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Lean: A failed theory for public services?

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  • Zoe Radnor
  • Stephen P. Osborne

Abstract

‘Lean’ has become a popular approach to public service reform. In the current era of reduced public spending, it promises to maintain service productivity, improve utilisation and maintain quality. Drawing on literature and empirical data, this paper will argue that the implementation of Lean to date has been defective -- it has focused on the technical tools of implementation without an over-arching business logic to validate it. This paper will argue that Lean can only achieve its potential in public services when based within a public service dominant business logic. Without this, Lean is doomed to fail both as a theory and a set of practices.

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  • Zoe Radnor & Stephen P. Osborne, 2013. "Lean: A failed theory for public services?," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(2), pages 265-287, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:pubmgr:v:15:y:2013:i:2:p:265-287
    DOI: 10.1080/14719037.2012.748820
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    Cited by:

    1. Jacob Torfing & Eva Sørensen, 2019. "Interactive Political Leadership in Theory and Practice: How Elected Politicians May Benefit from Co-Creating Public Value Outcomes," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 9(3), pages 1-18, July.
    2. Pankaj Kumar Baag & Kavitha P. & Ashutosh Sarkar, 2019. "Application of Lean Tool for Process Improvement of Bank Branches," IIM Kozhikode Society & Management Review, , vol. 8(2), pages 131-142, July.
    3. Nicola Bateman & Sarah Lethbridge & Ann Esain, 2018. "Pillar or platform—a taxonomy for process improvement activities in public services," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 5-12, January.
    4. Seán Paul Teeling & Jan Dewing & Deborah Baldie, 2021. "A Realist Inquiry to Identify the Contribution of Lean Six Sigma to Person-Centred Care and Cultures," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(19), pages 1-21, October.
    5. Sébastien Dony, 2017. "Ce que nous apprennent les démarches d'amélioration de l'efficience dans les collectivités territoriales," Post-Print hal-01907400, HAL.
    6. Michael Walker, 2017. "The Search for Viability: A practitioner's view of how the Viable Systems Model is helping transform English local government (and why it has passed unrecognised)," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 34(3), pages 313-334, May.
    7. D’Andreamatteo, Antonio & Ianni, Luca & Lega, Federico & Sargiacomo, Massimo, 2015. "Lean in healthcare: A comprehensive review," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(9), pages 1197-1209.
    8. Sharon J. Williams & Zoe Radnor, 2018. "Using bandwidths to visualize and improve patient pathways," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 21-28, January.
    9. Seán Paul Teeling & Jan Dewing & Deborah Baldie, 2022. "Developing New Methods for Person-Centred Approaches to Adjudicate Context–Mechanism–Outcome Configurations in Realist Evaluation," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-17, February.
    10. Leander Luiz Klein & Kelmara Mendes Vieira & Thiago Schirmer Feltrin & Matheus Pissutti & Luciano Dibi Ercolani, 2022. "The Influence of Lean Management Practices on Process Effectiveness: A Quantitative Study in a Public Institution," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(1), pages 21582440221, March.
    11. Aline Pietrix Seepma & Dirk Pieter van Donk & Carolien de Blok, 2021. "On publicness theory and its implications for supply chain integration: The case of criminal justice supply chains," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 57(3), pages 72-103, July.
    12. Glock, C. H. & Grosse, E. H. & Ries, J. M., 2016. "Decision support models for supplier development: systematic literature review and research agenda," Publications of Darmstadt Technical University, Institute for Business Studies (BWL) 77945, Darmstadt Technical University, Department of Business Administration, Economics and Law, Institute for Business Studies (BWL).
    13. Gaudet, Joanne & Bergeron, France, 2017. "Lean: it’s not rocket science, it’s work science," OSF Preprints nf2mj, Center for Open Science.
    14. Dag Øivind Madsen & Stig Risvik & Tonny Stenheim, 2017. "The diffusion of Lean in the Norwegian municipality sector: An exploratory survey," Cogent Business & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 4(1), pages 1411067-141, January.
    15. Nicola Bateman & Zoe Radnor & Russ Glennon, 2018. "Editorial: The landscape of Lean across public services," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 1-4, January.
    16. Jacopo Guercini & Vincenzo Mezzatesta & Andrea Chiarini & Caterina Bianciardi & Lucia Bellandi & Sara Moi & Pasquale Biandolino, 2016. "Applicazione della metodologia SMED per il miglioramento delle operations nelle sale operatorie. Il caso Azienda Ospedaliera Universitaria Senese," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(98), pages 83-103.
    17. Federica Centauri & Marta Marsilio & Stefano Villa & Francesco Nicosia, 2016. "Implementare il modello Lean nelle organizzazioni sanitarie: il caso dell?Ospedale Galliera," MECOSAN, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 2016(100), pages 27-55.
    18. Douglas Martin, 2018. "Lean in a cold fiscal climate: the public sector in an age of reduced resources," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 29-36, January.
    19. Ingo Kregel & Bettina Distel & André Coners, 2022. "Business Process Management Culture in Public Administration and Its Determinants," Business & Information Systems Engineering: The International Journal of WIRTSCHAFTSINFORMATIK, Springer;Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. (GI), vol. 64(2), pages 201-221, April.
    20. Cynthia Hardy & Vikram Bhakoo & Steve Maguire, 2020. "A New Methodology for Supply Chain Management: Discourse Analysis and its Potential for Theoretical Advancement," Journal of Supply Chain Management, Institute for Supply Management, vol. 56(2), pages 19-35, April.
    21. Nick McDonald & Lucy McKenna & Rebecca Vining & Brian Doyle & Junli Liang & Marie E. Ward & Pernilla Ulfvengren & Una Geary & John Guilfoyle & Arwa Shuhaiber & Julio Hernandez & Mary Fogarty & Una Hea, 2021. "Evaluation of an Access-Risk-Knowledge (ARK) Platform for Governance of Risk and Change in Complex Socio-Technical Systems," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-33, November.
    22. Marte D.-Q. Holmemo & Jonas A. Ingvaldsen, 2018. "Local adaption and central confusion: decentralized strategies for public service Lean implementation," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 38(1), pages 13-20, January.
    23. Stephen P. Osborne & Zoe Radnor & Isabel Vidal & Tony Kinder, 2014. "A Sustainable Business Model for Public Service Organizations?," Public Management Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 165-172, February.

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