Lean principles, learning, and knowledge work: Evidence from a software services provider

• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1016/j.jom.2010.11.005
• Published date: 01 July 2011
• Author: Bradley R. Staats,David James Brunner,David M. Upton
• Date: 01 July 2011

Journal of Operations Management 29 (2011) 376–390

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Journal of Operations Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jom

Lean principles, learning, and knowledge work: Evidence from a software

services provider

Bradley R. Staatsa,∗, David James Brunner b,1, David M. Uptonc,2

aUniversity of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Campus Box 3490, McColl Building, Chapel Hill, NC 27599-3490, United States

b27275 Byrne Park Lane, Los Altos Hills, CA 94022, United States

cOxford University, Park End Street, Oxford OX1 1HP, UK

article info

Article history:

Available online 25 November 2010

Keywords:

Lean production

Knowledge work

Learning

Operations strategy

Software

abstract

In this paper, we examine the applicability of lean production to knowledge work by investigating the

implementation of a lean production system at an Indian software services firm. We first discuss specific

aspects of knowledge work—task uncertainty, process invisibility, and architectural ambiguity—that call

into question the relevance of lean production in this setting. Then, combining a detailed case study and

empirical analysis, we find that lean software projects perform better than non-lean software projects at

thecompany for most performance outcomes. We document the influence of the lean initiative on internal

processes and examine how the techniques affect learning by improving both problem identification and

problem resolution. Finally, we extend the lean production framework by highlighting the need to (1)

identify problems early in the process and (2) keep problems and solutions together in time, space, and

person.

© 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction

Lean principles, exemplified by the Toyota Production System

(TPS), continue to greatly interest the operations community. Many

credit Toyota’s sustained success to their persistent and pervasive

application of these ideas to manufacturing and management sys-

tems (Hino, 2006; Liker, 2004). This thinking has motivated many

manufacturing companies to imitate, either wholesale or in part,

lean principles in their improvement programs. While lean pro-

duction has led to improved performance in many cases (Li et al.,

2005; Shah and Ward, 2007), failed implementations are common,

and as Shah and Ward (2007, p. 785) note, there is significant “con-

fusion and inconsistency” in how lean production works and how

it is best implemented.

In recent years, organizations have sought to apply lean produc-

tion to knowledge work (e.g., Poppendieck and Poppendieck., 2003;

Schutta, 2005). While almost all work consists of manipulating both

physical goods and information, work referred to as “knowledge

work” primarily involves the use of information (Drucker, 1999).

The utility and impact of lean production in non-manufacturing

contexts remain points of contention, leaving many managers to

∗Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 919 962 7343.

E-mail addresses: bstaats@unc.edu (B.R. Staats), dbrunner@hbs.edu

(D.J. Brunner), david@upton.com (D.M. Upton).

1Tel.: +1 617 276 5492.

2Tel.: +44 0 1865 288800.

wonder if they are merely applying inappropriate and faddish ideas

while others argue that lean principles have universal applicabil-

ity (c.f. Sousa and Voss, 2001). In this paper, we ask two related

questions: (1) Do principles of lean production apply to knowl-

edge work? (2) How can we extend the existing framework of lean

production to a new context that differs substantially from that in

which lean was developed? To answer these questions, we report

our observations and analysis of the application of lean production

at Wipro Technologies, a large Indian firm competing in the global

software services industry (i.e., custom software development).

In the following section we examine lean production in the con-

text of knowledge work and identify this paper’s contribution to the

literature, before discussing the principles of lean production as

identified in manufacturing in Section 3. Section 4details our case

study research design while Section 5uses quantitative data from

Wipro to examine the performance of lean software development

projects as compared to non-lean software development projects.

Projects at Wipro are the primary way that work is delivered to

customers. A non-lean project is executed in a traditional manner,

while a lean project is delivered using lean principles. Section 6then

qualitatively examines how Wipro’s lean initiative changed the

waythat the firm operated. In Section 7we discuss extensions to the

lean production model while Section 8offers concluding remarks.

2. Lean in knowledge work

Prior theorists note that implementations of lean production

may vary across different manufacturing settings due to contextual

0272-6963/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

doi:10.1016/j.jom.2010.11.005