Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to research the practice of ethics in Swedish health care organizations using Lean Management. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative study was conducted. Findings – Findings indicate that ethics is not a consideration when hospitals are implementing Lean Management. Social implications – Organizations generally have diverse value systems when building their codes of professional ethics for examining ethical principles, whereas Lean Management has established base principles with different codes of professional ethics differing from the intrinsic values humans create according to moral philosophy. It could be said that Lean Management relies on minimalistic ethic. While hospitals implement Lean Management, there are still many barriers to resolve to achieve useful implementation. Managing change while emphasizing ethical values could be a success factor for those organizations and their customers. Originality/value – Studying ethical values in Lean Management implementation.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to reach a deeper understanding of the Lean principle of respect for people (RFP to facilitate Lean implementation in Western organizations outside Toyota. Design/methodology/approach This study uses an interpretative, hermeneutic approach to understand the RFP concept through a literature study of existing research about Lean implementation, and an inquiry into the underlying meaning of the RFP principle, by studying sources from Toyota and discussions about the RFP principle in Japan. Findings RFP is seen as a central principle in Lean implementations, but the failure of RFP is believed to cause Lean implementations to fail. The literature about Lean discusses the RFP principle both as a general positive atmosphere and as focused on developing the work capacity of employees. By studying the sources from Toyota, it could be understood that RFP is based on ought-respect. The authors also find that RFP is related to takumi, a perfected form of craftsmanship. The authors translate the concept to English by tying it to the recent literature about craft to develop RFP as RFC – respect for craftsmanship. Research limitations/implications As this is a conceptual paper, it is difficult to translate the findings into a tool for companies and organizations to use. However, that is the point of the paper: that the most important ideas are not translatable into tools. Practical implications It is necessary in Lean implementations to connect people’s work to craftsmanship. Through a discussion of craftsmanship before Lean implementations, it might be possible to nurture an understanding of the underlying values of Lean. Originality/value The authors have not found any papers that propose takumi as the base of the RFP principle, nor as a foundational concept at Toyota. It is necessary to understand the concept of takumi, as perfection in craft, to understand the RFP principle.

Project management is omnipresent, yet the research on project management ethics is still lacking. Recent research stresses the importance of developing virtue ethics for project managers. This study contributes to this research by offering an empirical exploration as to whether virtue ethics is used by project managers and project management students, and whether the use of it is fundamentally maximalistic or minimalistic. The study shows that virtue ethics is used by respondents—particularly virtues of courage, fortitude, truthfulness, and moderation, and the avoidance of vices, such as weakness of will and cowardice. It also shows that virtue ethics is invoked both maximalistically and minimalistically.