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Although empirical tests of effective lean-team leadership are scarce, leaders are often blamed when lean work-floor initiatives fail. In the present study, a lean-team leader’s work values are assumed to affect his or her team members’ behaviors and, through them, to attain team effectiveness. Specifically, two of Schwartz et al.’s (2012) values clusters (i.e. self-transcendence and conservation) are hypothesized to be linked to team members’ degree of information and idea sharing and, in turn, to lean-team effectiveness. The paper aims to report the examination of these hypotheses.

Survey responses (n=429) of both leaders and members of 25 lean-teams in services and manufacturing organizations were aggregated, thereby curbing common-source bias. To test the six hypotheses, structural equation modeling was performed, with bootstrapping, linear regression analyses, and Sobel tests.

The positive relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders’ self-transcendence values, and the negative relationship between lean-team effectiveness and leaders’ conservation values were partly mediated by information sharing behavior within the team.

Future research must compare the content of effective lean-team values and behaviors to similar non-lean teams.

Appoint lean-team leaders with predominantly self-transcendence rather than conservation values: to promote work-floor sharing of information and lean-team effectiveness.

Human factors associated with effective lean-teams were examined, thereby importing organization-behavioral insights into the operations management literature: with HRM-type implications.

The purpose of this paper is to examine leadership behaviors associated with lean healthcare (LH) implementation and how they develop throughout the change process.

After a systematic literature review of 107 peer-reviewed articles on lean leaders’ behaviors, the authors undertook a one-year mixed-methods study of 12 leaders within a Brazilian public hospital undergoing LH implementation. Multivariate data analysis techniques were employed.

The literature review showed some convergence between effective lean leader behaviors in both manufacturing and healthcare work settings, implying that lean leaders’ behaviors are generalizable to other contexts than manufacturing. The empirical findings suggest that LH implementation needs leaders to demonstrate a set of task-oriented behaviors, especially if short-term results are mandatory. More mature lean leaders should also continue developing their relations-oriented behaviors.

While the contingency theory assumes that contexts influence (lean) practices adoption, leadership behaviors may not be bound to the work context. The finding resembles the augmentation effect of leadership whereby more mature lean leaders adopt both task- and relations-oriented behaviors.

Longitudinal studies in this field are scarce, regardless of the industrial setting. Many manufacturing and healthcare organizations crave for knowledge about lean leader behaviors throughout the lean implementation journey in order to enhance the effectiveness of their often-struggling lean initiatives. The insights derived from this study could help organizations to adjust their expectations as well as identify behavioral gaps and needs in terms of soft skills development among their leaders.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderating role of Industry 4.0 technologies on the relationship between lean production (LP) and operational performance improvement within Brazil, a developing economy context.

One representative from each of the 147 studied manufacturing companies filled in a survey on three internally related lean practice bundles and two Industry 4.0 technology bundles, with safety, delivery, quality, productivity and inventory as performance indicators. As this study was grounded on the contingency theory, multivariate data analyses were performed, controlling for four contingencies.

Industry 4.0 moderates the effect of LP practices on operational performance improvement, but in different directions. Process-related technologies negatively moderate the effect of low setup practices on performance, whereas product/service-related technologies positively moderate the effect of flow practices on performance.

With the advent of Industry 4.0, companies have been channelling their efforts to achieve superior performance by advancing levels of automation and interconnectivity. Eventually, widespread and proven manufacturing approaches, like LP, will integrate such technologies which may, in turn, impair or favour operational performance. Contrary to previous studies, the contingencies appeared to have a less extensive effect. The authors point to various options for further study across different socio-economic contexts. This study evidenced that purely technological adoption will not lead to distinguished results. LP practices help in the installation of organisational habits and mindsets that favour systemic process improvements, supporting the design and control of manufacturers’ operations management towards the fourth industrial revolution era.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and empirically validate a repertoire of management behaviors associated with the adoption of lean systems, showing how a subset of such behaviors differentiates more advanced lean systems in a specific setting.

The study applies regression analysis and non-parametric hypothesis testing to an original data set coming from field research of 26 cases of adoption of lean operations practices.

The study: identifies in the lean literature a repertoire of management behaviors that support lean implementations and complement the adoption of lean practices; provides a way to operationalize them; validates this repertoire of behaviors; and shows that a subset of these behaviors is associated with more advanced lean implementations, suggesting the necessity to adopt a situational approach to lean leadership.

The findings have boundary conditions, defined by the national, industrial, and size context in which the study was conducted.

The study provides practical guidance for lean system implementation suggesting a repertoire of management behaviors within which firms can identify and validate specific, appropriate subsets of behaviors aligned with the company strategy, culture, size, environment, bundle of lean operation practices adopted, and maturity stage of lean adoption.

This is the first study to provide quantitative, non-anecdotal evidence of the relationship between specific management behaviors and the successful implementation of lean operations practices. It offers a novel method to operationalize and measure lean management behaviors.

Organizations have varied levels of success with Lean implementation and many did not see tangible results. Some scholars believe the reason has to do with weak Lean culture or Lean values (LVs). The purpose of this paper is to study the relationship between Lean implementation practices and LVs. The research goes further to study the nature of this relationship; does LVs affect Lean practices only or do they affect each other in a reciprocal manner?

Literature regarding Lean implementation in various sectors was reviewed. Representatives from several organizations were surveyed. Results from both approaches are compared and presented to highlight the key challenges and drivers facing Lean implementation.

Lean works well on enhancing organization performance (OP) but the implementation has to be preceded by careful nourishment of the proper Lean culture and LVs. The relationship between Lean implementation and LVs is of a complex nature and driven by OP.

The study has important managerial implications that is if Lean is going to be sustained, continuous efforts has to be exerted by Lean professionals to engage leaders and decision makers in the organization and ensure proper values are nurtured.

This is the first study to examine the reciprocal relationship between Lean implementation practices and LVs while focusing on OP by employing a structural statistical model.