IMPORTANCE OF LEADERSHIP

Importance of Leadership in the Implementation of Business Improvement Programmes

Table of Content

Chapter 14

1.0 Introduction4

1.1 Background of the research5

1.1.1 Understanding the Need for Change6

1.1.2 How NMUK Incorporated Their Continues Improvement6

Figure1.1.2.17

Nissan's Continuous Improvement System7

1.1.3 The NMUK Employees Role relating to the Continuous improvement8

1.1.4How Tools were matched with Problems9

1.1.5NMUK Continuous Improvements Pitfalls9

1.2 Research Significance10

1.3 Objectives10

1.4 Methodology in Brief11

Chapter 212

2.0 Literature Review12

2.1 Overview of Business Improvements Programs12

2.2 Business Improvements from Strategic point of view13

2.3 Consultants' Contribution towards Business Improvements Programs13

2.4 Change in Culture14

2.5 Ethical Issues emanating from Cultural Change in the context of Business Improvement Programs16

2.6.0 Leadership Models17

2.6.1 Overview of Leadership17

2.6.2 Nature and Definitions of Leadership18

2.6.3 Theories of Leadership18

2.6.4 Traditional Leadership Approaches19

2.7 Overview of Performance30

2.8 Is Leadership Automatic Tool for Performance Enhancement?31

2.9 Main Business Improvement Programme Embarked by NMUK33

Chapter 335

3.0 Research Methodology35

3.1 Method35

3.1.1 Survey35

3.1.2 Data collection35

Chapter Four38

4. Research Results38

4.1 Reliability Analysis and Factor Analysis38

Table 1: Summary of reliability analysis.38

4.2 Component Matrix39

4.3 Descriptives39

Table 2: Summary of descriptives39

Chapter Five41

5.0 Response Analysis41

5.1 Working Relationship with Nissan Middle Level Managers and Shopfloor Supervisors41

5.1.1 Perception about Performance and Leadership41

5.1.2 The professionalism to make42

5.1.3 The directness to collabourate42

5.2 Organizational Leadership42

References44

Bibliography51

Appendix 153

Appendix 255

Appendix 356

Appendix 457

Sample Questionnaire57

Chapter 1

1.0 Introduction

The concepts of Business Improvement Models as well as Leadership Models have become top on the agenda for business organisations in this highly present changing competitive global world when considering how to provide the incentives and performance measures to achieve business success which invariably also confer a competitive advantage to the organisations as a whole.

It has widely been argued that the area of Operations Management is constantly changing hence for organisations to have competitive advantage over their competitors being it local or global, there is the need for them to embark on continues improvement programs that will enhance areas such as cost, quality, customer service, flexibility and pace (Slack et al 2001). As a consequent, organisations are employing many of the improvement methodologies that have emerged in the last century to transform their operations into fast, flexible, low-cost and high quality and more importantly with the view to meet customer desires (Dale, 2003).

In recent times Organisations are embarking on dramatic improvements within operational set-up with the view to commit to the organisation's order-of-magnitude improvements in quality and enormous reductions in respect of inventory, successful adoption of advanced manufacturing technology as well as the adoption of best practices (Kaplan and Atkinson, 1989) when aiming to meet their competitive threats relating to products' flexibility and quality (Dale, 2003).

BIM is defined by Valencia 2005 as “a documented set of procedures, guidelines, and tools intended to develop better processes”. Here much emphasises are made on effective utilisation of resources by way of reducing variation and defects through the production process or the process of providing services to meet customer's satisfaction. The vast improvement of British Airways Terminal 5 serves as an example as the prime objective was to develop better and faster procedures for providing services effectively with limited defects. BIM indeed has been widely acknowledged as an essential management tool for effecting changes to products ...