Organisational culture in lean construction: managing paradoxes and dilemmas

Abstract

This study investigates how the effective management of cultural paradoxes and dilemmas can support lean implementation in a service organisation. We have conducted an in-depth single case study employing the paradox theory as a theoretical lens. The findings offer a dynamic analysis of how organisational culture (OC) influences lean implementation, and in turn, how lean implementation directly impacts the OC. The study shows that in order to achieve a successful lean implementation, the organisation must reshape the OC by identifying when to manage cultural tensions as dilemmas or as paradoxes. We also discuss the existing defensive mechanisms (sources of resistance) and managerial actions taken to manage those tensions and resistances. Besides contributing to the lean literature, this study contributes to the operations management field more broadly by highlighting the need to replace the long tradition of the trade-off perspective by a more embracing perspective that accepts the co-existence of dilemmas (either-or choices) and paradoxes (balancing opposed goals). The practical implications rely on the identification of lean practices that counterbalance specific cultural traits, offering recommendations to managers dealing with the cultural clashes inherent to a lean implementation.

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