Phillip Marksberry, Fazleena Badurdeen, Bob Gregory and Ken Kreafle
The purpose of this paper is to analyze Toyota's management directed kaizen activities named Jishuken. Currently, there are many variations in understanding how Toyota develops…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze Toyota's management directed kaizen activities named Jishuken. Currently, there are many variations in understanding how Toyota develops its managers to support daily kaizen, especially when Toyota managers have different levels of understanding of Toyota production system (TPS) and skills essential in applying TPS.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper will study Toyota's Jishuken process in the context of strengthening TPS and analyze both the technical and management aspects of Toyota's Jishuken process.
Findings
When integrated into plant‐wide long‐term continuous improvement, Jishukens can be extremely effective at developing management's ability to conduct and to teach others to conduct daily kaizen and problem solving. This paper shows how Jishukens function within the TPS system to continuously improve managers' understanding of TPS both for their own concrete problem solving and to support manager's roles in communicating, coaching and teaching problem solving to production workers.
Originality/value
Most attempts to imitate Toyota fail because techniques are adopted piecemeal with little understanding of why they exist or what kind of organizational culture is needed to keep them alive. Jishuken serves as an example of a technique which is successful only when embedded within the right organizational culture.
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James Simon and Mishaela Houle
The purpose of this paper is to discuss improvement of the business of health care delivery through the application of systematic problem solving. This was strengthened by…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to discuss improvement of the business of health care delivery through the application of systematic problem solving. This was strengthened by recurrence prevention through standardization at every level transforming into culture.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology utilized is set derived from the true fiber and fabric of Toyota, the Toyota Business Practice (TBP) or eight-step problem solving and its translation into health care thinking by aligning to the process of clinical diagnosis of patients. The methodology that gives energy and direction to TBP is Hoshin Kanri, a Japanese approach to strategic planning. When you combine focus and purpose through strategic direction alongside a culture of systematic problem solving you get results.
Findings
The application of the Toyota mindset resulted in a cultural shift which built on the strength of the current organizational culture. This approach had a broad impact on the program impacting leadership and management roles, improved employee engagement, complete visibility of organizational priorities, improved system performance, visibility and awareness of the vision and defined measures that drive the health care system. This has also resulted in cost diversions of approximately five million dollars CDN.
Originality/value
A grass roots application of real-time problem solving through strategic alignment.
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Guilherme Tortorella, Desirée H. van Dun and Amanda Gundes de Almeida
The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership behaviors associated with lean healthcare (LH) implementation and how they develop throughout the change process.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership behaviors associated with lean healthcare (LH) implementation and how they develop throughout the change process.
Design/methodology/approach
After a systematic literature review of 107 peer-reviewed articles on lean leaders’ behaviors, the authors undertook a one-year mixed-methods study of 12 leaders within a Brazilian public hospital undergoing LH implementation. Multivariate data analysis techniques were employed.
Findings
The literature review showed some convergence between effective lean leader behaviors in both manufacturing and healthcare work settings, implying that lean leaders’ behaviors are generalizable to other contexts than manufacturing. The empirical findings suggest that LH implementation needs leaders to demonstrate a set of task-oriented behaviors, especially if short-term results are mandatory. More mature lean leaders should also continue developing their relations-oriented behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
While the contingency theory assumes that contexts influence (lean) practices adoption, leadership behaviors may not be bound to the work context. The finding resembles the augmentation effect of leadership whereby more mature lean leaders adopt both task- and relations-oriented behaviors.
Originality/value
Longitudinal studies in this field are scarce, regardless of the industrial setting. Many manufacturing and healthcare organizations crave for knowledge about lean leader behaviors throughout the lean implementation journey in order to enhance the effectiveness of their often-struggling lean initiatives. The insights derived from this study could help organizations to adjust their expectations as well as identify behavioral gaps and needs in terms of soft skills development among their leaders.
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Guilherme Tortorella, Diego Fettermann, Michel Anzanello and Rapinder Sawhney
The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between the behavioral orientation of leaders from different hierarchical levels and the implementation phase…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically examine the relationship between the behavioral orientation of leaders from different hierarchical levels and the implementation phase of the lean manufacturing (LM) roadmap. In addition, it also aims at analyzing the influence of inherent contextual variables related to leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
The proposed method relies on both qualitative and quantitative approaches, since it combines and numerically assesses the results of semi-structured interviews with lean experts, in addition to evaluating a cross-sectional survey with 225 leaders from different Brazilian companies that are undergoing LM implementation.
Findings
The findings support the existence of a transient leadership style along the LM implementation, which is evidenced in terms of task and relation orientation and may vary according to the hierarchical level. Furthermore, the context does matter with regard to leadership style orientation along the LM roadmap phases, although not all variables matter to the same extent.
Originality/value
LM implementation is about changing both technical and socio-cultural aspects, which can be seen as the essence of leadership. The relevant question that arises is whether leaders’ behaviors from different hierarchical levels should be adapted according to the maturity of LM implementation and the contextual variables that surround leadership.
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Guilherme Tortorella and Flávio Fogliatto
The purpose of this paper is to determine leadership styles at each hierarchic level that best support the LM implementation process in a given company.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine leadership styles at each hierarchic level that best support the LM implementation process in a given company.
Design/methodology/approach
To achieve that, the authors propose a method that combines information from two sources in three major steps. First, using opinions from experts on lean implementation from an activity sector of interest the authors determine leadership styles that best suit each phase of the LM roadmap for that sector. Next, the authors analyze a specific company within the activity sector to determine: at which lean roadmap phase the company is at the moment; and the style of its current leaderships at each hierarchical level. Finally, the authors combine information from previous steps to diagnose the suitability of company’s leaderships to its lean implementation needs.
Findings
The method points at improvement alternatives that may be developed simultaneously at different leadership hierarchical levels in companies. Further, using the matrix of ideal leadership styles, companies may be able to identify implementation phases in the lean process that are poorly served by current leadership styles, anticipating problems and developing HRM practices to mitigate them. That is quite relevant, since changes in leadership behaviors and expectations may take longer time to be implemented; therefore, it is important to understand these opportunities and have a clear vision of current gaps within the company.
Originality/value
The identification of leaderships’ attributes and behaviors in companies at different phases of the lean implementation roadmap contributes to the existing body of knowledge on lean manufacturing. The method is intended as a supporting tool for lean implementation, as it enables the assessment of gaps in leadership behaviors in the organization, and directs to improvements according to the phase of lean implementation. The goal is to complement existing lean roadmaps by driving improvements in leadership-related aspects of the implementation process.