Strengthening employee participation and commitment to continuous improvement through middle manager trustworthy behaviours

Implementing continuous improvement (CI) systems is one of the most effective ways to increase operational excellence. One pillar that determines the success of a CI strategy is a climate of commitment and participation among workers. Recent work has focused on identifying organisational factors that directly influence worker participation. However, when analysing these elements, the importance that middle managers have when creating a work environment that enhances employee involvement stands out. The aim of this paper is to identify specific middle manager trustworthy behaviours that impact the level of commitment and participation in a group of line workers in a specific CI environment. To accomplish this, we present a list of specific behaviours based on a concept mapping conducted among a representative group of industrial supervisors and operators in the north of Spain. These identified behaviours define managerial practices that could directly enhance the level of worker commitment and participation.