Lean Management: A Crucial Ingredient for Business Success - Research Proposal

Introduction

Various organisations practice different management models depending on their goals and objectives as management models play a crucial role in the success of the company. Among some of the available models of management is the lean model, which is practised by various organisations in the world. Lean management model is a system of administration which involves having a quest to improve the efficiency of an organisation while applying a series of advancement procedures (Bakhracheva & Kayl, 2017). In Russian history, lean management is backdated to the times of industrial evolution and engineering which took place in 1930. Nonetheless, the actual application of the lean management approach commenced in the early 2000s, which followed the privatisation of GAZ Corporation (Boltrukevich & Rabunets, 2015). The lean principle was famous and was highest practised between the years 2002 and 2003, where since then its endorsement rose dramatically. The massive support of the policies made it famous in Russia with many organisations embracing it. As a result, many reports have been made acknowledging the success that the industries, state-owned and military plants have experienced through the application of the lean model. However, lean management in Russia has seen the levels of production falling significantly below in the other OECD nations due to human factors (Bakhracheva & Kayl, 2017).

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Aims of the Research

The study seeks to analyse the extent to which lean management mode is applied in Russia by the manufacturing industries as well as its impacts on job creation, revenue as well as the satisfaction of the job among the employees and various stakeholders as compared to other nations in Europe a case study of Bashkarton (Davis, & Davis, 2013). Additionally, the study will interview the employees to discover how the model assists the organisations in making profits. Published information will also assist in finding out the difference between lean model and other management models used in other European nations. Lastly, the study will reveal the first parts where the technique may need improvement to take Russia's manufacturing sector ahead (Boltrukevich, & Rabunets, 2015).

The existing literature about studies that were conducted earlier to establish the level of application of the lean model of management in Russian organisations and the impacts of production have been documented and will be instrumental in this research. In their study to evaluate lean manufacturing in Russia, Bakhracheva and Kayl (2017) established some apparent levels of implementation. Their study confirmed that a variety of Russian organisations majorly the large ones were adopting lean management techniques to help in improving their competitiveness, and modernisation of their enterprises. The study also established that this model was useful in the oil sector, which was recording a substantial reduction in production cost by up to about 30%. The study observed that labour was also released by about 25% (Bakhracheva and Kayl 2017). Nevertheless, these researchers found out that the implementation of this technique was not fully realised because of the human influence, which was a hindrance in the realisation of the idea of lean manufacturing.

A comparative evaluation was conducted to study the impacts of lean manufacturing efforts on the quality of goods. Total Quality Management was also done on two levels, basing them on the general theoretical guidelines as well as the level of practical tools and methods. (Titov et al., 2016). A sample of 74 organisations based in Russia was used where the findings of the study established that lean production had led to the improvement of the quality of the products from the companies (Davis, & Davis, 2013).

Further results indicated that a considerable decline in the number of defective products produced and corrected on the other stages of valuation was realised in these organisations. As a result, the researchers concluded that the lean principle offered an integral instrument that facilitated cost reduction as well as improved quality (Abdullah et al., 2015). Another study was conducted to determine the challenges faced due to the application of this approach on industries. The findings indicated that the method applied in the Russian organisations were not compatible with the lean management protocol, thus a substantial hindrance to the adoption of the lean principle (Sadriev et al., 2016). As a result, the research also advocated for the embracement of the approach as an instrumental organ of the overall management system.

Methodology

The overall study aims at evaluating the level at which the lean management technique has been embraced among Russian companies with the case study being Bashkarton Company. To achieve the required statistics and information, the research will apply a range of methods for data collection (Sutton, &Austin, 2015). The primary guide will be pragmatist philosophy, which will be used in the study and will involve the combination of a variety of techniques to obtain the primary objective of the study (Saunders et al., 2019). In the research, all the stakeholders will be involved and will be impacted differently, more so the employees to determine their level of job satisfaction at the organization (Davis, & Davis, 2013). The management will also participate in providing information on the benefits the organization has received through the application of lean management principle (Bogdan, & Biklen, 2007). The information obtained will assist the research in ranging the extent to which other companies are willing to apply the same modality. All this information will be critical at arriving at a conclusion on the results of the embedded management plan.

Additionally, the method will also involve the collection of financial reports for the organization to keenly scrutinize them noting any differences in financial turnovers starting from the time when the company had not endorsed the use of lean management approach to compare with how the company performs with the lean management approach being at use (Panwar et al., 2011). The information will help the researcher to identify financial benefits as well as whether the method may amount to making profits or losses. Additionally, the company's accountants will be participants to briefly draw an image of how the company has performed in terms of finances after it endorsed the use of the lean model. The research needs this kind of information for validity and reliability as it will offer knowledge to other organizations that will be willing to know more about the model later.

To gather data from the employees about their satisfaction, a non-standardised modality will be used, which will involve group and individual interviews (Gill et al., 2016). Depending on the status of the employees, the interviews will be either structured or semi-structured. Semi structure interview will be used on the junior employees while structure interview will be used for the senior, officials and other management personnel (Morgan et al., 2013). A semi-structured interview will go a long way in assisting the researcher to achieve a regular perception of the labourers in a detailed and more comprehensive way. The information from the employees will offer the researcher reliable and valid firsthand information which will make the overall study accurate and reliable research due to the data obtained (Morgan et al., 2013).

Research Design

The overall study will be partially quantitative and partially qualitative as it will involve sourcing out for statistics as well as asking a range of questions to the participants to provide information which is not in numbers (Gill et al., 2016). For the quantitative model, the study will seek to get answers on the extent to which lean management model has led to their satisfaction while at the workplace. Qualitative method will be applicable in obtaining numeral values, especially on financial turnovers and the level of profits or losses realized by the company after endorsing the application of lean management technique (Marczyk et al., 2005).

Researcher's Responsibilities

The researcher will play a critical role in qualitative and quantitative research as one of the tools for data collection. The human being as a tool for data collection has many advantages, such as his ability to respond and adapt to information processing, clarification efficiently, and summarisation as well the follow up on unusual or unexpected responses (Titov et al., 2016). Nevertheless, there are significant merits as it is also worth noting that even though there may be potential personal bias in data collection, it can help in realising one's preference and also prevent misleading the results.

Strengths of the Methodology

The methodology applied has the benefit of ensuring that the researcher obtains valid information from the financial records of the organisation as well as getting reliable information from the workers regarding the level of satisfaction while in their working places (Titov et al., 2016). Such reliable data will provide the basis for constant research available for future reference by other researchers as well as other organisations that will need to know more about the lean management technique.

Limitations

The participants of this research are leaders and prominent personalities in the company; therefore the study will be planned according to its convenience which may take a long time, and it is also expected that there will be a leak from the study participants from the research (Titov et al., 2016). Additionally, the tool (self-resolution) proposed to be used in the study may be subject to call bias.

Ethical Considerations

The researcher, after getting an official permission letter to conduct the study from the relevant body of the university, will go-ahead to do the research. The researcher has a significant responsibility to ensure the ethical considerations of the study are adequately maintained, and the participants are informed of the benefits and risks of the survey (Titov et al., 2016). Additionally, any questions and clarifications that the participants need will be answered. All the data is encoded to maintain anonymity and strict confidentiality, and to use the information for research only.

Discussion

After conducting the study on the impacts of the lean management approach using a famous company in Russia known as Bashkarton, it was evident that the management approach had visible effects on the organisation (Akhramovich et al., 2017). Some of the results were so outstanding where Bashkarton reaped significantly from the management design. From the finding after the study Bashkarton Company, it was noted that the management approach was worthwhile and that the organisation made an excellent decision to embrace lean management strategy to administrate to the organisation (Andres-Lopez et al., 2015). For this reason, many other organisations in Russia have started applying the model since they had been able to pick some instances of benefits that Bashkarton was enjoying making it a useful program and impactful to the organisation (Helleno et al., 2017). The research was able to reveal a variety of effects to any organisation that was willing to apply the approach. Some of the impacts of this approach are described in the below paragraphs in details to provide adequate information which will act as a guide in future to other organisations who might contemplate using lean management model in their organisations.

Bashkarton, after embracing lean management model, it was in a position to significantly reduce the wastage that was previously evident in the company as most of th...