Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer

Purpose: Employee participation is considered a fundamental pillar to implement continuous improvement. Based on this consideration, this article presents an action research case study in a large food manufacturer where employee participation is implemented. The experience has a two-fold objective:...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: González Boubeta, Iván, Portela Caramés, Iago, Prado Prado, J. Carlos
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
Repositorio:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/356593
Acceso en línea:https://hdl.handle.net/2117/356593
https://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem. 3362
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Management--Employee participation
Teams in the workplace
Industrial organization
Food industry and trade--Employees
Employee participation
Employee empowerment
Improvement teams
Efficiency
Lean management
Action research
Treballadors -- Participació en l'administració d'empreses
Treball en equip
Organització industrial
Aliments -- Indústria i comerç -- Personal
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses
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oai_identifier_str oai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/356593
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturerGonzález Boubeta, IvánPortela Caramés, IagoPrado Prado, J. CarlosManagement--Employee participationTeams in the workplaceIndustrial organizationFood industry and trade--EmployeesEmployee participationEmployee empowermentImprovement teamsEfficiencyLean managementAction researchTreballadors -- Participació en l'administració d'empresesTreball en equipOrganització industrialAliments -- Indústria i comerç -- PersonalÀrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empresesPurpose: Employee participation is considered a fundamental pillar to implement continuous improvement. Based on this consideration, this article presents an action research case study in a large food manufacturer where employee participation is implemented. The experience has a two-fold objective: improve performance of the production system and make the participative philosophy deep-rooted among workers. Design/methodology/approach: The authors implement a structured participation system, establishing an approach of empowerment and focusing on the creation of suitable organizational structures. Under those premises, improvement teams were created on each of the firm’s production lines. Once the participation of the workers is finished, they were given a questionnaire to assess how deep-rooted the participative culture had become. Findings: The results show a remarkable improvement in the efficiency of manufacturing processes, as well as the consolidation of a participative philosophy. However, there are notable differences in the results obtained for each improvement team. Research limitations/implications: The differences obtained in the results highlight certain issues that future research must tackle. These include the way in which the staff should be rewarded for their participation or what the influence of the organizational context is when setting improvement objectives. Practical implications: The positive results obtained support the methodology proposed by the authors for structuring participation. Organizations can set up projects of this type to improve their competitiveness while at the same time strengthening the commitment of their personnel. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies in the field of employee participation that jointly assess the economic area and the cultural and organizational planePeer ReviewedOmniaScience20212021-01-0120212021-11-17journal articlehttp://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501NAhttp://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43info:eu-repo/semantics/articleapplication/pdfhttps://hdl.handle.net/2117/356593https://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem. 3362reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPCinstname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)Inglésengopen accesshttp://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:upcommons.upc.edu:2117/3565932026-05-27T15:37:01Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
title Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
spellingShingle Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
González Boubeta, Iván
Management--Employee participation
Teams in the workplace
Industrial organization
Food industry and trade--Employees
Employee participation
Employee empowerment
Improvement teams
Efficiency
Lean management
Action research
Treballadors -- Participació en l'administració d'empreses
Treball en equip
Organització industrial
Aliments -- Indústria i comerç -- Personal
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses
title_short Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
title_full Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
title_fullStr Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
title_full_unstemmed Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
title_sort Improving through employee participation. The case of a spanish food manufacturer
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv González Boubeta, Iván
Portela Caramés, Iago
Prado Prado, J. Carlos
author González Boubeta, Iván
author_facet González Boubeta, Iván
Portela Caramés, Iago
Prado Prado, J. Carlos
author_role author
author2 Portela Caramés, Iago
Prado Prado, J. Carlos
author2_role author
author
dc.subject.none.fl_str_mv Management--Employee participation
Teams in the workplace
Industrial organization
Food industry and trade--Employees
Employee participation
Employee empowerment
Improvement teams
Efficiency
Lean management
Action research
Treballadors -- Participació en l'administració d'empreses
Treball en equip
Organització industrial
Aliments -- Indústria i comerç -- Personal
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses
topic Management--Employee participation
Teams in the workplace
Industrial organization
Food industry and trade--Employees
Employee participation
Employee empowerment
Improvement teams
Efficiency
Lean management
Action research
Treballadors -- Participació en l'administració d'empreses
Treball en equip
Organització industrial
Aliments -- Indústria i comerç -- Personal
Àrees temàtiques de la UPC::Economia i organització d'empreses
description Purpose: Employee participation is considered a fundamental pillar to implement continuous improvement. Based on this consideration, this article presents an action research case study in a large food manufacturer where employee participation is implemented. The experience has a two-fold objective: improve performance of the production system and make the participative philosophy deep-rooted among workers. Design/methodology/approach: The authors implement a structured participation system, establishing an approach of empowerment and focusing on the creation of suitable organizational structures. Under those premises, improvement teams were created on each of the firm’s production lines. Once the participation of the workers is finished, they were given a questionnaire to assess how deep-rooted the participative culture had become. Findings: The results show a remarkable improvement in the efficiency of manufacturing processes, as well as the consolidation of a participative philosophy. However, there are notable differences in the results obtained for each improvement team. Research limitations/implications: The differences obtained in the results highlight certain issues that future research must tackle. These include the way in which the staff should be rewarded for their participation or what the influence of the organizational context is when setting improvement objectives. Practical implications: The positive results obtained support the methodology proposed by the authors for structuring participation. Organizations can set up projects of this type to improve their competitiveness while at the same time strengthening the commitment of their personnel. Originality/value: This is one of the first studies in the field of employee participation that jointly assess the economic area and the cultural and organizational plane
publishDate 2021
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2021
2021-01-01
2021
2021-11-17
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv journal article
http://purl.org/coar/resource_type/c_6501
NA
http://purl.org/coar/version/c_be7fb7dd8ff6fe43
dc.type.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
format article
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv https://hdl.handle.net/2117/356593
https://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem. 3362
url https://hdl.handle.net/2117/356593
https://dx.doi.org/10.3926/jiem. 3362
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
eng
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
language eng
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
dc.rights.openaire.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
rights_invalid_str_mv open access
http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_abf2

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv OmniaScience
publisher.none.fl_str_mv OmniaScience
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
instname:Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
instname_str Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC)
reponame_str UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
collection UPCommons. Portal del coneixement obert de la UPC
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
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