The driving and dependence power between Lean leadership competencies: an integrated ISM/fuzzy MICMAC approach

Abstract Lean Manufacturing (LM) is about cultural change at all levels of an organization, which can be seen as the essence of leadership. This study aims to present a list of the main Lean leadership competencies with validated definitions and propose a practical roadmap to Lean leadership development and training. A Systematic Literature Review (SLR) was conducted to achieve this goal in which the Lean leadership competencies were identified. The Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach established the relations among the leadership competencies and result in a structural model that could be used for Lean leadership development. The analysis of leadership competencies' driving power and dependence power was done using the fuzzy Matriced’ Impacts Croisés Multiplication Appliquée á un Classement (MICMAC), which improved the reliability of research. This study contributes to Lean leadership literature by proposing a validated roadmap to Lean leader development and training. A structural model was developed that shows the hierarchy among the competencies and indicates the ones that should be prioritized. Besides, the result shows that the main ways to improve a Lean leader are attending to the shop floor and developing self-awareness. Furthermore, a strong synergy among all competencies was observed, reinforcing the fact that Lean must be an endless journey of improvement. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to present the relationship between Lean leadership competencies. In addition, the results may guide the development of new leaders who work in Lean environments.