How do organizations implement an effective LSS initiative? A qualitative study
Benchmarking: An International Journal
ISSN: 1463-5771
Article publication date: 13 May 2020
Issue publication date: 1 June 2020
Abstract
Purpose
Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is one of the most popular and widely used business improvement methodologies. However, many organizations discontinue LSS despite a plethora of studies on the critical success factors. The purpose of this study is to answer the research question how do organizations implement an effective LSS initiative?
Design/methodology/approach
Qualitative study is conducted on managers working in companies using LSS for a long time. The data were analysed using Colaizzi method.
Findings
Twelve factors were identified which were responsible for the effective implementation of LSS. They are financial performance, organization-wide LSS culture, organization-wide innovation culture, continuous training and retraining of employees on LSS, continuous top management support, linking LSS to business strategy, linking LSS to the customer, project selection strategy, communication, recognition and compensation systems, social benefits and green benefits.
Originality/value
This is the first study to investigate the effective implementation of LSS initiative in the organization.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank all the respondents in this study for their valuable time and their insights to make this study a possibility. Authors also thank the reviewers for constructive comments which improved the quality of this paper.
Citation
Sony, M., Antony, J. and Naik, S. (2020), "How do organizations implement an effective LSS initiative? A qualitative study", Benchmarking: An International Journal, Vol. 27 No. 5, pp. 1657-1681. https://doi.org/10.1108/BIJ-10-2019-0451
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited