Senior managers' perspectives on lean implementation Online publication date: Thu, 19-May-2016
by Jonas Renström; Camilla Niss
International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research (IJLER), Vol. 1, No. 4, 2015
Abstract: Many lean implementations fail; previous research suggests an important reason is that senior managers are unable to support the implementation. We investigate this problem by exploring senior managers' perspectives on lean implementation, aiming to identify possible obstacles to their support of implementation processes. The paper is based on an explorative case study at a global manufacturing company implementing lean. Interviews were performed with senior managers at the top two hierarchical levels, the president and area presidents. The analysis revealed four main obstacles: 1) competence development needs of senior management were not addressed; 2) the lean development initiative was not connected to company strategy; 3) key players within the organisation were initially not involved or tasked; 4) the initiative was not system wide. The results stress the importance of initial competence evaluation and development of senior management in lean development.
Existing subscribers:
Go to Inderscience Online Journals to access the Full Text of this article.
If you are not a subscriber and you just want to read the full contents of this article, buy online access here.Complimentary Subscribers, Editors or Members of the Editorial Board of the International Journal of Lean Enterprise Research (IJLER):
Login with your Inderscience username and password:
Want to subscribe?
A subscription gives you complete access to all articles in the current issue, as well as to all articles in the previous three years (where applicable). See our Orders page to subscribe.
If you still need assistance, please email subs@inderscience.com
Our Blog 
Follow us on Twitter 
Visit us on Facebook