TY - JOUR
T1 - Adoption of people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes
T2 - a combined ISO standard-grey system approach
AU - Canhisares, Ricardo Martins
AU - Sigahi, Tiago F.A.C.
AU - Moraes, Gustavo Hermínio Salati Marcondes de
AU - Rampasso, Izabela Simon
AU - Serafim, Milena Pavan
AU - Pepper, Matthew
AU - Antony, Jiju
AU - Anholon, Rosley
PY - 2025/6/1
Y1 - 2025/6/1
N2 - Purpose: People engagement is critical to continuous improvement programmes’ performance and success. This study proposes a combined ISO standard-Grey system approach to assess the level of adoption of people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes. To exemplify the use of this approach, this research analyses the level of adoption of these practices in Brazilian organizations in the manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach: The combined ISO standard-grey system approach is based on the ISO 10018:2022 standard and two grey system techniques (grey target and grey fixed weight clustering). The exemplification used industry experts from Brazil. Findings: The approach developed presents ten people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes to be assessed. To perform this assessment, a five-linguistic-terms scale is proposed. The exemplification of the approach application for Brazilian reality indicated that the adoption of the analysed practices is at an intermediate level in the country, with possibilities for improvement. Originality/value: This research presents in detail an interesting method for assessing the adoption level of people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes and contributes to debates regarding how these programmes can achieve success, primarily through company employees’ participation and engagement.
AB - Purpose: People engagement is critical to continuous improvement programmes’ performance and success. This study proposes a combined ISO standard-Grey system approach to assess the level of adoption of people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes. To exemplify the use of this approach, this research analyses the level of adoption of these practices in Brazilian organizations in the manufacturing sector. Design/methodology/approach: The combined ISO standard-grey system approach is based on the ISO 10018:2022 standard and two grey system techniques (grey target and grey fixed weight clustering). The exemplification used industry experts from Brazil. Findings: The approach developed presents ten people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes to be assessed. To perform this assessment, a five-linguistic-terms scale is proposed. The exemplification of the approach application for Brazilian reality indicated that the adoption of the analysed practices is at an intermediate level in the country, with possibilities for improvement. Originality/value: This research presents in detail an interesting method for assessing the adoption level of people engagement practices in continuous improvement programmes and contributes to debates regarding how these programmes can achieve success, primarily through company employees’ participation and engagement.
KW - Competitiveness
KW - Continuous improvement
KW - People engagement
KW - Productivity
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105003933089&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1108/GS-01-2025-0004
DO - 10.1108/GS-01-2025-0004
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:105003933089
SN - 2043-9377
VL - 15
SP - 478
EP - 494
JO - Grey Systems
JF - Grey Systems
IS - 3
ER -
