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Full-Text Articles in Organizational Communication
Off The Rails: Understanding The Derailment Of A Lean Manufacturing Initiative, Elizabeth F. Turesky, Patrick Connell
Off The Rails: Understanding The Derailment Of A Lean Manufacturing Initiative, Elizabeth F. Turesky, Patrick Connell
Organization Management Journal
This study focuses on why lean manufacturing change initiatives at a Northern New England company failed to produce sustained results. Consultants and leaders share responsibility for the sustainability of the change initiatives they undertake. Rationally, neither party would undertake a change initiative with the intent to fail, yet clearly, even highly structured and well-tested initiatives often do fail (derail) in practice. This research used an observational methodology to uncover answers to the question, “what are the key factors that can cause the derailment of a well-intended, highly-structured change initiative?” In addition to consistency with findings from other studies on sustaining …
Doing More With Less At Ariens: A Leadership And Transformation Case Study, Jennifer K. Hartwell, George Roth
Doing More With Less At Ariens: A Leadership And Transformation Case Study, Jennifer K. Hartwell, George Roth
Organization Management Journal
Ariens is a family-owned manufacturer of lawn and snow equipment that designs, manufactures, sells, distributes, and supports its products in the United States, and more recently, internationally. Ariens faced and overcame a number of difficult challenges over the last decade by adopting and sustaining lean production principles throughout the organization, as well as with its suppliers and customers. This case study describes earlier business challenges, the changes that were made, how they were led, and the response of the workforce. The case study focuses on the period from 1998 to 2005, and a post-script updates what has happened up through …