Impact of Operational Excellence on Organisational Performance: A Case Study of First National Bank Zambia

Operational excellence and innovation have been found to be key factors for proper performance and growth of an organization. This study looked at the performance of the operational model at First National Bank – Zambia (FNBZ) and how the operations model impacted on the performance of the bank. The aim of the research was to create an innovative strategic operational excellence framework that will enable, based on defined organisational performance dimensions, to be applied in order to improve and sustain organisational performance. The model used in this study was developed from existing literature on organizational diagnostic models and from a broad literature that identified the factors influencing the performance of an organization based on operations. The results of this study also provide key information on the relationship between the performance measurement process and organizational performance and uncovers the close relation between operational excellence and innovation both key to strategy development and management. The specific objectives of the study included describing the dominant characteristics of the operations; establishing the barriers of implementing a strategic operational excellence model; and evaluating the impact of the current operations model on organization performance at FNBZ. The research process followed a pragmatic philosophical approach and was informed by a cross-sectional case study. A mixed-method research design was applied. The study population included employees as well as customers of the bank with random sampling of 32 customers and 100 employees and purposive sampling of targeted employees for interview sessions.