LEAN CULTURE
Debra Setman
Group Exercise Part 1: What Is Organizational
Culture?

Corporate culture is the personality of an organization. It guides how
employees think, act, and feel. Johnson (1988) identified a number of
elements that can be used to describe or influence organizational culture.
What is your culture? Fill in items under each heading.
The Paradigm
Stories and
Myths
Rituals and
Routines
Culture
Control
Systems
Organizational
Structures
Symbols
2
Power Structures
SOURCE: http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm; Johnson, G. (1988). Rethinking incrementalism. Strategic Management Journal, 9, 75-91.
2
Lean Thinking

Lean has a variety of tools used to enable the culture. They are
designed to reduce waste and increase customer value.
Below are some tools used in lean thinking.
Value-Stream Mapping
KPIs
MistakeProofing
Kaizen
Our Approach
to
Lean Thinking
Kanban
Standard
Work
Rapid
Changeover
ME2
Visual Workplace
and 5S
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Lean Culture
The Paradigm

Elements of culture from Johnson (1988)
can be linked to a lean culture:
Stories & Myths
Rituals & Routines
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Deming
Taylor
Ford
Toyoda
Ohno
PDCA
Hansei
Gemba walks
Team huddles
Problem-solving
Waste (muda) elimination
Effective meetings
Constant improvement
(every improvement is
worthwhile, no matter
how small)
• Both recognition and
constructive, helpful Symbols
• JIT
criticism
• Std work
• VSM
• Visual workplace
• Kanban
• Layout—FIFO racks
• Colors
• Customer first after • 5 whys
safety
• Teamwork
• Vision and values
• Kaizen
embraced by all
(Relentless
• Hansei
focus on waste)
• Jidoka
Control Systems
• Goal alignment
(Hoshin Kanri)
• Red is not
necessarily bad
• No-blame
environment
• Never give up
attitude
• Trial and error
• Challenge and failure
• KPIs
• Compliance with
safety and
government
regulations
Lean
Culture
Organizational Structures
Power Structures
•
•
•
•
Long-term focus
Triangle
Servant-leader mentality
Consistent and clear titles
• Team ideas rule
• Action oriented
• Change oriented
• Employee accountability and empowerment
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SOURCE: http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm; Johnson, G. (1988). Rethinking incrementalism. Strategic Management Journal,
9, 75-91.
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Group Exercise Part 2: What Is
Organizational Culture?
 Exercise: Go back to the output from Part 1 and compare it to a lean
culture. Identify areas under each category that you could/should work on
improving to move toward a leaner culture. Use a different color marker on
the same flipchart paper from the first exercise.
Stories and
Myths
The Paradigm
Control
Systems
Culture
Culture
Rituals and
Routines
Organizational
Structures
Symbols
5
Power Structures
SOURCE: http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm; Johnson, G. (1988). Rethinking incrementalism. Strategic Management Journal,
9, 75-91.
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References
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Bridges, W. (2003). Managing transitions. New York: Perseus Publishing.
Convis, G. Role of management in a lean manufacturing environment. Automotive Manufacturing &
Production, July 21.
Ford, H. (1988). Today and tomorrow. New York: Productivity Press.
Johnson, G. (1988). Rethinking incrementalism. Strategic Management Journal, 9, 75-91.
Kotter, J.P. (1996). Leading change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press.
Liker, J.K. (2003). The Toyota way. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Mann, D. (2005). Creating a lean culture. New York: Productivity Press.
Schein, E.H. (1988). Organizational culture. Cambridge, MA: Sloan School of Management, Massachusetts
Institute of Technology.
Womack, J.P., & Jones, D.T. (2003). Lean thinking. New York: Free Press.
Womack, J.P., Jones, D.T., & Roos, D. (1990). The machine that changed the world. New York: Scribner
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henry_ford.html
http://www.chapters.indigo.ca, About the Book
http://www.coe.montana.edu/ie/faculty/sobek/ime458/BR/Sp02/partainBR.htm
http://www.despair.com
http://www.emsstrategies.com/dm070104article2.html
http://www.entarga.com/stratplan/culture.htm, enTarga (Ross A. Wirth, Ph. D.)
http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/ford.htm
http://www.fordforums.com/showthread.php?t=36364
http://www.lean.org/THE MACHINE THAT CHANGED THE WORLD
http://www.managementhelp.org/org_thry/culture/culture.htm
http://www.strategosinc.com/training_cult1-h1.htm
CHANGE MANAGEMENT RESOURCE: ask JJPE for internal resource suggestions. Also, take the CM online module offered through the JJPE website.
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