Why Lean Doesn't Work

[Rog]

What I see we have been losing (and maybe it's manifested in the fact that the last of the 5 S's is so hard to achieve) is compassion. Compassion in a business sense cares about the well being of fellow workers, the well being of our customers and the well being of our communities. When you find an organization that has this (and some do exist) you will find the least absenteeism, exemplary safety and quality performance and high productivity and innovation. There are generally fewer control based rules as these only arise to keep the non-compassionate 5%ers in line but hurt everyone else.

Compassion isn't a soft let htings be affair. It is forceful in action and takes courage to maintain. If I care for your well being and I see you acting unsafely I don't turn away. I help and make the situation safe. If I'm running a machine and it's making suspect parts I don't keep making them. If I'm compassionate I stop and have the problem addressed. A compassionate CEO would not take a bonus at the same time as laying fellow workers off. In better times the money would be re-invested in the company to help it grow.

I suspect that where Lean is successful compassion is also strong and where there is little real compassion Lean and every other improvement initiative is a short lived fad.

If your companies want innovation, start with compassion.

Rog

[rbrooku]

I've said this elsewhere, the problem is ideology itself. Trying to define "Lean" as more than a definable technique or methodology leads to ideology. Ideology does not, and cannot, reflect reality, it reflects mental structure and reality is not what we think.

Ideology itself inevitably becomes an attempt to define what Plato called The Good. This is, in a sense, hard wired into us, is part of human nature. So, long story short, "Lean" will of course not work when it reaches the level of the consideration of decency.

[Rog]

That is an interesting thought about ideology and I think I get where you are coming from.

I would however propose that whilst ideologies may not reflect current realities thay do affect current realities. One would be hard pushed to say that religious ideology does not affect the reality of the nation where that particular ideology dominates.

As you correctly say business tends to take a tool and raise it to the level of an ideology which is crazy and damaging in many ways. Just a few are

1) The 'ideology' is rarely equally held and used across the board (I suspect Toyota 'lived' LEAN right to the top)

2) Tools are effective on simple predictable processes. Ideologies are related to the complex, dynamic nature of organizations. Making a tool an ideology is the same as making the gun the rule of law.

3) Raising a tool to the level of an ideology devalues the existing culture of the organization and demotivates its members. Do this more than once 'Quality culture' to 'LEAN culture' to 'Six Sigma' culture and the effects are well known.
How are you ever going to get the last of the 5 S's if your employees don't feel valued?

LEAN and many other methodologies works when used as a methodology and appropriately applied. The part that isn't working is that we have forgotten how to authentically value our employees and the better future they wish to create for themselves and their communities. Profitable, sustainable business is an outcome of that. It doesn't work the other way around in the long term.

Rog

[Dr Stan]

I too am a firm believer in lean and teach it as part of my course load. BTW, I came from manufacturing so I’m not just another egghead. As I see it, lean has been compromised by the B schools and as used by the MBA bean counters is just another buzz word.

I also see lean as a philosophy, rather than an ideology. Those who truly understand the concepts also understand it is a process and never ends. This never ending aspect of lean is the aspect that the bean counters, who want to simply improve the ROI for the next quarterly report, will never be able to understand.