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.

Exploring the influence of lean manufacturing practices on employee social sustainability

Purpose

The benefits of adopting lean manufacturing for leveraging corporate sustainability have been highlighted in the literature. However, these studies have neglected the social side of sustainability compared with the attention given to the environmental aspects. Addressing this gap, this paper aims to investigate the influence of lean practices on the dimensions of employee social sustainability (ESS), which enabled the identification of the most critical practices.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper conducted an exploratory study in two phases: first, seeking evidence in the literature, and second, applying the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) to connect ESS to lean practices based on expert opinion.

Findings

From the literature review, this paper found linkages between eight lean manufacturing practices and four dimensions of ESS. Based on evidence from the literature, the authors designed and applied an AHP model to set priorities among lean practices and social dimensions. Therefore, “health and safety” was evaluated as the most critical social dimension, and 5S was considered the most influential lean practice on ESS.

Originality/value

This study contributed to introducing the perspective of lean manufacturing practices as enablers of ESS. Notably, it pointed out which specific practices should be prioritized in the lean implementation process with social sustainability purposes. In addition, it identified relationships not reported in the literature, raising questions for further investigation.

Identifying the effect of green human resource management practices on lean-agile (LEAGILE) and prioritizing its practices

Purpose

The present study attempted to identify, measure and prioritize key green human resource management (GHRM) practices to achieve the lean-agile mindset in the steel industry.

Design/methodology/approach

Following an in-depth review of the literature, this study identifies GHRM practices. Then, the effect of green HRM practices on the lean-agile mindset was evaluated using structural equation modeling (SEM). In the next step, using the fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP), prioritization of practices that have significant effects on lean-agile mindset were discussed.

Findings

The present study introduced eight GHRM practices. The results of SEM showed a significant and positive effect of all GHRM practices on lean-agile mindset. Prioritization of GHRM practices by the FAHP was defined as green reward management, green education and development, green performance evaluation, green discipline management, green employment, green safety and health management, green selection and green career design.

Research limitations/implications

The present study suffers from some limitations. First, the research was conducted at a temporal section. Second, this research has been conducted in a particular industry.

Practical implications

The present study encourages human resource managers to increase their efforts to achieve green employees and put employee greenery in their strategic goals.

Social implications

Successful implementation of GHRM programs has positive consequences at the individual, organizational and community levels. Implementation of the identified actions increases employee vitality at the individual level. At the organizational level, the work environment of environmentally friendly organizations is also more attractive to job seekers. Finally, at the social and extra-organizational level, a green lifestyle is spread in the community, which will lead to a healthy and green environment.

Originality/value

Emphasizing environmental principles on the one hand and creating the lean-agile mindset on the other are effective factors on maintaining the competitive advantage of industries. In this regard, the present study presented two innovations in HRM literature: (1) assessing the effect of GHRM practices on lean-agile mindset and (2) prioritizing GHRM practices based on the lean-agile mindset.

What drives job satisfaction in IT companies?

Purpose

Strategic goal achievement in every sector of a company relies fundamentally on the firm's employees. This study aims to disclose the factors that spur employees of major Information Technology (IT) companies in the United States (US).

Design/methodology/approach

In this paper, 15,000 reviews from the top 15 United States IT companies were collected from the social media platform Glassdoor to uncover the factors that satisfy IT employees. To learn the most meaningful features that influence the scores, positive and negative remarks, as well as advice to the management team, were analyzed through a support vector machine.

Findings

Results highlight a positive attitude of coworkers, contributing to a positive environment and job satisfaction. However, unsatisfied IT employees reveal that work exhaustion is the main reason for their job dissatisfaction.

Practical implications

IT human resource departments can use these valuable insights to align their strategies in accordance with their employees' desires and expectations in order to thrive.

Originality/value

The study highlights the relevance of IT companies to understand the reasons behind their employees' satisfaction. Up until now, little is known concerning the variants of job satisfaction among IT employees, enriching the understanding in this particular professional area.

Revolution or 30-year fad? A role for I-O psychology in Lean management

Lean management and related ideas have had a significant impact on organizations throughout North America and the world. Despite its popularity and impact, I-O psychologists have largely neglected Lean as a research topic and few I-O psychologists engage in applied practice in the area. In this focal article, we provide a working definition of Lean and present examples of Lean’s influence. Next, we outline possible reasons to explain I-O psychologists’ indifference to Lean. Finally, we provide some topic areas that I-O psychologists can use to contribute to the Lean literature. By using I-O psychologists’ skill in measurement and evaluation, along with our considerable organizational theory, we believe that I-O psychology can improve Lean and broaden their impact. We hope this focal article will inspire I-O psychologists to reconsider a research and practice area that they have previously ignored. In addition, we hope that this article causes I-O psychologists to reflect on their role to play in addressing popular management trends.

Managing paradoxical tensions during the implementation of lean capabilities for improvement

Purpose

– Through the identification and investigation of the organisational paradoxes in lean, the purpose of this paper is to deepen the understanding of lean implementation intricacies, and contribute to sustaining lean in companies.

Design/methodology/approach

– Case study based on semi-structured interviews with participants in lean conversion from three companies in Denmark. The companies come from different business sectors: public transport, healthcare and finance.

Findings

– This study identifies three types of organisational paradoxes in lean: organising, performing and belonging. The study also points to a range managerial responses used for dealing with the three paradoxes and facilitating lean transformation.

Research limitations/implications

– This is a theory development paper which increases the understanding regarding the role of the organisational paradoxes in facilitating or hindering lean transformation.

Practical implications

– The study generates insights which help managers identify and deal with the individual motivations for opposing lean practices, and thus facilitates lean transformation.

Originality/value

– This study adds clarity to the process of managing lean implementation by identifying three different motivations for people to oppose lean transformation. The study also recommends managerial actions for dealing with each situation.