Multi-level Management and Leadership Skills in Lean Organizations

Research shows that senior management commitment is essential to a successful and sustainable transition to a Lean enterprise but less focus has been given to the role of middle managers. This paper represents two strands of connected research that explore the behaviors and competencies of desired leaders and managers across different levels of the lean organizations and identifies the skills required to support and sustain a Lean transition. The Cardiff University (UK) SUCCESS program discovered that there are subtle differences in
top management and leadership skills required to facilitate successful change from those required to sustain the change. Whilst research at University of Twente (NL) concluded that middle managers in established Lean organizations display higher levels of aptitude in certain skills from those in earlier stages of the transformation process. Hence, we suggest that both top and middle management need to adopt double-loop learning in order to improve their management and leadership skills over time to sustain Lean.