IMPQI315 – Develop an improvement culture in food operations

Overview 

This standard is about the skills and knowledge needed for you to develop an organisational improvement culture, to support your organisation's drive to improve food operations. This is important in increasing productivity and success of manufacture, processing and supply within the food supply chain. An engaged improvement culture, clear about the vision and objectives for improvement, is essential to driving and maintaining the momentum for improvement in food operations.

You will need to show and understand you can instil your company's strategy, vision and hence culture by developing and monitoring policies and procedures which drive improvement and make a difference. You also need to show that you can lead by example, communicate effectively, value and support others and motivate the workforce. You will need to evaluate progress and use this to inform future development and progress timelines. You will need to support organisational values with your personal actions, behaviours, attitudes and communications.

This standard applies to you if you are a director, manager or consultant who has responsibility for developing culture during your organisation's change and improvement activity, in food or drink operations including manufacturing, processing, packing or supply chain activities.

Performance criteria

You must be able to:

Scope the organisation's values and assumptions

  1. confirm the existing values and assumptions within the organisation
  2. determine the scope for developing the organisation's culture
  3. plan the development of an improvement culture

Develop a culture to support improvement

  1. develop an improvement cultural vision
  2. develop strategy for values and assumptions to support the improvement culture
  3. develop organisational development objectives for the improvement culture
  4. consult with relevant personnel and stakeholders
  5. receive and collate feedback from consultation
  6. agree on values and assumptions to underpin an improvement culture

Implement cultural improvements

  1. reinforce agreed values with your personal behaviour, actions and words
  2. communicate agreed values to the workforce and provide motivation to put into practice
  3. support agreed values with policies, programmes and systems
  4. take opportunities to counter instances of conflict amongst colleagues with agreed values
  5. continuously monitor and improve values and the way they are applied

Evaluate cultural improvement progress

  1. obtain feedback about cultural development from relevant personnel
  2. analyse issues arising from feedback
  3. evaluate cultural progress to support improvement in accordance with objectives
  4. report outcomes to the relevant personnel

Knowledge and understanding

You need to know and understand

  1. your organisation's vision, strategy and objectives for improvement
  2. how to develop a cultural vision and set of organisational development objectives to underpin your organisation's improvement strategy
  3. why it is important to define, and communicate your organisational culture
  4. what the values and assumptions are which are critical forming and supporting individual and team performance
  5. what the key factors and barriers are that influence the development of organisational culture in your organisation
  6. what the relationship is between organisational culture, the improvement strategy and organisational performance
  7. how the development of an improvement culture can be effectively managed across all areas of your organisation
  8. how to take into account the regulatory, social and ethical framework for cultural development within your organisation
  9. the current culture in your organisation and the gap between existing and future cultural vision
  10. how to develop policies and procedures to support an improvement culture in your organisation
  11. the importance of individual actions at work to underpin the development and sustainability of your improvement culture
  12. how organisational and individual performance is underpinned by organisational values and assumptions
  13. the external and internal factors that influence organisational culture
  14. the principles of managing culture change and development
  15. the main types of organisational culture, including their advantages and disadvantages, in the sector
  16. how the aspirations of people are important in developing cultural values
  17. the role of leaders, directors and managers in upholding and supporting cultural value

Keywords: Food; Operations; Manufacturing; Excellence; Improvement; Culture