Process inconsistencies & management paradox
Identification and elimination of process inconsistencies is a crucial aspect of improving the competitiveness and performance of an enterprise. Analysis and understanding of inconsistencies determines the success or failure of improvement initiatives undertaken by enterprises. A process inconsistency may be considered a negative effect of internal factors on an organization’s capability. Moreover, it could be perceived as an effect of a misfit between organizational characteristics and contingencies. The main purpose of the paper is to identify the sources of process inconsistencies and examine attempts at their elimination in manufacturing enterprises. To this purpose, the paper proposes an adaptation of the classification tree analysis. This approach makes it possible to identify omitted areas of process improvement in leading manufacturing enterprises from North-Eastern Poland. The results of the analysis indicate that the attempts to eliminate problems in the examined enterprises are not fully-effective. The majority of the inconsistencies reported by employees and customers were not lastingly eliminated. The dominant source of inconsistencies was related to process and organizational aspects. The paper is intended to cast light on some of the key barriers to the implementation of the process approach through tracking inconsistencies in manufacturing enterprises.