What elements influence organizational change? Dr. Mary Lippitt (1987) developed a model for complex change with 5 key elements: Vision, Inscentives, Resources Skills and plan. In this article, Lippitt´s ´Incentives´ is replaced by commitment, because commitment can be seen as the result of good incentives and is mentioned in many books, articles and internet fora as the one factor that influences cultural change the most.
There are multiple books and articles which stress the importance of the five key elements of change, especially on Vision and (management) commitment (Rother (2010), Liker (2004), Suzaki (1993). Three years ago, I thought these elements self-evident, because they were present in the first factory I came to work in. I have learned however, that these elements are not as self-evident as I thought and sometimes even lack in an organization, influencing the Lean implantation in a bad way.

In Kaizen, Masaaki Imai (1986) describes the key to the Japanese success to competitive production. Kaizen is defined as the philosophy behind this success, where the term kaizen is used in the same way as the term Lean in other literature about Japanese manufacturing success. Imai´s message to the western companies is as follows: “Do it better, improve it – even when it is not broken, cause if you don´t, you won´t be able to compete with organizations that do.”

In this book, Imai describes 16 management practices, including management tasks, suggestion systems, policy deployment and quality control, subdivided in seven chapters. This article will describe the one management practice from each of these seven chapters that I personally found most appealing.

The University of Improvement Skills is the fourth building in the Fortress of Change. After targets for improvement have been set and methods for improvement are selected, all employees need to be trained in using the tools correctly. When it comes to continuous improvement: it is the tools which visualize problems, but the people who solve them. Everyone in the organization should be part of the training program, from plant manager to operator, to understand both the advantages of different Lean tools as well as the cultural values that are necessary to be able to create a learning organization.
This article will set out four different levels of training: Multiple day courses (1), Small Workshops (2), Kaizen Events (3) and individual Coaching (4).

Theory U is a book which combines Change Management with Personal Growth and Spirituality. C. Otto Scharmer describes the process of becoming a person, group or organization which develops co-creative learning. Every person should be able to work with open mind, open hart and open will. Every conversation should be one of ´presencing´ (which combines the words ´presence´ and ´sensing´), in which unexpected creative ideas pop-up every time. Departments or firms do not look at their personal gain in a project or product, but seek to work for the greater good of society. And finally, a Leader´s most important job is to create context for improvement.

Lean Thinking is one of the first books written in America where the Term ´Lean´ is used. Womack and Jones describe 5 principles of Lean (Value, value Stream, Flow, Pull and Perfection) and make some suggestions for implementing these principles.
The authors promise some serious advantages for transforming a batch-and-wait-factory to a Lean factory: Productivity will double, and both Lead times as well as inventories will be reduced by 90%.

The Andon Process infografic,
proudly copied from: http://www.velaction.com

The seven Habits of highly effective people is Stephen Coveys most famous book, in which he describes 7 habits a person needs to be highly effective. The seven habits are derived from literature written in the last 200 years and divided in three parts; striving to independence (1), choosing for mutual dependence (2) and ´sharpening the saw´(3).
The principles are based in the I-paradigm, where the power of the individual and the influence the individual has on its environment are acknowledged. Everyone has a choice on how he spends his time, on the actions he does and can be hold accountable for personal success.

In his book ´The goal´, Eliyahu Goldratt describes a new method to optimize production environments: the Theory of Constraints (TOC). Where traditional efficiency theories are focused on maximizing machine outputs to gain advantages of large scale production, the TOC focusses on the utilization of the Bottleneck machines only, to help the organizations reach its goal: generating mony to make sure the company can exist in the nearby future. In this novel, a production manager (Alex Rogo) is mentored by management guru (Jonah) to help optimizing Alex´s Plant and prevent it from closing down.