No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Lessons from higher education: Adapting Lean Six Sigma to account for structural differences in application domains
Abstract
Lean Six Sigma is applied in a wide range of economic domains ranging from industry to services to healthcare. These are all domains that have markedly different structures. Recently a set of papers has appeared indicating that the successes in applying Lean Six Sigma to new domains such as government, healthcare and education are falling short of expectations. We discovered by exploring the case for Lean Six Sigma in higher education a set of structural variables that explain differences in application domains. These differences are relevant to the application of Lean Six Sigma in general. These differences and the extent in which Lean Six Sigma can cater for them explain some part of the successes and failures in the application of Lean Six Sigma outside its domain of origin: high volume, repetitive production.
... This approach of identifying a single set of CSFs, qualified as "normative" and "prescriptive" (Rijnders and Boer, 2004) (Wiegel and Hadzialic, 2015), organizational culture (Bortolotti et al., 2015), national culture (Kokkinou and van Kollenburg, 2020), or stage of implementation of the Lean programme. This leads to this study's first research question: ...
... Yet, few academic papers have documented the successful implementation of this topdown, integrated approach (Nadeau, 2017;Svensson et al., 2015). A possible explanation for this is that Institutes of HE are structurally different from other industries and thus continuous improvement methodologies need to be adapted to account for these differences (Wiegel and Hadzialic, 2015). ...
... Three perspectives on the CSFs of Lean in HE were identified (RQ1) and linked to the implementation approach (RQ2) and national culture (RQ3). The study findings add to the evidence that institutes of HE are structurally different (Wiegel and Hadzialic, 2015) and differ in the way they implement Lean (RQ2). More than half of the participants described the implementation approach at their institute as being Bottom-Up. ...
Continuous improvement initiatives such as Lean in Higher Education (HE) institutes are an emerging topic for research. Under pressure to do more with less, institutes of HE are increasingly adopting the tools and methods of lean to improve their quality practices. Nevertheless, institutes of HE differ significantly from business organizations. The purpose of this study was to examine the critical success factors (CSFs) of continuous improvement in this homogeneous industry. Two other contextual factors, implementation approach and national culture, are examined. A mixed methods approach, combining Q-methodology, online surveys and interviews, was used to investigate the CSFs of lean implementation in HE. Participants were recruited from an international network of lean practitioners in HE. Using Q-methodology, three perspectives
of CSFs in HE were identified.
Lean implementation at institutes of HE is characterized by a bottom-up approach, involving mostly supporting processes. Contrary to business organizations, the role of management in the implementation of Lean in HE is limited and attention should instead be directed to employee empowerment and customer focus. The findings also showed that, at least for institutes of HE, organizational culture is more influential than national culture.
When management involvement is limited, a bottom-up implementation of lean is recommended, centered on improving university-wide supporting processes, promoting cross-departmental cooperation and overcoming the silo mentality. This approach requires an emphasis on a specific set of CSFs, namely, employee empowerment, sharing success stories and training.
The study findings enrich conceptually based lean implementation frameworks for
HE that advocate a top-down implementation approach.
... Yet, few academic papers have documented the successful implementation of this top-down, integrated approach [1,12]. A possible explanation for this is that Institutes of HE are structurally different from other industries and thus continuous improvement methodologies need to be adapted to account for these differences [15]. ...
... Yet, there is sufficient evidence to suggest that CSFs are context specific. The relative importance of CSFs may depend on the industry [15], organizational culture [17], national culture [18], or stage of implementation of the Lean programme. Q-Methodology, a qualitative approach that seeks to objectively and scientifically observe subjectivity [19], can overcome these two limitations. ...
... The second, "Top-Down," perspective identified through the Q-Methodology is therefore an idealistic view of how Lean should be implemented in HE, with only limited documented applications in HE [2]. This viewpoint does not do justice to the structural differences of the HE domain [15] and stands in stark contrast with the majority of documented implementations in HE, which follow a bottom-up approach. ...
The application of continuous improvement initiatives such as Lean in Higher Education Institutes is an emerging topic for research, as these organizations are increasingly adopting the tools and methods to improve their quality practices. Nevertheless, Institutes of Higher Education differ significantly from business organizations, which limits the applicability of previous research findings. Using Q-methodology, the present study examines the prevailing perspectives on critical success factors of Lean at Dutch Institutes of Higher Education. Findings show that Lean implementation at Institutes of Higher Education takes place bottom-up, with relatively little management involvement and commitment , and mostly involves supporting processes. This impedes the organizational culture change that needs to take place for Lean implementation to be sustainable in the long term, as successes are less visible to management, leading to less management involvement. However, as this is due to structural difference of Higher Education from other industries, it requires a different approach than the conventional, top-down approach prescribed in the literature. A bottom-up implementation of Lean is recommended, centered on improving university-wide supporting processes, promoting cross-departmental cooperation, and overcoming the silo mentality.
... Although many institutions have reported progress related to improvement, some have concomitantly described challenges to improvement, such as incorrect understandings of LHE tools and methodologies, aspects of organizational culture (e.g. resistance to change) and a lack of leadership support (Emiliani, 2015b(Emiliani, , 2015cRadnor and Bucci, 2011;Wiegel and Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015). At the time of this writing, there has been no systematic review or integration of the published LHE literature. ...
... Particularity of higher education. Some authors have proposed that Lean has been introduced into institutions of higher education without adjusting the models used in manufacturing settings, thus limiting improvements (Thirkell and Ashman, 2014;Wiegel and Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015). Douglas et al. observed that LHE had largely been applied to administrative operations and support services and warned, "if Lean is to avoid the fate of TQM, it must also be applied to academic processes" (Douglas et al., 2015, p. 979). ...
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to synthesize the accumulated body of research on Lean in higher education, draw conclusions to help guide successful Lean implementations and propose future research directions to establish a rich base of knowledge that informs both practice and research.
Design/methodology/approach
This literature review examines the academic literature regarding the use of Lean in higher education across 64 publications. EBSCO definitions were used to assess and present the synthesized results, which are detailed at the department/unit level and at the organizational level.
Findings
Overall, Lean appears to have significant and measurable value when used to improve academic and administrative operations in higher education. Such improvements are effective at the department/unit level or throughout the entire institution. However, implementing Lean within an institution is a serious undertaking that is most impactful if it involves long-term, strategic planning.
Research limitations/implications
The groundwork has been established for the development of conceptual frameworks to further guide Lean initiatives in higher education. Such frameworks, together with further integration of organizational development and change management literature will define best practices when implementing Lean locally and throughout the institution.
Originality/value
At the time of this writing, there has been no systematic review or integration of the published literature about Lean in higher education. This review provides a highly useful starting point for researchers interested in further developing theory about quality in academic institutions.
... Therefore, healthcare organisation should adopt some approaches which successfully eliminate the non-value added activities from the service process and concentrate on the reduction of patients waiting time. Many approaches such as total quality management (TQM), Lean Management (LM), Six Sigma (SS) have been approached by the authors which can eliminate non-value added activities from the process and improve the service quality of the organisation (Hackman and Wageman, 1995;Weisman et al., 2001;Wiegel and Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015;Al-Zain et al., 2019). LM strategy can eliminate the wastes and SS can rectify the variation presented in the current process (DelliFraine et al., 2010;Sodhi et al., 2020). ...
... Numerous researches conducted in educational sector have shown that the implementation of Process Management concepts brings positive effects to the organizational and technical system of HEIs (Balzer et al., 2016;Laredo, 2007;Lisowska and Ziemiñski, 2012;Mainardes et al., 2010;Wiegel and Hadzialic, 2015). However, the sustainability of these effects is often questioned (Bargh et al., 1996;Comm and Mathaisel, 2005;Grudowski and Leseure, 2013;Grudowski and Szefler, 2015). ...
The paper deals with the phenomenon of lean management in higher education analyzed within the context of internationalisation process in Polish higher education as a means of ensuring inclusive global higher education space. Lean management is looked upon as one of the 21st century models of university management transplanted from the sphere of private enterprises and business companies’ management. The empirical analysis has been conducted with the use of statistical data provided by the official website of Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Republic of Poland. The data have been collected in accordance with the following internationalisation process indicators: amount of bilateral Memoranda of Understanding; Inbound Mobility: number of foreign students who have completed the full cycle bachelor's / master's degree; Inbound Mobility: number of foreign students who have completed the full cycle PhD’s degree; Inbound Mobility: participation in Quin Jadwiga Fund granting schemes; Inbound Mobility: participation in Erasmus / Erasmus+ Programme; Outbound Mobility: participation in Erasmus / Erasmus+ Programme; number of outbound mobile students in accordance with bilateral agreements; number of inbound mobile students in accordance with bilateral agreements; number of outbound mobile staff in accordance with bilateral agreements; number of inbound mobile staff in accordance with bilateral agreements. The collected data have shown gradual increase of internationalisation process indicators and allowed concluding that the introduction and support of lean management principles in higher education promotes the intensification of the internationalisation process.
... Therefore, healthcare organisation should adopt some approaches which successfully eliminate the non-value added activities from the service process and concentrate on the reduction of patients waiting time. Many approaches such as total quality management (TQM), Lean Management (LM), Six Sigma (SS) have been approached by the authors which can eliminate non-value added activities from the process and improve the service quality of the organisation (Hackman and Wageman, 1995;Weisman et al., 2001;Wiegel and Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015;Al-Zain et al., 2019). LM strategy can eliminate the wastes and SS can rectify the variation presented in the current process (DelliFraine et al., 2010;Sodhi et al., 2020). ...
... It is commonly and erroneously held that LT should primarily be implemented in the manufacturing sector, which is distant from education (Antony, 2014). There is certainly a strong argument to be made that LT, where it has been introduced into education, has not received proper adjustments, and the models found in the manufacturing sector restrict the implementation of LTE (Balzer et al. 2016;Thirkell & Ashman, 2014;Wiegel & Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015). In addition, educational institutions are communities that exhibit complex dynamics: to a certain extent, it is anticipated that employees in education will resist change, as occurs everywhere, in any system change. ...
Education is a valuable asset that contributes much to economic growth and social development. Due to the economic downturn of the last decade, education is under increased pressure to deliver quality, improve efficiency and reduce costs, while adhering to stakeholders’ expectations. Lean thinking (LT) is an approach that aims to improve processes and customer satisfaction, while managing costs and demands for continuous improvement. The beneficial implementation of LT in the manufacturing sector led this concept to evolve into a managerial paradigm with wider applicability to various sectors and practices, including education. The present study undertook a systematic literature review (SLR) of LT in education (LTE) to document its implementation. The SLR used a number of search criteria, resulting in a total of 47 scholarly articles, published from 2003 to mid-2018 in 20 scientific journals, being identified for further examination and discussion. The study produced a comprehensive mapping of recent trends and content of the literature on LTE from various methodological and empirical perspectives. This approach enabled the selected articles to be classified and compared according to relevant features such as publication data, timeline distribution, geographic base of operations, tools, keywords and results. It also oriented the LTE literature within two frameworks to document (a) the maturity of the given study in the research lifecycle and (b) the evolution of LTE research over time. The articles reviewed were thoroughly examined, enabling us to identify limitations or deficiencies that could indicate future research directions.
... Resulta interesante nombrar el proyecto que se ejecutó en una IES no especificada para reducir la deserción estudiantil utilizando la metodología Lean Six Sigma con la estructura DMAIC, se demostró que resulta viable para este tipo de problemas aplicar esta metodología, sin embargo, al ser un primer proyecto de este tipo se presentan barreras importantes por superar [51]. [53], [54], [18], [55], [48], [20], [56], [38], [13], [57], [58], [25], [28], [14], [40], [59], [47], [50], [60], [61], [62] 21 2 Mejorar el sistema de calidad y acreditación de las IES [54], [9], [48], [63], [64], [56], [38], [10], [57], [26], [59], [52], [47], [65], [61], [62] 16 3 Mejorar eficiencia y efectividad de procesos [18], [48], [1], [66], [20], [4], [10], [38], [13], [26], [50], [60], [65], [61], 14 4 ...
The methodologies of Lean Manufacturing, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma (LSS) have been widely implemented in different industries, and higher education institutions (HEIs) have not been the exception; however, its implementation has had barriers to overcome. The purpose of this article is to present a review of case study articles of Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing or LSS implementation in HEIS and conceptual articles in order to analyze how these methodologies have been implemented in HEIs, motivators, and principles necessary for effective implementation. The review shows that improvement projects are implemented with these methodologies in academic, curriculum, service, and administrative processes. It was found that among the motivators most important are to reduce educational quality management costs; to improve the quality and accreditation system of the university; to respond to high competition; to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of academic and administrative processes; to increase stakeholder satisfaction, and to respond to budget reduction to universities. It is feasible to implement LSS if some principles are applied such as leadership and vision, the culture of change, training, adequate selection of projects, measurement of processes for decision-making, and commitment of senior management.
... LSS has also been applied in oil and gas supply chains (AL-Riyami et al., 2017), Operations (Buell and Turnipseed, 2003;Buell and Turnipseed, 2003;Bubshait and Al-Dosary, 2014;Mustapha et al., 2015), and engineering, procurement, and construction projects (Villanueva and Kovach, 2013). Moreover, there are several conceptual models presented in the literature for the implantation of LSS, integrating their concepts with benefits for manufacturing (Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014;Tortorella et al., 2016;Tortorella et al., 2018), sustainability Rocha-Lona et al., 2015;Chugani et al., 2017;Antony et al., 2017;Garza-Reyes et al., 2018), lean health care (De Koning et al., 2006;De Mast et al., 2011;Cheng and Chang, 2012;Robbins et al., 2012;Wiegel and Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015;Al Khamisi et al., 2017;Shokri, 2017), supply chain and logistics (Gutierrez-Gutierrez et al., 2016;Shaaban and Darwish, 2016) and construction projects (Al-Aomar, 2012). ...
Purpose
This paper aims to explore synergies between lean production (LP) and six sigma principles to propose a lean six sigma (LSS) framework for continuous and incremental improvement in the oil and gas sector. The Three-dimensional LSS framework seeks to provide various combinations about the integration between LP principles, DMAIC (define–measure–analyse–improve–control) cycle and plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle to support operations management needs.
Design/methodology/approach
The research method is composed of two main steps: diagnosis of current problems and proposition of a conceptual framework that qualitatively integrates synergistic aspects of LP and six sigma and analysis of the application of the construct through semi-structured interviews with leaders from oil and gas companies to assess and validate the proposed framework.
Findings
As a result, a conceptual framework of LSS is developed contemplating the integration of LP and six sigma and providing a systemic and holistic approach to problem-solving through continuous and incremental improvement in the oil and gas sector.
Originality/value
This research is different from previous studies because it integrates LP principles, DMAIC and PDCA cycles into a unique framework that fulfils a specific need of oil and gas sector. It presents a customized LSS framework that guides wastes and cost reduction while enhancing quality and reducing process variability to elevate efficiency in operations management of this sector. This is an original research that presents new and original scientific findings.
... The challenges for integrating LHE in universities include; misinterpretation and misconception of the lean concept by players (Dragomir and Surugiu, 2012;Torbjorn et al., 2017), thus weakening the improvement purpose of lean. Other challenges reported include; resistance to change associated with established culture and lack of management support (Emiliani, 2015;Wiegel and Brouwer-Hadzialic, 2015). In addition, LHE is perceived to have a long-term strategy in its planning and outcomes (Isaksson et al., 2013) and the perception of lean as a fixed set of tools (Hines et al., 2004;Langer, 2011). ...
Lean in higher education (LHE) is pursued for the reasons of improving efficiency and effectiveness of processes in High Education (HE). This review paper focuses on LHE within the university system to propose the implementation of lean culture and management into research and practices of South Africa universities, via a descriptive case study research method. The underpinning literature suggests that although the prospects of LHE has positive impact on both academic and non-academic practices in HE, however, research has also acknowledged some challenges. These challenges include; lack of strategic planning and limited knowledge on the interpretation of the lean philosophy and implementation. Three universities were used as case studies to ascertain their areas of successes with LHE implementation. This paper contributes to the LHE discourse and offers an option for the South Africa universities to strategize for improved academic outcomes and effective administrative processes. South African has been acknowledged to lead its Sub-Saharan African region in research and thus, the integration of LHE in the universities' systems would positively impact this region and beyond. Furthermore, the paper recommends specific contextual adaptations of models tailored to meet individual institutional requirements and at the same time promote sustainable development.
... In addition, Braglia et al. (2006) ascertained that the method "value stream mapping" (VSM) cannot be used directly for very complex manufacturing processes with merging flows. Wiegel and Brouwer (2015) argue in similar vein that differences in output and demand variation, co-producership and input variation require an adaptation of Lean techniques and methods in order to work in different application domains. ...
Lean manufacturing has proven to be an efficient means improving mass production. Recently, Lean is of increasing interest for high-variety, low-volume production environments. However, little research has been done in this field. Yet, this contribution provides a systematic literature analysis in conjunction with expert interviews and qualitative data analysis not only to demonstrate the status quo of Lean in HV/LV but to develop a research agenda. In addition, a Maturity Model is developed analysing Lean implementation through a combination of tools, processes, and interoperability supporting the assessment of the application of Lean in various in HV/LV environments.
Purpose
This study aims to develop and implement an initial framework for assessing progress in lean implementation within an higher education institution (HEI). It includes developing preliminary findings regarding the impacts of lean implementation in the HEI case organization and comparing outcomes from this assessment to outcomes from other published sources.
Design/methodology/approach
Existing literature on lean, particularly in an HEI context, was used to develop a preliminary lean assessment framework for HEIs. Quality and continuous improvement literature were also compared to the proposed assessment framework to further validate the approach. This assessment framework was then utilized to evaluate lean implementation at a large public university (LPU) in the U.S.
Findings
The paper presents the framework as well as the major findings from the Large Public University (LPU)’s assessment. The assessment findings are further compared to other HEI quality measures and lean assessments done in other industries. Overall, the findings suggest that the assessment framework provides valuable insight to HEI organizations implementing lean.
Originality/value
The research intends to support lean assessment standardization efforts by proposing a preliminary lean assessment framework for the HEI, grounded in research trends, research findings, identified gaps in the research, and case study outcomes. To the research team's knowledge, this is the first lean assessment framework proposed for HEIs and also contributes to research gaps related to service industry frameworks and those containing both practices and outcomes. The framework can be used by other researchers as a foundation for additional conceptual and empirical developments on the topic and by researchers and practitioners seeking to understand and assess lean implementation progress in the HEI.
The application of continuous improvement initiatives such as Lean in Higher Education Institutes is an emerging topic for research, as these organizations are increasingly adopting the tools and methods to improve their quality practices. Nevertheless, Institutes of Higher Education differ significantly from business organizations, which limits the applicability of previous research findings. Using Q-methodology, the present study examines the prevailing perspectives on critical success factors of Lean at Dutch and Belgian Institutes of Higher Education. Findings show that Lean implementation at Institutes of Higher Education takes place bottom-up, with relatively little management involvement and commitment, and mostly involves supporting processes. This impedes the organizational culture change that needs to take place for Lean implementation to be sustainable in the long term, as successes are less visible to management, leading to less management involvement. However, as this is due to structural difference of Higher Education from other industries, it requires a different approach than the conventional, top-down approach prescribed in the literature. A bottom-up implementation of Lean is recommended, centered on improving university-wide supporting processes, promoting cross-departmental cooperation, and overcoming the silo mentality.
The recent global pandemic, COVID-19, has compelled the higher education sector to resort to virtual mode of teaching from the traditional methods of classroom teaching thereby causing a huge paradigm shift. In order to make online learning a more positive and meaningful learning experience teachers must resort to reflective teaching. Reflective teaching is a skilled procedure that requires teachers to take logical decisions on their own teaching pedagogy, actions and provide meaningful guidance to students for better learning outcomes. Conscious lean educational leadership can holistically transform and enhance the leadership aptitude and responsibilities of academic communities virtually. The purpose of this chapter is to integrate reflective teaching as an innovative strategy in virtual mode for the development of conscious lean educational leadership in higher education. The findings yield that conscious lean educational leadership can serve as a great means to boost teachers’ morale and enrich their understanding during worldwide crisis. Reflective teaching can assist teachers to effectively contribute to virtual academic workplace through online educational tools. This chapter complements to extant literature on the amalgamation of conscious lean educational leadership by exploring how reflective teaching can assist to achieve the desired organizational goals in the virtual academic workplace.
The Lean approach and practices are spread around the world and are gaining space in different areas such as public services and Higher Education. The Lean focus on eliminating waste may be applied in every organization, but it is essential to know the wastes and treat them to create value to final process users. Based on this, the objective of the paper is to propose a lean management framework applied to waste management in public higher education institutions (HEI) and to test it into the field. The Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) methodology was utilized and applied in a Brazilian Higher Education Institution (HEI). The seven classical Lean manufacturing wastes plus the knowledge waste were taken to make a multi-criteria matrix composed of 24 wastes. The wastes were scored and categorized according to the answers of the directors and vice directors of the HEI studied. As the main result, this study proposes a waste management framework with examples to orientate managers as well as academic and service university staff about wastes. Also, the results demonstrate that loss of knowledge and over-processing wastes are the most relevant to be treated at the university campuses. The waste prioritization allows universities to organize their activities and select tools or practices to optimize their efforts to create value for final users. This study advances in the theoretical and practical field by showing a simple way to incorporate lean practices and values in public service organizations and HEI.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to respond to the increasing demands that education currently faces and develop a structured approach for the implementation of lean thinking (LT) in primary and secondary education (P&SE) and empirically validated it.
Design/methodology/approach
An extended literature review was conducted of studies on LT in education, service and manufacturing, in which a preliminary list was formed of LT dimensions, which were subsequently reviewed by a focus group. An instrument was generated, which was distributed to 1,400 education professionals, and 394 replies were received. The measures were tested for validity and reliability. After the first round of analyses, measures were tested further to strengthen the proposed instrument.
Findings
The findings confirmed that the instrument developed is both valid and reliable and that the proposed measures consist actual dimensions of LT in P&SE. A number of success factors that would be required for LT initiatives to be implemented effectively within the P&SE context in a holistic perspective were revealed.
Practical implications
Although a number of studies have been developed on LT in the manufacturing or service sector, its implementation in education and particularly in P&SE remains scant. The instrument developed provides sufficient knowledge of which are the most important dimensions to consider when pondering LT in education.
Originality/value
While LT has been the subject of previous research in education, this study represented the first look at lean in P&SE and was the first of its kind to develop and validate in a real environment a lean implementation instrument for use in educational institutions. Researchers and practitioners can use the proposed instrument to build models of facilitating practices to improve performance while contributing to economic growth and enhancing social empowerment.
Although many lean higher education efforts have focused on administrative/support services and processes, only a few actual applications of lean methods have been meant for teaching, which is the core business of higher education. The absence of experiments and research in these contexts has challenged us to apply lean to our own undergraduate course. We have paid special attention in this experiment to the use of Value Stream Mapping (VSM) to depict teaching process, the shortcomings of VSM and the use of service blueprinting.
‘Lean’ has become a popular approach to public service reform. In the current era of reduced public spending, it promises to maintain service productivity, improve utilisation and maintain quality. Drawing on literature and empirical data, this paper will argue that the implementation of Lean to date has been defective – it has focused on the technical tools of implementation without an over-arching business logic to validate it. This paper will argue that Lean can only achieve its potential in public services when based within a public service dominant business logic. Without this, Lean is doomed to fail both as a theory and a set of practices.
We have argued for public services to move away from product-dominant logic towards a service approach. By taking a services orientation, the experience, inter-organizational, and systemic nature of public services delivery can be considered along with the role of the service user as a co-producer. In this article, we unpack how co-production can be operationalized through the application of service blueprinting. This article presents an example within higher education where the creation of a blueprint brought together staff and students to focus on the design of student enrolment, resulting in improved student experience and supporting co-production.
Purpose –
The lean enterprise model has been adopted in a wide range of industries beyond its origins in the motor industry. To achieve this there has been a considerable extension of the lean concept outside high-volume repetitive manufacture. The purpose of this paper is to present an in-depth study of the application of lean within the British Royal Air Force. It offers a number of new insights which have implications for the future development and adoption of lean in service contexts, and the public sector in particular.
Design/methodology/approach
– To illustrate the issues of application of lean outside automotive, this paper considers the adoption of the lean concept by the Tornado joint integrated project team within the UK Ministry of Defence. A review of methods of application of lean used within Tornado are studied. The paper considers how the fundamental principles of lean apply in this environment and how, considering these principles, methods of implementation should be modified.
Findings
– This paper finds that the five lean fundamental principles apply in Tornado but they need to considered specifically within the public service context particularly the pull principle. Hence the authors offer three propositions relating to the use of the lean principles of value, waste, flow and pull in the public sector, and one for perfection only relating to military organisations.
Originality/value
– This paper makes an important contribution by demonstrating that lean can be successfully applied, in a public service context, with only modest modifications to its core principles, principally about how customer demand (pull) is managed. The implication of this finding demonstrates that to be adopted successfully, lean must be adapted to its context and the lean principles need to be reviewed too.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate whether Lean Six Sigma (LSS) can be a powerful business improvement methodology for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of higher education institutions (HEIs). The paper will also explore the fundamental challenges, barriers and critical success factors for the introduction and development of LSS in the HE context. The last part of the paper is to understand the role of tools and techniques for the sustainability of this initiative for making the HEIs more efficient and effective.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper discusses whether LSS can be a useful and systematic approach to tackle operational and strategic issues within the HE industry. The authors use secondary data from literature to justify the need for this powerful approach and the benefits of adopting this business process improvement strategy within the HEIs.
Findings
The paper presents the challenges and barriers to be encountered during the introduction of LSS in the higher education sector, most useful tools and techniques for process improvement problems, success factors which are essential for the implementation and sustainability of LSS.
Research limitations/implications
This is a very theoretical paper based on the existing literature and authors’ experiences in the HE sector. The next stage of the research is to carry out empirical studies in a number of HEIs and develop a practical and useful roadmap for the implementation and sustainability of LSS as a business process improvement methodology.
Originality/value
This paper makes an attempt to remove the myth that LSS is confined to manufacturing. It also demonstrates, through relevant existing literature and authors’ experiences, that LSS is equally applicable to public sector organisations and in particular HEIs. Although lean has been adopted by a few HEIs in the UK and abroad, very few HEIs have adopted the integrated LSS approach for waste reduction and variability reduction, which leads to superior performance and enhanced student satisfaction.
To understand how lean thinking has been put into practice in healthcare and how it has worked.
A realist literature review. Data sources The authors systematically searched for articles in PubMed, Web of Science and Business Source Premier (January 1998 to February 2008) and then added articles through a snowball approach.
The authors included empirical studies of lean thinking applications in healthcare and excluded those articles that did not influence patient care, or reported hybrid approaches. The authors conducted a thematic analysis based on data collected using an original abstraction form. Based on this, they articulated interactions between context, lean interventions, mechanisms and outcomes.
The authors reviewed 33 articles and found a wide range of lean applications. The articles describe initial implementation stages and emphasise technical aspects. All articles report positive results. The authors found common contextual aspects which interact with different components of the lean interventions and trigger four different change mechanisms: understand processes to generate shared understanding; organise and design for effectiveness and efficiency; improve error detection to increase awareness and process reliability; and collaborate to systematically solve problems to enhance continual improvement.
Lean thinking has been applied successfully in a wide variety of healthcare settings. While lean theory emphasises a holistic view, most cases report narrower technical applications with limited organisational reach. To better realise the potential benefits, healthcare organisations need to directly involve senior management, work across functional divides, pursue value creation for patients and other customers, and nurture a long-term view of continual improvement.
Many academic articles have been published in the past 20 years promoting the Lean approach in manufacturing and in service industries. Very little attention has been paid to the possibility of applying Lean Thinking to the academic institutions that these articles stem from. This article explains why the application of Lean in universities is a good idea and what needs to be done to develop an effective Lean enterprise in a university environment.
With the global focus on service-led growth has come increased need for practical techniques for service innovation. Services are fluid, dynamic, experiential, and frequently -produced in real time by customers, employees, and technology, often with few static physical properties. However, most product innovation approaches focus on the design of relatively static products with physical properties. Thus, many of the invention and prototype design techniques used for physical goods and technologies do not work well for human and interactive services. This article describes one technique—service blueprinting—that has proven useful for service innovation. Service blueprinting is securely grounded in the customer's experience and it allows the clear visualization of dynamic service processes. The technique is described in detail including real case examples that illustrate the value and breadth of its applications.
Despite many approaches of neoclassical and endogenous growth theory, economists still face problems in explaining the reasons for income differences between countries. Institutional economics and the deep determinants of growth literature try to depart from pure economic facts to examine economic development. Therefore, this article analyzes the impact of institutions, geography, and integration on per capita income. Concerning theoretical reasoning, emphasis is on the emergence of institutions and their effect on economic growth. However, institutions can appear in different shapes since political, legal, and economic restrictions are not the only constraints on human behaviour. Norms and values also limit possible actions. Therefore, a differentiation between formal and informal institutions is made. Informal institutions are defined as beliefs, attitudes, moral, conventions, and codes of conduct. Property rights are assumed to be the basic formal institutional feature for economic success. Despite their direct impact on growth through individual utility maximization, property rights also make a statement concerning the political and legal environment of a country. Regarding the regression analysis, different religious affiliations are used as instrumental variables for formal and informal institutions. The regression results affirm a crucial role of informal and formal institutions concerning economic development. However, a high proportion of Protestant citizens encourage informal institutions that support economic growth, while a high Muslim proportion of the population is negatively correlated with growth-supporting formal institutions. --