Applying lean thinking for disaster responses: The case of philanthropic organisations

Abstract

Disaster response by philanthropy has faced numerous challenges flagged in the literature, including duplication of efforts, inefficiencies, waste, and inadequate goal achievements. However, there is little literature on how to organise philanthropic acts in the face of disasters. This paper assesses the influence of lean thinking in improving disaster response processes and sustainability. The paper further proposes a framework for applying lean thinking by philanthropic organisations. A mixed research methods strategy was employed with 212 staff surveys in Southern Africa. Twenty-three indepth key informant interviews were also conducted. The results revealed that lean thinking succeeds with philanthropic organisations if a high level of management commitment, teamwork, and adaptability to change the organisation's setup exists. A framework is presented through Structural Equation Modelling (SEM), tailor-made for philanthropic organisations in Southern Africa. External and internal determinants were found to equally contribute to lean thinking's success in reducing waste and increasing value. Despite being limited to developing economies, this paper extends prior research on the lean application and integrates lean thinking in a philanthropic setting. Findings drawn from diverse countries imply that results may be reasonably generalised. INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUNDUndeniably, when any disaster strikes, the repercussions are catastrophic and sometimes inestimable. Lives are lost, economic productivity diminishes, and it can take numerous years to restore the affected area to its previous position, especially in low-income communities such as those prevailing in Africa (Ngwenya and Naude 2016). Although natural meteorological events trigger these disasters, the literature confirms that their catastrophic consequences are due to social, human factors such as poor land use, unauthorised buildings, poor town planning, inequality, and corruption, for example (Cerase 2018). Disaster consequences are described as "everything but an act of God and can be predicted and prevented through human knowledge and rational decisions" (Cerase 2018, p.218). Philanthropy

The influence of lean thinking on philanthropic organisations' disaster response processes

“…The paper grounds itself in lean thinking theory, and there are five fundamental principles of lean thinking instituted by Schuh et al (2016), Mogotsi et al (2022) and Nave (2002):…”

“…(2) Philanthropy organisation's attention to internal determinants Internal determinants include the factors of management commitment, teamwork and adaptability to change (Mogotsi et al, 2022). It is recommended that philanthropic organisations attend to internal dynamics, with management at the forefront and supporting change and implementing lean tools.…”

“…(3) Philanthropy organisations' attention to external determinants External determinants include the factors of government support, community incorporation and other philanthropic organisations responding to the same disaster (Mogotsi et al, 2022). Every effort needs to be made by philanthropic organisations to use lean tools like visual management to determine who is doing what and "where", given the high volume of philanthropic activities after a disaster event.…”

“…Motivation for the study Literature from the business sector in operations research and project management provides numerous frameworks and theories like lean thinking to accomplish business goals efficiently and effectively. The introduction of lean thinking in manufacturing and operations management has placed value and waste reduction at the forefront resulting in businesses pursuing it if there is a need to increase value and eliminate waste (Joosten et al, 2009;Mogotsi et al, 2022;Shahriar et al, 2022).…”

“…People are often found wanting in disasters, and infrastructure is increasingly destroyed from one disaster to another (Van Niekerk, 2017). The research problem is that humanitarian and philanthropic organisations continue to flag waste and inefficiencies in disaster management despite using tools such as lean thinking (Mogotsi et al, 2022). Studies such as Kovacs and Spens (2009) highlighted the challenges of humanitarian logistics and found coordination of response activities to be a key contributor.…”