The paper utilises a form of Action Research, known as the ‘Constructive Research Approach’ (CRA), to explore how project teams could engender the development of process improvement (PI) routines in a higher education context. The methodology of Mediated Discourse Analysis (MDA), an ethnographic approach to researching practice, is used to trace the development of PI routines over time. The findings showed that process owners and actors who were engaged because of ‘power’ of an initial pre-project Kaizen event, then became more passive participants in the ensuing traditional improvement project, with reduced performances of the PI routines. The main contrition stemming from the work was the abduction of a hybrid model of participatory engagement, that of a ‘Kaizen series’. This extended series of events affords the development of two key routines, ‘the working with a process map’ and the process analysis routine, by increasing opportunity for actors to perform these routines both within and between events, and by balancing the facilitation and empowerment routines. In addition, the Kaizen series is not dependent on any individual PI methodology. The resulting Kaizen series offers PI practitioners an opportunity to blend the best aspects of two different modes of engagement, Kaizen events and project improvement teams.

该论文利用一种被称为“建设性研究方法”（CRA）的行动研究形式来探索项目团队如何在高等教育环境中促进过程改进（PI）程序的发展。中介话语分析 (MDA) 方法是一种研究实践的人种学方法，用于跟踪 PI 程序随时间的发展。研究结果表明，由于最初的项目前改善活动的“力量”而参与的过程所有者和参与者，然后在随后的传统改进项目中变得更加被动，PI 例程的表现降低。这项工作的主要贡献是对参与式参与的混合模型的绑架，即“Kaizen 系列”。这一系列扩展的事件提供了两个关键例程的开发，“使用流程图”和流程分析例程，通过增加参与者在事件内和事件之间执行这些例程的机会，并通过平衡促进和授权例程。此外，Kaizen 系列不依赖于任何单独的 PI 方法。由此产生的 Kaizen 系列为 PI 从业者提供了融合两种不同参与模式、Kaizen 活动和项目改进团队的最佳方面的机会。