Synergising Lean Six Sigma with human resource practices: evidence from literature arena

Abstract

Human resource (HR) is one of the essential features of business activities. Moreover, the success rate of the business depends upon the people who are directly or indirectly involved with the activities. However, many firms ignore this key aspect of success and primarily target the production. This paper focuses on reviewing the impact of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) on HR practices from the literature arena. The study has reviewed 68 research articles through the adoption of Tranfield et al. (2003) methodology. The methodology consists of three phases: (1) planning the review, (2) conducting the review and (3) reporting the review. From the review, key findings concerning countries, authors and research methodologies were found. Further, the study has highlighted the research gaps found from the literature reviews. It is evident that LSS and HR go along very well and can be used as a strategy for organisational excellence. This paper can serve the readers in understanding the spread of LSS and HR practices in industries before LSS implementation. Moreover, for academicians, this work provides a comprehensive list of papers for research. Further, the study has proposed the managerial implication with the agenda for the future research.