and continuously yield processes that
produce valueall is well. But if you find yourself leading an organization with a culture that does not include those assumptions necessary to
drive members to adapt to the constant change that surrounds us todayit
is your job to change that and its one of the hardest things youll ever do.
In the chapters that follow, we will explore organizational culture and
its incredible power in making a reality in organizations. Well examine the
norms and assumptions present in organizations where it is working to make
organizations more efficient and effective. Well describe how a leader can
diagnose the current organizational culture. Well offer some tools that can
help leaders determine how the beliefs, assumptions, and values that c urrently
exist within the organizations culture hinder or help efforts to make continuous improvement a reality in their organizations. Finally, we conclude with a
discussion of leadership behaviors essential to driving continuous improvement into the heart and collective mindset of an organization.

12 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT

1.6 KEY POINTS

No process will last forever; processes are designed, implemented,
and redesigned over and over again.
Process improvement is the incremental redesign of old processes
that no longer serve us well; and always results in change.
Change can be messy, disruptive, and complex or not.
Culture influences how members of the organization produce value,
solve problems, change, and continuously improve.
Leaders influence organizational culture.

Index
A
absenteeism, 7
adaptive subsystem, 5558
celebrating change in, 5758
employees participation in, 56
need for change and, 56
resistance to change in, 5657
Adhocracy Culture, 16
assumptions, 1324, 68
continuous improvement and, 10
lack of congruence and, 20
organizational culture and, 11
stated and unstated, 1315
B
behaviors, 1324. See also
leadership behaviors
beliefs, 1324, 68
C
Cameron, K. S., 1518, 19
Cameron and Quinn model, 17
caring as leadership attributes, 30
champions in maintenance
subsystem, 5253
change leadership, v
change process, 9
Clan characteristics, 1920
Clan Culture, 18
Competing Values Framework,
16, 18
congruence, lack of, 1920
continuous improvement

continuous improvement, v, 4, 78
competing values in, 1719
driving the culture of, 3637
leader, attributes of, 2834
supportive subsystems, 46
Continuous Improvement in
Organizations Large and
Small; A Leaders Guide
(Hamm 2015), 45
continuous improvement
methodologies
Lean Manufacturing, 4749
Six Sigma, 4647
Theory of Constraints, 4951
The Corporate Culture Survival
Guide (Schein), 10
Credibility (Kouzes and Posner),
58
Creech, Bill, 25
D
decision making, 20
Deming, W. Edward, 6
DMAIC process, 47
E
employees safety, 14
F
facilitators in maintenance
subsystem, 5355
flexibility versus stability, 15
flow as lean approach, 4849

72 Index

G
GE, 55
Goldratt, Eliyahu, 49
The Goal: A Process of Ongoing
Improvement (Goldratt), 49
H
Hierarchy Culture, 16
How to Succeed with Continuous
Improvement (Ahlstrom), 6
humility as leadership attributes,
3032
I
internal versus external focus, 15
J
Jones, Daniel, 4748
K
Katz, Daniel, 41, 42
key performance indicators, 60
Kouzes, James, 58
L
leader as coach, 3437
leader attributes and behaviors,
2628
leaders role in organizational
culture, 2124
senior leader as culture-setter,
2124
leadership attributes, 2634
caring, 30
humility, 3032
passion, 2830
presence, 3234
leadership behaviors, 33
leadership challenges, 1519
competing values in
organizational culture, 1719
lack of congruence, 1920
leadership commitment, 5960
A Leadership Primer (Powell), 32

leadership styles, 34
leadership subsystem, 5864
leaders active participation,
6364
leaders make tough calls, 6163
leaders strategy reviews, 6061
strategy alignment and
deployment, 60
leadership, defined, 2627
leadership, role of, 3
lean daily management (LDM),
3940
Lean Manufacturing, 4749
Lean Thinking: Banish Waste
and Create Wealth in Your
Corporation (Womack and
Jones), 4748
M
maintenance subsystem, 5255
champions in, 5253
facilitators in, 5355
mission statement, 60
Multipliers, How the Best Leaders
Make Everyone Else Smarter
(Wiseman and McKeown), 34
N
nonprofit organizations, 6
O
organizational culture, v, 3, 7,
1011,
continuous improvement in, 3,
78
diagnosis of, 1920
employees safety, 14
implementing change in, 9
lack of congruence in, 1920
leaders role in, 2124
leaders vision for, 60
leadership challenges of, 1519
stated and unstated assumptions,
1315

Index 73

Organizational Culture Index, 18

Organizational Culture Inventory,
18
Organizational Culture Profile, 18
organizational social subsystems,
v, 3942
organization(s)
characteristics of, 15
employees in, 43
leaders of, 910
leaders of, 43
processes, 47
production subsystem of, 45

The Social Psychology of

Organizations (Katz and
Kahn), 41
stated assumptions, 1315
subsystem. See specific subsystem
supportive subsystems, 4652
continuous improvement
approaches, 46
Lean Manufacturing, 4749
organizations learning and,
5152
Six Sigma, 4647
Theory of Constraints, 4951

P
Pareto Chart, 40
passion as leadership attributes,
2830
perfection as lean approach, 49
Posner, Barry, 58
problem solving, 4445
problem solving approach, 4
production subsystem, 4245
practical problem solving, 4445
understanding value, 4344
pull as lean approach, 49

T
Theory of Constraints, 4951
elevating, 50
exploiting, 50
identifying, 50
Total Quality Management, 25
U
unstated assumptions, 1315

Q
quality, 6
Quinn, R.E., 15, 1719

V
Value(s), v
defined, 44
identification of, 48
understanding, 4344
value stream, 48

S
safety, employees, 14
Six Sigma, 4647

W
Welch, Jack, 55
Womack, James, 47