\Introduction 

The following study is based on the methodological review of 10 academic journals that explore the various aspects linked with lean management practices. In this regard, the study would individually article based on the methods used for the collection of data and its analysis, the strategy utilised by the researchers to conduct the entire study as well as the research design that has been employed to achieve the objectives of the research. Apart from that, the review would also implicate the assembling and data collection methods employed by the researcher to collect data essential for addressing the research questions that have been identified.

Discussion and analysis 

Article 1

Reference: Kadarova, J. and Demecko, M., 2016. New approaches in lean management. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, pp.11-16.

This article will provide a methodological review of lean management and its approaches towards industrial sectors. It highlighted the concept of lean approach to operation management that considers resources to expand. The methods which are being utilised or highlighted in this research are value stream mapping, demand levelling, Kanban and pull, single piece flow, kaizen events, and many more (Kadarova and Demecko, 2016). Hence, each of these tools are designed for specific types of problems in an organisation. These methods are aligned with lean management as highlighted in the research for resolving specific types of problems. The strategy of the research is based on enhancement of quality performance, fever machine and process breakdowns, lower level of inventory, less space required and higher efficiency of workers. The research aligned this strategy with lean management in the healthcare industry, in IT industries, and in public administration. For example, the concept of lean management in the IT sector increases quality, sort is the time of production as well as reduced operational cost for the company. Based on the studies of Kadarova and Demecko (2016), it has been found that the concept of lean healthcare has evolved from the starting time period of the 21st century. it helped in reducing 40% of total healthcare cost without added values in the healthcare industry. As per the IT industry, the lean management system assisted in ensuring availability and reliability of the companies. It helped the IT industry to enhance their efficiency, reduce production cost, increase flexibility, and adapt to new innovations. On the other hand, lean management in the public administration focuses on eliminating waste, improving citizen satisfaction, better resources, enhancing citizen services, and improving knowledge management.

Article 2

Reference: Wu, X., Zhao, W., Ma, T. and Yang, Z., 2019. Improving the efficiency of highway construction project management using lean management. Sustainability, 11(13), p.3646.

This article written by Wu et al. (2019), implies the use of lean management practices in construction project management. The study focuses on the sustainability aspects linked with lean management and how they can be achieved in construction projects of highways since sustainability is not the priority when it comes to highway construction. The research has identified the various unsustainable aspects that can arise due to highway construction projects based on which the study explores how lean management can benefit construction projects and help in achieving sustainability (Wu et al. 2019).

The research has employed a quantitative research approach which has helped in analysing correlations that exists between project efficiency improvement and lean factors. The research has also taken a step to ensure that the test variables and the control variables are well established so that the data can be measured correlatively.

In terms of sample size, the researcher has considered 165, that were filled and return as hard copies whereas 28 questionnaires were filled online. In order to increase the relevance of the data that could be collected from these questionnaires, a filtering process was employed after which only 100 and 20 of these examples for taken into consideration. The democracy of the participants considered for this research included 19 construction workers, 7 finance officers, 2 project managers, 14 supervisors and 12 construction expediters (Wu et al. 2019).

In the case of the data analysis method that was utilised by the researcher, the SAS software tool was utilised which helps in frequency generation data coding and model development. The analysis of the variance test was also employed by the researcher in order to identify differences between the various test groups in terms of their variances. The data analysis employed in the research helps to identify that lean management practices in highway construction projects can be considered the first choice for minimising cost and waste (Wu et al. 2019).

Article 3

Reference: Sterna, K., Wyrwicka, M.K. and Mrugalska, B., 2020, July. Factory Change Agent Combining Lean Manufacturing Concept and Environmental Management in Construction Production. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 220-227). Springer, Cham.

This article reflects upon the lean management practices that can be employed by research to minimise product life cycle and extend the diversity of the products. The various areas that the research explores are lean manufacturing waste management and environmental management (Sterna et al. 2020). The research has utilised a secondary qualitative method for collecting and analysing the data where case study analysis has been employed. the case study analysis employed by the researcher has helped in the exploration of SMED projects. Based on the case study and data collected by the researcher the article analysis 2 lean tools which are 5S and SMED.

Terms of samples and sources of information that have been utilised by the researcher include the various studies that have been carried out between the period of 2012 to 2015. These case studies have helped the researchers to identify that the lean concept in manufacturing can be focused as a part of pro-environmental activities to sustainability as well as reduce the cost of operation. That’s it has also helped to implicate that lean management practices that are employed in construction production can also be economic and cost-efficient. In this regard, the case studies have helped in exploring areas of lean manufacturing concepts such as lean production, lean engineering, lean equipment management, lean organisation, leadership, and customer focus (Sterna et al. 2020).

The case study analysis conducted by the researcher has also helped in identifying how being management practices have an optimised manufacturing concept. This has helped reflect that the evil between 2012 and 2015 was approximately EUR  300 million with increased to EUR 322 million in 2015 and a slightly higher but more visible entries was seen around 2016-2017 (Sterna et al. 2020).

Article 4

Reference: Herrera, R.F., Mourgues, C., Alarcón, L.F. and Pellicer, E., 2019. An assessment of lean design management practices in construction projects. Sustainability, 12(1), p.19.

In the above article the researchers explores how lean design management practices can be employed in construction projects in various stages of project design and implementation. As a part of the research method, the study has been divided into three stages where alliteration reviews explore lean design management practices, the second stage validates the relation that exists amaong lean principles and lean design management (Herrera et al. 2019). Finally, the third stage of the research involves lean design management practices and their assessment where the analysis of the various lean processes has been analysed. As a part of assembling the researcher has utilised the Mann–Whitney U test. Along with that 19 lean design management practices have also been evaluated where nonparametric hypothesis tests were employed having a significance level of 95%. (Herrera et al. 2019). For the purpose of data analysis, the researcher has also utilised the spearman correlation matrix and has also analysed the performance of 64 projects to provide clear constructions linked with lean management practices (Herrera et al. 2019).

Article 5

Reference: Rauch, E., Damian, A., Holzner, P. and Matt, D.T., 2016. Lean Hospitality-Application of Lean Management methods in the hotel sector. Procedia CIRP, 41, pp.614-619.

Lean management is the technique of running an organisation that would be associated with the concept of continuous quality management, a protracted strategy to operate that deliberately tries to improve performance and accurateness through modest, steady developments in procedures. As per the research investigation of Rauch et al. (2016), lean management has been discussed critically with respect to the hotel sector. The methodology has been based on a qualitative approach which is being embraced with a secondary method of data collection. As the research is being conducted with a secondary qualitative approach, there is no sampling or any primary information to support the interpretation.

However, Rauch et al. (2016) has provided examples from the hotel industry which has helped in constructing the entire research to be effective. It has been identified that note Lean Management is used in the hospitality industry, which is generally in combination with the approach of Six Sigma management. In this context, huge hotel corporations like Yukai Resort of Japan, Apex Hotels and Towne Place Suites by Marriott Hotel of UK along with Starwood Hotel have been taken into consideration through secondary information (Rauch et al. 2016).

Even though the research has been a great approach towards lean management, it would have been a great research if the above considered hotel would have undertaken as the taken for primary information. Considering a simple random sampling while considering the management as well as employee might possibly portrayed a different perspective rather than KPI.

Article 6

Reference: Prado-Prado, J.C., García-Arca, J., Fernández-González, A.J. and Mosteiro-Añón, M., 2020. Increasing competitiveness through the implementation of lean management in healthcare. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(14), p.4981.

In respect to the research article of Prado-Prado et al. (2020), increasing healthcare competitiveness through Lean Management implementation has been taken as the topic to examine. The main research issue is if it is conceivable to develop and implement a participatory methodology from a lean management viewpoint that consistently aims to rethink processes in health care using a scientific action research approach. This research has been entirely based on secondary qualitative data collection, as the researcher has concluded in the investigation that internal healthcare management is quite complicated, to acquire a large amount of data is collected. Overall, it is still difficult to determine how a hospital is functioning in terms of performance, affordability, and quality management because so much of the information collected is not connected to operational efficiency measurements (Prado-Prado et al. 2020).

This suggests that due to complexities, primary information has not been structured which might have impeded the research results. Even though there is availability of secondary information, primary information turns out to be actual while offering evidence in terms of the related topic. As per research of Prado-Prado et al. (2020), the methodology is collaborative, and it recommends that individuals from various functions and organisational levels work together in teams to provide support. This uniform framework is critical because it promotes unity, eliminates impediments, and fosters a collaborative culture and development. However, with the action research approach and lack of primary information has created a major gap of the research. The study’s limited execution in a particular community hospital was a key constraint. The sleep unit, the part of the institution supposed to be representing the early stages of the system, required simple lean techniques and equipment. Very less efforts are being made which has constrained the results to be smaller. The number and diversity of these instruments and indicators for application would be larger, resulting in a variation in the effort needed in the approach when it comes to ensuring adequate training and resources.

Article 7

Reference: Abu Salim, S.S., Msallam, A.A., Al-Hila, A.A., Abu Naser, S.S. and Al Shobaki, M.J., 2018. The Dimensions of the Lean Management of Jawwal between Theory and Practice. International Journal of Academic Management Science Research (IJAMSR), 2(10), pp.52-65.

In the context of the research of Abu Salim et al. (2018), the dimensions of Lean Management of Jawwal between theory and practice has been considered to be the research topic for investigation. Moreover, the researcher has taken a descriptive analytical method along with two sources of information, secondary sources and preliminary sources. A survey has been conducted among which all Jawwal personnel in the Gaza Strip’s North Division were included in the assessment. The findings demonstrate that the annual mean of all sentences linked to work site organisation is 4.37, with a weightage of 87.36%, that is higher than the balanced weightage of 60% (Abu Salim et al. 2018). This, according to the researchers, is due to the administration’s defined approach for regulating the workspace as well as its tools in order to sustain the flows, as well as the employees’ attentiveness to organise their work space and documents as well as implement the new to grant access when required.

The research has come out to be quite impressive as all of the factors have been considered and the survey has projected a different means of light to the information acquired. Both secondary and survey information are supporting each other which concludes that in relation to gender, credentials, and length of experience, there have been no disparities in employee perceptions of the accessibility of lean management factors. Additionally, the idea has been gained that Jawwal paid relatively less attention to the appealing management techniques. One of the great approaches by Abu Salim et al. (2018), was focusing on both male and female along with considering the qualification of the individual employees. Furthermore, a brief recommendation has been provided which justifies that the research has been clearly focused so the research investigators are being able to provide suggestions which might fill the gaps of Jawwal as a company.

Article 8

Reference: van Assen, M.F., 2018. Exploring the impact of higher management’s leadership styles on lean management. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 29(11-12), pp.1312-1341.

By so far, leadership is one of the most important aspects for any management or an organisation. Therefore, van Assen (2018) has explored the impact of higher management leadership styles particularly focusing on Lean Management. The research methodology in this article has been found to be primarily quantitative, as the research investigation is being entirely focused on surveys. The survey which has been fluid in this research is a web-based survey for collecting information about the investigated topic.

The majority of respondents were middle managers. Researchers used a web-based poll that respondents were invited to complete prior to attending the session, with both the specific stipulation that perhaps the findings would be used confidentially during the course. This is a great approach which has been taken by van Assen (2018), as this reflects that ethical consideration has been taken into consideration, thinking about respondent’s confidentiality. An approximated 80% of the individuals completed the survey, yielding 205 questions, 199 of which have been useful for research. The applicants had an aggregate of 8.5 years of professional experience in their present employer (van Assen, 2018). Through the help of the experience of the respondents, the researcher has taken greater initiative for acknowledging the research problem in-depth.

Furthermore, every industry has been identified to be considered by van Assen (2018), starting from wholesale trade to health care. Since both the dependent as well as independent variables came from the very same source, operational procedures have been used by the researchers to decrease the risk related to common method bias. The unrotated exploratory factor analysis and Harman’s one-factor method is a statistical method used as well, which helps in determining whether common method bias exists. Additionally, multiple hierarchical regression analyses were used to investigate the stated assumptions, which reflect a great effort in researching a certain topic.

Article 9

Reference: López-Fresno, P., 2014. Contribution of lean management to excellence. Nang Yan Business Journal, 1(1), pp.90-98.

Lean management has always been one of the primary forces which allow organisations to be productive and effective in the marketplace. In this respect, López-Fresno (2014) has research about the contribution of Lean Management in excellence. The research has been focused to be based on both qualitative and quantitative approaches. Utilising both different approaches has the possibility to offer the best of both components. 110 people were educated in lean management methods and practices from upper executives, management jobs, relevant parties, and other personnel from the operations that were selected to begin installation under the cellular designed to emulate. Using two Gemba-Kaizen five-day workshops, two processes were chosen to evaluate the technique (López-Fresno, 2014).

Qualitative results are found to be informative in context to the research topic, however, quantitative methods should have been better. There are several different types of methods and tools which could have been utilised such as surveys, questionnaires, polls, and many more for the research. The focus of the entire research is somewhere constrained, which has weakened the research results. The profitability of lean management, how it can be incorporated, is there any organisation who have excelled with their lean management strategy, all these considerations could have been undertaken by the researcher so, it will help in understanding the actual role of lean management and how it is reflecting excellence for the corporations.

Article 10

Reference: Sinha, N. and Matharu, M., 2019. A comprehensive insight into Lean management: Literature review and trends. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 12(2), pp.302-317.

A detailed and comprehensive insight into Lean Management has been considered to be investigated by Sinha and Matharu (2019). An examination of the global dissemination of lean finds that it has been embraced by both advanced and emerging economies, with a notable trend towards acceptance in Asian countries in recent years, seeing as it was previously limited to developed nations. The research has been based on secondary qualitative information which has been helped with research journals and articles of earlier researchers. Through an extensive literature study, the paper attempts to recognize the importance and development of lean management. As a result, papers published in journals which add to the existing research and implementations are included in the research, which make the research effective as well as informative. It has been recognised that, from the research article of Sinha and Matharu (2019), publications from three main authoritative journals were chosen including, Emerald Insight, Science Direct and Taylor & Francis.

Furthermore, while selecting journals for the research investigation, the researchers have taken a special consideration in respect to collecting information. It has been acknowledged that the Sinha and Matharu (2019), has taken journals which have lean management included in the title of the topic. This suggests that the information which is taken is authentic and credible as well. In order to undertake trend review of the internal knowledge base and make relevant conclusions, an excel database of publications shown in the paper was developed with the following characteristics like date, publication, study type, sector, location, and subject. To get a deeper insight about lean management, as the topic suggests, Sinha and Matharu (2019) have considered the development of lean management from pre 2000- post 2010. Therefore, it is clearly visible that the researcher has taken efforts while researching about their topic along with taking primary care of the information which are being collected. Even though secondary qualitative information does not compete with primary first-hand information. However, this volume of article consideration has made the research outcome interesting.

Conclusion 

The above methodological review of 10 academic journals has helped in identifying the various methods that have been employed by different authors in their respective research. This has helped in shedding light on lean management practices employed in various fields of management. The articles reviewed in the above discussions have helped in identifying the key benefits of lean management practices in various management areas including construction, project management, business management, organisational productivity, and organisational competitiveness. One of the common aspects that all the researchers have identifies is the increased cost-efficiency that lean management practices can contribute to the management practice. Research paper of Wu et al. (2019) was the best article to be considered because it has conducted extensive primary research as well as included data reliability methods which made the study more appropriate and valid. Whereas Herrera Wu et al. (2019) has conducted case study analysis which has limited the study with historical instances and lacks from practical data.

References

Abu Salim, S.S., Msallam, A.A., Al-Hila, A.A., Abu Naser, S.S. and Al Shobaki, M.J., 2018. The Dimensions of the Lean Management of Jawwal between Theory and Practice. International Journal of Academic Management Science Research (IJAMSR), 2(10), pp.52-65. http://dstore.alazhar.edu.ps/xmlui/bitstream/handle/123456789/185/SALTDO-10v1.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

Herrera, R.F., Mourgues, C., Alarcón, L.F. and Pellicer, E., 2019. An assessment of lean design management practices in construction projects. Sustainability, 12(1), p.19. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/19/pdf

Kadarova, J. and Demecko, M., 2016. New approaches in lean management. Procedia Economics and Finance, 39, pp.11-16. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212567116302349/pdf?md5=1d61b0990837f8cb860ced456b4979af&pid=1-s2.0-S2212567116302349-main.pdf&_valck=1

López-Fresno, P., 2014. Contribution of lean management to excellence. Nang Yan Business Journal, 1(1), pp.90-98. http://ezproxy01.ny.edu.hk/web/cht/nang_yan_business_journal/Nang%20Yan%20Business%20Journal/2-03-Palmira.pdf

Prado-Prado, J.C., García-Arca, J., Fernández-González, A.J. and Mosteiro-Añón, M., 2020. Increasing competitiveness through the implementation of lean management in healthcare. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 17(14), p.4981. https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/14/4981/pdf

Rauch, E., Damian, A., Holzner, P. and Matt, D.T., 2016. Lean Hospitality-Application of Lean Management methods in the hotel sector. Procedia CIRP, 41, pp.614-619. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212827116000305/pdf?md5=aea6bc097236976c9b05df7d2110ff42&pid=1-s2.0-S2212827116000305-main.pdf&_valck=1

Sinha, N. and Matharu, M., 2019. A comprehensive insight into Lean management: Literature review and trends. Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management, 12(2), pp.302-317. https://jiem.org/index.php/jiem/article/download/2885/903

Sterna, K., Wyrwicka, M.K. and Mrugalska, B., 2020, July. Factory Change Agent Combining Lean Manufacturing Concept and Environmental Management in Construction Production. In International Conference on Applied Human Factors and Ergonomics (pp. 220-227). Springer, Cham. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Magdalena-Wyrwicka/publication/342559359_Factory_Change_Agent_Combining_Lean_Manufacturing_Concept_and_Environmental_Management_in_Construction_Production/links/5f280b13a6fdcccc43a6304c/Factory-Change-Agent-Combining-Lean-Manufacturing-Concept-and-Environmental-Management-in-Construction-Production.pdf

van Assen, M.F., 2018. Exploring the impact of higher management’s leadership styles on lean management. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 29(11-12), pp.1312-1341. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/14783363.2016.1254543

Wu, X., Zhao, W., Ma, T. and Yang, Z., 2019. Improving the efficiency of highway construction project management using lean management. Sustainability, 11(13), p.3646. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/13/3646/pdf