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program to employees in order to achieve “buy in” of the implementation process. This communication should incorporate the fact that CI can strengthen job security. This will eliminate a culture of insecurity and employees intending to quit. The organisation should view the CI process as a long-term process and aim at achieving incremental achievements with sustainment as a key objective. This will allow for a culture that understands the value of sacrificing short-term gains for long-term benefits. A formalised training and development plan that pertains to the specific CI program should be rolled out to all staff members. As in the case of Lean Manufacturing, a good understanding of the core principles of Lean, understanding of identifying and eliminating waste and tools and techniques of Lean Manufacturing should be a key basic requirement for all staff members.
Limitation of the Study: The research study was performed on a single manufacturing concern which is part of a multinational company. The study achieved responses for 48% of the total population of the company and based on these factors the study outcomes may not be applicable to other organisations. The survey questionnaire was only administered in English and not all respondents' first language was English which could have resulted in a risk for misinterpretation and misunderstanding. The study is dependent on the truthfulness of respondents' answers. The study assumes that only the soft factors of CI affect employee attitudes and have not included the hard factors (tools and techniques of CI implementation) impact on employee attitudes.
Recommendation for future research in the area of CI: Further studies should include a larger sample of the population in order to include better representation. This study includes one company that is part of a multinational company. Future studies should include the entire complement of companies to compare results and individual implementation success rates. Future studies should also establish the impact of the hard side continuous improvement (tools and techniques of CI) impact on employee attitudes. This will assist in looking holistically at the CI impact on employees' attitudes.
KEY SOFT SUCCESS FACTORS FOR CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT IMPLEMENTATION AND EMPLOYEE ATTITUDES IN A MANUFACTURING COMPANY