Leadership that Facilitates the Successful Implementation of Lean Six Sigma

Alnadi, Mohammad; McLaughlin, Patrick

doi:10.1145/3416028.3416045

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 69 publications

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“…In turn, the success of Lean Six Sigma implementation can be reinforced by specific leadership behaviours but inhibited by other behaviours (Gelei et al, 2015). Leadership styles also have some behaviours that leaders should pay attention to them to achieve the successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma (Alnadi and McLaughlin, 2020). Alnadi and his colleague identified six leadership styles from the literature that facilitate the successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma from leaders’ perspective

Alnadi

McLaughlin

2021

IJLSS

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Purpose This paper aims to provide a synthesis of the results of the previous literature on leadership behaviours that enable successful Lean Six Sigma implementation. Design/methodology/approach The published literature that relates to leadership and Lean Six Sigma has been included. A thematic analysis was conducted on the previous literature which helped in identifying the relevant aspects and associating the behaviours with specific aspects. Findings After analysing the literature, seven key aspects have emerged: communication, culture of continuous improvement, coaching and developing employees, creating vision and aligning goals, employee motivation, employee empowerment and leadership commitment and support. The main leadership behaviours that facilitate and support Lean Six Sigma implementation have been summarised. Originality/value Thematic analysis in this field is scarce, so identifying the leadership behaviours’ themes can help researchers in developing a framework of leadership behaviours. Organisations and practitioners of Lean Six Sigma can take into consideration these behaviours as a key to the successful implementation of Lean Six Sigma. They can adjust their behaviours and know the behaviours that need to be developed amongst leaders. This would facilitate the Lean Six Sigma journey by overcoming the challenges that face practitioners during Lean Six Sigma implementation.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma from leaders’ perspective

Alnadi

McLaughlin

2021

IJLSS

Self Cite

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Leadership behaviours for Lean Six Sigma: Jordan as a case study

Alnadi,

McLaughlin,

Abushaikha

2024

IJLSS

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Purpose This paper aims to identify leadership behaviours in the manufacturing sector in Jordan that enable successful Lean Six Sigma implementation. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative data were collected through 27 interviews to identify the leadership behaviours that facilitate Lean Six Sigma and a focus group to categorise the aspects by grouping them into themes. A grounded theory approach was used in the field study. The processes of constant comparisons helped in identifying the relevant aspects of leadership behaviours and integrating specific aspects into themes; these processes were iteratives. Therefore, this research project relies on the grounded theory methodology to collect and analyse the data. The authors also used a focus group to categorise the aspects by grouping them into themes. In that, the aspects were grouped around core categories. Findings After analysing the data, 36 aspects have emerged. The data analysis processes helped in discovering the aspects of leadership that support the use of Lean Six Sigma in the manufacturing sector in Jordan. The aspects were developed through an iterative process of analysis until the saturation level was reached. Eight themes that influence the successful use of Lean Six Sigma emerged: Training and development; Continuous improvement and development; Communication; Empowering employees; Motivating employees; Managing qualities and operations; Employees engagement and involvement; and Supporting culture Research limitations/implications There are some research limitations to this study, which opens avenues for future research. First, the data was collected through qualitative methods, which limits the generalizability of the results. Future studies are needed to generalize the results to the wider business community. Second, the data was collected only from manufacturing organizations and did not consider other sectors. Future researchers are urged to replicate the study in other sectors. Third, this study considered only Jordanian firms; therefore, the authors call upon further research to investigate other national settings that may have a different business culture. Practical implications This study encourages businesses to follow and adopt these behaviours in organisations, which can help in developing desirable behaviours among leaders to reach advanced levels in using Lean Six Sigma. Moreover, practitioners can develop training programmes for developing leaders. Thus, the Lean Six Sigma journey can become smoother by addressing the issues that face practitioners during the different phases of implementing Lean Six Sigma. In that respect, the practical implication of this research is to describe the practices that the leadership of organisations must develop to maintain high levels of Lean Six Sigma deployment. Originality/value Scholarly studies in this field are scarce, especially in developing countries, so identifying the leadership behaviours can help researchers create a theory of leadership behaviours for Lean Six Sigma. Furthermore, practitioners of Lean Six Sigma can take into account these behaviours as crucial to the effective use of Lean Six Sigma. They can encourage leaders to follow and adopt these behaviours in organisations which can help in developing desirable behaviours among leaders to reach advanced levels in using Lean Six Sigma. Thus, the Lean Six Sigma journey can become smoother by addressing the issues that practitioners face during the different phases of implementing Lean Six Sigma.

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Leadership that Facilitates the Successful Implementation of Lean Six Sigma

Cited by 2 publications

References 69 publications

Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma from leaders’ perspective

Critical success factors of Lean Six Sigma from leaders’ perspective

Leadership behaviours for Lean Six Sigma: Jordan as a case study

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