Because of an increasing demand from customers and changing external environment, there is a need for continuous improvements, for both manufacturing and service organizations, to meet these demands. Manufacturing organizations have been working systematically with quality improvements for a long time, but it has not been as common for service organizations. Because of that the methods to use for implementation of the systematic improvements have not been designed to fit service organizations, and not either for public organizations. The purpose of this thesis is to explain if and why the Swedish Road Administration’s organizational culture and handling of ideas and deviation support an implementation of continuous improvement management. The study of the Road Administration’s performance is being compared to Clarion Hotel, as Clarion is a Swedish good example in continuous improvements in service organizations. To fulfil the purpose, a case study is made at the Road Administration organization, where a quantitative study of the organizational culture is made, and also a qualitative study of the performance. The quantitative study is based on Detert et al (2000) eight important values for effective continuous improvements that Detert et al. has connected to eight dimensions of organizational culture. The qualitative study is based on factors that previous studies have shown to be important for success of continuous improvements. The results show that the Road Administration’s organizational culture can support a system of continuous improvement, but there are subcultures that have opposite values within the organization. Within some cultural dimensions there is a strong culture, which is positive as these values support the improvement system. The results also show that the performance of Clarion Hotel and the Road Administration is well in line with many of the critical success factors, but there are some areas in need of improvement. The two organizations are differing in their performance at certain points, which can be an contributing cause of the fact that Clarion Hotel is interpreted to be ahead of the Road Administration, in terms of a successful implementation of continuous improvement. The major differences are the degree of involvement of the employees and their knowledge of the improvement system, as well as the lack of strategic focus on improvements in the Road Administration, and that t...
