Questionnaire development The roles of communication process for an effective lean manufacturing implementation.

doi: 10.3926 j iem .2009.v2n1.p128- 152 © © JI EM, 2009 – 2 1 : 128- 152 - I SSN: 2013- 0953 The roles of com m unication process for an effect ive lean m anufacturing im plem entat ion 135 P. Puvanasvar an; H. Megat ; T. S. Hong; M. M. Razali firm s’ claim s to the adoption of lean production and actual changes m ade in this direct ion. Finally, t here is a posit ive relat ionship bet ween invest m ent in SMI and actual changes towards lean principles, and perform ance. Meanwhile, the inform ation related to the im plem entation of leanness m ust be clearly spelled out to everyone from top to bot t om in the organizat ion. This is very im portant as the com m unication process will pave way for people to accept the new concept and able to overcom e resistance towards new changes in their work. Com m unicat ion is very im port ant and is inseparable from the business environm ent. Little 1977 , highlighted that “ A substantial am ount of the day to day com m unication that goes on in any business is spoken com m unication between individuals face- to- face com m unication or between individual and a sm all group com m ittee work, oral reporting to a board, instruction given to a group of subordinates etc.” Warten L.Thom as 1985 pointed out that to achieve real success at workplace, one m ust be able to com m unicate what one knows. Even, Le Vassan 1994 has stressed that effective com m unication is certainly an added asset for the business sector to function in the econom ic network. I t is im port ant to use the technical knowledge to explore a problem and suggest ways of solving it . One m ust be able to assem ble inform ation, analyze it and report the findings in a m anner that will lead it t o m ore efficient procedures, bet t er ways of doing things.” 3 Methodology

3.1 Questionnaire development

The questionnaire was developed by referring to previous researches conducted by Boyer, 1996 and Soriano- Meier et al., 2002 and Karlsson et al., 1996 . The instrum ent can be adapted for use in aircraft industries although the target indust ries in the above researches vary. There were two parts in the questionnaire. The first part was used to m easure the degree of adoption of lean m anufacturing principles and the degree of leanness of the com pany. The respondents will rate nine variables with the provided odd- num bered alternative scale. These nine variables were adopted from Soriano- Meier et al., 2002 and Karlsson et al., 1996 works. They are elim inat ion of wast e, doi: 10.3926 j iem .2009.v2n1.p128- 152 © © JI EM, 2009 – 2 1 : 128- 152 - I SSN: 2013- 0953 The roles of com m unication process for an effect ive lean m anufacturing im plem entat ion 136 P. Puvanasvar an; H. Megat ; T. S. Hong; M. M. Razali continuous im provem ent, zero defects, j ust - in- t im e, pull instead of push, m ultifunctional team s, decentralized responsibilities, integrated functions and vert ical inform at ion funct ions. The response scale is 1 through 5, representing the range of no adopt ion, less adopt ion, part ial adopt ion, do adopt ion and t ot ally adoption. The second part of the questionnaire was used to m easure the m anagerial com m itm ent and their support in the m anufacturing infrastructures. The supporting m anufacturing infrastructure m easured is Worker Em powerm ent, Training, Group Problem Solving and Qualit y Leadership, which was stated by Boyer 1996 . The first variable is rated by score range from 1 to 5 representing no em phasis, less em phasis, m oderat e em phasis, do em phasis and ext rem e em phasis. The last t hree variables rated with sam e score range but with different headings - are strongly disagree, disagree, m oderat e, agree and st rongly agree. I n t his part , t he respondents have to rate the m anagem ent com m itm ents to six lean practices m entioned in first chapter. The score range is from 1 to 5, representing no com m itm ent, less com m itm ent, partial com m it m ent, do com m itm ent and total com m itm ent.

3.2 Pilot test