Lean organisational culture - development and testing of a measurement tool

Abstract

Lean management has great potential for coping with the ever-growing economic challenges faced by healthcare systems in most developed countries. Although many authors emphasise cultural change as a prerequisite for successful lean transformation in all sectors, there has been little effort to develop a tool that measures actual organisational culture relative to the 'ideal' culture for supporting lean management. In this paper, we describe the development of a new measurement tool that aims to assess the lean features of organisational culture. A new questionnaire was used to conduct the research at an outpatient clinic. The results suggest that further refinement of the questionnaire, namely changes in wording and addition of explanatory examples, is required. If validated, the modified questionnaire could be useful in organisations in which members have basic knowledge of lean management tools and principles.