Lean leadership: transforming leaders into lean leaders - a study from the Indian automotive industry

Govindasamy, A., 2022. Lean leadership: transforming leaders into lean leaders - a study from the Indian automotive industry. DBA, Nottingham Trent University.

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Abstract

Organisations strive for various change management initiatives to stay relevant in the market, and the lean system is one of the sought-after transformational philosophies embraced by organisations. Lean results in superior business outcomes for many organisations, but the industry noticed a high rate of lean failures, and the leadership team's indifference was the major reason for lean failure.

This study approached lean initiatives from a leadership perspective rather than the lean tools dimension. This research questioned a few puzzles from lean practice; What are the unique leadership traits of successful leaders who inspire and empower their followers to believe in a long-enduring lean journey?. How is the leadership team in these successful organisations different compared with many failed lean tenants? Four essential constructs namely leadership style, basic value system, behavioural taxonomy theory, and power distance, an essential national cultural dimension were employed in this study following an in-depth review of the literature to determine the leadership qualities of effective lean leaders.

This study was focused on the automobile industry in the state of Tamil Nadu in India and considered case organisations with a successful lean track record. A pilot study was conducted in one case organisation to validate the proposed research design framework and both the quantitative survey instrument and the qualitative interview questionnaire. For the main study, the primary data was collected from various leadership hierarchies and blue-collar employees from three case organisations. As part of quantitative analysis, this study analysed the direct, mediation, and moderation roles played by three leadership theories and power distance toward lean success. The rich insights were captured from qualitative interviews. Both quantitative results and qualitative insights were leveraged to answer the research questions. This study contributed to enhancing the various theories used in it and added unique additions to the literature. This study proposed a lean leadership model, a distributed model with four pillars, to establish a trust-based environment to practice a sensible lean leadership process with purpose-driven leaders and empowered blue-collar employees.

Lean professionals’ and academic fraternities’ feedback about this study’s impact on lean practice effectiveness has been captured in this research. This study enhanced theory, literature, and lean practice by providing details concerning lean leadership unique to India. Limitations and future research opportunities were detailed in this study.

Item Type: Thesis
Creators: Govindasamy, A.
Contributors:
NameRoleNTU IDORCID
Kougiannou, N.Thesis supervisorHMD3KOUGIKorcid.org/0000-0002-6422-3831
Ramanathan, U.Thesis supervisorSMI3RAMANUorcid.org/0000-0002-7473-4643
Date: 17 October 2022
Rights: The copyright in this work is held by the author. You may copy up to 5% of this work for private study, or personal, non-commercial research. Any re-use of the information contained within this document should be fully referenced, quoting the author, title, university, degree level and pagination. Queries or requests for any other use, or if a more substantial copy is required, should be directed to the author.
Divisions: Schools > Nottingham Business School
Record created by: Melissa Cornwell
Date Added: 10 Apr 2024 14:30
Last Modified: 10 Apr 2024 14:30
URI: https://irep.ntu.ac.uk/id/eprint/51232

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