The effectiveness of lean principles at a specific financial institution in Port Elizabeth

• Main Author: Kerridge, Melissa Kim
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University 2013
• Subjects: Organizational effectiveness > South Africa > Port Elizabeth; Lean manufacturing > South Africa > Port Elizabeth > Management; Corporate culture > Port Elizabeth > South Africa; Just-in-time systems > South Africa > Port Elizabeth; Customer relations > South Africa > Port Elizabeth
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10948/d1012960

The world has become more competitive, complex and unpredictable, and this process is continuing. Evolution is taking place resulting in organisations being pushed by strategies and pulled by increasingly assertive customers who demand more accountability and responsiveness (Kartte, 2010). In order to remain competitive in this changing world, many organisations, even financial institutions have adopted Lean principles in order to eliminate waste, reduce cost and streamline everyday processes (Spear, 2012). There have however been a number of challenges that have prevented financial institutions from implementing Lean principles successfully. The primary objective of this study is to improve the effectiveness of Lean principles within a specific financial institution. More specifically, this study will identify the effectiveness of successfully implementing Lean principles at a financial institution by investigating the influence of employee knowledge, understanding and skills, communication, motivation and ownership from management, organisational culture and the impact of trade unions in organisations as mentioned in the problem statement above. Convenience sampling was used to select a sample of sixty eight (68) employees within the specific financial institution. The sample was stratified to include senior managers, managers, team leaders and lower level employees. Questionnaires were distributed personally to the focus groups from the above categories.