Not uncommon to offer employment security. Amount varies ranging from standardized layoffs procedures through employment maintenance in all but most sever economic conditions. Lean will increase productivity, so attention to this feature will hasten and deepen implementation.
People will need to understand their new roles. Uncertainty about roles and responsibilities make it difficult for supervisors to share responsibilities with teams. Clarify roles in the change process (e.g., informed, active leadership, bottom-up involvement, lean experts as coaches).
Managers role change must not be trivialized. May require special training to address their concerns regarding “handoff” of many supervisory functions to team. Employment security for managers may come in form of job requiring different skills and abilities.
Without a clear understanding of new roles, some workers may undermine the implementation of the system.
Establish timelines and targets and stick to them. Failure to stick to timelines, encourages people to ignore them and resist change.
Ask: Why is pilot implementation so critical?
Answer: Because it allows others to see the benefit of the implementation process. However, pilot areas should not be institutionalized as a separate entity from the rest of the organization. After successfully piloting, Lean should be spread to the rest of the company to realize maximum benefits.
Summarize:
1. Getting to lean requires integrated holistic rather than piecemeal approaches to organization and workplace changes.
2. Human Resource Management Systems, such as evaluation, compensation, promotion, etc. should be redesigned to be aligned with and support new Lean Production Strategy.
3. A Lean system uses information effectively to help people make quality decision. It imparts knowledge through training and knowledge to create multi-skilled workforce.
4. Finally, lean organizations build skills and capabilities of workforce through employee participation in order to achieve significant quality and productivity gains.
