Article Analysis: 'Leaders Lost in Transformation' by M Emiliani

The lean philosophy centers on the elimination of waste in all forms in an organisation (Shpak, 2016). Lean is usually implemented by initially conducting training, initiating pilot projects and implementing changes (Poksinska, 2010). Some of the benefits of lean implementation includes: improves quality and safety; improves staff moral; improves throughput; improves delivery and helps in cost reduction (Jones and Mitchel, 2006; NHS Institute for Innovation and Improvement 2007). The challenges of lean implementation include: resistance to change and lack of team work; limited communication and leadership and staff having less knowledge of the lean concept (Grove et al., 2010; Halling and Wijk, 2013 and Poksinska, 2010). This research is to explore some challenges of

These types of leaders, according to Avolio (1991) possess the characteristics of individual consideration, intellectual stimulation, inspirational motivation, and idealized influence. This paper will examine the outcomes that are a direct result of transformational leaders who exhibit these types of traits such as job satisfaction and organizational commitment, job stress, safety, supervisor satisfaction, team, performance, and general.

Yammarino, F.J., Spangler, W.D., & Bass, B.M. (1993). Transformational leadership and performance: A longitudinal investigation. Leadership Quarterly, 4, 81–102.

Transformational leadership needs to be fostered at all levels in the firm. In order to succeed, the firm needs to have the flexibility to forecast and meet new demands and changes as they occur —and only transformational leadership can enable the firm to do so (Bass, 1990, p. 31).

The implementation of lean operations is one the most popular ways to improve efficiency and productivity in operations. This strategy has afforded many businesses the opportunities to streamline processes that resulted in improved systems and efficiency. However, many businesses face obstacles with implementing lean practices for various reasons such as unclear directions, employees that are resistant to change, and poor planning. Businesses that encounter issues with lean implementation must identify performance metrics to improve operational strategies. This paper will examine the obstacles businesses experience with lean implementation.

The book The Heart of Change shows the practical side of the theories that are taught in the course textbook. It presents stories of successes and failures based in the application of concepts discussed in Organizational Behavior and Management and in class. Although we talked about several different concepts the ones that are evident in the examples in The Heart Of Change are the more progressive and individual centered approaches. The leadership characteristics that are important to successful change in an organization are those that are espoused in the transformational theory of management. It makes sense that ideals in line with the transformational management theory

However, the possibility that transformational leadership can have negative outcomes for followers or the organization has been noted by several writers. Stephens, D’Intino, and Victor (1995) contend that transformational leadership theory, like other theories emphasize the role of leadership in increasing task motivation and performance is biased toward favoring some stakeholders at the expense of others (Yukl, 1999). I have a propensity to work with those individuals who I know are able to accomplish a task in a timely and efficient manner. I focus more on achieving the goal than identifying challenges and barriers which one could observe as favoring some team members over

Overall, the purpose of lean is to improve processes. Lean is not a methodology that seeks for the reduction of costs, even though it might appear as a result of a great implementation of Lean. Neither is a methodology to improve productivity, as it might require to do more work that do not necessarily means that the staff is doing the right things. Lastly, Lean is not about restructuring the work the staff do, as it might simply mean changing activities without considering if they are actually value added or not.

It was considered to be overly structured and complicated, especially in the opinion of the CEO. He felt that lean management system enabled people’s involvement in the designing and improvement of processes more than that within the IT system. With the failure of initial IT implementation, CEO was of the opinion that “one size fits all” is not a feasible approach in Lean and IT amalgamation. Due to this, there were discrepancies of opinions among the executives as some believed IT systems could prove to be beneficial in the long run. Mr. Cremin believed that Lean manufacturing pushes the decisions down to people directly engaged in producing products. Incremented changes are key to innovation and continued improvement and an overly structured and complex IT system could interfere with the process innovation.

Because transformational leadership uses a less coercive approach, it is a more preferred style of leadership by followers (Avolio, 1999). Yukl (2006) asserted that there is substantial evidence that transformational leadership is an effective form of leadership. Yukl also noted that transformational leadership was shown to be effective in a variety of different situations. Based on this information, this study assumed that transformational leadership would have a significant

Transformational Leadership begins with the advancement of a dream, a perspective without bounds that will energize and change over potential supporters. This vision might be produced by the pioneer, by the senior group or may rise up out of an expansive arrangement of dialogs. The critical component is the pioneer becomes tied up with it, snare,

The application and implementation of lean principles or thinking is a process that requires commitment from every stakeholder in the organization. This process entails commitment to the organization's workers and to the system itself in order to make changes towards improvement. Generally, the implementation of lean thinking is geared towards continuous improvement through the elimination of waste. However, lean management or implementation of the principles sometimes incorporate mistakes that are made by leaders in the execution process. This is mainly because lean leadership appears to be simple though its complex because of the costs associated with it. The mistakes usually occur because of intrinsic complexities of exploring deeply into organizational philosophies, business strategy, psychology, and macroeconomics.

The implications of transformational leadership on a firm’s employees and the success of the firm overall are areas of ongoing research according to Ismail, Mohamed, Sulaiman, Mohamad, and Yusuf (2011). The authors make the case that in a changing global environment transformational leadership styles, rather than transactional styles, are a means organizations are using to meet their strategies (p. 90). They argue previous research suggests that some aspects of transformational leadership, such as empowerment, may motivate the followers to unite, change their own goals, and

Lean management eliminates instances where an organization requires pressuring suppliers to reduce prices, it eliminates the use of "batch and queue" method in managing inventory, and instances where an organization is forced to hold inventory in the semi-finished product status all of which cause missed opportunities for identifying wastes and adding value (Maleki & Machado, 2013).

This study has extended the understanding of the employee adherence to lean practices and how those practices enhance the performance of the organization. Lean initiatives in an organization become more strategic and through standardizing key activities which direct on continuous improvement it enhances the productivity of employees. Company can focus on what strategies should be taken to enhance the organizational performance through lean practices. Below mentioned main objective and other sub objectives expected from the study on “Impact of Lean practices on organization performance”