The department Industrial Organization of TECNUN and the School of Economics of the University of Navarra have elaborated a study on quality and efficiency practices of companies in their productive and competitive processes. The work has evaluated the Degree of participation and involvement of workers in the activity of 147 companies.

The participation of people in innovation has always been seen as a means to achieve productivity and quality, "however, there are cross elements that interact in the complex system of innovation, which allow us to affirm that it should be a goal to be achieved in itself", says Ricardo Mateo, from the team of research in Continuous Improvement Systems of the University of Navarra.

Part of the results reveal that less than 50% of the companies surveyed correctly measure their improvement system and only 26% analyze the Degree employee satisfaction. That is, resources are allocated to activities that require the participation of people but then the satisfaction of this participation is not valued accordingly, the authors point out.

The conclusions of work were drawn from surveys of those responsible for continuous improvement activities in 147 industrial companies in Navarra and the Basque Country (77%), although companies from the rest of the country were also included. The study as a whole is part of the doctoral thesis being carried out by engineer Daniel Jurburg, under the supervision of TECNUN professor Elisabeth Viles and Martín Tanco, professor at the University of Montevideo.

Worker commitment, a factor in the core topic

The results obtained show that as companies achieve higher scores, they have a better perception of having an improvement system, as well as greater employee participation and commitment.

However, this condition seems necessary but not sufficient for the successful operation of a Continuous Improvement System (CIS). The interdependence between the different elements and routines that make up the QMS explains why it is often not enough to choose just a few techniques and put them on internship without taking into account the people who must apply them.

The results of this survey were presented in Pamplona, in a workshop organized by the Navarra Foundation for Excellence and attended by more than 40 industrial organizations, such as Volkswagen Navarra, ArcelorMittal Gipuzkoa, Tutti Pasta, Berlys Corporación, Bosch Siemens H, Fagor Ederlan, M. Torres, Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Florette, ALSA, General Mills. and SNA Europe, among others.