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Change approaches & management tools SeCtion tWo
LEAN Description
LEAN is a systems-based approach to change. The term refers to an organisation’s ability to do more with less and has two key pillars of the approach: Just-In-Time (‘continuous flow’), and Jidoka (‘intelligent systematisation’).
1. Just-In-Time (‘continuous flow’): seeks to minimise costs from end-to-end of the entire process through developing which meets the demands upon it in a continuous flow with minimum spare capacity.
2. Jidoka (‘intelligent systematisation’): also known as ‘automation with a human touch’, Jidoka is considered applicable to any situation in which human decisions are replaced with processes. It requires standardisation without removing employees’ ability to actively intervene as required, in order to absorb variety and attend to quality issues in real-time. Standardisation should thus only ever be used as a method for workers to improve processes (a means to an end), never a way for managers to impose rigid controls which drive out flexible responses to expressed customer need (an end in itself). It is the exact opposite of a call centre approach where workers follow a ‘script’ and have no authority to address variation, which is considered ‘dumbed-down’ systematisation.
Since its primary application in automotive production techniques, LEAN has subsequently been applied in a range of service industries and those provided or funded by public sector.
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