Title: Psychological factors affecting the sustainability of 5S lean

Authors: Pat McNamara

Addresses: Willington Park, Westbury, Limerick City, Ireland

Abstract: At Company X, 5S is being revised due to failure. Rather than focus on the systematic failures, the aim is to psychologically assess the participants involved and how they are affected by lean practices. The literature review establishes that lean manufacturing has failed to consider human aspects in the past, resulting in undesirable working conditions that can negatively affect commitment, and goes on to identify the role human behaviour plays in the performance of operating systems. Through behavioural operations research, it is demonstrated that taking into account cognitive factors can lead to fundamentally different predictions about the performance of operating systems. Furthermore, it is shown how cognitive biases can cloud judgement, and how cognitive repairs may be used to find a remedy to an otherwise misinterpreted situation. The overall purpose of this case-study is to highlight the benefits of behavioural operations research and the need for awareness training amongst managers.

Keywords: lean enterprise; lean manufacturing; organisational behaviour; management awareness; sustainability; psychological factors; Taylorism; 5S lean; cognitive biases; cognitive repairs; operations management; decision making; operating systems; commitment; behavioural operations; awareness training; case study.

DOI: 10.1504/IJLER.2014.062278

International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research, 2014 Vol.1 No.1, pp.94 - 111

Received: 26 Jul 2012
Accepted: 11 Jul 2013
Published online: 05 Jul 2014 *