Teamwork and defining group structures

Abstract

PurposeThe paper is based on the presumption that sustainable organisational performance cannot be achieved without continuous organisational development as well as continuous development of the employees. The paper is of the opinion that, in a company or any other organisation, creating the conditions for knowledge development is of utmost importance. These conditions should enhance innovation processes fostered by employees. The paper aims to investigate this premise.Design/methodology/approachThe basic idea for the research in the paper arose from the findings that proved that organisational structures do substantially facilitate creativity processes. The main part of the paper focuses on researching team cohesion and obtaining information on interpersonal relationships as a starting‐point for new knowledge to emerge.FindingsThe main finding of the qualitative case study, conducted on 172 employees of a certain manufacturing company, are that interpersonal relationships in smaller groups of people are of better quality than those in larger groups.Originality/valueAs a consequence of research on the company involved in the case study, suggestions in terms of improving knowledge management were made and concrete measures were taken.

La participación estructurada del personal orientada a la mejora de productividad. Un caso práctico

“…En la literatura suele reconocerse a los SPs grupales (Miklavcic et al, 2007;Saratxaga, 2007;Jaca-García y Santos-Garcia, 2009) una mayor capacidad, tanto para involucrar y motivar a los trabajadores, como para contribuir a una mejora de los resultados empresariales; Ahora bien, independientemente de la modalidad escogida, los SPs requieren de una metodología "estructurada" para sobrevivir en el tiempo y ofrecer resultados, con el apoyo decidido de la gerencia que no debería permitir que otras prioridades los hagan caer en el olvido o que disminuyan su interés (De Benito, 1998). Este efecto de "desencanto" progresivo con la participación, se conoce en la literatura con el nombre de efecto "luna de miel" (Lawler et al, 1998).…”

“…Buena parte de las referencias en la literatura reciente que estudian la mejora continua y los SPs, lo hacen, o bien, desde la perspectiva del estudio de casos (Marín et al, 2006;Escriba-Moreno y Canet-Giner, 2006;Miklavcic et al, 2007;Rapp y Ecklund, 2007;Marín-García et al, 2006y 2008; Marín-García y Bautista-Póveda, 2010; García-Arca y Prado-Prado, 2011), o bien, en un contexto geográfico o sectorial concreto centrados, especialmente, en el nivel de implantación de los sistemas de participación (y si están implantados, su tipología y características principales); entre estos últimos estudios, se pueden mencionar los de Merino (2001), García-Lorenzo y Prado-Prado (2002), Fernández-González y Prado-Prado (2006), Jorgensen et al (2006), Marín-García et al (2008) y Jaca-García y Santos-García (2009).…”

Estudio multi caso de la innovación continua en las empresas: modelo de evolución, etapas, pilares y resultados

“…For an organization to become flexible and be able to respond and adapt to change rapidly it is essential that it implement an improvement strategy . Consequently, innovation and continuous improvement has become one of the priority aims of many companies (Escriba-Moreno & Canet-Giner 2006;Miklavcic Šumanski et al 2007) since it is one of the ways of attaining success . So that companies do not exhaust their wealth of innovation, in addition to traditional sources of innovation (R+D departments, patent purchases, in-house or outside specialists, etc.…”

“…So that companies do not exhaust their wealth of innovation, in addition to traditional sources of innovation (R+D departments, patent purchases, in-house or outside specialists, etc. ), new sources of ideas should be employed Miklavcic Šumanski et al 2007). At present, improvement cannot be understood without the participation of company employees (Garcia- .…”