Modelling the leadership characteristics for organizational readiness: a context of lean implementation in healthcare

The purpose of this study is to identify the leadership characteristics that make a health-care organization ready for lean implementation, analyse the interdependence among them and determine the rank of each characteristic based on their influence in the overall phenomenon.

The leadership characteristics were identified through a review followed by an expert interview. Then, total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to analyse the interdependence and determine the rank, driving power and dependence of each characteristic.

The results suggest that modesty is the most crucial leadership characteristic that makes a health-care organization ready for the successful incorporation of lean practices. Apart from that, attributes such as transparency, accountability, a leader's ability to empower the employees and communication play a significant role in making the change management programme impactful and effective. A leader's team building capacity was found to be the dependent characteristic and was ranked the last in the overall phenomenon.

Though this study throws light on various leadership dispositions that prepare a health-care organization to become a lean, it is still not an exhaustive exploration to be generalized. Because the leadership characteristics required for successful lean implementation may vary from one organization to the other depending on the purpose, intensity and priority of the implementation programme, these parameters along with the complexity of the scenario would determine what other leadership characteristics need to be included in the model to make it more robust and holistic.

The novelty of the study lies in capturing the leadership characteristics for organizational readiness in the health-care sector and using the TISM approach to identify the critical characteristics in the context of lean implementation in hospitals.