Lean, originally developed at the Toyota Motor Corporation, is a management philosophy that emphasizes "respect for people" and "continuous improvement" as core tenets.
While the concept of "customers" and "products" is controversial in higher education settings, there are certainly diverse stakeholders who are interested in the success of colleges and universities, the most common of which are students, faculty, administrators, potential employers and various levels of government.
Balzer[1] (2010) described such initiatives within university settings, including the critical factors for success and ways to measure progress.
Though the application of Lean management in higher education is more prevalent in administrative processes (e.g., admissions, registration, HR, and procurement) it also has been applied to academic processes (e.g., course design and teaching,[3] improving degree programs,[4] student feedback,[5] and handling of assignments) in an increasing number of cases.
This outcome impedes teamwork and information flows, and discourages daily efforts by administration, faculty, and staff to improve processes.
It is now common for people with backgrounds and interests far from industrial engineering to become highly competent Lean management practitioners.
The latter paper describes what teams of faculty, staff, administrators, students, alumni, and employers can do to improve their courses using kaizen (literal translation: "change for the better").
Prof. Emiliani also produced a Kaizen Team Leader's Manual for improving academic courses and programs based on his work.
Lean management readily takes into account the unique governance structures of higher education institutions.
[11] Lean management is responsive to the needs of multiple stakeholders in a non-zero-sum fashion and is therefore well-suited for the governance and ongoing improvement of HEIs.
[16] Workers may view Lean management as undesirable if it is incorrectly implemented, because it could make them work harder, they might have less time to spend with customers, and, ultimately, they could lose their jobs.