Projects Are Becoming ‘Lean’, but Not Organisations

Abstract

There is significant evidence of successful lean implementation at the project level. However, there is limited evidence of lean percolating through organisations in both literature, as well as industry. While the critical aspects of strategic adoption of lean to overcome organisational resistance have been clearly highlighted, the implementation is in most cases limited to select projects and not all projects across an organisation's portfolio.Despite proven benefits on projects within their own portfolio and the knowledge and skills for successfully implementing lean, organisations still fail to change their approach towards continuous improvement and driving efficiency as a whole. The paper here focuses on the need for a revised approach towards the adoption and sustenance of lean within companies at a business level by highlighting the importance of culture across the company's portfolio.The authors reflect on their experience of working with client and contractor organisations across multiple projects to review the difference in the maturity and implementation of lean. Following this, the authors corroborate their findings from discussion with a major public sector body and its supply chain on their lean journey over the last decade, to shed light on the approach needed today for successful lean implementation for organisation-wide sustenance.