Abstract
This chapter is concerned with the core of the art of “Continuous Improvement” transformation and delves into the key characteristics and constituents necessary to take the enterprise business to the next level to continue to exist in the long term. Subsequent chapters provide guidance to enterprises management and to professionals engaged in the “Continuous Improvement” initiative implementation and enable them to structure and manage its implementation successfully.
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Notes
- 1.
In economic theory, “zero sum” thinking is a representation of a situation in which a participant’s gain or loss is exactly balanced by the losses or gains of the other participant(s). If the total gains of the participants are added up, and the total losses are subtracted, they will sum to zero. Cutting a cake is a zero-sum situation, because taking a larger piece reduces the amount of cake available for others. In contrast, non-zero-sum describes a situation in which the interacting parties’ aggregate gains and losses is either less than or more than zero.
References
Koehler, W. (1938). Closed and open systems. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin Books, Penguin Modern Management Readings.
Weick, K., & Quinn, R. (1999). Organizational change and development. Annual Review of Psychology, 50, 361–386.
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van Aartsengel, A., Kurtoglu, S. (2013). Defining ‘Continuous Improvement’. In: A Guide to Continuous Improvement Transformation. Management for Professionals. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35904-0_2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35904-0_2
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