Is Lean a Failed Theory

for Public Services?

Professor Zoe Radnor

Professor of Service Operations Management

Co-Director for the Centre of Service Management

Loughborough University

Lean not just for the Private Sector…

Plus Local Government, Fire and Rescue

Services………

Presentation Title

Lean: Power of 3

• 3 Principles:

• Value, Flow and Reduction of Waste

• 3 Types of tools:

• Assessment, Monitoring and Improvement

• 3 Stages of the Lean journey:

• Engage, establish and embed

Whole system view

Embedded continuous improvement behaviours

Stable robust efficient and effective processes

Training and Development

Steering Group and Project Team

Understand

Demand

Create

Value

Process

View

Link to

Strategy

Committed

Leadership Communication Co-

Production

Re

gu

lar

Str

uctu

red

Pro

ble

m

So

lvin

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Le

ad

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hip

Ch

alle

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: G

o,

Se

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Do

Wo

rkpla

ce

Au

dits

Mo

nito

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g o

f e

nd

to

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d

Serv

ices/P

rocesses: Q

ualit

y, C

ost

an

d D

eliv

ery

Ide

ntify

ing

an

d m

an

ag

ing

va

ria

tio

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and d

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and

Vis

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l M

an

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an

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by t

he

fro

nt lin

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taff

Develo

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ocal/ Inte

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Ch

am

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Fa

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Ra

pid

Im

pro

ve

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nt E

ve

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:

Pro

ce

ss M

ap

pin

g a

nd

5 ‘s

6

Lean Is An Expedition

1 2

3

4

5

6

10

11

12

13

14

8

Let’s do

Lean!

Lean Project

team

Established

Lean

Pilot Projects

identified

Rapid Improvement

Projects

5S, process maps, Visual

Management, daily

meetings developed

across the organisation

Developing an

understanding of

demand

Reward Lean

Leadership

Evaluate Value

creation

Create

Organisational

Wide Lean

Metrics

Problem Solving

established to

support CI

Communicate

Lean ways of

working

Promote Co-

Production and

Lean the Value

Chain

8-Months

12-Months

18-Months

24 Months

36-Months

48-Months

60-Months

Organisation Lean/CI

Training for staff and

facilitators

7

9

Clearly link

Lean into the

Strategy

Challenges of Lean in Public Services

1. A focus and over reliance on lean workshops

2. A tool based approach to lean implementation

3. Impact of public sector culture and structures

4. Lack of focus on the customer (service user) and understanding of service process

Lean has to date simply been a catalyst to address the prior poor design of the public service. Once waste has been removed the larger issue still remains of designing public services to meet the needs of end-users and to

add value to their lives.

Radnor, Z.J and Osborne, S.P. (2013),’Is Lean a failed theory for Public Service?’,

Public Management Review

Improvement

Opportunity

Time Awareness, education,

organization structure

created to support lean

Focus on Workshops and RIEs

Greater, sustained

results achieved

Improvement levelled off and

eventually stopped due to lack

of realizing “true” lean

opportunity

CULTURE CHANGE

Short term

gains made

Lost and repeated results

due to no sustainability

Kaizen Blitz

Rapid Improvement Events

Source: Chris Craycraft, Whirlpool

Understand Demand

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

23

24

25

26

27

28

29

30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10

11

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28

29

30

31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

June July August

Seria

ls

East, West, Central Queues Combined

BRI LID Queue

Local Incident Desk implemented

“We are better able to plan resources to meet workload. Work is

broken down into specific tasks and resources are moved across to

make sure we can manage all the tasks”

Process View

“The understanding of process here has changed, especially for those who

attended the Lean event. They were able to see how the work linked together

across the court. But the other staff need to attend more Lean events to get a

better understanding”

Public Services are… Services

• Much of the public management and public

services built on product and manufacturing logic.

• The majority of ‘public goods’ are in fact not ‘public

products’ but rather ‘public services’.

• Need to draw from service management logic to

‘unpack’, understand, manage and operationalise public

services.

• Move from a public sector to public service ethos

• Public services need to embrace a (public) service

dominant logic

• Service dominant logic argues placing the user at the

heart of the service Osborne, S., Z. J. Radnor and G. Nasi (2013). "A new theory for public service management?

Towards a service-dominant approach." American Review of Public Administration

What is makes a Service a Service?

Three core characteristics of services which differentiate them from manufacturing goods :

1. Whilst a product is invariably concrete a service is intangible • Services can not be stored.

• Process is key arbiter of performance and public service delivery is relational.

2. There is a different production logic for manufactured products and for services. • For manufacturing production and consumption occur separately. With

services production and consumption occur simultaneously.

• Experience created at the ‘moment of truth’ – centrality of the service user.

3. The role of the end-user is qualitatively different for manufactured products and services • In manufacturing they are ‘simply’ purchasers and consumers. For services,

the user is also a co-producer of the service.

• Services offer a promise not an actuality

Osborne, S., Z. J. Radnor and G. Nasi (2013). "A new theory for public service management?

Towards a service-dominant approach." American Review of Public Administration

Lean in Public Services

Need to consider Lean not as a quick fix but as a implementation philosophy.

“A series of RIEs does not Lean make!”

There is a need to develop a mindset within the organisation of process and customer view

“Public Service not Public Sector ethos”

Move thinking from task/ policy to value/ process.

Opportunity to redefine the end to end process

Need to develop an awareness of variation, demand and capacity relationships.

“See the variable as the work not the demand/ customer”

Create and focus on improving stable processes

Standardise the process not the outputs and outcomes

Need to ensure that there is strong and committed leadership and there is a link to strategy. Not just about cost cutting and efficiency but about effectiveness

To develop a Public Service Dominant Logic and Paradigm

A sustainable business model for

PUBLIC SERVICE ORGANISATIONS

Towards a sustainable business model

for PSOs: two assumptions

• The public and the private: ‘unalike in all important aspects’

• The profit ‘bottom line’ against complex mix of outcomes –

multiple/competing priorities

• Success breeds higher costs but (not always) higher revenue

• Hegemony of political context of PSOs

• Public Service Motivation

Towards a sustainable business model

for PSOs: two assumptions

• Sustainability – what’s in a word?

• ‘Bottom line’ profitability is not enough

• Inward-facing sustainability is not enough

• Sustainable PSOs

• Sustainable public service delivery systems

• Sustainable communities

• Sustainable environment

The Service Model

You Can’t Beat the System

Let’s Get Engaged…

You’ve Got to Work at Relationships

(aka “We’re all in this together…”)

‘Value’ is Out There…

Innovation: the word that would be king…

Co-production: Not just consumerism.…

Co-production.. set the controls for the heart of

the sun…

A Perfect Unity – Knowledge and Experience

University of Edinburgh Business School

• S - public service system as the unit of analysis

• E – embed in genuine sustainability

• R – work at relationships as a key resources

• V – focus on creating external value

• I – Innovation is essential for effectiveness

• C – co-production is the core of public services

• E – use knowledge to drive service experience