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Research Article

Workplace Innovation through Employee’s Participation and Learning: A Case of KTP Industries Inc.

Park · Park

Chungbuk National University

Published: January 2008 · Vol. 12, No. 1 · pp. 27-58
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Abstract

KTP Industries Inc.(KTP) was established in 1996 by KOLON group as a joint venture in alliance with Toray, a Japanese firm. It was growing in a POM (polyoxymethylene) business which produced various types of polyacetal products. Because a POM business needed heavy investments in production facilities and a pilot technology has been imported from the joint partner at first, KTP has experienced very low productivity in production and suffered a continuous loss in its early business years. Faced with this cumulative crisis, KTP adopted some innovative work practices in November 2006. These new workplace transformation practices consisted of a restructuring of work team shift and carrying out a new training program for the increase of the skill and competence of the employee. But what is the most important characteristic was that KTP has implemented its workplace innovation by the participative and bottom-up approach. Although top management and external consulting institution gave some critical advices and supporting, most transformation programs were initiated by the employee themselves. As this workplace transformation has successfully been executed, organizational performance changed drastically. Finally KTP has relieved from deficit and generated actual profit in the 2007. As a result, it could share an incentive according to the profit sharing program of KOLON group for the first time since the establishment of the company. By providing an account of the firm’s workplace transformation process, this case study attempts to give the readers a chance to analyze the factors which caused the success of workplace innovation.
Keywords: 작업장 혁신참여적 접근업무 프로세스 개선근무교대제학습체계