Determinants of total employee involvement: a case study of a cutting tool company

This research paper explains a case study conducted to examine the factors that influence total employee involvement (TEI) at the organisation level. The business excellence department of Taegutec, a cutting tool manufacturing company in India, implemented various employee participation events with the aim of achieving 70% to challenge the world class manufacturing awards like CII - Exim Bank - Business Excellence Award. Employee involvement on initiatives like 5S, kaizen, QCC, and business excellence models should result in lean projects that help the organisation achieve the world class levels of both the customer and employee satisfaction. Unfortunately, Taegutec was not able to achieve the results and hence management decided to embark on an extensive analysis to identify the cause of poor results of TEI. A descriptive study was developed and results showed that non-availability of a TEI implementation system, lack of awareness levels, weak reward systems, improper and partial implementation of TEI across the various functions of organisations were eventually leading to lack of team work resulting in a culture focused on individuality. An engineering manager can employ the results offered in this article to better prepare their organisations for the implementation of new processes and initiatives.