The relationship between organizational attitude and lean practices: an organizational sense-making perspective

Abstract

PurposePast studies of lean have failed to sufficiently address the importance of social factors for successful lean implementations. This paper aims to broaden and deepen the understanding of lean as a socio-technical paradigm by conceptualizing lean implementation as an organizational change process.Design/methodology/approachThis study draws on the organizational sense-making literature to conceptualize and validate lean implementation as an organizational change process that necessitates a focus on the ability of organizational actors to construct a shared meaning of lean. This study posit that this shared understanding shapes the collective behaviour and attitudes of people towards a future desired organizational state such as a successful implementation of lean. Survey data were collected from various manufacturing and services firms to test the hypothesis derived from literature using a structural equation modelling approach.FindingsThe mutual social interactions of organizational actors contribute to an enabling lean organizational attitude that has a dominant effect on the lean practices of employee involvement, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management. This study also established boundary conditions for these relationships by identifying firm size as a moderating variable.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings establish a supportive organizational attitude as an antecedent for lean implementation, which goes beyond the current socio-technical characterization of lean management. This conceptualization draws the attention of researchers and practitioners towards the critical role of the cooperative behaviours of organizational actors in lean implementations.Originality/valueThe statistical results add a novel perspective to the discourse on the social dimension of lean implementation by conceptualizing and validating lean management as a combination of organizational attitude and the process facilitators comprising of employee empowerment, internal technical practices, supplier and customer management.

Environmental collaboration with suppliers and cost performance: exploring the contingency role of digital orientation from a circular economy perspective

“…We follow Westland (2010) to determine the minimum sample size to detect effects by using the Soper (2016) calculator. The input parameter values for the Soper calculator (such as the anticipated effect size = 0.35, desired statistical power = 0.80 and probability level = 0.05) were borrowed from comparable studies such as Malik and Abdallah (2020). Based on the 22 observed variables representing four latent constructs, 94 was returned as a minimum sample by the Soper calculator and this study's final sample of 100 respondents exceeds this minimum requirement.…”

“…Next, we checked for survey non-response bias and common method variance (CMV). A non-response bias test was performed by conducting a Mann–Whitney U test to detect statistically significant differences between early respondents and late respondents as a proxy for non-responders (Malik and Abdallah, 2020). The first quarter and last quarter of respondents did not reveal any statistically valid differences for the four theoretical constructs, implying that non-response bias was not a significant concern for our data (Chavez et al.…”

Understanding Learning Intention Complexities in Lean Manufacturing Training for Innovation on the Production Floor

“…Attitude is pertinent to assumptions about the outcomes of a behavior and the appraisal of the proportion between the positive and negative degree of contributing to a learning action [57]. It has also been emphasized that a supportive organizational attitude is a precursor for the implementation of any lean improvement program [58]. Prior studies based on the TPB have confirmed the significant relationship between attitude toward behavior and behavioral intention [59,60].…”

The Academic Development Trajectories of the Lean Production Based on Main Path Analysis Method

“…In addition, flow management is not significant in small, medium, and large companies. The connection between internal awareness and the use of lean thinking was examined by Malik et al [34] and Amaro et al [35]. Their study's findings demonstrated that internal interactions inside an organization can enhance organizational awareness, and that this phenomenon has a big impact on how lean thinking is implemented in employee involvement, internal technology development, and customer management.…”

“…Malik and Abdallah [34] explored the relationship between organizational internal awareness and the practice of lean thinking. The study pointed out that the interaction between internal members of the organization contributes to the improvement of organizational awareness, and this phenomenon is important for employee participation and internal technology.…”