Leading Lean Projects

This document discusses the understanding of lean principles for managing business operations and implementing them within the organization. It explores different leadership styles, characteristics of valuable team members, and tools for facilitating business operations.

Running head: LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
Leading Lean Projects
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

1LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
Table of Contents
1.0 Introduction................................................................................................................................2
2.0 Comparison and Distinguish between various Leadership Styles.............................................3
3.0 Selection and Explanation of the Preferred Leadership Style...................................................6
4.0 Characteristics for becoming a Valuable Team Member of “THE A TEAM”.........................6
5.0 Tools and Techniques for Facilitating Business Operations.....................................................7
5.0.1 List of Assumptions............................................................................................................9
6.0 Conclusion...............................................................................................................................10
References......................................................................................................................................11

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1.0 Introduction
The project is based on the understanding of lean principles for managing the various
kind of business operations and implementing them within the organisation. With the help of
such kind of principle, it would highly be efficient for managing the various processes within the
business. The case study is focused on SINTEF Ltd., which is a functional organisation. The
organisation has set lead roles in different departments that include Information Technology (IT),
finance, engineering, sales and marketing, production, human capital marketing, warehousing
and procurement. Various kind of business operations is being performed with the help of such
kind of operations that are made within the business.
The discussion in this report further puts emphasis on the different kind of strategic
developments that would be made with the implication of lean management principles (Piercy &
Rich, 2015). Although the use of agile-based methods was thought to have a major kind of
impact, the major application of such management would only be limited within the IT domain.
In order to bring the best forms of impacts over the organisation, various leadership styles would
be considered to be useful. The report thus puts a brief analysis of the different leadership styles
that could be put in the proper place within the organisation for bringing in the best kind of
impacts. The preferred kind of leadership style is chosen that would help the organisation in
gaining better kind of benefits (Orzen & Bell, 2016). There are different kind of characteristics
that would need to be determined for becoming a valuable team member. However, the various
kind of tools and techniques needed for facilitating the lean business operations would be
discussed within the report.

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2.0 Comparison and Distinguish between various Leadership Styles
Comparison of Different Leadership Styles
Styles of chosen Factors Transactional Autocratic Bureaucratic
Urgency during a task or
during time constraints
This kind of leadership could
be considered as motivating in
terms of providing bonus or
rewards. With the implication
of such kind of principle of
leadership style, it would be
helpful for the team to improve
their quality of skills and thus
become much more initiative
(McCleskey, 2014). Rewards
and incentives have also been a
good form of aspect for
providing motivation to the
team members.
In this form of leadership style,
it thus provides the leader with
the power to send direct and
clear kind of instructions to
save valuable time within any
concerned project (Iqbal,
Anwar & Haider, 2015). In this
form of leadership style, the
various kind of decisions is
made in a quick manner. The
obstructions that are
confronted during the project
would be removed. Such kind
of leadership style would be
helpful for removing the
difficulties occurring within
the project.
This kind of leadership style is
entirely based on time and thus
the activities should be specific
within a certain time period.
The leader following the
bureaucratic style of leadership
would be bounded within a
fixed and clear form of
decisions (Cunningham,
Salomone & Wielgus, 2015).
They would also be provided
with guidelines based on
managing time within the
project.

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Experience for Team
Members
In this form of leadership style,
the leaders could introduce
some form of punishments for
the inexperienced team
members. Different kind of
competition could be enabled
for the experienced team
members for gaining rewards
(İşcan, Ersarı & Naktiyok,
2014). This kind of leadership
style could be helpful for
providing motivation to
members who would follow
certain rules maintained within
the overall system.
This kind of leadership style
would affect both experienced
and non-experienced teams
(Amanchukwu, Stanley &
Ololube, 2015). The
inexperienced teams would
need to follow some form of
guidelines and set disciplines
that would be set by the leader.
However, the experienced
team members would be
knowing about the set
disciplines and thus would not
require to be taught about the
disciplines.
This kind of leadership style
could be defined as a good
form for different experienced
and inexperienced team
members. Each of the team
members would need to abide
by the same form of rules and
guidelines (Alonderiene &
Majauskaite, 2016). Under this
leadership style, the leader
would have a clear structure
based on setting new
guidelines for the team
members.
Comparison of Different Leadership Styles
Styles of chosen Factors Democratic Laissez-Fiare Transformational
Urgency during a task or
during time constraints
In this style of leadership, a lot
of time would be consumed in
discussing several kinds of
Deadline issues are high to
maintain by following this
style of leadership (Zaman et
This kind of leadership could
also be approached even in
cases of high urgency (Long et

5LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
aspects. In this form of
leadership, the leader would
listen to the views and
opinions of other people (Puni,
Ofei & Okoe, 2014). This kind
of leadership could only be
approached if there is a lot of
time and thus could be
proceeded towards the
achievement of goals.
al., 2017). Thus a leader
following this style of
leadership should be sure
whether their team members
would be capable of finishing
the tasks within the correct
deadline.
al., 2014). This would further
help in motivating the team
such that the overall
performance would be better
maintained.
Experience for Team
Members
Leaders would face a difficult
time to maintain each
inexperienced team member
(Fiaz, Su & Saqib, 2017). This
is because such team members
would not be able to produce
the desired level of output.
The inexperienced team
members could cause trouble
for the entire team (Skogstad et
al., 2015). A lot of
responsibility would need to be
taken by the team members in
order to manage such kind of
team members.
In this style of leadership, the
leaders would provide a vision
before the entire team
(Ghasabeh, Soosay & Reaiche,
2015). Such kind of influence
could be provided that would
provide motivation to
inexperienced team members
and thus they would approach
towards a particular area of
interest.

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3.0 Selection and Explanation of the Preferred Leadership Style
Based on the comparison of the six different leadership styles, it could be further
discussed that the autocratic leadership style would be most preferable for SINTEF and
managing the various forms of organisational purposes. The case is based on defining lean
management principles within the organisational context (De Hoogh, Greer & Den Hartog,
2015). Such kind of application of the principles based on lean management would be highly
helpful to be implemented with the help of the autocratic style of leadership.
The autocratic leadership could be defined as a form of management in which a single
person would be able to control the various kind of decisions that needs to be taken. Very little
form of inputs would be taken from the group members. The leaders following this leadership
style would make use of their own beliefs in order to design new methods of proposing ideas.
They would not involve taking the suggestion of others. In the case of SINTEF, the leaders
within the company would have to manage the different kind of aspects in relation to the various
departments that are arranged by SINTEF. In the case of SINTEF, each of the decisions based on
implementing lean management principles within the company should be taken in a wise manner
and within a quick form of time (Lopez & Ensari, 2014). Hence, autocratic leadership should be
implemented. This would be highly effective for the manager of the organisation.
By following this form of leadership style, some of the major advantages that would be
accompanied are: No kind of inputs would be taken from the group members. The leaders within
the group would dictate each of the necessary tasks that need to be performed for implementing
the principles of lean management. The autocratic leadership style follows a streamlined form of
organisational structure that would help the team leaders in taking quick and appropriate
decisions.
4.0 Characteristics for becoming a Valuable Team Member of “THE A TEAM”
The most important characteristics of the team members that would be required for
becoming a member of “THE A TEAM” are:
1. Straightforward and Honest – A good kind of team member should be highly honest
in nature. They should also be straightforward in nature and thus should be able to communicate
a different kind of ideas in a direct manner (Mathieu et al., 2014). An honest team member

7LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
would directly communicate with the leaders in order to put forward the specific details about
the tasks that would be performed by them.
2. Sharing of Work Load – A good and responsible team member would be fair in their
share of work. There should be a proper sense of fairness and equity within the entire team. This
kind of quality would be needed for collective motivation.
3. Reliable – A good team member should be ideal and thus could be counted upon (Di
Ciccio, Marrella & Russo, 2015). The team member should highly ensure that they would meet
the necessary timelines in an appropriate manner.
4. Fair – The team member who would have good qualities would take appropriate credit
for their own work. However, they would not take any form of credit for the work performed by
someone else.
5. Complementing for others skills – One of the most important characteristics of a
team member is that they should always compliment the positive work done by other team
members. Good quality of the team member would be that they would have some form of unique
skills and knowledge, which would be helpful for moving the team in a forward direction.
6. A good form of Communication Skills – The teamwork could be defined as a social
activity. A good team member should be highly skilled in nature. They should also have good
kind of tactical skills and they should also be able to maintain effective communication with the
other team members (Aime et al., 2014). This would further help the team in progressing in a
better manner.
7. Maintain a Positive Attitude – A positive and “can-do” attitude would be considered
as vital as this would hugely help the team in moving forward in a nice direction. This kind of
attitude within the people would be helpful for the project that would be implemented.
5.0 Tools and Techniques for Facilitating Business Operations
The different kind of tools and techniques that would be used for facilitating the lean
business operations are:
1. Kanban – This kind of tool could be used within the organisational workplace and for
the implementation of lean business operations within SINTEF. With the help of this kind of

8LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
tool, it would be useful for presenting a piece of visual information and also for presenting a
bigger picture of the work that is being produced. With the help of the workflow of the
management processes, it would be easy to maintain the process of communication (Razzak &
Ahmed, 2014). Four types of bigger ideas that are followed by making use of the Kanban tool
are: visualising over the processes, limiting the concerned work within the processes, focusing
over the flow of information and continuously improve the processes of the business.
2. A3 – It can be defined as a structured approach based on solving problems. This
approach could be used by Agile and Lean organisations. The use of this form of tool would help
in listing the different elements such as: discussing the theme and background of any particular
problem, analysing over the present condition, presenting a brief cause analysis, setting a target
condition, preparing an implementation plan and the following up with the expected benefits.
3. Total Quality Management (TQM) – Another technique based on lean business
operations is known as Total Quality Management. It can be defined as a high form of a
continuous quality assessment program. This program would be highly essential for bringing the
quality of effective teamwork among the different kind of departments. Based on the impacts
made by TQM, it could be further discussed that it would ensure the coming up of people
together for the purpose of ensuring a reliable workflow within the business processes (Akgün et
al., 2014). It would also help in bringing in better kind of outputs over a wide range of products.
The technique of TQM would mostly focus over defining components based on statistical
methods, employee training and active involvement, developing problem-solving teams,
focusing over long term goals, understanding the quality needed by customers and then
developing methods to meet up to those standards.
4. Plan-Do-Check-Act (PCDA) Cycle – This can also be defined as an excellent form of
technique based on continuous improvement of the several kinds of processes. Four useful steps
that are followed within the PCDA Cycle are discussed as follows:
a. Plan – The manager making use of this kind of technique should identify the proper
form of opportunity and then plan for the best measures to implement the change.
b. Do – In this phase, the change that needs to be implemented should be done over a
small scale.

9LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
c. Check – After the process of implementation has been completed, the data would need
to be collected from the small scale. This data could be further used for analysing the various
results over the change. It should then be determined whether the change would be able to create
any form of difference within the organisation.
d. Act – There should be a proper form of assessment to measure whether the change
results proved the change to be successful. Based on a positive result, the change would be
implemented within the organisation. After the implementation of the change, it would need to
be continuously assessed. If the concerned change does not work well within the organisation,
the entire cycle would begin again.
5. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) – Lean form of Value Stream Mapping could be
defined to gain huge momentum in the works of knowledge. This kind of system further helps in
providing a sense of encouragement towards systems thinking. It would also result in an
effective mode of communication. With the help of an effective mode of communication, it
would further help in ensuring that the entire team would win. Any team would be able to enjoy
the factors of improved kind of productivity and thus be able to collaborate with the different
processes of mapping.
5.0.1 List of Assumptions
Some of the basic kind of assumptions that could be taken into consideration during the
planning of the lean business operations are:
1. Financial – There could be a certain assumption that the volume of sales would
increase with the impact of the better facilitation of business services. It could be assumed that
the company would gain a high form of benefits within the business processes.
2. Customer Base – Another assumption could be that the customers would purchase the
products or services offered by the company (Forsgren & Johanson, 2014). Based on this form of
assumption, it would be easy to determine the total amount of production that needs to be
generated based on which the customers would purchase the services.
3. Management Expertise – The management team within the organisation would be
able to support the business processes in an effective manner. There would be no form of

10LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
collision within the team members. Each and every form of communication would need to be
perfect in order to maintain a proper kind of relationship within the team.
6.0 Conclusion
The above report discusses the various factors in relation to the lean manufacturing
processes and the ways in which these factors could affect the business operations of SINTEF.
The report thus helps in putting focus over the various aspects based on leadership qualities, the
importance of team members and the required characteristics and many others. This discussion
puts emphasis over the autocratic form of leadership, which would help in forming a better kind
of effect towards keeping high monitoring of the business operations. The discussion focuses on
the important characteristics that need to be present within the team members. These team
members would need to be highly efficient based on which they could produce the best kind of
results for the betterment of the organisation. These kinds of characteristics within "THE A
TEAM" would help SINTEF in gaining the maximum amount of profits in the future. In the
concluding part of the report, there is a discussion over the use of different kind of effective tools
and techniques that would be helpful in facilitating over the lean business operations. This
discussion could be useful in proving that the organisation would be able to make a greater form
of impact over productivity and thus also increase the profit generation aspects.

11LEADING LEAN PROJECTS
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