Employee involvement aims to improve quality and productivity by getting employees involved in quality improvement efforts. This is not a replacement for management but a way to motivate employees by having managers understand employees, establish positive attitudes, share goals, monitor progress, develop interesting work, communicate effectively, and celebrate successes. The key is to empower employees by enabling them through information, education, and skills so they can take ownership and initiative to improve processes.

1. Employee involvement is one approach to improving quality and productivity
Employee involvement is not a replacement for management nor is it the final word
in quality improvement.
Concepts to achieve a motivated work force are as follows:
Know thyself. Managers must understand their own motivations, strengths, and
weaknesses.
Know your employees. Most people like to talk about themselves; therefore, the
motivating manager will ask questions and listen to answers
. Establish a positive attitude. A positive action-oriented attitude permeates the
work unit.
Share the goals. A motivated work force needs well-defined goals that address both
individual and organizational needs
. Monitor progress. The process of goal-setting should include a road map detailing
the journey with periodic milestones and individual assignments
Develop interesting work. Managers should consider altering the employees’
assignments by means of job rotation, job enlargement, and job enrichment
Communicate effectively. Effective communication provides employees with knowledge about
their work unit and the organization rather than “grapevine” information.
Celebrate success. Recognizing employee achievements is the most powerful tool in the
manager’s toolbox

2. There are five basic ways to improve:
Reduce resources,
reduce errors,
meet or exceed expectations of downstream customers,
make the process safer, and
make the process more satisfying to the person doing it.
Product-design problems involve the development of new products and the
improvement of existing products
Process-design problems involve the development of new processes and revision of
existing processes
Efficiency problems occur when the system is performing unacceptably from the
viewpoint of its owners or operators
Unstructured problems resemble compliance problems except that they are not
specified by standards
Compliance problems occur when a structured system having standardized inputs,
processes, and outputs is performing unacceptably from the user’s viewpoint
Reinvention is the most demanding improvement strategy
Repair This strategy is simple—anything broken must be fixed so that it functions as
designed
primary improvement strategies: repair, refinement, renovation, and reinvention.

3. objectives:
1. Establish baseline measures and reveal trends.
2. Determine which processes need to be improved.
3. Indicate process gains and losses.
4. Compare goals with actual performance
5. Provide information for individual and team evaluation.
6. Provide information to make informed decisions.
7. Determine the overall performance of the organization.
business measures: 1. As a percentage of sales: Most of the financial
reports extensively use total sales or business value
as a key performance index.
2. As compared to profit: In the initial studies of quality cost, it comes as a
surprise that quality costs
are even higher than the company profit
3. As related to production: Quality cost per unit (say dollar) of production
cost is also a commonly used index.
4. As related to unit of production: Quality cost per unit, such as an engine,
one meter of cloth, etc. is a very simple index and effective for comparison
when production lines are similar.

4. Empowerment is an environment in which people have the ability,
the confidence, and the commitment to take the responsibility and
ownership to improve the process and initiate
Empowerment is to invest people with authority
Environment, three conditions are necessary.
1. Everyone must understand the need for change. People fear
change. The effective communication of why the organization needs
to change is critical to success.
2. The system needs to change to the new paradigm. The system
needs to change to reinforce and motivate individual and group
accomplishments
3. The organization must enable its employees. Enablement means
providing information, education, and skill
feedback loop and consists of the following steps:
3. Measure actual performance.
4. Compare actual performance to goals.
5. Act on the difference
Renovation This strategy results in major or breakthrough improvements

5. Characteristics of Successful Teams
1. Sponsor. Preferably the sponsor is a member of the quality council, thereby providing
organizational support.
2. Team charter. A team charter is a document that defines the team’s mission, boundaries, the
background of the problem, the team’s authority and duties, and resources
3. Team composition. The size of the team should rarely exceed ten people except in the case of
natural work teams or self-directed teams. Larger teams have difficulty maintaining commitment, and
interpersonal aspects become difficult to control.
4. Training. As the need arises, members should be trained in problem-solving techniques, team
dynamics, and communication skills.
5. Ground rules. The team must develop its rules of operation and conduct.
6. Clear objectives. Without clear objectives and goals, the team will have difficulty.
7. Accountability. The team is accountable to perform. Periodic status reports should be given to the
quality council.
8. Well-defined decision procedures. Effective, acceptable, and timely decisions have to be made by
the team
9. Trust. Management must trust the team to perform the task effectively. There must also be trust
among the members and a belief in each other.
10. Effective problem solving.
11. Open communication. Members actively listen, without interruption, to other members, speak
with clarity and directness, ask questions, and say what they mean.
12. Appropriate leadership. All teams need leadership—whether imposed by the quality council, or
whether someone emerges as a leader figure as the life of the team progresses, or whether the
leadership changes as the team matures.
13. Balanced participation. All members must become involved in the team’s activities by voicing
their opinions, lending their knowledge, and encouraging other members to take part

6. A team is defined as a group of people working together to achieve common objectives or
goals
Types of Teams
1. Process improvement team. The members of a process improvement team represent each
operation of the process or sub-process.
2. Cross-functional team. A team of about six to ten members will represent a number of
different functional areas such as engineering, marketing, accounting, production, quality, and
human resources.
3. Natural work teams. This type of team is not voluntary–it is composed of all the members of
the work unit
4. Self-directed/self-managed work teams. They are an extension of natural work teams
without the supervisor
Benefits of Employee Involvement
• Employees are better able to take immediate corrective action.
• Employee involvement reduces labor/management friction by encouraging more effective
communication and cooperation.
• Employee involvement increases morale by creating a feeling of belonging to the
organization.
Refinement This strategy involves activities that continually improve a process that is not
broken
three components: planning, control, and improvement
Innovation:Percent reduction in new product introduction time,Percent increase in new
product sales revenue as a percent of total sales revenue,Percent increase in new patents
granted
Administration: Revenue per employee, expense to revenue, cost of poor quality, percent of
payroll distributed on time, number of days