Lean principles, learning, and knowledge work: Evidence from a software services provider
By Bradley R. Staats, D. Brunner, David M. Upton. 2011
383 citations recorded by the source corpus.
In this paper, we examine the applicability of lean production to knowledge work by investigating the implementation of a lean production system at an Indian software services firm. We first discuss specific aspects of knowledge work—task uncertainty, process invisibility, and architectural ambiguity—that call into question the relevance of lean production in this setting. Then, combining a detailed case study and empirical analysis, we find that lean software projects perform better than non-lean software projects at the company for most performance outcomes. We document the influence of the lean initiative on internal processes and examine how the techniques affect learning by improving both problem identification and problem resolution. Finally, we extend the lean production framework by highlighting the need to (1) identify problems early in the process and (2) keep problems and solutions together in time, space, and person.
Subfields: Management Information Systems, Strategy and Management
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/39cbc5bae3aae86c940f80652283e54ced0cfb6c
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In Management Information Systems
In Strategy and Management
Citations in the corpus
- Unpacking Team Familiarity: The Effects of Geographic Location and Hierarchical Role (2012, background): “Distributed teams that use a knowledge-management system exhibit improved performance compared with distributed teams that do not (Staats et al. 2011b).”