Is the rhetoric of a lean and agile transformation towards self-managed teams consistent with employees’ experiences? A case study at a multinational manufacturing company

Abstract

To sustain the competitive advantage in business, organizations seek to incentivize and keep their talents committed to organizations’ goals and values. The conventional way of management highlights multiple layers of bureaucracy and top-down control, which consequently stifles employees’ inner motivation and innovation capability. To increase employees’ self-autonomy and innovation abilities, organizations and senior managers are being advised to change their practices to build a decentralized organization. For example, fostering self-managed teams has been proposed as a solution for eliminating bureaucracy. Companies reply on such transformations to improve efficiency and unleash employees’ individual autonomy. However, the outcomes of such transformations are not entirely consistent with the rhetoric. The impact of implementing a lean and agile transformation can be debatable in the context of knowledge workers in the R&D department.

The thesis addresses whether the rhetoric of a lean and agile transformation towards self-managed teams is consistent with employees’ experiences in the dimensions of efficiency and empowerment at a multinational manufacturing company. First, the results indicate that a lean and agile transformation in a multinational company can decrease vertical coordination and its costs. However, it increases horizontal coordination and its costs. Thus, the study illustrates the impact of this transformation as only partially consistent with the rhetoric of increased efficiency. Next, the results suggest that a lean and agile transformation increases empowerment among technical staff. However, it decreases empowerment among staff in non-priority subsidiaries and in cultures with high power distance. Hence, the reality of this transformation is partially consistent with the rhetoric of improved empowerment among employees.

By scrutinizing the impact of a lean and agile transformation in different cultural contexts and among different subsidiaries in a multinational manufacturing company, the thesis advances the discussion on the effectiveness and generalizability of self-management. By analyzing the design of the decision process after the transformation, the thesis contributes to the analysis of the agency problems in organizational design. More specifically, the findings enable an initial evaluation of organizational culture, structure and resources and can work as a tool for multi-national corporations and managers to minimize the side effects brought by the transformation.