08832323.2012.721024
Journal of Education for Business
ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Comparing Textbook Coverage of Lean
Management to Academic Research and Industry
Practitioner Perceptions
Kathryn A. Marley , T. Michael Stodnick & Jeff Heyl
To cite this article: Kathryn A. Marley , T. Michael Stodnick & Jeff Heyl (2013) Comparing
Textbook Coverage of Lean Management to Academic Research and Industry
Practitioner Perceptions, Journal of Education for Business, 88:6, 332-338, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2012.721024
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 21:06
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 88: 332–338, 2013
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2012.721024
Comparing Textbook Coverage of Lean Management
to Academic Research and Industry Practitioner
Perceptions
Kathryn A. Marley
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 21:06 11 January 2016
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
T. Michael Stodnick
University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA
Jeff Heyl
Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
Within operations management courses, most instructors choose to devote classroom time to
teaching the topic of lean management. However, because the amount of time available for
instructors to devote to this topic varies considerably, there is a great deal of latitude on which
specific lean tools and techniques should be discussed. The authors reflect on this issue by
considering the most important practices of lean from the perspective of three stakeholders:
academic research, textbook authors, and industry professionals. Based on the comparison,
the authors develop a list of recommendations to help instructors who are teaching lean at the
undergraduate level.
Keywords: course design, lean management, operations management textbooks
INTRODUCTION
One challenge of teaching an introductory course is developing a course schedule that represents the most critical areas
of learning. An introductory course in operations management (OM) is a requirement in most undergraduate business
curriculums and most OM textbooks discuss a wide array
of topics. However due to time constraints, instructors must
make choices on which topics to cover. Many choose topics
based on what they find most interesting to teach. Others
select the topics that they believe are most critical to prepare
for other courses in a curriculum or for future employment.
The process of course design can take a considerable amount
of time and should be taken seriously to keep the content of
the course interesting and relevant for students.
Correspondence should be addressed to Kathryn A. Marley, Duquesne
University, Department of Supply Chain Management, 600 Forbes Avenue,
Rockwell Hall 470, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA. E-mail: marleyk@duq.edu
One topic that is included in all introduction to OM
textbooks is lean management (production). Lean management is considered a business strategy that is focused on
eliminating waste, creating value, implementing specific
tools/techniques, and learning how to do work in a more
efficient and effective way (Shah & Ward, 2007). Several
universities have developed stand-alone courses to introduce
students to lean in both business and engineering curriculums. An overview of these institutions can be found in
Blanchard, Farrington, Harris, and Utley (2009). However,
because of the depth and breadth of this topic, it becomes
challenging to condense the amount of lean information covered within one introductory operations management course.
Indeed it is often difficult to determine which lean concepts
are the most salient and by necessity must be included in
teaching lean. Therefore, we embark on a research study to
analyze the current state of lean management across three
stakeholder groups: academic researchers, textbook authors,
and lean practitioners. Understanding how lean is envisioned
by these three groups lays a foundation for understanding
how to teach the topic of lean in the most effective way.
COMPARING TEXTBOOK COVERAGE OF LEAN MANAGEMENT
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
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Academic Research
We have identified three major areas within the lean management academic research stream—the bundling of lean
practices into categories, the link between lean practices and
performance, and the expansion of case studies illustrating
successful lean implementation among service firms. Within
the lean management literature, there is general agreement
that there are known categories of tools and techniques, sometimes called bundles, present in lean systems (i.e., Furlan,
Dal Pont, & Vinelli, 2011; Shah & Ward, 2003, 2007). These
include just-in-time (JIT) practices, total quality management (TQM) practices, total productive maintenance (TPM)
practices, and human resource management (HRM) practices
(Shah & Ward, 2003, 2007). In addition to these four categories, it is essential for lean firms to develop relationships
with their supply chain partners to support their continuous improvement efforts (Jayaram, Vickery, & Droge, 2008;
Shah & Ward, 2007).
Another area of lean academic research involves examining the relationship between lean (or JIT practices) and performance. There is empirical support that lean practices lead
to improved market and business performance (Yang, Hong,
& Modi, 2011), better overall performance (Furlan et al.,
2011), and higher inventory turnover (Demeter & Matyusz,
2011). Other authors have examined and found relationships
between JIT practices and aggregate performance measures
(i.e., quality, manufacturing cost, inventory, cycle time, flexibility, and delivery; Mackelprang & Nair, 2010). An overview
of research tying the impact of lean practices on firm performance is included in Eroglu and Hofer (2011). These studies
have done an exemplary job of showing projected performance improvements through adopting lean at the tactical,
operational, and strategic levels.
Lastly, the performance implications of adopting lean
practices are also exemplified through the use of case studies, specifically in service firms. Although the source of lean
began with manufacturing automobiles (Womack, Jones, &
Roos, 2007), firms in service industries are having success
in applying the tenets of lean in a variety of contexts. These
include applications in software services (Statts, Brunner, &
Upton, 2011), healthcare facilities (LaGanga, 2011), logistics (Lee, Olson, Lee, Hwang, & Shin, 2008), and banking
services (Wang & Chen, 2010). These case studies help readers contextualize lean theories and learn how to adopt lean
practices in varied environments.
Summary of Textbooks
To understand the textbook coverage of lean, we analyzed
a representative sample of introductory OM textbooks. The
objective was to determine what content is being presented
in these texts. To perform this analysis, three independent
reviewers examined the textbooks and noted if and to what
333
extent each of a comprehensive list of lean topics was presented. Any disagreement between the reviewers was resolved through a group discussion. The inclusion decision
was quite straightforward in almost all cases as there was a
high degree of correlation between reviewers with very few
disagreements. When analyzing textbook coverage, it is relatively common to assess the degree of coverage of a topic
(Kuo & White, 2004; Stambaugh & Trank, 2010) and for this
project we use a relatively simple major–minor classification
system. Under this scheme, if a topic was addressed with one
or more paragraphs of material, it was classified as major
coverage. If it was addressed in less than one paragraph it
was classified as minor.
The detailed portion of the textbook analysis can be seen
in Table 1 and a summary of the topics included in the lean
chapter and within the textbook is included in Table 2. Most
of the texts address a common set of core topics: push versus pull (100% inclusion), the seven wastes (100%), kanbans (100%), lean healthcare–services (100%), statistical
process control (SPC; 100%), though not generally in the
lean chapter), Pareto analysis (100%, again not generally
in the lean chapter), load leveling (93%), lean supply chains
(93%), setup time–batch size reduction (93%), and employee
empowerment–cross training (85%). The least covered topics
include future state mapping (14%), first in first out (FIFO)
lanes (7%), lean accounting (7%), Hoshin Kanri (7%), and
A3 (0%).
As we assess the textbook coverage of lean, three important issues stand out. The first centers on the topic of
kanbans. The expectation that most undergraduate students
will be required to actually perform kanban calculations upon
graduation is fairly low, despite the fact that every book in the
analysis prominently includes kanbans. Typically this coverage includes extended illustrations and supplementary material in the form of PowerPoint slides or videos. Beyond this,
kanban calculation problems (e.g., kanban size, the number
of containers to use) were the most common end of chapter
exercises (10 of the 14 texts) and, when included, invariably
represented the majority of the exercises.
The second issue is that several authors seem to be relying on process flow diagrams, typically presented in product/process design chapters, to support their value stream
mapping (VSM) content. The problem with this treatment is
that process flow diagrams do not contain much of the important information required for proper VSM analysis (see
Rother & Shook, 2003) and are not a proper substitute. In
addition, even when VSM is addressed, the development
from current state to future state maps is not always described. While 57% of the texts address VSM, only 50%
mentioned current state maps and only 14% described future
state maps. Many authors choose to address only the basic
concept of VSM. We believe this shortcoming is a major one
as VSM is one of the most practical and inter-disciplinary
lean tools and one that can benefit non-OM majors the
most.
334
K. A. MARLEY ET AL.
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TABLE 1
Analysis of Textbook Coverage
Lean terms
ACDMZ
Push vs. pull
Seven wastes
5 why’s
Standardized work
Current state mapping
Future state mapping
Pareto analysis
Poke yoke
Change management/implementation
Four rules of the TPS
5S
Kanban
SPC
Setup time reduction
A3 problem solving
TPM
Empowerment/training
Load leveling
Lean six sigma
Hoshin Kanri
QFD
Lean office
Layout
Lean supply chain
Lean healthcare/services
Lean accounting
FIFO lanes
Major
Major
Major
∗
Minor
Major
∗
Major
Minor
Major
Major
BV
BH
CT
CE
F
HR
JC
Major Major Major Minor Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major Minor
∗
∗
∗
∗
Major
Minor
Major
Major Minor
∗
Minor
Minor
Major
Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
∗
∗
∗
Major
Minor
Minor
Minor
Major
Major
Major
Major Major Major Minor Major Major Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
Major
Minor Major Minor Major Major
KRM
RS
RT
SCJ
S
SMCH
Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major
Minor
Major
Major
Major Minor
Major
Minor
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Major Minor Minor
Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
Minor
Minor
Major
Major Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
∗
Minor
Major Minor Minor
Minor Minor Major Major Major Minor Major
Minor
Minor
Minor Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major Minor Major Minor Major
∗
∗
Minor Minor
Minor
Major
Major
∗
∗
Major
Major
Major
Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
∗
Minor
∗
∗
∗
∗
Major
Minor Minor
∗
Major Major Major Major Major Major Minor Major
Major Major
Minor Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major
Minor
Minor
∗
Major
Major
Major
Minor
Note. ACDMZ = Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, & Zemel; BV = Boyer & Verma; BH = Bozarth & Handfeld; CT = Cachon and
Terwiesch; CE = Collier & Evans; F = Finch; HR = Heizer & Render; JC = Jacobs & Chase; KRM = KRajewski, Ritzman, & Malhotra; RS = Reid &
Sanders; RT = Russell & Taylor; SCJ = Slack, Chambers, & Johnston; S = Stevenson; SMCH = Swink, Melnyk, Cooper, & Hartley; Major = greater
degree of coverage; Minor = lesser degree of coverage; ∗ = the topic is not in the lean-focused chapter but is present in another chapter in the text.
The final issue relates to standardized work. Standardized
work is a central tool in lean systems (Liker & Meier, 2006),
yet only 50% of the textbooks include it in the lean chapter.
Indeed only four of the 14 textbooks, 29%, give it major
attention. The lack of textbook coverage of this topic is
very surprising as standardization is one of the fundamental
building blocks of lean upon which many other practices
are dependent. For example, takt time, the driver of the pull
system, is dependent on having standardized processes that
can consistently meet time specifications.
In terms of the depth of coverage the texts provide for
lean topics, there is some significant variability among them.
Table 3 presents the level of coverage specifically within the
lean chapter for the entire set of lean topics. As can be clearly
observed, the textbook authors have made quite different
decisions on the level of coverage provided in their books.
When considering all the lean topics, the most exhaustive
coverage is given by Swink, Melnyk, Cooper, and Hartley
(2011) at 70%. Eight of the 14 texts cover more than 50%
of the lean topics; the other six cover less than 50% with an
average coverage of 52%.
Industry Insights
Aligning educational programs and courses with those practices found within industry is becoming an increasingly common and important imperative for business schools as they
seek to prepare their graduates for employment. Much research investigates the gap between what business schools believe is important to their undergraduates’ success and what
potential employers are seeking (i.e., Abraham & Karns,
2009; Banerjee & Lin, 2006). One study that is critical to
this research is the survey of the importance of lean practices
conducted by Fliedner and Mathieson (2009). Their work is
done at two different levels—a skill-based level and a toolsbased level. At the skill-based level, they find that employers place a very high importance on human relations skills
as related to lean; skills such as leadership, teamwork and
change management. All of these skills have an importance
rating of under 2.0 on a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging
from 1 (highly important) to 7 (very unimportant). Interestingly enough, all of these HR skills are deemed more important than the traditional operations and engineering skills
such as process design, cellular layouts, or statistical process
COMPARING TEXTBOOK COVERAGE OF LEAN MANAGEMENT
TABLE 2
List of Topics and Their Coverage in the Lean
Chapter and Entire Book for All Texts
Coverage in Coverage
Not
lean chapter
book
covered
(%)
(%)
(%)
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Topic
Push vs. pull
Seven wastes
5 whys
Standardized work
Current state mapping
Future state mapping
Pareto analysis
Poka yoke
Change management/implementation
Four rules of TPS
5S
Kanban
SPC
Setup time reduction
A3
TPM
Employee empowerment/training
Load leveling
Lean six sigma
Hoshin Kanri
QFD
Lean office
Layout
Lean supply chains
Lean healthcare/services
Lean accounting
FIFO lanes
100
100
14
50
50
14
7
50
57
21
57
100
21
93
0
86
85
93
36
0
7
42
71
93
100
7
7
100
100
43
50
50
14
100
79
57
21
57
100
100
93
0
93
85
93
50
7
71
42
79
93
100
7
7
0
0
57
50
50
86
0
21
43
79
43
0
0
7
100
7
15
7
50
93
29
58
21
7
0
93
93
335
control. At the lean tools-based level, the authors find the
most important skills to be standardization of work, value
stream mapping, defect-free production, and push versus
pull—all very conceptual type tools and practices. The more
technical tools, such as kanban, production leveling, and statistical process control, are deemed much less important.
Because of its relevance to this study, their findings are replicated in Table 4.
DISCUSSION
The overall intent of this research is to provide an analysis
of how lean is presented across the three stakeholder groups
and to use this analysis to develop guidelines for teaching
lean in the context of an introductory undergraduate OM
course. Because our primary focus is on improving teaching,
our comparative reference point will be the textbook authors,
which we will compare to the academic research and industry
survey.
Our first comparison is between the textbook authors and
current academic research. Most textbook authors present the
lean material as a singular collection of tools and practices
and focus on the hard tools such as kanbans, takt time, and
setup time reduction. Less attention is given to the softer
side of lean such as employee empowerment and change
management. This finding is a bit surprising given that in
research looking at continuous improvement programs such
as lean, six sigma, or TQM, often it is the intangible, softer
sides of these programs that are a major factor in determining their successful implementation (Lander & Liker, 2007).
TABLE 3
Distribution of Coverage in the Lean-Focused
Chapter, by Text
TABLE 4
Results of Fliedner and Mathieson Study (2009)
All topics
Text
SMCH
KRM
RT
BV
CT
S
SCJ
HR
JC
CE
ACDMZ
F
RS
BH
Major coverage
(%)
Minor coverage
(%)
Total coverage
(%)
63
52
56
33
30
48
44
41
37
19
41
30
41
22
7
11
7
19
22
15
15
15
11
22
7
15
7
4
70
63
63
52
52
63
59
56
48
41
48
45
48
26
Note: ACDMZ = Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, &
Zemel; BV = Boyer & Verma; BH = Bozarth & Handfeld; CT = Cachon
and Terwiesch; CE = Collier & Evans; F = Finch; HR = Heizer & Render;
JC = Jacobs & Chase; KRM = KRajewski, Ritzman, & Malhotra; RS =
Reid & Sanders; RT = Russell & Taylor; SCJ = Slack, Chambers, &
Johnston; S = Stevenson; SMCH = Swink, Melnyk, Cooper, & Hartley.
Concept
or tool
Standardization of work processes
Value stream mapping
Defect-free production
Pull approach
Takt time
Cycle-time reduction
Operator involvement and teamwork
Visual management
4W2H
One-piece flow
Total preventive maintenance
Kanban
Production leveling
Process or office layout design
Plan-do-check-act cycle
Quick changeover or SMED
Familiarity with quality programs
3M’s: Muda, Muri, Mura
Statistical process control
Practitioner perceptions
of importance
1.61
1.68
1.74
1.80
1.82
1.90
1.95
1.96
2.08
2.16
2.17
2.19
2.23
2.23
2.25
2.37
2.60
2.71
2.74
Note: Responses were ranked on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (highly important) to 7 (very unimportant).
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336
K. A. MARLEY ET AL.
As highlighted by Spear and Bowen (1999) in their description of the essence of the Toyota production system, simply
implementing lean tools and practices may not provide competitive advantage. They argued that lean management firms
can achieve success because of the underlying way that work
is designed and the way products flow through their systems.
Though all the texts reviewed did address lean in healthcare or services to some degree, the specific coverage of
lean services within the chapters is modest and typically
lacks detail. In particular, the textbooks fail to discuss how
the lean production principles must be changed in order to
be applied to service environments. As highlighted in academic research, any firm adopting lean is likely to be facing
a significant shift in operational practices, internal and external relationships, and the core culture of the organization
(Shah & Ward, 2003; Spear & Bowen, 1999; Womack et al.,
2007). This shift is not going to happen without a significant
amount of attention being paid to change management and
implementation strategies. Yet the textbooks, with the exception of Swink et al. (2011), provide little information relating
to these issues in either the lean chapter or anywhere else in
the book.
When we compared the textbooks to the industry survey we found that the textbooks tend to place much more
emphasis on the technical elements and less on the conceptual, practice-based topics. As previously mentioned, the
textbooks spend a significant amount of time covering the
technical details of kanban calculations. Indeed it is interesting that very few of the textbooks actually provide an applied conceptual example of how kanbans are implemented.
Textbooks also devote large portions to the discussion of
production scheduling concepts such as load leveling and
mixed model sequencing. Alternatively, textbooks dedicate
much less attention to the softer, more applied side of lean –
the side of lean that practitioners think is most important.
For example, 50% or less of the textbooks cover the topics
of current state mapping, future state mapping, standardized
work and the four rules of TPS—all topics that headed the
list of the most important lean tools to practitioners. Also,
the HR and behavioral practices that Fliedner and Mathieson
(2009) found so important are not generally covered at all in
the lean chapters.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The overall objective of this research is to provide some support and guidance for the delivery of lean-focused material
in an introductory undergraduate OM course. As a result of
our analysis of the three related perspectives, we think the
following comments and recommendations are in order.
1. Add supplements: Instructors should not rely simply
on their chosen text itself to cover all the important
material—they are going to have to supplement it. In-
7.
structors can use Table 1 as a guide to find material
in other textbooks that they think their chosen textbook is weak on. Furthermore, two online resources
offer a collection of teaching material as well as forums to discuss teaching lean: www.teachinglean.org
and www.lean.org.
Be selective: Instructors should not assume that just because a text discusses topics in detail that those topics
are the most important ones and they must be covered
thoroughly—and vice versa. This research provides a
useful guide that instructors can reference when designing their course content.
Think strategic: Instructors should consider spending
time on the strategic nature of lean and the higher level,
conceptual tools and approaches (i.e., seven wastes,
performance implications, push vs. pull). This may be
accomplished through group projects where students
have the opportunity to observe real-life processes,
identify problems, and suggest ways that lean tools
can be beneficial.
Map processes: Instructors should teach value stream
mapping. The best textbook we found in presenting
VSM is Jacobs and Chase (2010). This text provides
both an exemplary discussion of VSM including current and future state mapping as well as an end of
the chapter in-depth case. In addition, the practitioneroriented book Learning to See, by Rother and Shook
(2003), is an outstanding source for supplemental
material.
Introduce implementation strategies: Instructors
should address the behavioral components of the
system—standardized work, four rules of the TPS, and
change management. Again, these topics are deemed
important by all practitioner groups, and are underrepresented in the texts. Spear and Bowen (1999) provided an excellent discussion of how a lean culture
is built upon standardization of job design, material
flow, and informational flow and there is an excellent teaching note for the case that uses a clip from an
I Love Lucy episode to apply the rules (Spear & Bowen,
2006).
Minimize the mechanics: Instructors should minimize
the time spent on detailed, mechanistic tools and techniques. The primary example of this is kanbans. Rather
than having students complete multiple kanban calculations, instructors could actually simulate a production system using kanbans.
Bundle practices: Instructors should try to provide students with an idea of how the lean tools are related to
each other. Academic research uses bundles such as
TPM, TQM, JIT, and HRM to provide a structure for
these tools. However, texts generally present the material simply as a list of practices without discussing how
they are all interrelated. One text that provides a good
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COMPARING TEXTBOOK COVERAGE OF LEAN MANAGEMENT
example of how this can be done is the Finch (2008)
text, which groups the lean practices into four categories: those related to inventory, capacity, facilities,
and workforce.
8. Link to other chapters: Instructors should tie material from the lean chapter to other chapters within the
book. This type of synthesis gives students a better
context of how lean tools can provide operational improvements in areas such as inventory management,
planning, scheduling, and capacity management.
9. Make it fun: Instructors should consider using cases,
simulations, or games to show how the lean practices
and principles can be applied in real-life business situations. Too often it seems the texts treated the lean
material as an abstract listing of practices with little regard for their application. For example, many authors
have developed innovative games to illustrate pull production techniques (e.g., Ashenbaum, 2010; Snider &
Eliasson, 2009) and general lean concepts (Fawcett &
Fawcett, 2010; Swanson, 2008).
CONCLUSION
In our research, we highlight an important topic for OM instructors to consider as they devote attention to developing
detailed schedules for their core undergraduate operations
management courses. Lean management is undoubtedly a
topic that should be covered within a core course. However,
choosing which topics to cover when faced with time constraints has not been previously addressed. By comparing the
results from our three stakeholders, it is apparent that there
is some divergence between what is considered important by
researchers and industry professions and what is being emphasized within textbooks. Our research highlighted the most
critical areas of difference and provides instructors with recommendations on how to improve their lean teaching. As new
materials are developed to help instructors teach lean more
effectively, others could expand our research to include how
practitioner books compare to our stakeholders. Designing an
entire course around lean content would best exemplify how
the lean tools and practices are pervasive within each area of
operations management and how they can be integrated in an
optimal manner.
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ISSN: 0883-2323 (Print) 1940-3356 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/vjeb20
Comparing Textbook Coverage of Lean
Management to Academic Research and Industry
Practitioner Perceptions
Kathryn A. Marley , T. Michael Stodnick & Jeff Heyl
To cite this article: Kathryn A. Marley , T. Michael Stodnick & Jeff Heyl (2013) Comparing
Textbook Coverage of Lean Management to Academic Research and Industry
Practitioner Perceptions, Journal of Education for Business, 88:6, 332-338, DOI:
10.1080/08832323.2012.721024
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/08832323.2012.721024
Published online: 26 Aug 2013.
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Date: 11 January 2016, At: 21:06
JOURNAL OF EDUCATION FOR BUSINESS, 88: 332–338, 2013
C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
Copyright
ISSN: 0883-2323 print / 1940-3356 online
DOI: 10.1080/08832323.2012.721024
Comparing Textbook Coverage of Lean Management
to Academic Research and Industry Practitioner
Perceptions
Kathryn A. Marley
Downloaded by [Universitas Maritim Raja Ali Haji] at 21:06 11 January 2016
Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
T. Michael Stodnick
University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas, USA
Jeff Heyl
Lincoln University, Christchurch, New Zealand
Within operations management courses, most instructors choose to devote classroom time to
teaching the topic of lean management. However, because the amount of time available for
instructors to devote to this topic varies considerably, there is a great deal of latitude on which
specific lean tools and techniques should be discussed. The authors reflect on this issue by
considering the most important practices of lean from the perspective of three stakeholders:
academic research, textbook authors, and industry professionals. Based on the comparison,
the authors develop a list of recommendations to help instructors who are teaching lean at the
undergraduate level.
Keywords: course design, lean management, operations management textbooks
INTRODUCTION
One challenge of teaching an introductory course is developing a course schedule that represents the most critical areas
of learning. An introductory course in operations management (OM) is a requirement in most undergraduate business
curriculums and most OM textbooks discuss a wide array
of topics. However due to time constraints, instructors must
make choices on which topics to cover. Many choose topics
based on what they find most interesting to teach. Others
select the topics that they believe are most critical to prepare
for other courses in a curriculum or for future employment.
The process of course design can take a considerable amount
of time and should be taken seriously to keep the content of
the course interesting and relevant for students.
Correspondence should be addressed to Kathryn A. Marley, Duquesne
University, Department of Supply Chain Management, 600 Forbes Avenue,
Rockwell Hall 470, Pittsburgh, PA 15282, USA. E-mail: marleyk@duq.edu
One topic that is included in all introduction to OM
textbooks is lean management (production). Lean management is considered a business strategy that is focused on
eliminating waste, creating value, implementing specific
tools/techniques, and learning how to do work in a more
efficient and effective way (Shah & Ward, 2007). Several
universities have developed stand-alone courses to introduce
students to lean in both business and engineering curriculums. An overview of these institutions can be found in
Blanchard, Farrington, Harris, and Utley (2009). However,
because of the depth and breadth of this topic, it becomes
challenging to condense the amount of lean information covered within one introductory operations management course.
Indeed it is often difficult to determine which lean concepts
are the most salient and by necessity must be included in
teaching lean. Therefore, we embark on a research study to
analyze the current state of lean management across three
stakeholder groups: academic researchers, textbook authors,
and lean practitioners. Understanding how lean is envisioned
by these three groups lays a foundation for understanding
how to teach the topic of lean in the most effective way.
COMPARING TEXTBOOK COVERAGE OF LEAN MANAGEMENT
STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS
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Academic Research
We have identified three major areas within the lean management academic research stream—the bundling of lean
practices into categories, the link between lean practices and
performance, and the expansion of case studies illustrating
successful lean implementation among service firms. Within
the lean management literature, there is general agreement
that there are known categories of tools and techniques, sometimes called bundles, present in lean systems (i.e., Furlan,
Dal Pont, & Vinelli, 2011; Shah & Ward, 2003, 2007). These
include just-in-time (JIT) practices, total quality management (TQM) practices, total productive maintenance (TPM)
practices, and human resource management (HRM) practices
(Shah & Ward, 2003, 2007). In addition to these four categories, it is essential for lean firms to develop relationships
with their supply chain partners to support their continuous improvement efforts (Jayaram, Vickery, & Droge, 2008;
Shah & Ward, 2007).
Another area of lean academic research involves examining the relationship between lean (or JIT practices) and performance. There is empirical support that lean practices lead
to improved market and business performance (Yang, Hong,
& Modi, 2011), better overall performance (Furlan et al.,
2011), and higher inventory turnover (Demeter & Matyusz,
2011). Other authors have examined and found relationships
between JIT practices and aggregate performance measures
(i.e., quality, manufacturing cost, inventory, cycle time, flexibility, and delivery; Mackelprang & Nair, 2010). An overview
of research tying the impact of lean practices on firm performance is included in Eroglu and Hofer (2011). These studies
have done an exemplary job of showing projected performance improvements through adopting lean at the tactical,
operational, and strategic levels.
Lastly, the performance implications of adopting lean
practices are also exemplified through the use of case studies, specifically in service firms. Although the source of lean
began with manufacturing automobiles (Womack, Jones, &
Roos, 2007), firms in service industries are having success
in applying the tenets of lean in a variety of contexts. These
include applications in software services (Statts, Brunner, &
Upton, 2011), healthcare facilities (LaGanga, 2011), logistics (Lee, Olson, Lee, Hwang, & Shin, 2008), and banking
services (Wang & Chen, 2010). These case studies help readers contextualize lean theories and learn how to adopt lean
practices in varied environments.
Summary of Textbooks
To understand the textbook coverage of lean, we analyzed
a representative sample of introductory OM textbooks. The
objective was to determine what content is being presented
in these texts. To perform this analysis, three independent
reviewers examined the textbooks and noted if and to what
333
extent each of a comprehensive list of lean topics was presented. Any disagreement between the reviewers was resolved through a group discussion. The inclusion decision
was quite straightforward in almost all cases as there was a
high degree of correlation between reviewers with very few
disagreements. When analyzing textbook coverage, it is relatively common to assess the degree of coverage of a topic
(Kuo & White, 2004; Stambaugh & Trank, 2010) and for this
project we use a relatively simple major–minor classification
system. Under this scheme, if a topic was addressed with one
or more paragraphs of material, it was classified as major
coverage. If it was addressed in less than one paragraph it
was classified as minor.
The detailed portion of the textbook analysis can be seen
in Table 1 and a summary of the topics included in the lean
chapter and within the textbook is included in Table 2. Most
of the texts address a common set of core topics: push versus pull (100% inclusion), the seven wastes (100%), kanbans (100%), lean healthcare–services (100%), statistical
process control (SPC; 100%), though not generally in the
lean chapter), Pareto analysis (100%, again not generally
in the lean chapter), load leveling (93%), lean supply chains
(93%), setup time–batch size reduction (93%), and employee
empowerment–cross training (85%). The least covered topics
include future state mapping (14%), first in first out (FIFO)
lanes (7%), lean accounting (7%), Hoshin Kanri (7%), and
A3 (0%).
As we assess the textbook coverage of lean, three important issues stand out. The first centers on the topic of
kanbans. The expectation that most undergraduate students
will be required to actually perform kanban calculations upon
graduation is fairly low, despite the fact that every book in the
analysis prominently includes kanbans. Typically this coverage includes extended illustrations and supplementary material in the form of PowerPoint slides or videos. Beyond this,
kanban calculation problems (e.g., kanban size, the number
of containers to use) were the most common end of chapter
exercises (10 of the 14 texts) and, when included, invariably
represented the majority of the exercises.
The second issue is that several authors seem to be relying on process flow diagrams, typically presented in product/process design chapters, to support their value stream
mapping (VSM) content. The problem with this treatment is
that process flow diagrams do not contain much of the important information required for proper VSM analysis (see
Rother & Shook, 2003) and are not a proper substitute. In
addition, even when VSM is addressed, the development
from current state to future state maps is not always described. While 57% of the texts address VSM, only 50%
mentioned current state maps and only 14% described future
state maps. Many authors choose to address only the basic
concept of VSM. We believe this shortcoming is a major one
as VSM is one of the most practical and inter-disciplinary
lean tools and one that can benefit non-OM majors the
most.
334
K. A. MARLEY ET AL.
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TABLE 1
Analysis of Textbook Coverage
Lean terms
ACDMZ
Push vs. pull
Seven wastes
5 why’s
Standardized work
Current state mapping
Future state mapping
Pareto analysis
Poke yoke
Change management/implementation
Four rules of the TPS
5S
Kanban
SPC
Setup time reduction
A3 problem solving
TPM
Empowerment/training
Load leveling
Lean six sigma
Hoshin Kanri
QFD
Lean office
Layout
Lean supply chain
Lean healthcare/services
Lean accounting
FIFO lanes
Major
Major
Major
∗
Minor
Major
∗
Major
Minor
Major
Major
BV
BH
CT
CE
F
HR
JC
Major Major Major Minor Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major Minor
∗
∗
∗
∗
Major
Minor
Major
Major Minor
∗
Minor
Minor
Major
Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
∗
∗
∗
Major
Minor
Minor
Minor
Major
Major
Major
Major Major Major Minor Major Major Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
Major
Minor Major Minor Major Major
KRM
RS
RT
SCJ
S
SMCH
Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major
Minor
Major
Major
Major Minor
Major
Minor
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
Major Minor Minor
Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
Minor
Minor
Major
Major Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major
∗
Minor
Major Minor Minor
Minor Minor Major Major Major Minor Major
Minor
Minor
Minor Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major Minor Major Minor Major
∗
∗
Minor Minor
Minor
Major
Major
∗
∗
Major
Major
Major
Major
∗
∗
∗
∗
Minor
∗
Minor
∗
∗
∗
∗
Major
Minor Minor
∗
Major Major Major Major Major Major Minor Major
Major Major
Minor Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major
Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major Major
Minor
Minor
∗
Major
Major
Major
Minor
Note. ACDMZ = Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, & Zemel; BV = Boyer & Verma; BH = Bozarth & Handfeld; CT = Cachon and
Terwiesch; CE = Collier & Evans; F = Finch; HR = Heizer & Render; JC = Jacobs & Chase; KRM = KRajewski, Ritzman, & Malhotra; RS = Reid &
Sanders; RT = Russell & Taylor; SCJ = Slack, Chambers, & Johnston; S = Stevenson; SMCH = Swink, Melnyk, Cooper, & Hartley; Major = greater
degree of coverage; Minor = lesser degree of coverage; ∗ = the topic is not in the lean-focused chapter but is present in another chapter in the text.
The final issue relates to standardized work. Standardized
work is a central tool in lean systems (Liker & Meier, 2006),
yet only 50% of the textbooks include it in the lean chapter.
Indeed only four of the 14 textbooks, 29%, give it major
attention. The lack of textbook coverage of this topic is
very surprising as standardization is one of the fundamental
building blocks of lean upon which many other practices
are dependent. For example, takt time, the driver of the pull
system, is dependent on having standardized processes that
can consistently meet time specifications.
In terms of the depth of coverage the texts provide for
lean topics, there is some significant variability among them.
Table 3 presents the level of coverage specifically within the
lean chapter for the entire set of lean topics. As can be clearly
observed, the textbook authors have made quite different
decisions on the level of coverage provided in their books.
When considering all the lean topics, the most exhaustive
coverage is given by Swink, Melnyk, Cooper, and Hartley
(2011) at 70%. Eight of the 14 texts cover more than 50%
of the lean topics; the other six cover less than 50% with an
average coverage of 52%.
Industry Insights
Aligning educational programs and courses with those practices found within industry is becoming an increasingly common and important imperative for business schools as they
seek to prepare their graduates for employment. Much research investigates the gap between what business schools believe is important to their undergraduates’ success and what
potential employers are seeking (i.e., Abraham & Karns,
2009; Banerjee & Lin, 2006). One study that is critical to
this research is the survey of the importance of lean practices
conducted by Fliedner and Mathieson (2009). Their work is
done at two different levels—a skill-based level and a toolsbased level. At the skill-based level, they find that employers place a very high importance on human relations skills
as related to lean; skills such as leadership, teamwork and
change management. All of these skills have an importance
rating of under 2.0 on a 7-point Likert-type scale, ranging
from 1 (highly important) to 7 (very unimportant). Interestingly enough, all of these HR skills are deemed more important than the traditional operations and engineering skills
such as process design, cellular layouts, or statistical process
COMPARING TEXTBOOK COVERAGE OF LEAN MANAGEMENT
TABLE 2
List of Topics and Their Coverage in the Lean
Chapter and Entire Book for All Texts
Coverage in Coverage
Not
lean chapter
book
covered
(%)
(%)
(%)
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Topic
Push vs. pull
Seven wastes
5 whys
Standardized work
Current state mapping
Future state mapping
Pareto analysis
Poka yoke
Change management/implementation
Four rules of TPS
5S
Kanban
SPC
Setup time reduction
A3
TPM
Employee empowerment/training
Load leveling
Lean six sigma
Hoshin Kanri
QFD
Lean office
Layout
Lean supply chains
Lean healthcare/services
Lean accounting
FIFO lanes
100
100
14
50
50
14
7
50
57
21
57
100
21
93
0
86
85
93
36
0
7
42
71
93
100
7
7
100
100
43
50
50
14
100
79
57
21
57
100
100
93
0
93
85
93
50
7
71
42
79
93
100
7
7
0
0
57
50
50
86
0
21
43
79
43
0
0
7
100
7
15
7
50
93
29
58
21
7
0
93
93
335
control. At the lean tools-based level, the authors find the
most important skills to be standardization of work, value
stream mapping, defect-free production, and push versus
pull—all very conceptual type tools and practices. The more
technical tools, such as kanban, production leveling, and statistical process control, are deemed much less important.
Because of its relevance to this study, their findings are replicated in Table 4.
DISCUSSION
The overall intent of this research is to provide an analysis
of how lean is presented across the three stakeholder groups
and to use this analysis to develop guidelines for teaching
lean in the context of an introductory undergraduate OM
course. Because our primary focus is on improving teaching,
our comparative reference point will be the textbook authors,
which we will compare to the academic research and industry
survey.
Our first comparison is between the textbook authors and
current academic research. Most textbook authors present the
lean material as a singular collection of tools and practices
and focus on the hard tools such as kanbans, takt time, and
setup time reduction. Less attention is given to the softer
side of lean such as employee empowerment and change
management. This finding is a bit surprising given that in
research looking at continuous improvement programs such
as lean, six sigma, or TQM, often it is the intangible, softer
sides of these programs that are a major factor in determining their successful implementation (Lander & Liker, 2007).
TABLE 3
Distribution of Coverage in the Lean-Focused
Chapter, by Text
TABLE 4
Results of Fliedner and Mathieson Study (2009)
All topics
Text
SMCH
KRM
RT
BV
CT
S
SCJ
HR
JC
CE
ACDMZ
F
RS
BH
Major coverage
(%)
Minor coverage
(%)
Total coverage
(%)
63
52
56
33
30
48
44
41
37
19
41
30
41
22
7
11
7
19
22
15
15
15
11
22
7
15
7
4
70
63
63
52
52
63
59
56
48
41
48
45
48
26
Note: ACDMZ = Anupindi, Chopra, Deshmukh, Van Mieghem, &
Zemel; BV = Boyer & Verma; BH = Bozarth & Handfeld; CT = Cachon
and Terwiesch; CE = Collier & Evans; F = Finch; HR = Heizer & Render;
JC = Jacobs & Chase; KRM = KRajewski, Ritzman, & Malhotra; RS =
Reid & Sanders; RT = Russell & Taylor; SCJ = Slack, Chambers, &
Johnston; S = Stevenson; SMCH = Swink, Melnyk, Cooper, & Hartley.
Concept
or tool
Standardization of work processes
Value stream mapping
Defect-free production
Pull approach
Takt time
Cycle-time reduction
Operator involvement and teamwork
Visual management
4W2H
One-piece flow
Total preventive maintenance
Kanban
Production leveling
Process or office layout design
Plan-do-check-act cycle
Quick changeover or SMED
Familiarity with quality programs
3M’s: Muda, Muri, Mura
Statistical process control
Practitioner perceptions
of importance
1.61
1.68
1.74
1.80
1.82
1.90
1.95
1.96
2.08
2.16
2.17
2.19
2.23
2.23
2.25
2.37
2.60
2.71
2.74
Note: Responses were ranked on a 7-point Likert-type scale ranging
from 1 (highly important) to 7 (very unimportant).
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336
K. A. MARLEY ET AL.
As highlighted by Spear and Bowen (1999) in their description of the essence of the Toyota production system, simply
implementing lean tools and practices may not provide competitive advantage. They argued that lean management firms
can achieve success because of the underlying way that work
is designed and the way products flow through their systems.
Though all the texts reviewed did address lean in healthcare or services to some degree, the specific coverage of
lean services within the chapters is modest and typically
lacks detail. In particular, the textbooks fail to discuss how
the lean production principles must be changed in order to
be applied to service environments. As highlighted in academic research, any firm adopting lean is likely to be facing
a significant shift in operational practices, internal and external relationships, and the core culture of the organization
(Shah & Ward, 2003; Spear & Bowen, 1999; Womack et al.,
2007). This shift is not going to happen without a significant
amount of attention being paid to change management and
implementation strategies. Yet the textbooks, with the exception of Swink et al. (2011), provide little information relating
to these issues in either the lean chapter or anywhere else in
the book.
When we compared the textbooks to the industry survey we found that the textbooks tend to place much more
emphasis on the technical elements and less on the conceptual, practice-based topics. As previously mentioned, the
textbooks spend a significant amount of time covering the
technical details of kanban calculations. Indeed it is interesting that very few of the textbooks actually provide an applied conceptual example of how kanbans are implemented.
Textbooks also devote large portions to the discussion of
production scheduling concepts such as load leveling and
mixed model sequencing. Alternatively, textbooks dedicate
much less attention to the softer, more applied side of lean –
the side of lean that practitioners think is most important.
For example, 50% or less of the textbooks cover the topics
of current state mapping, future state mapping, standardized
work and the four rules of TPS—all topics that headed the
list of the most important lean tools to practitioners. Also,
the HR and behavioral practices that Fliedner and Mathieson
(2009) found so important are not generally covered at all in
the lean chapters.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The overall objective of this research is to provide some support and guidance for the delivery of lean-focused material
in an introductory undergraduate OM course. As a result of
our analysis of the three related perspectives, we think the
following comments and recommendations are in order.
1. Add supplements: Instructors should not rely simply
on their chosen text itself to cover all the important
material—they are going to have to supplement it. In-
7.
structors can use Table 1 as a guide to find material
in other textbooks that they think their chosen textbook is weak on. Furthermore, two online resources
offer a collection of teaching material as well as forums to discuss teaching lean: www.teachinglean.org
and www.lean.org.
Be selective: Instructors should not assume that just because a text discusses topics in detail that those topics
are the most important ones and they must be covered
thoroughly—and vice versa. This research provides a
useful guide that instructors can reference when designing their course content.
Think strategic: Instructors should consider spending
time on the strategic nature of lean and the higher level,
conceptual tools and approaches (i.e., seven wastes,
performance implications, push vs. pull). This may be
accomplished through group projects where students
have the opportunity to observe real-life processes,
identify problems, and suggest ways that lean tools
can be beneficial.
Map processes: Instructors should teach value stream
mapping. The best textbook we found in presenting
VSM is Jacobs and Chase (2010). This text provides
both an exemplary discussion of VSM including current and future state mapping as well as an end of
the chapter in-depth case. In addition, the practitioneroriented book Learning to See, by Rother and Shook
(2003), is an outstanding source for supplemental
material.
Introduce implementation strategies: Instructors
should address the behavioral components of the
system—standardized work, four rules of the TPS, and
change management. Again, these topics are deemed
important by all practitioner groups, and are underrepresented in the texts. Spear and Bowen (1999) provided an excellent discussion of how a lean culture
is built upon standardization of job design, material
flow, and informational flow and there is an excellent teaching note for the case that uses a clip from an
I Love Lucy episode to apply the rules (Spear & Bowen,
2006).
Minimize the mechanics: Instructors should minimize
the time spent on detailed, mechanistic tools and techniques. The primary example of this is kanbans. Rather
than having students complete multiple kanban calculations, instructors could actually simulate a production system using kanbans.
Bundle practices: Instructors should try to provide students with an idea of how the lean tools are related to
each other. Academic research uses bundles such as
TPM, TQM, JIT, and HRM to provide a structure for
these tools. However, texts generally present the material simply as a list of practices without discussing how
they are all interrelated. One text that provides a good
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COMPARING TEXTBOOK COVERAGE OF LEAN MANAGEMENT
example of how this can be done is the Finch (2008)
text, which groups the lean practices into four categories: those related to inventory, capacity, facilities,
and workforce.
8. Link to other chapters: Instructors should tie material from the lean chapter to other chapters within the
book. This type of synthesis gives students a better
context of how lean tools can provide operational improvements in areas such as inventory management,
planning, scheduling, and capacity management.
9. Make it fun: Instructors should consider using cases,
simulations, or games to show how the lean practices
and principles can be applied in real-life business situations. Too often it seems the texts treated the lean
material as an abstract listing of practices with little regard for their application. For example, many authors
have developed innovative games to illustrate pull production techniques (e.g., Ashenbaum, 2010; Snider &
Eliasson, 2009) and general lean concepts (Fawcett &
Fawcett, 2010; Swanson, 2008).
CONCLUSION
In our research, we highlight an important topic for OM instructors to consider as they devote attention to developing
detailed schedules for their core undergraduate operations
management courses. Lean management is undoubtedly a
topic that should be covered within a core course. However,
choosing which topics to cover when faced with time constraints has not been previously addressed. By comparing the
results from our three stakeholders, it is apparent that there
is some divergence between what is considered important by
researchers and industry professions and what is being emphasized within textbooks. Our research highlighted the most
critical areas of difference and provides instructors with recommendations on how to improve their lean teaching. As new
materials are developed to help instructors teach lean more
effectively, others could expand our research to include how
practitioner books compare to our stakeholders. Designing an
entire course around lean content would best exemplify how
the lean tools and practices are pervasive within each area of
operations management and how they can be integrated in an
optimal manner.
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