Video-Analysis of Lean Team Behaviors:Triangulated Evidence on Three Prototypical Work Situations

Abstract

More organizations then even before are adopting or consider to adopt Lean Management; this trend, beyond manufacturing, can be seen as part of the drive towards operational excellence. While academic studies on Lean methods are widespread, research on effective behavior in Lean operations is still rare. To date there have been few scholarly studies that reported on behavioral predictors of Lean organizing. In this review paper we analyze them; careful search-and selection effort uncovered ten empirical Lean s tudies with a teambehavioral focus; they are methodologically diverse and offer various lenses. Given this small set of original studies, we supplemented our review of Lean team studies with relevant results of the much older and more established team-effectiveness literature. Nine Lean team human dynamics were uncovered, consisting of affective, behavioral and/or cognitive factors that build upon and reinforce each other in a delicate balance. It appears that a Lean team culture is hand-crafted, over time: when team members engage in Lean practices that are helping them to reflect on their own work habits so that they can improve their routines. Moreover, variables that figure prominently in effective team contexts, such as 'voice behavior' or customer-related output variables, have not been included in the reviewed Lean team studies. Thus, this systematic review of the available empirical Lean team behavior studies opens up new research paths for testing the various theoretical linkages between effective Lean management, group behavior at the shop-floor level and organizational/group culture/climate theory, including enablers of effective Lean work-group behavior.