The Effect of Kaizen Implementation on Organizational Performance of a Service Provider Public Institution The Case of Ethiopian Management Institute

Abstract

The purpose of this study was established the correlation between kaizen implementation and organizational performance improvement in Ethiopian service provider of public institution.It sought/required to find out the extent of kaizen practices implementation in this institute as well as the challenges faced by institute in implementing kaizen. A survey questionnaire was used to collect data and interview from institute’s 12 directorates’ director or their equivalents in that have implemented kaizen. Descriptive statistics was used to evaluate the extent of implementation of kaizen practices and the challenges in kaizen implementation. Institute’s performance measures were regressed against the set of kaizen practices to evaluate the relationship between the two. A correlation and regression model was used to evaluate the overall association between kaizen implementation and organizational performance improvement. The results from the study show that kaizen practices have varying degrees of implementation in Ethiopia Management Institute; from the perspective of success factors employee empowerment and customer focus; from the perspective of technical factors kaizen principles and teamwork; from the perspective of performance factors cost saving and profit generate having the excellent extent of implementation and on the other hand all variables under the main three factor variables are good and very good level of implementation. On challenges faced in kaizen implementation, traditional management system; lack of interest for change tools, employee attitudes and misconceptions about kaizen techniques, tools whereas. The greatest opportunity was top management commitment and support. Results from the descriptive statistics, correlation and regression analysis show that implementation of kaizen practices in Ethiopian Management Institute is significantly related to organizational performance improvement. This study has provided insights into the extent of adoption of kaizen in, Ethiopian Management Institute and provides further evidence that kaizen implementation is significant in enhancing organizational performance improvement.