International Journal of Lean Six Sigma

Blue ocean leadership in lean sustainability

Kok Liang Loh, Sha’ri Mohd Yusof, Dominic H.C. Lau,
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sustainability", International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLSS-06-2016-0029
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Blue ocean
Blue ocean leadership in leadership
lean sustainability
Kok Liang Loh
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Sha’ri Mohd Yusof
Razak School of Engineering and Advanced Technology, Received 28 June 2016
Revised 7 December 2016
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and 12 February 2017
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19 April 2017
Dominic H.C. Lau 8 July 2017
Accepted 12 August 2017
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Abstract
Purpose – Literature has shown that many companies fail lean implementation or is not able to sustain lean
for a long time. Researchers have found that lean failures are associated with leadership, which is a key factor.
However, it is not easy and a long time is needed to change the leadership, behaviour and traits. This study
aims to introduce the Blue Ocean Leadership concept to address this issue.
Design/methodology/approach – A literature review is carried for articles related to critical success
factors for Lean and Lean Six Sigma with a focus on leadership factors.
Findings – The Blue Ocean Leadership concept focuses on leaders’ acts and activities which can be changed
with less effort and time. Seven categories of lean activities for leaders are identified.
Research limitations/implications – Leadership is one of the many factors for the success of lean
implementation. This conceptual study focuses only on leadership and it needs further field study for
validation.
Practical implications – Blue Ocean Leadership provides lean practitioners and academicians with a
new perspective for successful lean implementation.
Originality/value – To the best knowledge of the researcher, there is no similar study in this area. Thus,
the finding can form the basis for further research for the benefit of lean communities, especially the small- or
medium-sized enterprises with less cost and time.
Keywords Six sigma, Sustainability, Leadership, Manufacturing, Lean, Blue Ocean
Paper type Conceptual paper

1. Introduction
With the global market environment becoming more borderless, organizations are facing
even greater competition. In order for organizations to remain competitive, many had
embarked onto the lean journey to reduce waste along the value chain and eventually be cost
competitive. For example, Arya and Choudhary (2015) in their study managed to achieve 87
per cent in the inventory access time, whereas Karunakaran (2016) reported a cycle time
reduction by 55-68 per cent with lean implementation. Habidin et al. (2016) confirmed that
lean implementation can help to improve operational performance. However, according to
Sisson and Elshennawy (2015), many companies attempt to implement lean, but only an
estimated 2-3 per cent achieve the desired level of success. Empirical evidence shows that
leadership is one of the most important factors among many critical success factors for lean International Journal of Lean Six
Sigma
implementation (Bortolotti, Boscari, and Danese 2015; Balzer et al., 2015; Abu Bakar et al., © Emerald Publishing Limited
2040-4166
2015; Jadhav et al., 2014; Albliwi et al., 2015; Sabry, 2014; McLean and Antony, 2014). DOI 10.1108/IJLSS-06-2016-0029
 IJLSS However, changing leadership style is not easy, and it might take a long time and more
effort.

2. Literature review
The lean concept had been applied and proven in automotive industries in many countries,
especially in Japan and Thailand automotive industries. Toyota introduced the lean
manufacturing concept in the 1950s, when it was known as the Toyota production system.
The lean concept has evolved from an efficient production system to become a management
philosophy, in which wastes of all types are reduced by eliminating inefficient activities
along the value chain (Nordin et al., 2012). In addition, the lean concept has been developed
into a management practice with the goal of achieving maximum economic value. Many
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organizations, irrespective of industries, have used lean practices as a change management

technique due to their effectiveness in continuous improvement.

2.1 Critical success factor for lean sustainability

The sustainability of the lean implementation had been widely studied. Literature revealed
that there are many factors for failure of organizations in sustaining lean implementation.
Knapp (2015) and Pakdil and Leonard (2015) highlighted organization culture as one of the
key factors for sustainability of lean. While Dahlgaard-Park et al. (2006) argued that core
value development among staff is always neglected, which causes the failure of lean
implementation. Manville et al. (2012) went a step further by saying lean can also be used as
a strategic tool and can be implemented for achieving a deliberated strategy by senior
management.
The importance of leadership on firm performance was also proved by Mackey (2008).
Mackey found that the impact from CEOs had caused 29 per cent variance in firm
performance. Chay et al. (2015), Aij et al. (2015), Dombrowski and Mielke (2014), Emiliani
(1998), Hu et al. (2015) and more had placed leadership as a key element in lean
implementation.
Researchers has identified many critical success factors for the lean sustainability.
Jadhav et al. (2014) made a review on critical success factors for lean sustainability on
literature from 1991 to 2012 and summaried a list of 24 critical success factors or barriers
(Table I). These reviews’ findings were supported by Albliwi et al. (2015), who reviewed
literature from 1995 to 2013. Both finding are quite similar with top management and
leadership as the key factors. Abu Bakar et al. (2015) further enhanced and updated the
review by including literatures from 2010 to 2013. He also further categorized them into the
following groups:
 management commitment and leadership;
 linking lean to business strategy;
 linking lean to customer;
 lean competency;
 project selection; and
 prioritization, training and education, reward and recognition system, organization
infrastructure and project management.

Table I summarised research paper published between 2014 and 2015 with coverage from
1991 to 2015. A total of 14 critical success factors are identified from the literature, namely,
leadership, top management commitment and involvement, two-way communication,
 Critical success factor
Leadership, top management
commitment and involvement
Two-way communication
Supplier partnership
Customer involvement
Culture
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Researcher
Blue ocean
leadership
Bortolotti et al. (2015), Balzer et al. (2015), Abu Bakar et al. (2015),
Jadhav et al. (2014), Albliwi et al. (2015), McLean and Antony (2014),
Sabry (2014)
Balzer et al. (2015), Jadhav et al. (2014), Albliwi et al. (2015)
Bortolotti et al. (2015), Jadhav et al. (2014), Sabry (2014), Dorota
Rymaszewska (2014)
Bortolotti et al. (2015), Jadhav et al. (2014), Sabry (2014), Dorota
Rymaszewska (2014), Abu Bakar et al. (2015)
Balzer et al. (2015), Jadhav et al. (2014), McLean and Antony (2014),
Sisson and Elshennawy (2015)

Genba Balzer et al. (2015)

Training and education (learning
culture)
Reward and recognition
Employee empowerment
Reliable technology
Quality assurance
Resources (finance and human
resource)
Continuous improvement
Decision-making process
Bortolotti et al. (2015), Abu Bakar et al. (2015), Sisson and
Elshennawy (2015), Jadhav et al. (2014), Albliwi et al. (2015), McLean
and Antony (2014), Sabry (2014)
Abu Bakar et al. (2015), Jadhav et al. (2014), McLean and Antony
(2014)
Jadhav et al. (2014), Albliwi et al. (2015), Sabry (2014)
Albliwi et al. (2015), Dorota Rymaszewska (2014)
Dorota Rymaszewska (2014), Sabry (2014), Jadhav et al. (2014)
Jadhav et al. (2014), Albliwi et al. (2015) Table I.
Critical success
Dorota Rymaszewska (2014), Sabry (2014), Bortolotti et al. (2015) factors with
Dorota Rymaszewska (2014) researchers

supplier partnership, customer involvement, culture, genba, training and education, reward
and recognition, employee empowerment, reliable technology, quality assurance, resource
(finance and human), continuous improvement and decision-making process.
Besides, leadership or top management commitment and involvement had been the top
factors by many researchers, such as Bortolotti et al. (2015), Balzer et al. (2015), McLean and
Antony (2014) and Sabry (2014). Balzer studied on higher education in the USA, whereas
Bortolotti focused on manufacturing sector in ten countries; although both studied on
different areas and in different countries, both identified leadership or top management
commitment as the key factor. Mann (2009) and Dombrowski and Mielke (2013) described
leadership as the missing link for lean sustainability. Therefore, among all the factors,
leadership indeed plays a very critical role in lean sustainability.

2.2 Leadership
Leadership is a phenomenon involving interaction between people; it is a process whereby
intentional influence of the leader is exerted over the followers (Yukl, 2013). However, a
common definition was set by 54 leadership experts from various countries in 1991 as:
“Influencing, motivating and enabling others to contribute toward the effectiveness and
success of the organizations of which they are members” (House et al., 2001). In different
situations, a different leadership style is needed to be effectively steered through the
problem. For example, autocratic leadership style might be very effective in an emergency
when there is shortage of time to converge on an agreement and where a designated
authority has significantly more experience or expertise than the rest of the team. On the
other hand, in a highly motivated and aligned team with a homogeneous level of expertise, a
more democratic or Laissez-faire style may be more effective. A leadership style is a leader’s
style in influencing relationship among leaders and followers (Rost, 1993). It is the result of
 IJLSS the philosophy, personality and experience of the leader. In this section, we will briefly
discuss few leadership styles which are commonly or closely associated to lean leadership,
namely, servant, transformation, transactional, transcendent and visionary leadership.
2.2.1 Servant leadership. Servant leadership was initiated by Robert K. Greenleaf with
the opinion that leadership must primarily meet the needs of others (Greenleaf, 1977). With
the concept leader as the servant, the focus is on others rather than on self. The primary
objective of servant leader is to serve and meet the needs of others, which optimally should
be the prime motivation for leadership (Gregory Stone et al., 2004). Servant leaders develop
people, helping them to strive and flourish, provide vision, gain credibility and trust from
followers and influence others (Focht and Ponton, 2015).
2.2.2 Transactional leadership. Transactional leadership promotes compliance with the
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existing organizational goals and performance expectations through supervision and the
use of rewards and punishments (Bass, 1985; MacGregor Burns, 1978). Transactional
leaders are task-outcome oriented which is especially effective under strict time and resource
constraints. This approach adheres to the status quo and uses a form of management that
pays close attention to how employees perform their tasks (Vito et al., 2014).
2.2.3 Transformational leadership. Transformational leadership focuses on employee
motivation, engagement and attempts to link organizational values to employees
(MacGregor Burns, 1978). This leadership style emphasizes leading by example, so
followers can identify with the leader’s vision and values. A transformational approach
focuses on individual strengths and weaknesses of employees and on enhancing their
capabilities and their commitment to organizational goals, often by seeking their buy-in for
decisions while providing opportunities for personal and professional growth for each
employee. A transformational leader goes beyond managing day-to-day operations, and
crafts strategies for taking his company, department or work team to the next level of
performance and success (Vito et al., 2014).
2.2.4 Transcendental leadership. Transcendent leadership, grounded in servant
leadership, offers a pathway to increased trust necessary for global sustainability. This
leadership is defined by a contribution-based exchange relationship. It offers a more
inclusive and consensual decision-making process for the economic, social and
environmental aspects, moving beyond a singular focus on the bottom line of profits.
Besides, transcendent leadership offers us a metaphor to help us move more closely to a
world where human talents and energies will be maximized for the betterment of all –
personally, organizationally and globally (Gardiner, 2009). The leader promotes unity by
providing fair extrinsic motivation of collaborators and developing their transcendent
motivation (Cardona, 2000). This type of leaders look beyond categories to find wholeness in
division and the commonality that connects us all.
2.2.5 Visionary leadership. Visionary leadership has emerged as a key determinant of
corporate survival, success and growth in today’s turbulent environment. Taylor et al. (2014)
described visionary leadership as a form of transformational leadership that offers
opportunities to foster the capacity of an organization to meet the needs of its constituents.
Successful leaders of the twenty-first century have the capacity to create vision and
translate it into reality. Visionary leadership is transformative and based on the power of
inspiration. Visionary leaders develop practices through executive training and
development that would hone their skills to significantly affect organizational effectiveness
(Taylor et al., 2014). It is characterized by a commitment to core spiritual values, with a clear
vision, respect for empowering relationship, followed by courageous and innovative action.
It is marked by an act of leading from the front, benevolence from within, respectful
pluralism, continuous introspection and focus on legacy.
 2.2.6 Lean leadership. Lean leadership is best defined by the ability to inspire others to Blue ocean
be their best self. Managing is a daily function, but true leadership should be focused on leadership
creating a vision and inspiring others (Liker, 2004). When it comes to lean environment, the
manager must play a critical role as a leader (Womack and Jones, 2003). The role of the
leaders within the organization is the fundamental element of sustaining the progress of lean
thinking. Experienced kaizen members at Toyota, for example, often bring up the concepts
of Senpai, Kohai and Sensei, because they strongly feel that transferring of Toyota culture
down and across Toyota can only happen when more experienced Toyota Sensei
continuously coach and guide the less experienced lean champions.
According to Avolio et al. (2009), servant and transformational leadership theories have
been most frequently researched in the past 20 years. The transformational theory was first
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discussed in a more political context by MacGregor Burns (1978), which includes two types
of leadership behaviours: transactional and transformational. However, Bass (1985) viewed
the transformational/transactional leadership as being composed of complementary rather
than polar constructs. At a glimpse of servant leadership and transformational leadership
leaves the perception that both concepts are rather similar. Servant leaders focus more on
the people who are their followers, whereas transformational leaders tend to focus more on
organizational objectives (Gregory Stone et al., 2004). Transformational leadership has been
criticized of leader-centred assumptions with unidirectional influence flowing from the
leader to the follower (Yukl, 1999). Moreover, transformational leadership is also criticized of
lacking concerns for morality and ethics. Bass and Steidlmeier (1999) criticized the pseudo
transformational leadership and suggested that the authentic transformational leadership
should be true to self, as well as to others, and must be grounded in ethical values and moral
foundations. Transformational leadership motivates followers by inducing them to satisfy
the higher-level needs of self-actualization in Maslow’s (1954) need hierarchy. Therefore,
transformational leadership is more effective in motivating followers than transactional
leadership is.
Locus of control is highly related to the perception of stress in the environment and the
use of decision or coping behaviours. Transcendental leaders who have higher internal locus
of control than transactional and transformational leaders intrinsically and extrinsically
motivate followers and thus are more effective. Internals locus tends to use problem-solving
coping behaviours, which are strongly related to organizational effectiveness. Lean leaders,
who have higher internal locus of control than transcendental leaders and use altruistic love
as the fundamental motive, develops followers’ transcendental, intrinsic and extrinsic
motivations, but not in a manipulative way as transformational leadership, and thus are
more effective than transformational leaders in motivating followers.
Many leadership behaviours exhibited by lean managers are classified as
transformational leadership behaviours (Poksinska et al., 2013). However, lean leadership
attributes revealed by Gelei et al. (2015) show that it is more than just transformational or
visionary (Tables II and III).
Section below introduces the Blue Ocean Leadership concept as an approach to improve
the lean leaders for lean sustainability.

2.3 Blue ocean leadership concept

Blue Ocean Leadership was created by W. Chan Kim and Renée Mauborgne (Kim and
Mauborgne, 2014b). The same way that blue ocean strategy can create uncontested market
space, Blue Ocean Leadership can unleash the ocean of untapped talent and employee
potential in organizations. Unlike most research in the field of leadership that has largely
 IJLSS drawn on psychology and cognitive science, Blue Ocean Leadership developed by Kim and
Mauborgne looks to the field of strategy to inform the practice of leadership in business.
Blue Ocean Leadership is a concept of focusing on acts and activities of leaders to achieve
fast result at low cost (Kim and Mauborgne, 2014b). A leader may apply Blue Ocean
Leadership concept regardless of the leadership style or behaviour that the leader may pose.
For example, a transactional leader can apply Blue Ocean Leadership concept to identify the
non-value activities in his daily routine duty. Servant leaders, transformational or even lean
leaders can apply this concept to unleash the untapped talent of each individual and achieve
great result. Activities are something that any individual can change if given the right guidance
or feedback. Kim and Mauborgne agreed that changing the acts and activities alone is not the
complete solution; however, having the right values and behavioural traits do matter. Changing
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organization culture required great effort and longer period of time to see result. The Blue
Ocean Leadership concept is to answer the above problem by identifying the right activities for
a successful lean leader. According to study, Chan Kim and Renee Mauborgne (Kim and
Mauborgne, 2014a) revealed that only 30 per cent of employees are actively committed to do a
good job. The problem is that they lack a clear understanding of the changes it would take to
bring out the best in everyone and achieve high performance. As such, the Blue Ocean
Leadership concept is regardless of the leaders’ cultural or behavioural background.
Studies had shown that for a lean organization to be successfully implemented and
sustained, leadership plays a very important role. Having the right values, qualities and
behavioural traits matters, whereby this will create a right culture for lean (Sureeratta et al.,
2014; Pakdil and Leonard, 2015). However, as part of a human being’s inborn nature, these
factors are hard to change within a short time frame. Also, activities are something that an
individual can change in time frames that make sense in corporate terms, given the right

Attributes Servant Transactional Transformational Transcendent Visionary Lean

Confidence builder X X X X
Collaborative X X X
Improvement oriented X X
Inspirational X X X
Formal X X X
Excellence oriented X X X
Communicative X X X
Consultative X X X
Table II. Motivational X X X
Leadership attributes Motive arouser X X X X
by style Performance oriented X X X X

Leadership style Reference

Servant Gregory Stone et al. (2004), Greenleaf (1977)

Transactional Vito et al. (2014), Bass (1985)
Transformational Gregory Stone et al. (2004), MacGregor Burns (1978)
Table III. Transcendental Cardona (2000)
References for Visionary Taylor et al. (2014)
leadership styles Lean Gelei et al. (2015)
 feedback and guidance. Hozak and Olsen (2015) revealed that lean standard and work practices Blue ocean
support lean thinking; this lean psychology will change the behavior and culture eventually. leadership
Personality and traits alone do not make a competent leader. When a leader’s energy is spent
on wrong acts and activities, there is no competent leadership to talk about. Blue ocean
leadership tackles exactly this area where positive changes are most possible given time and
resource constraints (Kim and Mauborgne, 2014a). Table IV shows the difference between Blue
Ocean Leadership and conventional leadership (transactional, transfromational,
transcendental, etc.) approach. Blue Ocean Leadership focuses on acts and activities of leaders
as compared to conventional leadership that focuses on values and behavioural styles. Besides,
according to Kim and Mauborgne (2014b), leaders are across all three management levels. The
Blue Ocean Leadership concept emphasizes on middle and frontline leaders who are in closer
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contact to the market. The Blue Ocean Leadership concept focuses on what leadership acts
need to eliminate and reduce, as well as what to raise and create.
Study by Kim and Mauborgne (2014b) found that many of the acts and activities that
take up leaders’ time actually work against them being effective. This can even be resented
by those below them and yet not appreciated by those above them. By expressly eliminating
and reducing these acts and activities, leaders’ time is freed to focus on new acts and
activities that make a real impact on leading and producing business results driven by
people. Without freeing up leaders’ time in this way, it is often no more than wishful
thinking that leaders will have the time to up their game. Kim and Mauborgne introduced
the Eliminate, Reduce, Raise and Create (ERRC) model (Table V) to eliminate non-value
activities and reduce non-important ones; at the same time, increase the important activities
and create those important activities that are currently not in practice.
With the ERRC model, the Blue Ocean Leaders is to convert noncustomers to customers
and applies its concepts and analytic framework to help leaders release the blue ocean of
unexploited talent and energy in their organization. It can help organisations tap the huge
potential in the leadership area by converting the large number of noncustomers of leaders
into customers. With its focus on changing acts and activities, Blue Ocean Leadership can
help them achieve what is hard to achieve with a traditional approach, i.e. a leap in leadership
strength fast and at low cost to release organisations’ ocean of unrealised talent and energy.

Blue Ocean Leadership Conventional leadership

Focuses on what acts and activities leaders need to
undertake to boost their teams’ motivation and business
results, not on what leaders need to be
Connects leaders’ actions closely to market realities by
having the people who face market realities define what
leadership practices hold them back and what leadership
actions would enable them to thrive and best serve
customers and other key stakeholders
Distributes leadership across all three management levels
because outstanding organizational performance often
comes down to the motivation and actions of middle and
frontline leaders who are in closer contact with the market
Pursues high impact leadership acts and activities at low
cost by focusing as much on what leaders need to
eliminate and reduce in what they do as on what they
need to raise and create
Focuses on the values, qualities and
behavioural styles that make for good
leadership under assumption that these
ultimately translate into high performance
Tends to be quite generic and are often
detached from what organizations stand for
in the eyes of their customers and the
market results their people are expected to
achieve
Focuses mostly on the executive and senior
levels of organizations
Table IV.
Invests extra time for leadership practices Comparison of blue
added on to people’s regular work ocean leadership and
conventional
leadership
 IJLSS 3. Purpose and methodology
The objective of this paper is to introduce Blue Ocean Leadership concept to help lean
sustainability, which could be achieved in a short period of time and at low cost. This study
can be characterized as a theoretical concept, specifically for review of literature on critical
success factors for lean implementation. This work is exploratory in nature, which
constitutes a secondary source; extensive review literature in the field of lean with focused
on leadership and Blue Ocean Leadership. Literature review papers published between 1990
and 2015 in Elsevier Science Direct, Emerald, Taylor & Francis, Springer Link and Google
Scholar are reviewed. The search keywords include lean, Lean Six Sigma, critical success
factors, barrier, failure and lean leadership.
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4. Finding and discussion

There are distinctions between leaders/leadership and managers/management (Yukl, 2013);
however, for this study, we take the approach that managers not only perform management
but also practice leadership. As behaviour or characters would require a long period of time
to change, while for activities, leaders can make immediate change; these could produce
result in shorter period of time. Sisson and Elshennawy (2015) stated that if lean effort is
begun from “grass-root”, then it is very slim for lean to be successful. This shows that
leaders’ acts are important to initiate lean activities. Dombrowski and Mielke (2014) listed
five fundamental principles of lean leadership, namely, improvement culture, self-
development, qualification, Gemba and Hoshin Kanri. These principles are further enhanced
with reference to literatures and added two new items, communication and empowerment.
Table VI shows the leaders’ activities adapted from Dombrowski and Mielke’s (2014)
“Fundamental principles of lean leadership”. Lean leaders need to have vision and forward
thinking as lean is a long-term project. They are supposed to be good mentor and coach to
the subordinates. In order for them to do so, they must continue improving themselves by
self-development. Genchi Genbutsu is an important activity for identifying abnormality and
also for continuous improvement. During Genchi Genbutsu, two-way communications take
place; it provides the accurate information to leaders, as well as motivates the line staffs.
Besides, line staffs are empowered to stop line if abnormality is detected, and indirectly
increase the morale and level of motivation.

4.1 Visionary and forward thinking

Lean leaders’ visions are to focus on long-term purpose for organization as a value-added
contributor to society. According to Birkie (2016), lean is based on long-term thinking, which
focuses on people, process and problem-solving. These leaders have a philosophical sense of
purpose that supersedes any short-term decision-making (Albliwi et al., 2015). Work, grows
and aligns the whole organization toward a common purpose that is bigger than making

Eliminate Raise

What acts and activities do leaders invest their
time and intelligence in that should be eliminated?
Reduce
What acts and activities do leaders invest their
Table V. time and intelligence in that should be reduced
ERRC model well below the current level?
What acts and activities do leaders invest their time
and intelligence in that should be raised well above
their current level?
Create
What acts and activities do leaders invest their time
and intelligence in that they currently don’t
undertake?
 Downloaded by UNIVERSITY OF NEW ENGLAND (AUS) At 20:08 09 July 2018 (PT)

Siddiqui Ribeiro Laureani Lande Yadav Aij Chay Hu Balzer Bortolotti

Lean leaders’ activities and et al. de Jesus Psomas and Antony Frahm et al. Birkie and Desai Netland et al. et al. et al. et al. et al.
practices category (2016) et al. (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2016) (2015) (2015) (2015) (2015) (2015) (2015)

1 Visionary and forward thinking            

2 Self-development           
3 Continuous improvement (Kaizen)       
4 Genchi Genbutsu (go and see/genba)   
5 Empower and coaching oriented         
6 Two-way effective communication             
7 Motivation          
(continued)

reference to
practices with
of lean leaders’
Table VI.
leadership
Blue ocean

activities and

researchers
Summary category
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IJLSS

Table VI.
Shang McLean Vujica Habidin
Abu Bakar Sisson and Dorota and and Albliwi Dombrowski Sureeratta Herzog Jadhav and
Lean leaders’ activities and et al. Elshennawy Sabry Rymaszewska Sui Pheng Antony et al. and Mielke et al. and Tonchia et al. Mohd Yusof
practices category (2015) (2015) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2014) (2013) Total

1 Visionary and forward thinking         20

2 Self-development        19
3 Continuous improvement (Kaizen)          16
4 Genchi Genbutsu (go and see/genba)     7
5 Empower and coaching oriented            20
6 Two-way effective communication           23
7 Motivation       16
 money (Chay et al., 2015; Hu et al., 2015; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014; Sureeratta et al., Blue ocean
2014). They are innovators and creators of new ideas and are not afraid of trying something leadership
new and taking some risk. Lean leaders will accept responsibility for own conduct and
maintain or improve the skills that enable him/her to produce added value. Hu et al. (2015)
highlighted that lean leaders should have a clear vision and strong commitment to lean and
is demonstrated in the organization’s strategy. This eventually will create a supportive
organizational culture, a passion for quality, continuous improvement and so on. Besides the
clear visions and supports, Hu et al. (2015) also highlighted that a well-developed
performance system is needed to align pay and remuneration system to the lean endeavour.
Lean implementation is not a short-term project, as Liker (2004) highlighted in the book
The Toyota Way. Toyota leaders growth and develop internally. This requires a strong
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afford and long vision from leaders. Leaders must be consistent and at the same time
flexible to lead the lean culture. He or she must not be afraid of going to the work floor to
understand the actual situation in practice. By showing themselves to be part of the team
and able to empower others and by combining willpower with modesty, leaders will learn
not just how to implement lean but also how to become true leaders (Aij, Visse and
Widdershoven, 2015). Lean leaders not only guide actions according to the market
mechanisms but also facilitate the company’s survival in a business environment where the
economy fluctuates (Sureeratta et al., 2014). Table VII summarizes the activities for
visionary and forward-thinking factor.

4.2 Self-develop and knowledge sharing

According to Dombrowski and Mielke (2013), successful lean organization besides having
the long-term vision, requires complete change of the mindset of both leaders and employees
of the organizations. As lean leaders always are the coach and role model, leaders have the
responsibilities to teach the employees. Since leaders are to train the employees, they have to
be competent with the lean principles and concepts (Albliwi et al., 2015). Besides the
training, leaders need to explain clearly what lean production is about and reason why
organization strives to implement it. Balzer et al. (2015) stressed that lean failure is most
likely because of the leader’s fail to understand and embrace lean concept and philosophy.
Halling and Renström (2013) highlighted that it is importance to visit a successful lean
organization; this enables leaders to participate and develop practical experience. This is vital
for self-development and at the same time, minimizes the anxiety and uncertainty of the lean
implementation. The self-development also ensured that leaders are continuing learning and
improving by benchmarking successful lean organization. Lean organizations continuously
develop their problem-solving skills and are more effective in sharing this knowledge across
the organization (Hu et al., 2015). These propelled a faster learning rate as compare to non-
lean organization. Table VIII summary activities for self-developing factors.

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Visionary and Have vision and future focused Chay et al. (2015), Hu et al. (2015),
Table VII.
forward thinking Innovator and creator of new idea Dombrowski and Mielke (2014),
Explain clear to employees why Sureeratta et al. (2014), Habidin and Mohd Summary activities
organization implement lean Yusof (2013), Nordin et al. (2012), Miina for visionary and
Not afraid to try something new (2012), Liker (2004), Emiliani (1998), forward thinking
and take some risk Bhasin (2013) factor
 IJLSS 4.3 Continuous improvement (kaizen)
The spirit of continuous learning and improving is also known as kaizen. This spirit is
closely related to the value of kaizen in Toyota culture or successful lean culture. Kaizen is
also referred as continuous improvement (Miina, 2012; Birkie, 2016). According to Shang
and Sui Pheng (2014), Kaizen can be distinguished into maintenance and improvement of
kaizen. The maintenance of kaizen is dealing with unexpected matter or inevitable mistake
that occurred. The employees are also responsible to generate idea for improvement besides
reporting mistakes. Vanje and Brannmark (2015) stated that continuous improvement is
focused at customer demand, higher quality and reduce waste. Liker and Hoseus (2008)
advised leaders to ask “why” several times to seek out the true root cause. So, the knowledge
and experience of the employees are vital in helping organization to pursue continuous
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improvement. While Sisson and Elshennawy (2015) believed that when employees
consistently engage in continuous improvement, it indicates that lean culture is developed.
In lean environment, mistakes are seen as opportunity to learn or to improve, provided
the root cause of the issue is identified. Lean has to encourage employees to report mistake
by creating a no-blame culture. By doing so, employees will not be afraid to reveal their
mistake or failure (Miina, 2012). In addition, the root cause of the issue or mistake should be
identified in the process rather than in the person. To minimize the mistake or failure, lean
leader should seek to understand the customer so that product/services can be reinvented.
Lean leaders should also have an attitude of humility and acknowledge of their own mistake
as well. Table IX below summarizes activities for continuous improvement factor.

4.4 Genchi Genbutsu (genba/go see)

In Toyota culture, the value is placed on learning directly by hands on experience. Genba is
the one of those values, like kaizen, that is found throughout all of Toyota. Genba is alive
and well nook and cranny within Toyota (Vanje and Brannmark, 2015). These leaders solve
problems and improve processes by going to the source and personally observing and
verifying data rather than theorizing on the basis on what other people or display on the
computer screen. According to Dombrowski and Mielke (2014), leaders should make
decisions based on self-gained facts. This can only be achieved through genba to the actual
work place where actual process or work is done. Even high-level managers and executives
in Toyota will go and see things for themselves, so that they have more than a superficial
understanding of the situation. During the genba or walk about process, the leader will talk
to the shop floor staff to get better understanding of a situation and discover problems for
improvement (Aij et al., 2015). These leaders will only think and speak based on data and
fact that are verified personally, besides, it further motivates employees to drive the lean
improvement (Sisson and Elshennawy, 2015). Balzer et al. (2015) identified that Genba

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Self-develop Be a role models to employees Aij et al. (2015), Dombrowski and

Take responsibilities to teach lean principle to Mielke (2014), Habidin and Mohd Yusof
employees (2013), Miina (2012), Bhasin (2013)
Is competent with lean principle and concepts
Table VIII. Learning on the job for self-development
Summary activities Visiting a successful lean company to
for self-developing minimize anxiety
factors Continue learning and improving
 allows leaders to observe good employee who trap in the bad processes and are able to make Blue ocean
immediate improvement on it. leadership
With only putting themselves in the shoes of the employees, leaders can really
understand the problems and the root causes and make the right decisions. Also, leaders can
understand the weaknesses or the areas for the employees to improve. Kim (2015) went a
step further to say, consultations of lean implementation by experts without deeply
understand the onsite status are useless. This creates a good learning opportunity for the
employees when the leaders start to coach without interrupting much the production flow.
The genba process also helps in motivating the employees, when the leaders seem to be
paying attention to each single employee. Also, when an employee successfully makes
through the problem-solving problem with guidance from the leader, he/she will benefit
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from the total learning outcome. This is much better than the leader provides the solution
alone to the employee where the employee may not able to learn from the process. Table X
summarizes activities for Genchi Genbutsu factor.

4.5 Empower and coaching oriented

Another lean leadership attribute is the empowerment and coaching. During the genba, leaders
will talk to workers and at the same time, provide coaching when necessary. Standardize tasks
became a “science” when mass production replaced the craft form of production. Much of the
modern manufacturing and standardization are based on the principles of industrial engineering,
first set forth by Frederick Taylor, the “father of scientific management”. Taylor achieved
tremendous productivity gains by applying scientific management principles. But he also created
very rigid bureaucracies in which managers were supposed to do the thinking and workers were
to blindly execute the standardized procedure. Bureaucracies can be very efficient if the
environment is very stable. This was agreed by Bortolotti et al. (2015) that high power distance

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Continue improvement There is a constant attempt to find better way in all Chay et al. (2015), Hu et al.
circumstances (2015), Dombrowski and
Seek to understand customer so that products/ Mielke (2014)
services can be reinvented.
A problem solver attitude that asks why several
times to find true root causes Table IX.
Do not blame employee for highlighting the mistake Summary activities
Encourage employee to contribute ideas for continuous
Have the courage to acknowledge own mistake improvement factor

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Genchi Genbutsu Conduct genba daily Chay et al. (2015), Hu et al.

Solve problem by going to the place where problem (2015), Dombrowski and
discovered Mielke (2014)
Talk to shop floor people during genba to get better Table X.
understanding of issues Summary activities
Identify and eliminate waste during genba for Genchi Genbutsu
Share knowledge with floor people during genba factor
 IJLSS hinders employees’ empowerment. However, most modern organizations try to be flexible and
organic, meaning focused on effectiveness, adaptable to change and empowering of their
employees. Bortolotti further added that firms with low power distance tend to empower
individuals and promote more face-to-face communication between different levels of employees
within the organization (Bortolotti et al., 2015).
According to Vanje and Brannmark (2015), empowerment is an important dimension in
lean implementation. In the process of empowerment, lean leaders always are a coach,
knowing how to phrase, rephrase and articulate key questions, clarify objectives and reframe
issues, being in the shoes of the employees, giving advice at the right moment and being non-
judgmental. Dombrowski and Aij revealed that majority lean organization prefers that their
leaders use a coaching approach, and allow employees to function independently
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(Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014; Aij et al., 2015). Employees are then rewarded for submitting
new ideas or for actively participating in the realization of suggested enhancements
(Bortolotti et al., 2015). While according to Aij, empowerment is associated with greater job
satisfaction and successful lean implementation. One of the key success factors for lean
implementation highlighted by Vujica et al. (2014) and Sabry (2014) is top management
commitment with active cooperation of all employees. Besides, a bilateral effective
communication is important to be a good coach in employee empowerment (Nordin et al.,
2012). Effective lean leaders also allow employees involvement in continual improvement
activities (Habidin and Mohd Yusof, 2013). Before an employee is able to be entrusted and
empowered to do something, Jadhav et al. (2014) claimed that this employee must first be
trained or coached. Knowledge needs to transfer from leader, lean expert or consultant to the
employees. Table XI summarizes the activities for empower and coaching-oriented factor.

4.6 Two-way communication

According to Aij et al. (2015), communication is an important competency in lean
philosophy. Balzer et al. (2015) complimented that lean leader must engage in
communicating the vision, direction and expectation to gain support from staff. Leaders
need to inform what they expect from employees and what the employees can expect from
the leaders. Lean leaders also need to communicate (Albliwi et al., 2015) with employees
during work floor genba (genchi genbutsu) to understand and set reasonable standards and
to implement policy deployment throughtout their department. Communication needs to be
transparent, as any ambiguity could lead to uncertainty and anxiety. Good communication
should be bidirectional (Nordin et al., 2012) and leaders should strive to communicate face to
face with employees. This allows employees to voice their opinions and gives them a feeling
that they are being heard. Koenigsaecker (2013) recommended various communication tools
such as, face-to-face, company newsletters and videos to get better result.

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Empower and A communication style that empower others to Chay et al. (2015), Hu et al.
coaching oriented be successful (2015), Dombrowski and
Invest to develop mentoring relationships with Mielke (2014)
direct reports
Table XI.
People seek advice because you’re considered a
Summary activities trusted mentor
for empower and Able to put oneself in the employees’ shoes
coaching- oriented Giving advice at the right moment
factor Empower team to self-managed
 A clear and effective communication must be developed by a lean organization (Sureeratta Blue ocean
et al., 2014; Habidin and Mohd Yusof, 2013). Without clear policies, employees cannot be leadership
blamed for not following them. Effective communication (Nordin et al., 2012) will better
disseminate the information and company strategies especially in managing quality
improvement. A clearly communicated vision and mission should be cascaded down to all
levels of a lean company. Leaders should check the progress of set objective with regard to
vision and mission daily. Table XII summrizes activities for a two-way effective
communication factor.

4.7 Motivation
Hence, communication is no doubt an important factor for motivating staff toward lean
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sustainability. Lean leaders ought to be able to motivate themselves for lean management
before inspiring the employees. Successful lean implementation and lean sustainability
required highly motivated leaders. Halling and Renström (2013) recommended leaders to
visit a successful lean organization, preferably in similar industry. Also implementing a
model line or pilot project in small scale can inspire motivation. Acknowledging the
employees’ role in the process is although just a small achievement, it is vital for motivating
the workers. Balzer et al. (2015) further added that with right motivation, small success
could lead to wider interest and implementation.
To sustain a success lean implementation in long term, leaders should also ensure their
employees become intrinsically motivated. Motivated employee will do the right things to
achieve the organization vision. A leader’s ability to create engagement among employee is
crucial. It is also important to have a good relationship between leader and employees to
have them motivated. Leaders can strenghten their relationship with employee by holding
more informal meetings. Leaders also let the employees have the feeling that their role is
contributing to the company’s competitive advantage and they are appreciated. Creating
mutual trust and respect are important elements for creating internal motivation among
employees. According to Sureeratta et al. (2014), a lean leader must inspire employees across
the organization to achieve high level of motivation. A motivated and committed employee
always has good relationship with his/her leaders, making it easier to coach and teach him/
her effectively about lean management. Table XIII summarizes activities for motivation
factor.

5. Conclusion
Conceptually, all the seven categories of the activities are able to help in sustaining lean
implementation in an organization. By focusing on these activities, leaders are able to lead,
motivate, empower, make improvement and develop staff. The motivated staff will be more
engaged and productive. This study has contributed to filling the gap by introducing a

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Two-way effective Communicate with the employees on the real work floor Chay et al. (2015), Hu et al.
communication Inform employees what they can expect (2015), Dombrowski and
Table XII.
Inform employees what is expected from them Mielke (2014)
Communicate face to face with the employees Summary activities
Use visual control to help employee check their own work for two-way effective
Company vision and mission reached understood by the communication
work floor people factor
 IJLSS concept of Blue Ocean leadership for lean sustainability. Activities are something that an
individual can change in time frames that make sense in corporate terms, given the right
feedback and guidance. Thus, it highlights the importance of putting the right leaders’ effort
and time at the right acts and activities to gain better result. These positive changes will
then lead to a behavioural and cultural change.

6. Research limitation and implication

Lean sustainability is critical for organization to remain competitive in facing the
challenging market environment. However, many literature works are focusing on cultural,
knowledge, technology, facilities or supports. To the best knowledge of the authors, there is
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no similar study in this area. The limitation of this study is that the derived activities are not
associated with any management level. These activities might not have the same weightage
for all the three management levels. Some activities have higher weightage for top
management but low for the front liner. In line with the Blue Ocean Leader principle, the acts
and activities data should be collected from all three management level, namely, top
management, middle management and lower management. According to Kim and
Mauborgne (2014b), leadership needs to distribute across all three management levels
because outstanding organizational performance often comes down to the motivation and
actions of middle and frontline leaders who are in closer contact with the market. For
example, Genchi Genbutsu activities are weighted higher for front liner than for top
management Therefore with the identified leader acts and activities, it is recommended an
interview or survey to be carried out to understand the current level of these practices. Then
using the ERRC model, activities are group to give a clear picture of what activities to
eliminate, reduce, increase or create. A new list with to-be activities is then developed for the
leader to follow.
Another limitation is that leadership is just one of the key factors for lean sustainability;
there are still many critical success factors that we should not neglect. With improvement in
the leadership, it is putting the lean journey at the right path and should have higher success
rate. This study provided lean practitioners and academicians a new perspective for
successful lean implementation.
The authors also proposed that a number of questions should be addressed in future field
research:
 What is the level of extent that the leaders should carry out these acts and activities?
 Is there any difference in the level of extent for leaders in different levels of
management carrying out these acts and activities?

Leadership factor Derived lean activities Literature reference

Motivation Acknowledge employees’ achievement Aij et al. (2015), Dombrowski and Mielke
A motivating character brings out the (2014), Sureeratta et al. (2014), Liker (2004),
best in people Bhasin (2013), Hu et al. (2015)
Can inspire and excite people work
toward common goal
Table XIII. Have mutual trust and respect among
Summary activities employees
for motivation factor Have good relationship with employees
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Corresponding author
Kok Liang Loh can be contacted at: klloh1963@gmail.com

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