Organisations have addressed improvement through different programs and approaches. The aim of these programs has been to increase the competitiveness of organisations. This work has been based on increasing competitiveness through the improvement of quality and processes.
Organisations need to adopt programs to improve their quality. However, there is no framework to assist them in choosing these programs and to define in a comprehensive way what elements an organisation should consider when managing the improvement.
On the other hand, several factors influence the irruption and abandonment of programs, a phenomenon of considerable importance that researchers have called business management trends. Sometimes the expectations raised about the potential of the program are too high, resulting in heavy frustrations when the objectives are not met. In addition, new programs are announced as global management systems when, in fact, they are more effective in certain areas of improvement. The truth is that when the program is successfully implemented, the results of the organisation improve accordingly.
This paper analyses such improvements in a theoretical and practical way. On the one hand, the most relevant quality and process improvement programs will be studied. It should be borne in mind that the programs are dynamic and have evolved to adapt to the new needs of the environment. On the other hand, the review also allows us to discover the common points, trends and characteristics of the life cycle of each program, as well as the aspects in which they diverge. This analysis has served as the basis for the development of the framework for improvement, which has been called FIP3 (Framework for Improvement Programs).
FIP3 is a framework for improvement that established the basic constituents an organisation should consider when managing improvement. In addition to the presentation of the framework, the contribution of existing programs to the different constituents is presented.
The improvement process described in FIP3 is contrasted through 2 surveys carried out in the organisations of the Basque Country and Navarra. The analysis of these surveys has made it possible to refine the proposed framework, and establishes the relationship between the improvement objectives, the level of excellence of the organisation and the most appropriate improvement programme to achieve the proposed objectives.
Finally, the conclusions of the work, future lines of research and the most significant bibliographical references are presented.