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4. Conclusions
A review of the literature on lean in the public sector finds:
- Lean is used in reference to Lean principles, concepts and the notion of Leanness by authors not necessarily referring to the five principles of Lean Thinking.
- The five fundamental principles of Lean Thinking are specify value, identify the value stream, make value flow, let the customer pull and strive for perfection. These have been applied and adapted by writers for the service industry and the public sector with particular examples for the Health Service indicating an applicability of the overall concepts for many organisations.
- There is still relativity little evidence of the complete Lean philosophy being applied within the public sector with the most extensive examples being in the health sector. Of the evidence presented in the current literature there appears no over whelming support towards either accepting or rejecting lean as a concept that can be applied to the public sector. Evidence illustrates that related Lean concepts, tools and techniques have been applied to a fairly successful degree however, other writings state that the issues and context of the public sector means that the approach could only ever be 'piece meal' due to the need of service processes being able to cope with variety, uncertainty and so not being over standardised and inflexible. More time and research is needed to gain a full picture of the effect of Lean in the public sector.
- The outcomes of Lean have led to better understanding of the implementation process as well as intangible and tangible benefits. Many writings report on the outcomes for manufacturing companies although there have been several reports on the service and public sectors. Intangible benefits, partly related to the approach and style need for Lean implementation, include a better customer understanding, within and cross-team synergies for employees and a rise in employee motivation and morale. Tangible benefits are often focused around a reduction in time, space and cost but improved quality and dependability impacting on both efficiency and effectiveness.
- Before Lean and related concepts are introduced, an understanding of the degree of organisational readiness is advised by some writings on change and improvement to be necessary. It is suggested, that the organisation needs to develop and communicate clear messages about Lean in terms of its content, process and outcome. The organisation needs to realise that there will be big implications for training, developing new procedures and be prepared to identify and prioritise areas which can benefit from Lean. Benchmarking is often cited as a useful tool to help the preparation process.
- The writings related to the prerequisites of Lean implementation can be considered in two ways - one related to the organisation and one to the improvement activity. In terms of the organisation the implementation should ensure that; all employees are engaged so that attitudes and behaviours can change; there is top management support; there is a champion and; that open communication occurs throughout the process. In terms of the improvement activity it is suggested that the value stream is identified, the type and extent of waste within the stream mapped before new approaches and processes are implemented. A number of tools and techniques have been presented for the improvement activity, referred to as the 'Lean Toolbox', including Kaizen Blitz, Six Sigma, and Value Stream Mapping often through the use of team working.
- The barriers to implementation and adoption include; public sector culture; lack of clear customer focus; too many procedures; people working in silos; too many targets; lack of awareness of strategic direction; general belief that staff are overworked and underpaid; domination by stakeholders; lack of understanding of the effect of variation, systems thinking and process flow.
To summarise, the literature supports the idea that Lean Thinking can be adapted for use in the Public Sector, to achieve a wide variety of improvement objectives. Lean Thinking works by offering a methodology that helps integrate processes in a customer-focused manner, using front-line staff to generate the analysis of what is wrong with a process and how to make improvements. Some of the literature cautions against simple replication of existing manufacturing-based approaches in the Public Sector, suggesting that service organisations need to move away from some aspects of the manufacturing version of Lean. Although Continuous Improvement is an integral part of the Lean philosophy, it should not be assumed that CI is easily sustained in organisations that attempt Lean. There are a number of critical success factors, not always present in organisations, that are necessary for the sustainability of the CI element of Lean.
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