Enhancement of Operational Excellence in the Retail Service Workshop Processes: A Case Study of General Motors East Africa Limited.

Abstract

Operational excellence is a philosophy of leadership, teamwork and problem solving techniques resulting in continuous improvement throughout the organisation by focusing on the needs of the customer, empowering employees, and optimizing existing activities in the process. GMEA embarked on putting up a Customer Care Centre (CCC) to cater for retail sales of vehicles, parts and service and was officially opened in 2004. Since then business has grown beyond the capacity it was intended to serve thereby creating customer dissatisfaction. Thus the objective of the study emphasises on the enhancement of operational excellence in improving the retail service workshop processes. The study used a descriptive design. The target populations of this study were the internal staffs and external customers of GMEA in Kenya. The study used both primary and secondary data. Primary data was collected by use of questionnaires. Questionnaires were used since they addressed specific questions. Quantitative data was analyzed using Statistical techniques. The key findings of the study were that integration of operational excellence initiatives into the company’s strategy affected implementation to a great extent. The customers at GMEA indicated that RSW processes increased service quality, customer satisfaction and service performance to a moderate extent. GMEA staffs were neutral as to whether training helps them improve their understanding of the concepts of quality, process and quality improvement strategies or not. The study concluded that there were some improvements but some challenges hindered the implementation process of operational excellence. Integration of operational excellence initiatives into the company’s strategy and ability to measure results affected implementation. The customers had doubts as to whether RSW processes increased service quality, customer satisfaction and service performance. The study recommended that for GMEA to deploy right and required talents it should identify a viable career progression within the organization and also present an attractive compensation package. Secondly, GMEA RSW Processes should consistently align its products and resources with its brand positioning.

Key words: Operational Excellence, Leadership, Performance Management