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Introduction
Building a creative and a learning organization is by many authors recognized as a prerequisite for business excellence (Evans & Lindsay, 1999). Creativity as well as learning is necessary in order to achieve problem-solving abilities and thus continuous improvements (de Bono, 1996), which are the cornerstones of total quality management (TQM) and business excellence. The actual causal relationships between these three concepts are, however, not so well understood.
The aim of this paper is, therefore, to establish the causal relationships between the creative organization, the learning organization and business excellence. Business excellence is in this respect defined as "the overall way of working that results in balanced stakeholder (customer, employees, society, shareholders) satisfaction so increasing the probability of long term success as a business" (Ian Raisbeck, EFQM).
These causal relationships will therefore initially be based on theoretical considerations comparing three identified methodologies of business excellence with the three different levels of learning (Argyris & Schon, 1978; Kolb et al., 1979; Morgan, 1986) and the mental process of creativity (de Bono, 1996; Majaro, 1992).
When the causal relationships have been established theoretically they will be tested statistically through the statistical technique called structural equation modelling (SEM). The data for this analysis come from the European Leadership Survey, where 202 chief executives in the Benelux countries, Denmark, France, Germany and the UK, participated (Dahlgaard et al., 1997, 1998).
This test will reveal whether the suggested model corresponds with the mental models of the chief executives that participated in the survey.
The relationship between business excellence, learning and creativity
An excellent company is usually described as an organization that is able to achieve 750 points or more when measured against the EFQM Model for Business Excellence (Dahlgaard et al., 1998). But what is special about the philosophy business excellence (i.e. TQM) compared to other management philosophies?
One of the main features distinguishing TQM and business excellence from other management philosophies is the focus on continuously improving the perfomance of the organization as a total system (Senge in Costin, 1994).
Continuous improvements require standardized problem-solving activities if they are not to degenerate to an inefficient top-down activity (Dahlgaard et al., 1998). The most common approach to such a standardization is the Deming cycle, also known as the...