Fostering Management Commitment towards Lean Manufacturing

Lean Manufacturing has always been associated with superior performance and industrial excellence. However, it consistently reported to have a high failure rate. Researchers have generally agreed that the reason behind those failures is the negligence of social aspects (soft practices) that are essential for Lean success. In efforts to identify the critical soft practices, management commitment turned out to be the root cause for Lean success or failure as it drives all other practices. The aim of this research is to provide a framework for fostering management commitment towards Lean, which in turn is believed to have a positive impact on Lean implementation. A systematic literature review was carried out followed by the development of a conceptual model that was empirically tested for measurement quality and hypotheses validation. Preliminary results of the model showed that management commitment is fostered through the development of Lean knowledge, strategic alignment between Lean strategy and organization strategy, and a performance measurement system for monitoring and feedback.