IMPACT OF STANDARD WORK FOR LEADERS ON REDUCING UNUSED EMPLOYEE CREATIVITY DURING LEAN IMPLEMENTATION

Michael Mogaramedi,Annlize Marnewick,Hannelie Nel

doi:10.7166/31-2-1842

Michael Mogaramedi, Annlize Marnewick + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.7166/31-2-1842

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Abstract

Organisations implement lean in production to improve continuously, but implementation may be unsuccessful due to ineffective leadership. Also, organisations have not eliminated the eighth lean waste — namely, the waste of unused employee creativity. The research investigated standard work for leaders in reducing unused employee creativity. The case study, conducted in an automobile manufacturer, indicated that worker ideas increased when employees were trained in lean, and when standard work for leaders was implemented. The research concluded that standard work for leaders reduces the waste of unused employee creativity, and suggests a lean implementation model that can be validated with further work.

Highlights

Many organisations have attempted to implement lean production [1]
The questionnaire results indicated that standard work for leaders in the physical logistics department was not optimally implemented
It was concluded that physical logistics does not optimally use the creativity of their employees, and that effective coaching had not been implemented

Summary

Introduction

Many organisations have attempted to implement lean production [1] These attempts often fail to realise the same benefits that were experienced by the Toyota Motor Company (hereafter referred to as ‘Toyota’). This is primarily because people only concentrate on the visible attributes of lean (including lean tools, practices, and principles) instead of on the invisible attributes of lean, such as leadership and creativity [2]. Rother [2] stated that the invisible attributes of lean are inclusive of the actions, routines, and thought patterns of the leaders in the organisation. Mann [4] defines these invisible lean attributes as ‘standard work for leaders’ — a defined set of tasks or activities that leaders perform daily [5]

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