Opening the Black box of change management in lean implementation

The project has now been completed. Three articles have been published in international journals and a 'Kappa'has been written summarizing the three articles. The project has it academical focus on Manufacturing companies (MCs) and how they implement ?best-practice? concepts such as Lean and the Toyota Production System (TPS) for enhanced production improvement. However, 30 years of research have shown that very few succeed in this implementation, which is often related to the challenge of copying Lean and TPS in various technological, political, and social contexts. As a reaction to this, MCs have explored new strategies for implementing best-practice concepts. Instead of copying a concept, the company tailors its own ?self-adjusted? concept that is built on one or more standard concepts. This phenomenon goes by the name of ?company-specific production systems? (XPS) and seems to be an important trend among (global) MCs. A key point of an XPS is its strategic importance to the company. The selection of concepts and the adaptation and adjustment to the company?s uniqueness take place at a corporate level, and they are strongly supported by the top management of the company. After the creation phase, the XPS is distributed to the MC?s (global) network. Hence, the initial adjustment and tailoring process is supposed to secure adoption and standardization across the company?s network. Despite the increased interest and strategic importance of the XPS phenomenon, knowledge of how an XPS is developed and implemented is limited. For example, we know little about how standard concepts are adapted to the company?s uniqueness, or about whether an XPS helps to ensure standardization in a (global) network. Furthermore, we have little knowledge about how an XPS is institutionalized and established as continuous improvement in a network. Understanding the XPS phenomenon is, therefore, of both theoretical and practical interest. The project followed Elkem ASA, one of Norway?s oldest MCs. Elkem developed its own XPS, the Elkem Business System (EBS), which has strongly contributed to increasing the company?s focus on process improvement across its global network. The development of the XPS must be seen as an integrated and developing learning process. The XPS was created without a master plan. Different concepts were adjusted and adapted to the company?s uniqueness through extensive experimentation at different levels in the company. For example, shift managers on the production floor were removed to ensure more participation on the shopfloor level. The learning process, which took place over 15 years, was finally consolidated in an overall XPS. The project also found that Elkem managed to standardize their XPS across geographical locations by building a strong internal culture, resembling a religious belief. This was done by institutionalizing basic assumptions relating to learning and continuous improvement at all levels of the company. The Elkem culture also developed norms, strongly recognizing involvement and participation at the shopfloor level in production performance. Findings in the project challenge the classic understanding of how standard concepts such as Lean and TPS are used for production performance. The XPS process in Elkem can be described as an integrated learning process, where standard concepts represent a starting point for organizational learning, which in turn creates increased production improvement. Findings in the project have theoretical and practical implications for companies that want to develop their own company-specific improvement programs. Central to this is the understanding of how to create learning organizations.

Prosjektet har gitt Storform mer innsikt i prosess veiledning og således styrket vårt forhold til vår kunde gruppe

Prosjektet tar utgangspunkt i virksomheters arbeidsorganisering i endring og omstillingsprosesser med fokus på Lean og kontinuerlig forbedring. Lean, fremstår i dag som et dokumentert og til dels utprøvd metode med røtter tilbake til Japan og Toyota sitt produksjonssystem, og kan siden 1990 vise til omfattende forskning og vitenskapelige publikasjoner. Forskning på Lean har dreid seg mye om hvilke suksessfaktorer som sikrer vellykket og varig implementering. I dette perspektivet fremstår ledelse og lederes påvirkning som den viktigste suksessfaktor. Faktisk viser forskning at ledelse angis å være over 50 % viktigere enn andre suksess faktorer, når en snakker om vellykket implementering. Det synes derfor å være en relativt samlet oppfatning om at lederrollen spiller en sentral rolle når virksomheter skal implementere Lean i egen virksomhet. Det som derimot synes å mangle innen forskning på Lean og ledelse er mer presist hva slags type lederadferd det er snakk om når en definerer lederrollen som en sentral suksessfaktor. Ofte beskrives ledelse som «supportive» eller «active» da spesielt knyttet til toppleder rollen i en virksomhet. Men hva som faktisk ligger i «supportive» eller hvilken konkret adferd en her snakker om, er det forsket lite på innen Lean og ledelse. Et annet poeng er at det ikke synes å være noen åpenbar distinksjon mellom de ulike nivåer av ledelse i en organisasjon, og hvordan adferd på disse nivåene fremstår for å lykkes med Lean implementering. I dette perspektivet må en kunne stille spørsmål om hvorvidt ledelse på toppnivå er lik eller skiller seg fra ledelse på lavere nivåer, når en lykkes med Lean implementering. Dette prosjektet tar derfor utgangspunkt i disse spørsmålene og ønsker å undersøke mer inngående hva slags lederadferd som sikrer suksessfull Lean implementering, og hvordan denne lederadferden fremstår på ulike nivåer i en organisasjon.