A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing implementation. Baba Md Deros, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab and Mohd Nizam Ab.

Transcription

1 Int. J. Services and Operations Management, Vol. 12, No. 1, A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing implementation Norani Nordin* College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, UUM Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia rani@uum.edu.my *Corresponding author Baba Md Deros, Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab and Mohd Nizam Ab. Rahman Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, UKM Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia hjbaba@eng.ukm.my dzuraida@eng.ukm.my mnizam@eng.ukm.my Abstract: Lean manufacturing system has been widely applied in manufacturing companies worldwide. However, the low success rate of lean transformations in many countries has given a cause for concern. Much of the literature had pointed out that the main reason is due to the failure in managing the change process during a lean manufacturing transformation. This paper presents a thorough literature review for lean manufacturing approach in the context of organisational change management. Finally, the authors have proposed an organisational change framework for lean manufacturing implementation that would serve as the basis for further empirical research and validation. The framework will further expand the body of knowledge by linking organisational change management with the transition to implementing a lean manufacturing system. Keywords: lean manufacturing; organisational change; critical success factors; framework development. Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Nordin, N., Deros, B.M., Wahab, D.A. and Rahman, M.N.A. (2012) A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing implementation, Int. J. Services and Operations Management, Vol. 12, No. 1, pp Biographical notes: Norani Nordin is a Lecturer in the School of Technology Management and Logistics, College of Business at Universiti Utara Malaysia. She has BEng and MSc in Manufacturing System Engineering. She is currently doing her PhD in Lean Manufacturing in Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her main research interests are lean manufacturing, industrial engineering, and manufacturing management. Copyright 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

2 102 N. Nordin et al. Baba Md Deros is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. His research interests span several fields of quality management, benchmarking and ergonomics. Dzuraidah Abdul Wahab is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Her research interests are in the area of concurrent engineering and sustainable product design. Mohd Nizam Ab. Rahman is an Associate Professor in Quality and Operations Management at the Department of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, UKM. His research interests include quality operations, modern quality management such as supply chain management, lean, Six Sigma, and production SPC. 1 Introduction The increasing challenges in today s global competition have prompted many manufacturing firms to adopt new manufacturing management tools in order to improve the firm s efficiency and competitiveness. Lean manufacturing has been adopted by some manufacturing firms as a management tool and lean techniques are applied in many different forms, and assumed under different names. Nowadays, lean manufacturing has become a widely accepted and adopted best manufacturing practice across countries and industries (Jain and Lyons, 2009; Jaaron and Backhouse, 2011). The ultimate goal of a lean organisation is to create a smooth, high quality organisation that is able to produce finished products at the rate of customer demands with minimal or no waste. However, in reality, many organisations are not able to transform themselves into lean manufacturing organisations that can be recognised as world-class companies. Transformation toward lean manufacturing is full of formidable challenges. It has been reported that many lean manufacturing implementations, even those undertaken with the best intentions, are often destined for failure at some point of their implementation (Fairris and Tohyama, 2002; Liker and Hoseus, 2008). In truth, lean manufacturing should be implemented comprehensively and holistically in terms of scope and content (Crute et al., 2003; Rahman et al., 2010). Many researchers had argued that the transition from the traditional to lean environment is more of a cultural change within the organisation issue rather than a manufacturing or technical issue (Balle, 2005; Sawhney and Chason, 2005; Losonci et al., 2011). The transformation to lean manufacturing usually involves a radical change in structure, strategy, and technical aspects of an organisation (Smeds, 1994). According to Wickramasinghe and Wickramasinghe (2011), the implementation of lean manufacturing system takes time as the employees need to understand the concepts behind lean manufacturing, in order to increase their willingness to adjust to the system. Therefore, a clear understanding in managing these changes is paramount in ensuring a successful lean transformation. Much of the reported literature had discussed lean manufacturing transformation in great detail, but very few had discussed it from the perspective of organisational change management. A thorough analysis on lean manufacturing framework done by Anand and Kodali (2010) had pointed out that most of the existing lean manufacturing framework are categorised

3 A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing 103 as design/conceptual framework. These frameworks do not describe how to implement lean manufacturing and do not show how each element in lean manufacturing is related within an implementing organisation. Therefore, this paper presents an examination of organisational change management in lean manufacturing implementation. It also discusses the factors that influence firms in the transition to lean manufacturing system. This paper commences with a thorough literature review focussing on the history, concept evolution, failure in lean manufacturing implementation, and organisational change management. Finally, an organisational change framework in lean manufacturing implementation has been proposed that would hopefully serve as the basis for further empirical research and validation. This framework is of particular significance not only because it relates to lean manufacturing, but because it is set in the context of process change in lean manufacturing transition, which many firms that want to be more successful will no doubt be undertaking in the future. This framework is intended to provide practitioners with a better understanding of lean transition and unambiguous guidance, and/or tools to minimise the resistance and conflicts of implementing a lean manufacturing system. 2 Lean manufacturing system 2.1 Lean manufacturing concept and evolution Lean manufacturing is not a new concept. In past decades, this concept has progressed from a technical oriented aspect to human oriented aspect. The human elements in lean manufacturing share the company s vision and team-work, which include labour flexibility, multi-skilled aspect, and greater responsibility in maintenance, quality improvement, and personnel issues (Oliver et al., 1998). Initially, the lean manufacturing concept was introduced as a shop floor practice for achieving higher efficiency, as it is implemented within the just-in-time (JIT) system or Toyota Production System (TPS) (Hines et al., 2004; Balle, 2005; Schonberger, 2007). The JIT system and TPS have become one of several new management approaches to improve business performances along with achieving improved total quality management (TQM) and world-class manufacturing (WCM) (Harrison and Storey, 1996; Emiliani, 2006). Holweg (2007) also highlighted in his analysis on lean manufacturing history that in 1980s, many early writers were largely focused on shop floor techniques and inventory reduction. By the 1990s, the concept was developed to focus considerably on waste reduction and value-added aspects in the supply chain (Womack et al., 1990; Womack and Jones, 1996). The waste or muda in Japanese is anything other than the minimum amount of equipment, materials, parts, and work time that are essential for production. There are seven main types of waste as shown in Figure 1. Waste can result from overproduction, waiting time, transportation, inventory, processing, motion, and product defects. The book by Womack and Jones (1996), lean thinking helps to understand the principles of being lean: understand customer value, identification of value-added activities in value stream, generation of flow (of value to the customer), pull system, and continuous improvement toward perfection. Meanwhile Schonberger (2007) believed that this concept and techniques of lean manufacturing are more advanced compared with the previous concepts because it is adoptable in new types of industries and cultures.

4 104 N. Nordin et al. Figure 1 The seven types of waste (see online version for colours) Source: Melton (2005) From 2000 and onwards, the lean concept has involved a greater degree of contingency and the scope has been enlarged to include the organisational learning perspective. Some analysts such as Hines et al. (2004) and Jorgensen et al. (2007) believed that the lean concept has a greater chance to progress and mature in the future. The evolution can be likened to organisational learning which takes place through a phased process. Shah and Ward (2007) believed lean manufacturing to be a multi-faceted system. The integrated nature of lean system includes both people and process components. It is also related with the firm (i.e., internal), and supplier and customer components (i.e., external). Liker (2004) in his analysis on Toyota identified that the lean concept operates on two main principles: continuous improvement and respect for people. Many senior managers outside Toyota has ignored and misunderstood the respect for people aspect as compared to continuous improvement (Emiliani, 2006). According to Angelis and Fernandes (2007), and Farris et al. (2009), lean manufacturing is rooted from kaizen or continuous improvement mindset which requires the skills and a shared way of thinking to systematically eliminate waste and improve the value of activities. Therefore, the lean concept has progressed to a stage that includes knowledge-creation management, which aims to create a learning organisation where people forms the soul of lean process (Stewart, 1998; Liker and Meier, 2005; Osono et al., 2008). 2.2 Failure in lean manufacturing implementation Lean manufacturing is a manufacturing strategy that is aimed to achieve a smooth production flow by eliminating waste and increasing the activity value. Some researchers pointed that if an organisation ignores the lean manufacturing strategy, it would not be able to stand a chance against the current global competition in terms of higher quality, faster delivery, and lower costs (Srinivasaraghavan and Allada, 2006; Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009). This statement is also supported by a large cross-country analysis done by

5 A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing 105 Oliver et al. (1996) proving that lean manufacturing strategy creates high performance in any organisation. However, the change from a traditional manufacturing system to lean manufacturing is not an easy task. The change requires attention focusing on the impact on both the process and people. In spite of the extensive highlight of benefits gained from lean manufacturing implementation, in reality not many companies are successful in lean manufacturing implementation (Balle, 2005; Papadopoulou and Ozbayrak, 2005; Yadav et al., 2010). There are many reported problems and issues regarding the failure of lean manufacturing implementation. Table 1 illustrates some of the barriers that are probable causes of delay that prevent the success of lean manufacturing system implementation. It is apparent from Table 1 that misunderstanding of the real concept and purpose of lean manufacturing is the main barrier of lean manufacturing implementation. Herron and Braiden (2007) and James (2006) suggested that the reason for this misunderstanding is due to cultural differences that occur during transition or translation of lean concept during the implementation. The misunderstanding of the concept leads to various major issues such as piecemeal adoption of lean tools and techniques (James, 2006), misapplication of lean tools (Pavnaskar et al., 2003; Herron and Braiden, 2007), and lack of lean culture development that supports lean manufacturing within the organisation (Jorgensen et al., 2007). Table 1 The barriers of lean manufacturing implementation Authors Lean barriers Bamber and Dale (2000) Stewart (2001) Crute et al. (2003) Melton (2005) Bonavia and Marin (2006) Worley and Doolen (2006) Real et al. (2007) Lee-Mortimer (2008) Scherrer-Rathje et al. (2009) Wong et al. (2009) Bhasin (2011) Misunderstanding the concept and purpose of lean Lack of resource availability (time, expertise, financial) Cultural differences Lack of clear communication Lack of top management support for change Lack of interest and commitment in lean Company culture Lack of continual evaluation on lean

6 106 N. Nordin et al. Another main barrier of lean manufacturing implementation is the lack of resources availability such as time, expertise, and financial resources. This is especially a very critical problem for the adoption of lean manufacturing in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) (Achanga et al., 2006; Bonavia and Marin, 2006; Real et al., 2007). The findings from Achanga et al. (2006) concluded that SMEs are usually left behind in lean implementation compared to large companies due to lack of adequate funding which denies the opportunity of recruitment and enhancement of a capable workforce, and also provision for adequate training and innovation. Support from and partnerships with consultant or external expertise which are important for lean transformation are also very costly for SMEs (Real et al., 2007). Other important issues in lean implementation identified in Table 1 are cultural differences, lack of top management support for change, lack of clear communication, and lack of interest in lean manufacturing implementation. Since lean manufacturing implementation requires new knowledge and cultural change during the transition period, it is thus appropriate to address the implementation process. Awareness and attention to change are necessary for the successful transition to a lean system (Stewart, 2001). 3 Organisational change management Today, change is not a one-off event, but rather a steady ongoing process. Change has its own impact on both processes and people, therefore, careful attention is required on the impact of change on both processes and people. The practice of organisational change management ensures the personal property is aligned with the business strategy, technology, and business process of the company. Jones (2007) defined organisational change as the process by which organisations move from their present state to some desired state to increase their effectiveness. Whereas, Greenan (2003) pointed that organisational change is the change in the distribution of power, skills, information, distribution of skills and skill requirement. It is suggested that, if a traditional organisation is changed to a lean organisation, it also needs to change the way it values the different dimensions of work. So far, there is little discussion about the link between the organisational change management and lean manufacturing implementation. In fact, one of the major challenges of lean implementation is guiding the change journey as detailed in the implementation plan. This is because lean manufacturing requires change in structure, system, process, and employee behaviour (Motwani, 2003; Narang, 2008). This idea leads to the necessity for more research for the successful implementation of lean manufacturing process where the organisational change is effectively managed. However, prior to that, one needs to understand what is the nature of organisational change in lean manufacturing and what are the elements needed to ensure the successful implementation of the lean concept within a firm. The change to a lean manufacturing system is a radical process and not an easy task (Smeds, 1994; Ahlstrom and Karlsson, 1996; Anand and Kodali, 2009). Lean manufacturing represents a holistic approach to change. In order to create the foundation for lean manufacturing to take hold, a significant organisational change must occur within the organisation. According to Narang (2008), the process of lean transition requires significant changes in the functions of the company.

7 A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing 107 Table 2 Organisational changes required in lean manufacturing Categories in organisational change Changes in process Changes in function, coordination and control Changes in values and human behaviour Changes in power within the organisation Changes in lean manufacturing Application of the full set of lean tools Multi-skilled worker Teamwork building Cross-functional movement Network relationship with suppliers and customers Information transparency Participative management Teamwork rewarding Teamwork Open communication and information sharing Continuous improvement culture Knowledge learning and sharing Decentralised responsibilities Autonomous leadership Authors James (2006), Motwani (2003), Stewart (2001) Real et al. (2007), Motwani (2003), Scherrer-Rathje et al. (2009), Stewart (2001) Real et al. (2007), Worley and Doolen (2006), Motwani (2003), Stewart (2001) Karlsson and Ahlstrom (1996), Bamber and Dale (2000) In the analysis of managing the change toward a lean enterprise mentioned by Smeds (1994), lean transition requires emergent strategy, which emerges when the environment of the organisation becomes recognised and legitimised. Changes that are required in lean manufacturing can be divided into four categories as suggested by Cao et al. (2000). The authors believed that these categories are also relevant for the implementation of lean manufacturing since both concepts share a lot of similarities, especially concerning the origin, methodologies, and tools (Andersson et al., 2006; Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006). Therefore, the categories of organisational change are assumed to be similar but with different approaches. Table 2 shows the changes required during the transition to lean manufacturing. Lean manufacturing involves changing and improving processes. In order to be successful, there are prerequisites to the transition of lean manufacturing. Table 3, presents the critical factors that are required for successful lean manufacturing implementation. As shown in Table 3, leadership and management commitment is the most critical success factor in lean manufacturing. The change to lean manufacturing must be driven by strong leadership. Even though the company initiatives come from both senior and middle management, but visible and active senior management is critical for lean manufacturing implementation success (Worley and Doolen, 2006; Scherrer-Rathje et al., 2009). The roles of senior management are to provide information on the strategy of lean manufacturing initiatives, creating the implementation plan, and showing a good example to the employee (Worley and Doolen, 2006; Real et al., 2007; Jaaron and Backhouse, 2011). Resources such as time and materials should also be provided by the top senior

8 108 N. Nordin et al. management. Strong leadership is capable of exhibiting excellent project management style, permeating vision and strategy for change, and creating a highly motivated work force (Stewart, 1998; Achanga et al., 2006). Table 3 Critical success factors Effective leadership Critical success factors in lean manufacturing implementation Worley and Doolen (2006) Real et al. (2007) Motwani (2003) Scherrer-Rathje et al. (2009) Stewart (2001) Bamber and Dale (2000) Achanga et al. (2006) Papadopoulou and Ozbayrak (2005) Boyer (1996) Sim and Rogers (2009) Losonci et al. (2011) Comprehensive change plan Team development Communication Education/ training Change agent Culture readiness Employee autonomy Lean change evaluation Worker empowerment Rewarding system Communication is also regarded as a key issue for successful implementation of a lean manufacturing system especially for announcing, explaining, and preparing people for the change and the effects of the impending change (Worley and Doolen, 2006). In lean manufacturing system implementation, the main barrier is inconsistent and unclear communication (Karlsson and Ahlstrom, 1996). Miscommunication may lead to misunderstanding of lean philosophy and concept and misapplication of lean tools and techniques, and creates confusion on the employee s roles and responsibilities (Worley and Doolen, 2006). Generally there are three types of communication in lean manufacturing: communication within individuals; communication within departments; and communication across boundaries both vertically and horizontally (Real et al., 2007). The communication content should be the employees roles and responsibilities, lean Puvanesvaran et al. (2009)

9 A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing 109 success, management expectation toward workers, and vision and strategy from the management (Stewart, 1998; Melton, 2005). Fundamentally the process of change within the organisation is derived from the ability to modify the behaviours of every individual in thoughts and actions. It can be stimulated either from internal or external change drivers (Hall, 1997). It is important to spread the motivation for change throughout the organisation. In a lean manufacturing system, the lean process begins by having a change agent system. The system can be initiated either from an internal cross-functional team or external consultant team. According to Real et al. (2007), and Bamber and Dale (2000), team building is the key factor for successful plans of action. The main objective of change agent system is to spread the motivation and ensure the translation is understood by all people in the organisation for the change to a lean manufacturing system. However, entirely depending on the external consultant is not advisable for the long-term success of the organisation. Bamber and Dale et al. (2000) found that when the consultant leaves the company, the effort spent in implementing the lean concept slowly fades away. This is because the lean activities are entirely driven by the consultants. Consequently, no fundamental change in mindset and commitment to lean is transferred to the employees if it is driven by these consultants. Additionally, the ability of people to respond and adapt is critical when they face a change in any situations. People may face a major obstacle in achieving successful change. A study on change constraints by Barker (1998) identified that many managers resist change to lean manufacturing due to lack of skills and knowledge of lean manufacturing. Resistance from employees may be due to the reasons of low commitment and inadequate training (Stewart, 2001; Crute et al., 2003; Lee-Mortimer, 2008). However, this obstacle can be overcome through more education and training performed by these workers. As a user of lean tools, the workers need to have a good understanding on the processes behind the development, dissemination, and application of the concepts and tools. Appropriate training on the lean concept, basic principles, and reasons can give a greater level of lean understanding, encourage motivation and innovation, and polish the employee s attitudes (Pollitt, 2006). Meanwhile, many past researchers agreed that transition to lean manufacturing requires more cultural change in the organisation from the aspect of either national or organisational culture (Herron and Braiden, 2007; Wong, 2007; Wickramasinghe and Wickramasinghe, 2011). Wong (2007) stated that, in order to transfer the managerial mode or production system from its origin to another country or culture, cultural adaptive features are required. In the finding from two successful lean manufacturers in Taiwan, Wong (2007) concluded that lean manufacturing does not only contain visible skills or methods but also contains organisational collaborative factors between people. Organisational collaboration factors cannot simply be duplicated to achieve the same result. The result also proved that national culture has significant impact during the lean implementation process. The cultural difference between the original source of a concept and the recipient is a major factor in the potential success of a change programme (Herron and Braiden, 2006). According to Achanga et al. (2006), and Recht and Widerom (1998), lack of organisational culture awareness is even a bigger barrier compared to national culture. Very few research investigations had discussed the change review that takes place during a lean transformation. However, periodic change review is important to ensure

10 110 N. Nordin et al. whether the steps that have been planned have been followed (Huq, 2005). Melton (2005), and Srinivasaraghavan and Allada (2006) pointed out that change review is important to control and sustain a lean manufacturing system. The elements that are usually analysed are performance, communication system, business and physical processes, and continuous improvement or improvement records (Melton, 2005; James, 2006; Bhasin, 2008; Lee-Mortimer, 2008). According to Bhasin (2008), the performance measurement factor must be able to act as an early warning system that is capable to give signals whether progress is being made or there are problems that needed to be solved. Many lean manufacturing implementation failures are due to absence of awareness of the sustainable improvement and fall back of the daily rhythm (Bamber and Dale, 2000; Real et al., 2007). 4 The proposed organisational change framework It is clear from the above literature search that a framework is required in lean manufacturing implementation. The two main purposes of this framework are to provide performance enhancement by implementing a lean manufacturing system in manufacturing companies, and also to aid the lean manufacturing implementation into the companies. The framework proposed in Figure 2 is an adaptation of the organisational change framework that was developed by Oakland and Tanner (2007). By extending this generic framework in creating a more specific lean manufacturing approach, the authors are able to identify and consolidate the organisational change factors and critical success factors that would enable the framework to become successful and to ensure that the organisational change factors remain as the key and integral elements of this framework. Figure 2 Organisational change framework in lean manufacturing implementation (see online version for colours) Leadership & Direction Drivers of change Need for change Readiness For change Change agent system PROCESSES Effective communication Implementing change System & Controls Empowerment

11 A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing 111 The framework clearly shows the major stages in the process to lean manufacturing implementation. The most fundamental level of this framework consists of two cycles: first, readiness for change, and second, the change implementation. However, before a company is ready for change, a sense of urgency needs to be established. The drivers for change to a lean manufacturing system may stem from domestic and international market pressures for competitive products. Competitive products require technical improvement, quality improvement, and overall cost reduction (Sohal and Egglestone, 1994). Therefore, it is the responsibility of the top management to ensure these drivers of change are well communicated and established, in order to create the sense of urgency for change to a lean manufacturing system. For the change to take hold and succeed, the organisation and the people who work in that organisation must be ready for the transformation. Failure to assess organisational and individual changes may result in spending a significant amount of time, energy, and hard work. All these factors deal with the resistance to change and it requires a lot of risk for the organisation. The readiness for change can be addressed by identifying and understanding the need for change, having clear and consistent leadership and direction, and creating a strong change agent team. This is where, the role of top management is critical in the transformation to a lean manufacturing system. It is recommended that the top management should create and communicate the visions and goals that every employee within the company can relate to. Strong leadership styles are capable of exhibiting excellent programme management styles, permeating vision and strategy for change programme, and could highly motivate the workforce (Stewart, 1998; Achanga et al., 2006; Jaaron and Backhouse, 2011). Next, in creating the readiness to change, the development of a strong change agent system is crucial. This change agent system is a system to assist the translation of the change process so that lean manufacturing concepts could be understood by all people in the company (Herron and Hicks, 2007; Real et al., 2007). The role of lean change agent is crucial as most of the employees are not familiar with the new lean work environment, and it requires a behavioural and mindset change due to the different expectations for performance and value (James, 2006; Herron and Braiden, 2007; Jorgensen et al., 2007). Therefore, it is important that those who lead the change projects should have the skills, competencies, and aptitude to implement lean manufacturing. Following clarity on readiness for change, the next step that the company should do is to take up and implement the lean tools and techniques or processes as illustrated in Figure 2. Liker and Hoseus (2008) pointed out that the main purpose of lean tools is to highlight and identify the wastes or problems within the organisation. When the root cause is identified, it is possible to continuously improve the system. Since lean manufacturing is known as a system, the tools and techniques of this system cannot be adopted in isolation. All the techniques in lean manufacturing are developed to support the implementation of lean principles and overall organisation s strategy (Melton, 2005; Herron and Braiden, 2007; Yadav et al., 2010). As the top circle of the proposed framework focuses more on engaging strategic alignment, the lower circle stresses on the needs to be understood, measured, and approved. The implementing change cycle is very critical in lean manufacturing. The implementation of change must be aligned with the operational issues, so that people in the company can understand how they will affect and what must be done to address the challenges in the organisation (Oakland and Tanner, 2007). Effective communication,

12 112 N. Nordin et al. education and training, and system and control are the essential factors for lean success. Effective communication by practising information transparency, knowledge sharing, continuous learning, and continual evaluation of lean effort will ensure smooth transition to a lean manufacturing system. In the next stage, the workers empowerment of lean culture can be nurtured through training, motivation, and reward system (Balle, 2005; Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006; Losonci et al., 2011). Appropriate education and training on the lean concept and basic principles, and reasons of lean, could give greater levels of understanding lean manufacturing, thus encourage motivation and innovation in the work culture and employee attitudes (Crute et al., 2003; Lee-Mortimer, 2008; Wickramasinghe and Wickramasinghe, 2011). The next step is system and control, which is the ability to quantify the effort and progress toward lean that should enable a more successful and longer lasting change. The elements that are usually monitored and analysed are performance measurement, communication system, business and physical processes, and improvement records. The lower circle of the framework closes when the steps return to the processes for smooth organisational change which makes the processes work or not, resulting in possible sustainable lean manufacturing implementation. When the change management process has been successful, the company typically absorbs the change. Taking another trip around the circle will verify the change process and anchors lean manufacturing in the work culture, where changes have become part of the way we do things around here. To sustain the changes made, persistence is very important. Sustainability can be done by consolidating gains and producing more change. Organisational change should be seen as a dynamic process. Similar to lean manufacturing system, it should be regarded as intended direction, rather than a steady state. The process to lean does not actually provide an answer to a specific problem, it deals with all problems in the organisation. Lean manufacturing represents a unique culture that grows and improves with time. For the transformation toward a lean system, people should have a better understanding about lean and also need to be aware about the organisational change management principles. 5 Conclusions In this paper, the authors have traced the evolution of lean manufacturing from its early roots in Toyota and its evolution into a more complex and successful concept that is applicable in many industries and countries. This literature, while praising the benefits achieved by lean manufacturing implementation, also made it clear that it is quite challenging to transform to lean. The main reason behind this challenge is the involvement of change in many aspects and stages within the organisation. To the authors best knowledge, although many studies have been conducted on the individualistic change factors or some of the organisational change factors, there is little study that is directed toward developing a framework that would enable an organisation to change to a lean manufacturing system. In this present work, an organisational change framework for the implementation of lean manufacturing is proposed which serves as the basis for further empirical research and validation. In addition, this framework has important strengths because it explicitly frames the relationship between change management and lean manufacturing implementation.

13 A framework for organisational change management in lean manufacturing 113 Unlike previous models developed by Karlsson and Ahlstrom (1996), Ahlstrom (1998), Liker (2004), and Sanchez and Perez (2001), these models only represented the steps to be taken (i.e., tool oriented) in implementing lean manufacturing and had not provide a general overall outline of the lean manufacturing concept, such as organisational and human issues. On the other hand, the framework developed by Motwani (2003) is much more comprehensive but it was based on business process change (BPC) theory. In contrast, the model proposed in this paper contains most of the pertinent elements that are necessary for lean manufacturing implementation, and yet it is simple in nature. The framework developed is a gradual implementation or project based, with respect to the company needs and available resources (such as financial, technological, human, and time factors) and not implemented on a wholesale basis. The purpose of these projects was to show some visible achievement of lean implementation in order to gain support and motivation for the lean team, management, and also operators. When there are successes in pilot lean projects, this could increase the workers motivation and trust in the lean manufacturing system, and also encourage them to conduct more improvement activities. This research is among the few to link the implementation of lean manufacturing system with organisational change management. The framework suggest that in order to implement lean manufacturing system, a fundamental shift is required in change readiness, leadership and management, change agent system, team development and empowerment, communication, and review system. Therefore, the proposed framework may represent a novel framework for explaining the overall concept for implementing lean manufacturing system. In addition, often practitioners are very keen to implement lean manufacturing system especially SMEs but the process of implementation is characteristically riddled with uncertainty. Failure to recognise the required organisational changes to adapt lean manufacturing system will hinder the long-term benefits of the organisation. The proposed framework of organisational change is intended to provide practitioners with a better understanding of the lean transition and a clear guidance to minimise the resistance and conflicts for the implementation of lean and thus improves its chance of success. The framework is developed through thorough past literature analysis. Therefore, the future research will concentrate on empirically validate the proposed framework. A multiple case study will be conducted for this purpose. Acknowledgements The authors would like to express our gratitude to reviewers for their constructive comments to ensure the quality of the manuscript. References Achanga, P., Shehab, E., Roy, R. and Nelder, G. (2006) Critical success factors for lean implementation within SMEs, Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, Vol. 17, No. 4, pp Ahlstrom, P. (1998) Sequences in the implementation of lean production, European Management Journal, Vol. 16, No. 3, pp

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