Group leaders and teamwork in the over-lean production system

Abstract

Purpose – This study aims to describe how a work team adapted to its fluctuated and severe environment by changing from “lean” to “over-lean” mode. To do this, the author investigated the relations among productivity, the vertical division of labor, and group leaders' behavior in a Japanese automobile assembly plant. Design/methodology/approach – The authors conducted field study at an assembly plant for five months. They collected three plant-level data to investigate the capability of its shop floor: transition of production volume; transition of the number of workers; and productivity. And they collected two types of workforce data: skill map and work shift. Moreover, they videotaped the behavior of group leaders on several days and analyzed them through a time study. Findings – The work team of this study achieved high productivity even in its tough environment. However, the authors' time study of group leaders showed that the group leaders, who usually engage in some management activities outside of the production line, did many tasks within the line. This indicates the team had a weakness toward the change of team members. Changing to this over-lean mode enabled the team to survive in a short-run, but maintaining the mode has a weakness in enhancing long-term competitiveness. Originality/value – This study proposes a balance between the two modes is required for organizations if they are to survive their severe and fluctuating environments.

Continuous improvement, burnout and job engagement: a study in a Dutch nursing department

“…Overall, there is hardly consensus on how CI affects employees. 'Lean production' in general and CI in particular is contested in the classic literature on the theme (e.g., Landsbergis et al, 1999;Conti et al, 2006;De Treville and Antonakis, 2006;Hasle et al, 2012;Ingvaldsen, 2013;Cullinane et al, 2014;Inamizu et al, 2014;Arezes et al, 2015): some herald it claiming superior organizational performance, others criticize the concept as exemplified in the quote 'lean is mean'. The latter refers especially to adversarial consequences for employees, such as redundancies and repetitive and monotonous work.…”

The Change in Communication Patterns in Teams Implementing Lean

“…Team leaders in a Lean plant are also in charge of team member training and team members are cross trained by both their qualified peers and by the team leader with the help of skill maps, graphical aids that help track the progress in cross-training [37]. Teams are also expected to hold daily meetings at the start of the day ("asakai") and the end of the shift ("yuichi") where they conduct a roll call, review possible challenges for the day ahead, discuss changes or improvements to processes and review past performance.…”

Lost in translation? The role of supervisors in lean production

“…However, the change was temporary; in September 2011, Fujimoto told the authors of this article that the hancho position was back in Toyota's supervisory hierarchy. A recent case study of a Japanese supplier to the automotive industry by Fujimoto and colleagues (Inamizu et al, 2014) describes the traditional team leader/group leader structure with its associated narrow control spans. Inamizu et al (2014) emphasize how internally recruited team leaders and group leaders who are multi-skilled substitute for line workers in case of volume fluctuations and staffing disturbances.…”

“…The role descriptions indicate that the hancho and the kumicho are able to perform direct work on the line when workers are absent or more manpower is needed, for example in the case of production problems. As shown by Inamizu et al (2014), the supervisory hierarchy is a flexible buffer of manpower. Although lean production generally implies the elimination of buffers (Womack et al, 1990), some slack seems to be built into the managerial hierarchy.…”