Critical Success Factors For Sustaining Kaizen Event Outcomes

Critical Success Factors for Sustaining Kaizen Event OutcomesWiljeana Jackson GloverDissertation submitted to the faculty of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University inpartial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree ofDoctor of PhilosophyInIndustrial and Systems EngineeringEileen M. Van Aken (Co-Chair)Jennifer A. Farris (Co-Chair)Toni L. DoolenKimberly P. EllisC. Patrick KoellingApril 5, 2010Blacksburg, VirginiaKeywords: Kaizen, Kaizen event, Teams, Lean production, Improvement sustainability

Critical Success Factors for Sustaining Kaizen Event OutcomesWiljeana Jackson GloverABSTRACTA Kaizen event is a focused and structured improvement project, using a dedicated crossfunctional team to improve a targeted work area, with specific goals, in an acceleratedtimeframe. Kaizen events have been widely reported to produce positive change in businessresults and human resource outcomes. However, it can be difficult for many organizations tosustain or improve upon the results of a Kaizen event after it concludes. Furthermore, thesustainability of Kaizen event outcomes has received limited research attention to date.This research is based on a field study of 65 events across eight manufacturingorganizations that used survey data collected at the time of the event and approximately nine toeighteen months after the event. The research model was developed from Kaizen eventpractitioner resources, Kaizen event literature, and related process improvement sustainabilityand organizational change literature. The model hypothesized that Kaizen Event Characteristics,Work Area Characteristics, and Post-Event Characteristics were related to Kaizen eventSustainability Outcomes. Furthermore, the model hypothesized that Post-Event Characteristicswould mediate the relationship between Kaizen Event and Work Area Characteristics and theSustainability Outcomes. The study hypotheses were analyzed through multiple regressionmodels and generalized estimating equations were used to account for potential nesting effects(events within organizations).The factors that were most strongly related to each Sustainability Outcome wereidentified. Work Area Characteristics learning and stewardship and experimentation andcontinuous improvement and Post-Event Characteristics performance review and acceptingchanges were significant direct or indirect predictors of multiple Sustainability Outcomes andthese findings were generally supported by the literature. There were also some unanticipatedfindings, particularly regarding the modeling of Sustainability Outcomes result sustainability andgoal sustainability, which appear to illustrate potential issues regarding how organizations defineand track the performance of Kaizen events over time and present areas for future research.Overall, this study advances academic knowledge regarding Kaizen event outcomesustainability. The findings also present guidelines so that practitioners may better influence thelonger-term impact of Kaizen events on their organizations. The research findings may alsoextend to other improvement activities, thus presenting additional areas for future work.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like begin my acknowledgements by thanking my advisors, Dr. Eileen Van Aken and Dr.Jennifer Farris. Your expertise and constructive critiques challenged me to think deeply and to developinvaluable research skills. Thank you for championing my professional development. Thank you also forproviding and supporting a countless number of developmental opportunities, including research,conference and seminar presentations, publications, funding, and teaching opportunities. And finally,thank you for cultivating my professional and personal maturation through your mentoring, honesty, andbelief in my capabilities.To all of my committee members, thank you for your support of this dissertation and my graduatestudies. To Dr. Toni Doolen, thank you also for the opportunity to conduct this research and forchallenging me to consider different perspectives that influenced the structure of the research model. ToDr. Kimberly Ellis, thank you for your encouragement throughout my dissertation process and for yourquestions that led to the improved communication of my research. To Dr. C. Patrick Koelling, thank youfor your advice to highlight and think critically about the overall influence of my work and itscontributions. Thank you also for the opportunities to guest lecture during my time as your teachingassistant which greatly inspired my love of teaching.I would like to thank all of the organizations studied to extend the Kaizen event body ofknowledge for participating in this research, especially the team facilitators, work area managers and allquestionnaire respondents. In addition, I am grateful to the National Science Foundation for supportingthis research under grant no. DMI-0451512. To June Worley, thank you for supervising the datacollection and entry for the west coast organizations and for your positive, amazingly resilient, andinspiring personality. Thanks to my colleagues and co-authors Dr. Geert Letens, Wen-Hsing Liu,Pimsinee Chearskul, and Susan Hunter; I have learned valuable research-related and life lessons fromeach of you.Thanks to all of the faculty, staff, and graduate students of the Grado Department of Industrialand Systems Engineering. I am greatly appreciative of the knowledge, support, financial assistance I‘vereceived from the department through the years. A special thanks and message to the GraduateLeadership Board, Dr. Koelling, and Hannah Swiger: please continue your noteworthy efforts to make thegraduate experience for all students in ISE an academically enriching and enjoyable one.To all of the minority and women faculty members, researchers, and staff at Virginia Tech,Georgia Tech, and other institutions who have mentored and inspired me over the years, I appreciate youimmensely and thank you. A special thanks to the Southern Regional Education Board for honoring mewith a Dissertation Fellowship and the opportunity to attend the Annual Institute on Teaching andLearning in perpetuity to support my academic pursuits.To my Blacksburg families: St. Paul African Methodist Episcopal Church and Choir, the BlackGraduate Student Organization (especially the 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 Executive Boards), and the TauMu Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated (especially my fellow graduate sororitysisters), thank you for allowing me to serve and be served by your kindness and love. And thanks to all ofmy ―Operation Dissertation‖ and ―Get ‗Er Done‖ writing group partners over the past year: Ouraccountability system was essential to the completion this document. A special thanks to Dr. GenaChandler and the Rev. Dr. Lisa Tabor for your friendship and support as my daily writing partners.To my parents, Dr. Betty Graper and Willie Jackson Sr., and my brother, Willie, thank you foralways reminding me that ―nothing is impossible with God‖ and instilling in me the confidence toremember that I am the ―big round cookie at the top of the jar.‖ To my extended family and friends,thank you for your encouragement and inspiration.To my husband, Marshaun Glover, I could not have asked for a more loving, understanding,strong, infectiously joyful, and positive spouse. Thank you for your unwavering support throughout thisprocess. I am honored to be your wife and excited to celebrate your upcoming Ph.D. and our future. Andto God who is the strength of my life, thank you for this great blessing and lesson in patience, obedience,growth, and service.iii

Table of ContentsCHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .11.1 Research Motivation .11.2 Research Purpose and Objectives . 31.3 Research Model and Definitions. 41.4 Research Hypotheses .81.5 Overview of Research Design, Premises, and Delimitations .91.6 Contributions of this Research . 11CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW . 152.1 The Systematic Literature Review Method . 152.1.1 Phase 2: Development of the Review Protocol . 162.1.2 Phases 3-4: Identification of Research and Selection of Included Studies . 172.1.3 Phase 5: Quality Assessment of Included Kaizen Event Studies . 182.2 Kaizen Event Literature . 242.3 Summary of Phase One of OSU-VT Research: Critical Factors of Initial Kaizen Event Success . 392.3.1 Kaizen Event Outcomes . 402.3.2 Kaizen Event Initial Critical Factors . 402.4 Kaizen Event Sustainability Literature . 412.5 Continuous and Process Improvement Sustainability Literature . 502.6 Organizational Change Literature . 562.7 Research Model and Literature Support . 602.7.1 Kaizen Event Characteristics . 612.7.2 Work Area Characteristics . 632.7.3 Post-Event Characteristics . 652.7.4 Sustainability Outcomes . 66CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODS . 683.1 Data Collection Instruments . 683.2 Data Collection Procedures . 703.3 Operationalized Measures for Study Factors . 743.3.1 Operationalized Measures for Sustainability Outcomes . 743.3.2 Operationalized Measures for Kaizen Event Characteristics . 783.3.3 Operationalized Measures for Work Area Characteristics . 793.3.4 Operationalized Measures for Post-Event Characteristics . 823.4 Data Screening . 843.4.1 Summary of T0 Individual Survey Scale Item Data Screening . 843.4.2 Summary of T1 PEIS Individual Survey Scale Item Data Screening . 843.5 Data Reduction . 853.5.1 Data Reduction Methods of T1 Perceptual Measures . 853.5.2 EFA of Sustainability Outcome Survey Scales . 863.5.3 EFA of Work Area Characteristics Survey Scales . 893.5.4 EFA of Post-Event Characteristics Survey Scales . 913.5.5 Data Reduction Methods of T1 Objective Work Area Characteristics . 943.5.6 CATPCA of Objective Work Area Characteristics . 963.6 Reliability of Revised Scales . 993.7 Descriptive Statistics of Resultant Variables . 100CHAPTER 4: RESULTS. 1034.1 Overview of Methods Used to Test Study Hypotheses . 1034.1.1 Testing Direct Effects . 1054.1.2 Testing Mediating Effects . 1084.2 Work Area Attitude and Commitment Model . 1104.2.1 Identification of Direct Predictors of Work Area Attitude and Commitment . 1104.2.2 Mediation Analysis to Identify Indirect Predictors of Work Area Attitude and Commitment . 111iv