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The concept of Lean office design has emerged, claiming to support an efficient labour process. This article aims to investigate how the two main perspectives identified in the Lean office: the neo-Tayloristic approach and the team-based approach, based in different historical backgrounds, use the office design to shorten lead time and free up time.

An extensive review is done in the article of what the Lean office concept means for different research areas and to practitioners.

The study presents the two Lean office perspectives in relation to each other, something that has not been done before since it is only recently the team-based Lean office was introduced. The study also presents possible risk and benefits of two perspectives from an employee and organizational perspective.

Since this is a first exploratory review of the Lean office concept based on theories and examples from design practice, further empirical studies are needed to determine risks and benefits of the concept.

The clarifying examples in the article make it useful for people involved in the design and building process of offices.

The article brings together the fields of labour process, office research and facility management with the design practice and presents the two perspectives Lean office design in relation to each other, which has not been done before since the team-based Lean office has only recently been introduced.

The purpose of this paper is to present management techniques in the healthcare sector through lean office.

A case study approach is adopted, with data collected in the Brazilian military organization.

The findings identify several ways to apply lean concepts outside manufacturing. From this, a future lean office health state design will be proposed.

The lean office health proposal has to be tested in other organizations to confirm this case study. While this may limit the generalization of the findings, there is value in demonstrating the benefits modern lean office techniques can bring to the developing world healthcare.

The paper shows that lean office health techniques can provide benefits to healthcare in developing countries' hospitals and others.

The value of the paper arises from providing a detailed analysis of a healthcare lean office in the developing world. There have been only a small number of other studies published in the literature about lean office health.

The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for using simulation models together with value stream mapping (VSM) for designing lean service systems and illustrate it with a case study.

The authors propose a methodology combining simulation and VSM. Simulation models for both current and future states are developed to validate the results of the corresponding maps of current and future states, respectively.

The results illustrate the advantages of the suggested design represented by the future state map. Additionally, using simulation models together with VSM for validating current and future states also allows decision makers to perform comprehensive analyses on the system and draw statistical conclusions.

Although some lean applications in educational services exist in previous studies, according to the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first one combining VSM and simulation for the implementation of the lean concepts in the construction and technical services of a public university.

Set-based design (SBD) is a lean tool widely adopted for improving design processes and providing value maximization to clients. The purpose of this paper is to present the development and testing of a lean simulation game that incorporated point-based and SBD principles. The objective of the game was to enhance learning of lean design management among construction students.

After a thorough and comprehensive literature review consisting of secondary data in journal papers, books, thesis references and primary data in the form of interviews with lean practitioners, the simulation game prototype was developed. The testing of the game was carried out with a study group. Data were collected during the gameplay with the help of a questionnaire survey on a confidence scale and Likert scale and assessed using the Wilcoxon signed-rank test, histogram, one-sample t-test and false discovery rate (Benjamini–Hochberg) correction method.

The data collected both pre- and post-simulation showed an increase in average confidence in understanding from 3.33 to 3.89, a 16.7% rise. The data was further interpreted by using Wilcoxon signed-rank test, indicating that the post-simulation learning experience was significantly better than the pre-simulation one. Promising positive results were obtained for the questions on game design, engagement and understanding of point-based design and SBD concepts.

The simulation game helps bridge the gap between knowledge building and real-life by effectively imitating the process. The game facilitates a dynamic and critical approach toward developing new educational simulation games and their successful incorporation in propagating lean principles in the construction industry.

Lean office covers the improvement of administrative processes and information flows. In offices, one of the essential challenges is to coordinate the development of information management capabilities. Thus, this paper aims to identify the key factors of information management in lean office deployment contexts.

By adopting a qualitative approach, it consists of theoretical research that applies grounded theory's coding technique and exploits 27 scientific studies on lean office published in the past 20 years.

It identifies five key factors for managing information into an organizational structure that optimizes information flow, such as “information-seeking,” “access to information,” “information quality,” “information processing” and “use of information and communication technology”.

Data analysis was restricted in scientific research regarding lean office deployment. Therefore, the accuracy of the concepts and categories of information management proposed in this paper can be adjusted and validated in future research, thus deepening the discussion of its findings.

It highlights issues for managing information in contemporary organizations such as failures in information retrieval, restrictions on access to information, lack of quality information, inadequate information processing criteria and inefficiency of information systems infrastructure.

It analyzes the lean office deployment from the theoretical framework of information management. Thus, it differs from other studies in this field because it is not limited to the operational aspects of lean management. Nevertheless, it shows that lean office reconfigures information flows and continually improves organizations’ strategic management.

In organizational contexts, learning fosters the creation of knowledge at the individual and collective levels. In Lean Office, processes are customer oriented through continuous improvement and elimination of waste. In addition, Lean Office can promote changes in the corporate environment and drive organizational learning. Thus, the purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the Lean Office factors that contribute to the organizational learning.

The method consists in a qualitative analysis of researches on Lean Office carried out in Brazil, based on the theoretical framework for analyzing organizational learning proposed by Argote and Miron-Spektor (2011). This framework defends the relevance of context and experience in knowledge conversion processes in organizations.

The study shows that Lean Office provides benefits for the learning process through Work Cells, Value Stream Mapping and Continuous Improvement. The effects of Lean Office are present in the organizational context, culture and behaviors, attitudes and skills of individuals.

This study brings for academics a discussion on Lean Office from the standpoint of elements pertaining to the organizational learning process. In this aspect, the study proposes treating the topic at a strategy level, striving to break out of the research boundaries that limit their scope to their operational results. For practitioners, the study introduces Lean Office factors that add positive results to the organizational learning process.

The paper presents a reflection of Lean Office in the field of organizational learning. In addition to the elimination of waste, the study investigates other functions in which Lean initiatives play a role, such as providing solutions for organizational problems and creating favorable learning contexts.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse how Lean office planning and implementation take place in a Brazilian regulatory agency and to investigate the adjustments needed for its implementation.

A longitudinal case study was conducted. Interview was the main source of evidence. Between September and October 2012, data about the planning phase were collected; between April and May 2015, Lean office implementation was investigated. Altogether, five employees of the agency were interviewed.

The agency assumed its mission as value for the user, establishing control process, evaluating and improving processes to achieve perfection and recognising its weakness in a continuous improvement culture. Planning and implementation of Lean office in the regulatory agency followed the main recommendations in the literature. However, adjustments were necessary in accordance with the particularities of the public institution.

Owing to the nature of this study, no generalisation was possible. Moreover, interviews with managers were about both Lean planning, which has taken place in the past, and Lean implementing, which is still running; thus, some information may be abstruse.

It was possible to list the main adjustments needed for planning and implementing the Lean office in the public agency and some are applicable for other public administration bodies.

Lean office studies are mainly related to private organizations, but this paper demonstrates that their fundamentals are preserved in public service, and thus it proved that Lean thinking may be applied to the public administration. It also raised a series of questions for future studies.

Building information modeling (BIM) and lean construction are two practices that are developed in order to increase productivity, efficiency and quality in construction by implementing various procedures. However, the practical execution of both BIM and lean is mostly limited with the tasks performed in the office environments in the design phase. The purpose of this paper is to examine the benefit realizations in terms of lean interactions resulting from mobile BIM processes through a framework by focusing on digital transformations performed on the construction site.

This paper examines the benefit realizations in terms of lean interactions resulting from mobile BIM processes through a framework by focusing on digital transformations performed on the construction site. To describe the case, BIM project management processes during construction phase have been explained by a participatory research. With a comprehensive literature review, interactions between site BIM processes and lean principles have been defined and the case has been evaluated accordingly.

By focusing on the mobile BIM delivery of project information via tablets to construction site, it has been identified that through the use of technology enabled by BIM practices, lean construction principles are also simultaneously accomplished. This achievement is not only realized with technology but also with the strategic implementation and transformation of organization with the proper BIM practices.

The research is focused on mobile BIM processes applied on-site to enhance traditional project management processes. With the findings of this paper, practitioners may identify research questions to resolve real-life implementation challenges.

This research will enlighten construction practitioners regarding site BIM application capabilities and lean achievements with the utilization of improved project management processes enabled by BIM.

Through the implementation of project management processes enabled by BIM practices on construction site, lean principles are achieved and bottlenecks are identified.

The purpose of this paper is to create a value-based facilities management (FM) workplace by integrating lean principles, lean concepts, and specifically visual management technologies to improve efficiency, transparency, and value in the built environment.

The original research methodology used design science research framework with an action research (AR) approach. The chosen qualitative research methods included questionnaires, unstructured and semi-structured interviews, and participatory observation in action.

The facilities asset management department needs to align itself more strategically with organization leadership by understanding core business values, mission, and vision. It is essential they become a partner in creating a value-based contribution to the organizations bottom line and strategic plan. This can be established by embracing lean principles, concepts, and visual technologies, strategically linking the FM and asset management department to the organization holistically. The research acknowledged that a lean visual workplace management system could be introduced in facilities asset management with success. The findings suggest that change management should form part of the lean journey.

The original research was limited in scope to one UK university estates and property services department’s lean journey and their third party outsourced FM service provider.

By using the visual workplace management system to integrate lean and visual management technologies in FM asset management systems value-based FM services and recognition from the C-suite will be achieved. Additionally, a new design science framework with an AR approach was developed as a research method

Although leadership in lean systems is influenced by context, the mechanisms linking contextual factors (CFs) to leadership have not been explored. This study aims to present a framework for analyzing how context influences lean leadership competencies (LLCs).

The framework’s design was based on insights from literature and refined through an empirical study of a large manufacturing plant formally committed to lean. The evolution of CFs over time was monitored in this study, allowing for analyzing how these triggered the need for using LLCs.

The framework proved to be useful for as follows: the assessment of LLCs in different hierarchical levels; the analysis of how CFs and LLCs interact in specific “leadership events”; and the identification of improvement opportunities for supporting leadership. Four design propositions emerged from the empirical study, offering complimentary guidance for using the framework.

The framework was tested in one company, and therefore generalizations about its effectiveness need further applications.

The framework may be used fully or partly by practitioners. For instance, the assessment of LLCs can be used as a standalone tool according to the specific needs of practitioners. Also, by producing rich descriptions of LLCs and CFs, the framework may inform lean leadership development programs.

The framework allows for a systematic analysis of how a broad range of CFs influence LLCs, thus operationalizing an idea that so far has been discussed mostly on a theoretical level.