Job design under lean manufacturing and the quality of working life: a job demands and resources perspective

Stairway to heaven or a placebo: the impact of lean leadership, through job demands, on hospital workers' engagement and performance

PURPOSE

This study aims to examine to what extent the relationships between hospital workers' perceptions of lean leadership behaviour, their engagement and the hospital unit's perceived performance are mediated by job demands.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

The data (n = 1,624) come from a lean implementation study in a Dutch hospital and are analysed using structural equation modelling in Mplus (v8.4).

FINDINGS

The results confirm that lean leadership behaviour is related to employee engagement and hospital unit performance as perceived by employees, and these relationships are partially mediated through job demands. More specifically, the authors found that the type of job demand explains the direction of mediation effects. On the one hand, so-called challenging demands positively mediate the relationships between lean leadership behaviour and its outcomes. Conversely, hindering demands negatively mediates the relationship between lean leadership behaviour and perceived unit performance.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

The authors recommend hospital organisations and human resources managers start by helping hospital leaders understand the underlying mechanisms that explain the effects of leadership on employees' perceptions and, second, support their frontline leaders by providing training, coaching and feedback on how to influence job demands in a way that creates an optimal work environment for hospital employees.

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

The authors contribute to the literature by building upon insights from the job demands-resources model to explain the effects of lean leadership behaviour and by investigating the relevance of lean leadership in a hospital context, given the phenomenon's strong roots in manufacturing.

Performance at the cost of well-being? Testing the multi-level effects of HR practices on organisational performance via employee experiences and well-being

Purpose

While the potential for HR practices (HRPs) to improve organisational performance is well-established, the mechanisms by which this occurs are complex. Individual HRPs may affect organisational performance either by mutual gains (improving both organisational performance and employee well-being) or by conflicting outcomes (organisational performance is improved at the expense of employee well-being). Models which combine HRPs may mask these differences and this study therefore tests pathways for four individual HRPs.

Design/methodology/approach

HRPs (employee involvement, pay, performance management and training) were hypothesised to influence organisational performance directly and indirectly via employee experiences of work (communication, autonomy) and employee well-being. The study used a large secondary dataset, the UK Workplace Employee Relations Survey 2011, to test these relationships in a multi-level model.

Findings

Employee experiences of work strongly predicted well-being. In addition, three different pathways from HRP to organisational performance were identified. Pay showed indirect negative effects, involvement had direct positive effects and performance management had a mixture of both positive direct and negative indirect effects on performance.

Originality/value

Using a disaggregated analysis of HRP and demonstrating their differing effects, this study questions the feasibility of a universal model of HRP effects. By using multi-level modelling (MLM), the study develops understanding of employee perspectives and integrates these into organisational-level models, demonstrating that performance effects are partially mediated by both employee experiences of work and employee well-being. Finally, the study highlights the complexity of performance effects achieved via both employee benefits and an intensification of employee experiences.

A balanced approach involving hard and soft factors for internalizing Lean Management and Six Sigma in hospitals

Purpose

This study examines the theoretical and empirical relationships between LM&SS, human resource management (HRM), climate for LM&SS and outcomes (employee well-being and performance) in hospitals. As part of this research, the authors examine the interplay between “hard” and “soft” practices for LM&SS and “soft” HR practices.

Design/methodology/approach

A cross-sectional, multisite survey study covering all internal service units at all eight Dutch university hospitals was conducted (42 units, N = 218 supervisors, N = 1,668 employees), and multivariate multilevel regression analyses were performed.

Findings

A systems approach involving “soft” LM&SS practices that are specifically HR-related has a positive effect (β is 0.46) on a climate for LM&SS. A climate for LM&SS is not related to perceived performance or employee health. It is, however, positively related to employee happiness and trusting relationships (both βs are 0.33). We did not find that a climate for LM&SS had a mediating effect.

Research limitations/implications

This study shows that a balanced approach involving both “hard” and “soft” factors is crucial to achieving the desired breadth and depth of LM&SS adoption at the macro, meso, and micro levels. The authors found that a climate for LM&SS positively affects employee well-being in hospitals.

Practical implications

In their attempt to create mutual gains for both their organization and their employees, hospitals that adopt LM&SS should foster a climate for LM&SS by embracing a balanced approach consisting of both “hard” and “soft” practices, thereby internalizing LM&SS at the macro, meso, and micro levels.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies to examine in-depth the impact of “hard” and “soft” LM&SS on both employee well-being (subdivided into different components) and performance in healthcare, as well as the role of “soft” HRM in this relationship. Linking LM&SS, HRM and outcomes to a climate for LM&SS is relatively a new approach and has led to a deeper understanding of the mechanisms underpinning the internalization of LM&SS in healthcare.

Will the real relationship between lean and safety/ergonomics please stand up?

This paper provides a review of studies containing safety and ergonomic outcomes in lean manufacturing (LM) environments over the past 40 years. The aim is to identify effects from specific LM methods on specific safety/ergonomic outcomes, to understand the relationship in greater detail. One hundred and one studies containing one hundred and seventy outcomes were identified. Thirty-seven outcomes pertained to just-in-time (JIT) production, which contained twenty-three negative, eleven neutral, and three positive safety/ergonomic outcomes. Conversely, twenty-six outcomes pertained to 5S and consisted of twenty-four positive, two negative, and no neutral outcomes. The most common negative JIT outcome was stress and mental strain, while the most common positive 5S outcome was a tie between safety performance and hazard exposure. Studies containing other methods were fewer in number with more mixed outcomes. These findings suggest that individual LM methods, especially JIT and 5S, uniquely contribute to the safety/ergonomic outcomes attributed to LM.

Is lean a theory? Viewpoints and outlook

Purpose

Lean remains popular in a wide range of private and public sectors and continues to attract a significant amount of research. However, most of this research is not grounded in theory. This paper presents and discusses different expert viewpoints on the role of theory in lean research and practice and provides guidelines for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

Seven experienced lean authors independently provide their views to the question “is Lean a theory?” before Rachna Shah summarizes the viewpoints and provides a holistic outlook for lean research.

Findings

Authors agree, disagree and sometimes agree to disagree. However, a close look reveals agreement on several key points. The paper concludes that Lean is not a theory but has plenty of theoretical underpinnings. Many lean-related theories provide promising opportunities for future research.

Originality/value

As researchers, we are asked to justify our research drawing on “theory,” but what does that mean for a practice-driven phenomenon such as lean? This paper provides answers and directions for future research.

Cognitive Ergonomics of Assembly Work from a Job Demands-Resources Perspective: Three Qualitative Case Studies

In manufacturing companies, cognitive processing is required from assembly workers to perform correct and timely assembly of complex products, often with varied specifications and high quality demands. This paper explores assembly operators’ perceptions of cognitive/mental workload to provide a holistic understanding of the work conditions that affect cognitive demands and performance. While the physical loading aspects of assembly work are well known, most empirical literature dealing with cognitive/mental loading in manufacturing tends to examine a few particular aspects, rather than address the issue with a holistic system view. This semi-structured interview study, involving 50 industrial assembly operators from three Swedish companies, explores how assemblers perceive that their cognitive performance and well-being is influenced by a wide variety of factors within the context of mechanical product assembly. The interview transcripts were analysed using a priori coding, followed by bottom-up Thematic Analysis. The results indicate that a variety of systemic effects on assemblers’ cognitive performance can be classified as job demands or resources. Quite often, the absence of a resource mirrors a related demand, and “good assembly conditions”, as described by the interviewees, often re-frame demands as desirable challenges that foster motivation and positive feelings towards the work. The identified demands and resources stem from task design, timing, physical loading, intrinsic and extrinsic motivators, social teamwork and the product’s “interface” design. Despite organisational differences and conditions between the three companies that took part in the study, the results are largely consistent.

Exploring the dark side of Lean: a systematic review of the lean factors that influence social outcomes

Purpose

Lean has shifted over the years from a set of tools to implement to a human-centric approach concerning both hard and soft factors. However, there is a limited research on these soft factors and how they influence companies performance and social outcomes on the one hand and how they enable the hard factors on the other hand. Taking this as a valuable opportunity, the purpose of this paper is to present the key motivating factors and key gaps in the literature as an agenda for future research.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic methodology to identifying the literature on social outcomes and factors in Lean is presented. Web of Science, EBSCO, Emerald, Science Direct, Google Scholar and the top journals were searched, and 158 papers were identified.

Findings

The systematic review helped the authors to identify the evolution, current trends, research gaps and an agenda for future research for exploring social outcomes in Lean and the factors mediating them. These factors are grouped and presented.

Practical implications

The implications of this work include understanding for managers and professionals how both soft and hard factors in Lean are related and that for a sustainable implementation, the whole system must be observed. This work could serve as a valuable resource that depending on the execution of Lean, either positive outcomes will emerge or even negative outcomes, referred to as “The Dark Side”.

Originality/value

This paper presents an extended survey on the factors in Lean mediating both companies’ performance and social outcomes. The authors also believe that this is possibly the most comprehensive systematic literature review on the topic and will set the foundation for various research avenues based on the key findings of this study.

Innovativeness and lean practices for triple bottom line: testing of fit-as-mediation versus fit-as-moderation models

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the fit between innovativeness and lean practices (LPs) can affect triple bottom line (TBL) performance. Two types of fit are tested: fit-as-mediation in which innovativeness creates TBL performance through the mediation of LPs and fit-as-moderation whereby the effects of innovativeness on TBL performance are moderated by LPs.

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modelling and moderated regression are used to test the fit-as-mediation and fit-as-moderation models using survey data collected from 241 manufacturers in China.

Findings

The results show that innovativeness is positively associated with LPs that emphasize operational excellence. Innovativeness indirectly affects all three TBL dimensions through the mediation of LPs, and LPs do not moderate the effects of innovativeness. The applicability of fit-as-mediation model suggests directing attention towards integrating innovation and LPs within same organizational units to achieve improved TBL performance.

Practical implications

The findings suggest manufacturers should involve employees within the same organizational unit embrace an integrated culture of innovativeness and LPs and avoid separate attention to innovativeness and LPs.

Originality/value

This is the first study of which the authors are aware developing and empirically testing both fit-as-mediation and fit-as-moderation models within the same study to understand how innovativeness and LPs work together to influence TBL performance. This study extends the boundaries of current understanding by examining how, when and why the innovativeness – LPs–TBL relationship arises between constructs central to our theories.

An investigation of the relationship between lean and well-being based on the job demands-resources model

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how just-in-time (JIT)-related job demands, problem-solving job demands and soft lean practices (SLPs) jointly influence employee well-being in terms of work engagement and exhaustion.

Design/methodology/approach

Based on the job demands-resources model, lean-related job characteristics were classified as resources or demands, and a set of hypotheses was developed to test their effect on work engagement and exhaustion, including the potential interaction between job resources and demands. The hypotheses were tested using moderated hierarchical regression and structural equation modelling, based on data from 138 workers.

Findings

SLPs act as job resources in a lean company, increasing work engagement and reducing exhaustion. Conversely, JIT-related job demands act as a hindrance, reducing work engagement and increasing exhaustion. However, SLPs can reduce the effect of JIT-related job demands on exhaustion, and JIT-related job demands may enhance the positive effects of SLPs on work engagement.

Research limitations/implications

The study provides no conclusive evidence on the hypothesized role of problem-solving as a challenge job demand.

Practical implications

The results can guide practitioners’ understanding of how to implement lean without harm to employee well-being.

Originality/value

By employing a well-grounded psychological model to test the link between lean and well-being, the study finds quantitative support for: the buffering effect of SLPs on exhaustion caused by JIT-related job demands, and for the role of JIT as a hindrance. These novel findings have no precedent in previous survey-based research. In addition, it reveals the importance of studying SLPs at an individual level, as what matters is the extent to which workers perceive SLPs as useful and supportive.

Managing performance in quality management

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to address potential effects of the control element in quality management. First, behavioural theories on how elements of performance management can affect organisational performance are examined. Second, theoretical models on how perceptions of work conditions may impact well-being and performance are considered. Direct and indirect pathways from performance management to productivity/quality are inferred.

Design/methodology/approach

Matched employee-workplace data from an economy-wide survey in Britain and two-level structural equation models are used to test the hypothesised associations.

Findings

The use of practices in workplaces is inconsistent with a unified performance management approach. Distinct outcomes are expected from separate components in performance management and some may be contingent on workplace size. For example, within quality planning, strategy dissemination is positively associated with workplace productivity; targets are negatively associated with perceptions of job demands and positively correlated with job satisfaction, which in turn can increase workplace productivity. With respect to information and analysis: keeping and analysing records, or monitoring employee performance via appraisals that assess training needs, are positively associated with workplace productivity and quality.

Originality/value

This paper illustrates how control in quality management can be effective. Although the merits of performance management are subject to ongoing debate, arguments in the literature have tended to focus on performance appraisal. Analyses of economy-wide data linking performance management practices, within quality management, to employee perceptions of work conditions, well-being and aggregate performance are rare.

Integrating safety, health and environmental management systems: A conceptual framework for achieving lean enterprise outcomes

INTRODUCTION

Expectations from external stakeholders for eco-safe products and production processes and internal stakeholders for transparent, stable, and robust environment, safety, and health operations have driven high technology organizations to adopt multipart management systems. Organizations can protect workers and the environment and simultaneously contribute to lean management principles by implementing integrated management systems. This research adds to the existing discourse and theory pertaining to the integration of environment, safety, and health management systems.

METHODS

The research was exploratory and inductive in nature and used mixed methods. Specifically, qualitative methods included use of an iterated Delphi method to elicit information from a panel of experts and detailed case studies conducted at four high technology performance manufacturing firms, while quantitative analysis of variance of correlated data investigated the within-firm and between-firm variability in motivating factors for adopting integrated systems and methods used for implementing integrated systems.

RESULTS

The results offer an integrated-lean management system framework and the strategies available and used by a sample of high technology performance organizations to simultaneously protect workers, the environment, and support lean enterprise outcomes. Practical applications: Organizations can protect workers, the environment, and simultaneously contribute to lean management principles by implementing integrated management systems requiring joint management that allow for the shared design, evaluation, and continuous improvement of environmental, safety, and health practices that are compatible with the lean enterprise movement in today's high-performance driven organizations.

Structure Please; Continuous Improvement and Employee Consequences in a Dynamic Task Environment

Whilst continuous improvement (CI) programs have had an enduring appeal for several decades, their sustainability has been a concern for almost as long. Sustaining a CI program requires permanent support of all its stakeholders, particularly of the most important ones—employees. Some authors argue that continuous improvement programs are beneficial for employee wellbeing, while others contest this. We contribute to the small empirical basis for such claims by presenting results from research among care workers in Flemish nursing homes. Questionnaires from 553 care workers in a nursing home applying continuous improvement and in a reference group of nine comparable homes were analyzed to study differences in job demands, job resources, burnout risk, and work engagement. In addition, we have drawn on interviews, site visits, and other qualitative data to assess the extent to which the differences found may be attributed to the CI program used. Overall, the care workers in the nursing home with the CI program evaluated their jobs as better than their colleagues in the reference group. These differences are at least partly caused by the continuous improvement program. We argue that the main effect is that over time, daily work processes become more structured. The work pressure decreases as work becomes less hectic.

A theoretical framework for the social pillar of lean

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to propose a theoretical framework for the social pillar of lean (SPL), which is a neglected topic in the lean management literature.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors first identify shortcomings in research on the SPL that are attributable to neglect of relevant perspectives in organisational research. The authors then present a theoretical case outlining the factors that should be considered in SPL research, how they relate to one another and how they should be integrated in future studies of lean change implementation.

Findings

The theoretical framework for the SPL proposes a categorisation of factors and their relationships across levels of analysis that are relevant to the SPL. The inclusion of previously neglected perspectives, such as the relational coordination theory, within this framework offers new insights and directions for research.

Practical implications

By emphasising relationships, the SPL framework sheds light on the scale and complexity of the management challenges involved in lean implementation.

Originality/value

The proposed framework promises to enhance the efficacy of lean research by focussing on factors, such as relationships, that are most relevant to lean implementation.

Socialization resources theory and newcomers’ work engagement

Purpose

Although work engagement has become an important topic in management, relatively little attention has been given to newcomers’ work engagement in the socialization literature. The purpose of this paper is to explain how newcomers’ work engagement can fluctuate during the first year of organizational entry and the role of organizational socialization in developing and maintaining high levels of newcomers’ work engagement.

Design/methodology/approach

A review of the socialization literature indicates that uncertainty reduction theory has been the basis of research on socialization tactics and newcomer information-seeking both of which function by providing newcomers with information to reduce uncertainty. Socialization resources theory is used to develop a new pathway to newcomer socialization which focuses on providing newcomers with resources during the first year of organizational entry and socialization.

Findings

The uncertainty reduction pathway to newcomer socialization is narrow and limited because it primarily focuses on minimizing and reducing the negative effects of job demands rather than on providing newcomers with resources that are necessary to facilitate work engagement and socialization.

Practical implications

Organizations can use newcomers’ work engagement maintenance curves to map and track fluctuations in newcomers’ work engagement during the first year of organizational entry and they can conduct an audit of socialization resources to determine what resources are required to develop and maintain high levels of newcomers’ work engagement.

Originality/value

This paper describes newcomer work engagement maintenance curves and explains how socialization resources can be used to develop and maintain high levels of newcomers’ work engagement. A model of a new pathway to newcomer socialization is developed in which socialization resources, personal resources, and job demands influence newcomers’ work engagement and socialization outcomes.

Primary problems associated with the health and welfare of employees observed when implementing lean manufacturing projects

BACKGROUND

Lean philosophy is used by companies to increase productivity and reduce costs. Although uncontested benefits are created, it is necessary to highlight the problems related to employees' health and welfare caused by implementing lean manufacturing projects.

OBJECTIVE

The primary objective of this paper is to review the literature and identify the most relevant problems created by lean philosophy for employees.

METHODS

Research about the theme was performed on many international databases over three months, and an initial sample of 77 papers was found. Twenty-seven sources were utilized.

RESULTS

We identified 22 categories of problems related to health and welfare of employees.

CONCLUSIONS

The most cited problem was work intensification, mentioned by thirteen papers. Increased stress and increased responsibilities, demands and, consequently, pressure on the workers are among the primary problems observed in the research.

Using kaizen to improve employee well-being: Results from two organizational intervention studies

Participatory intervention approaches that are embedded in existing organizational structures may improve the efficiency and effectiveness of organizational interventions, but concrete tools are lacking. In the present article, we use a realist evaluation approach to explore the role of kaizen, a lean tool for participatory continuous improvement, in improving employee well-being in two cluster-randomized, controlled participatory intervention studies. Case 1 is from the Danish Postal Service, where kaizen boards were used to implement action plans. The results of multi-group structural equation modeling showed that kaizen served as a mechanism that increased the level of awareness of and capacity to manage psychosocial issues, which, in turn, predicted increased job satisfaction and mental health. Case 2 is from a regional hospital in Sweden that integrated occupational health processes with a pre-existing kaizen system. Multi-group structural equation modeling revealed that, in the intervention group, kaizen work predicted better integration of organizational and employee objectives after 12 months, which, in turn, predicted increased job satisfaction and decreased discomfort at 24 months. The findings suggest that participatory and structured problem-solving approaches that are familiar and visual to employees can facilitate organizational interventions.

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

Continuous improvement (CI) programs are potentially powerful means to improve the quality of care. The more positive nurses perceive these programs' effects, the better they may be expected to cooperate. Crucial to this perception is how nurses' quality of working life is affected. We studied this in a nursing department, using the job demands-resources model. We found that two job demands improved, and none of the job resources. Job engagement did not change significantly, while the burnout risk decreased slightly. Overall, the nurses felt the impact to be small yet the changes were in a positive direction. CI can thus be used to improve nurses' working lives and, by restructuring the work processes, the quality of care. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.