A systematic literature review of Lean Six Sigma in financial services: key finding and analysis

Sreedharan, V. Raja; Pattusamy, Murugan; Mohan, Smriti; Persis, D. Jinil

doi:10.1504/ijbex.2020.108207

Cited by 9 publications

(14 citation statements)

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“…Organisational culture is continuously highlighted as an essential factor for successful lean implementation in the extant literature (Sreedharan et al , 2020; Aij and Teunissen, 2017; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013). For example, Sreedharan et al (2020) stress the importance of a positive culture and infrastructure development for effective lean deployments. Psychogios et al (2012) proposed a model supporting lean implementation that emphasises the importance of organisation culture.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The process of implementing a lean system into a traditional manufacturing environment is extremely challenging and requires a comprehensive cultural shift at all levels of the organisation. According to Sreedharan et al (2020), unsuccessful implementation results in high implementation costs and employee resistance. Mostafa et al (2013) also found that failed initiatives result in a reduction of employee confidence and poor use of resources, while Scherrer-Rathje et al (2009) found that problems with implementation led to the termination of the lean project.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Leading from the middle: how team leaders implement lean success factors

Connor

Cormican

2021

IJLSS

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Purpose There is compelling evidence that demonstrates that organisations are failing to reap the full benefits of lean initiatives. While much work has been conducted on what factors are critical to the success of lean initiatives, there is a dearth of empirical evidence relating to whether team leaders implement critical success factors (CSFs) in practice. Therefore, this study aims to explore the extent to which functional team leaders implement lean practices focussing on the role of leadership, empowerment and culture. Design/methodology/approach The research analysed team leaders in a single-site manufacturing organisation. A state-of-the-art analysis was conducted to isolate relevant themes and an instrument was developed to capture data. Empirical data was collected and analysed from 34 team leaders in engineering, quality and manufacturing. Findings The study found that while many good managerial practices to support lean is implemented, there remain significant challenges relating to cultural issues which must be addressed. The findings illuminate a latent gap in commitment and communication from senior management, as well as an underlying discrepancy in time and resource allocation. Originality/value The study’s findings provide new knowledge concerning the extent to which CSFs are implemented by functional team leaders in a real-world environment. The enquiry makes a valuable departure from previous research that focusses on leadership at a senior and middle manager level. It bridges the gap between academia and practice and provides tangible and concise results to management on how CSFs relating to leadership, empowerment and culture impact team leaders to drive lean methodologies.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Leading from the middle: how team leaders implement lean success factors

Connor

Cormican

2021

IJLSS

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“…Some of the quality initiatives initially adopted by different companies were Total Quality Management (TQM) (Albuhisi & Abdallah, 2018;Al-Mansour, 2007;Ayyash et al, 2012;Tennant, 2017), Business Process Re-engineering (Cheng & Chiu, 2008;Riyanto et al, 2019;Seethamraju, 2012), Six Sigma (Antony, 2004;Heckl et al, 2010;Hollingshed, 2021) and Lean manufacturing (Buer et al, 2018;Sundar et al, 2014;Wilson, 2010). Though the last two, Lean and Six Sigma have their origins in manufacturing (Sunder, 2016), the late blended version of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has been widely adopted in services operations (Altria & Smith, 2009;Antony et al, 2017;Sreedharan et al, 2020;Zwetsloot et al, 2018).…”

Section: Motivation and Rationale Of The Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Furthermore, the number of LSS publications for both manufacturing and services, in general, has experienced a steep decline in the last decade (Sreedharan et al, 2020).…”

Section: Motivation and Rationale Of The Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Table 9 Application of Evaluative Principles in the Current Research (Islamaj, 2021) Table 10 Thesis Mapping (Stage 3) (Islamaj, 2021) Table 11 Thesis Mapping (Stage 4) (Islamaj, 2021) Table 12 Thesis Mapping (Stage 5) (Islamaj, 2021) Figure 1 Theoretical Journey and Contextual Research Lenses adopted in study (Islamaj, 2021) Figure 2 Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma Description (Yadav et al, 2021) Figure 3 Main Phases of DMAIC (Rastogi, 2020) Figure 4 Some Lean Six Sigma Tools (Duarte, 2011) Figure 5 Kaizen (Malik & YeZhuang, 2006) Figure 6 VSM Sample (Guo et al, 2019) Figure 7 SIPOC Sample (Simon, 2020) Figure 8 Fishbone Diagram (Loredana, 2017) Figure 9 Ishikawa Chart for Process Improvement (Source et al, 2016) Figure 10 LSS Publications Graph (Sreedharan et al, 2020) Figure 11 Hard and Soft System Thinking Concepts (Checkland, 1999, p.…”

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Evaluating lean six sigma implementations in financial services using soft system methodology

Islamaj¹

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This thesis explores Lean Six Sigma (LSS) implementations in financial services by using Soft System Methodology (SSM). Financial Services are among the top five contributors in world economies. They currently operate in a challenging market and are under tense pressure to innovate and stay competitive. By nature, financial services, are bound by time in terms of processes that lead to an outcome that benefits customers. To maintain the competitive advantage, they must minimize the operational inefficiencies by adopting the different qualitative initiatives. One of the most prominent initiatives applied in financial services last two decades is Lean Six Sigma. The research revealed the LSS is much appreciated in financial services. During empirical analysis, the researcher managed to bring forward the main stakeholders involved, reasons why LSS was triggered to start, and identified some of the issues associated with these projects. Among many tools, Kaizen events were considered the most efficient approach of LSS, whereas the improvement stage of the methodology was occasionally perceived as a daunting task. The participants involved in the primary research were from Banks, Fintech, and Shared Service Centers. They were representatives of financial services located primarily in Europe and Asia as well. The research provided a holistic view of LSS projects in financial services following the Soft System Methodology approach. Findings went beyond from general barriers mentioned in the literature. While the commitment from Top Management or other important stakeholders is the main reason for the success of LSS, the empirical research underpinned the exact areas where the commitment has mainly to come from. The study informs the practitioners that before starting the LSS project, they have to ensure full ownership in all D-M-A-I-C stages. This would come from commitment or a more flexible and agile mindset between the LSS project team and IT to implement the changes. Research findings move the LSS beyond the cliché of manufacturing reference. The research showed that the use of SSM as an interpretative approach for evaluating participants' perceptions in LSS projects was highly valuable. It also provided additional insights that practitioners can leverage SSM as a problem identification method in the future. Synergies between the soft system thinking principles of SSM in having a practical SSM standalone methodology or blended Soft Six Sigma, Soft Agile, and LSS Agile provided additional lenses for future academic and practitioner's researches.

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