Utilizing Employee Stress to Establish Guidelines for Managing Personnel During Lean Transition

Employee resistance has been one of the many primary obstacles during Lean execution. Employee stress is a principal outcome of resistance when implementing Lean systems. This research is directed towards finding the relationship between employee stress and Lean. The hypothesis states-Lean implementation increases employee stress.

The research methodology involves investigating employee stress during various phases of Lean. This research proposes three phases of Lean that are- Lean Introduction Phase, Lean Implementation Phase, and Lean Refinement Phase. Surveys are used to collect data for the study. Two questionnaires are used 1) Lean Environment Evaluation Profile (LEEP) 2) Work Stress Profile (WSP). A pilot test is conducted using these two questionnaires. The results from the pilot test are used to calculate the sample size; the standard deviation was 13.06, with an acceptable confidence level of 95% and maximum error of 3. The sample size was calculated to be 72.80 rounded up to 73. A standard data collection procedure is designed to ensure consistency of data collection throughout the study, which included identifying the companies for the study. Hypothesis testing, correlation analysis, regression analysis, and descriptive and graphical analysis are used to analyze the data collected.

Correlation analysis and regression analysis indicates that there is a negative correlation between employee stress and Lean. There is a - 0.531 correlation between employee stress and Lean. The coefficient of determination (r²) is calculated to be 0.28.

The following regression equation was obtained from the analysis, Employee stress = 190 - (0.396) x (Lean)

Hypothesis testing resulted in refuting the null hypothesis that was H₀ = Lean increases employee stress.

The results from data analysis indicated that as Lean progressed through various phases the employee stress reduced, however there is a slight increase in employee stress at the beginning of every phase as shown in figure 10.

The research made the following conclusions based on the analysis of the data collected using the LEEP and WSP questionnaires.

1. There is a negative correlation between employee stress and Lean

2. Employee stress is different in the three phases of Lean

3. Various Lean principles have a different impact on employee stress in various phases of Lean

This research identified areas for future research and suggested the following hypothesis: Human aspects of Lean are more stressful than technical aspects of Lean.