Evaluation of Workplace Psychoanalytic Dynamics and Impediments to Staff Participation in Lean Implementation : A Case of South African Automotive Companies 1 *

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the extent to which functional measures of employees’ work-context psychology influences Lean implementation for continuous improvement (Kaizen) in the South African automotive industry. The methodology employed in the study included a thorough review of the relevant literature and a questionnaire. A questionnaire relating to the contents of lean tools and diverse work context constructs was developed and administered to both the management and employees of the South African automotive companies in Eastern Cape. The target companies constituted the units of analyses and therefore provided the opportunity for a detailed investigation of the influence of organizational citizenship behaviours at workplace on lean implementation as established in the literature review. Data generated from the questionnaire were analysed using Excel spread sheet and statistical; Version 9.0. The study reveals that majority of the respondents opine a lack of systematic mechanism for the enhancement of adequate employees’ Organizational citizenship, engagement and participation in decision making in most Eastern Cape automotive companies. This demerit is found to have negatively affected maximum employee satisfaction and participation in proper lean implementation for improvement within the automotive companies in the Province. The study has established a basic level of awareness and understanding among employees/employers relations that Lean is a vital tool for delivering strategic objectives in organizational processes, growth and employees’ commitment to continuous improvement. The study strongly advocates the inclusion of workplace and employees’ rewards, as well as the need for employees to acquire skills on critical aspects of Lean production systems.


INTRODUCTION
In Japan and many developing countries, lean production forms the balance of rapidly developing world-class manufacturing processes.The Japanese concept of Kaizen depicts ''continuous improvement'' and is a predictor of Organizational development.Slack et al. (2001) opine that the Kaizen strategy calls for a never-ending effort in improvement that involves a company-wide, top-down, yet bottom-up approach.In this concept, management works continuously towards revising their process standards, with a resultant higher employee satisfaction and involvement in decision making, more oriented corporate cultures, better employee empowerment and communication without massive capital investment (Liker and Hoseus, 2008).The dynamics of the empowerment process are reflected in the interface between the individual employee and the localized work environment within the spectrum of the organizational context.
This study presents an in-depth explanation of the concept of employee engagement and the delineation of empowered behaviours with respect to the links between organizational context, the local work environment, employee's intervening perceptions and attitudes in psychological empowerment.The roles of individual employee differences as well as the implications for organizational leaders and managers are also demonstrated.

Purpose/Objectives of Study
The purpose of this paper is to raise the awareness and understanding of the need for a lean-based strategic organizational citizenship behaviour and constructive participation of employees in decision making, for continuous improvement in the automotive components industry.In this regard, the specific objectives of this study include: • To provide a greater understanding of key issues/indicators of Lean tools in relation to organizational citizenship and operational paradigms for continuous improvement; • To assess the various employees' psycho-dynamics relating to the levels of staff involvement/participation in Lean implementation processes in the South African automotive component industry; • To determine the motivational features that enhance both employees' operational effectiveness and full participation in lean implementation in the South African context; and • To proffer a sustainable solution to employees participation in the implementation of Lean tools within the automotive components industry in the Eastern Cape.

Lean Functionality and Workplace Psychoanalytic-dynamics
The lean production system has been very successful worldwide because it is a self-organizing and dynamic system.It is noted for its flexible, creative and adaptive structure (Liker and Hoseus, 2008).The concept of Lean production involves many tools that could be applied in any organization which is trying to become lean.These tools are production and service philosophies that unite every aspect of the production process with an attendant success across the whole value chain.The Japanese lean production system is seen as an organizational process that is able to strike an effective balance between the element of standardization and the innovative forces represented by innovation and continuous improvement-Kaizen (Neagoe and Klein, 2009).Continuous improvements are enshrined in the application of the Japanese 5s tools of Kaizen.This 5s, depicted in Table 1, is a system of steps and procedures that can be used by organizations, individuals and teams to arrange work areas in the best manners for the optimization, comfort, safety and cleanliness for organizational efficiencies and performance.Anderson (2007, citing Peterson andSmith, 1998) outlines the benefits of implementing 5s as:

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Reduced cycle times; Table1 shows an overview of the Japanese 5s principles and the descriptions as adapted from Peterson and Smith (1980).

Employee empowerment/Engagement
Employee empowerment cannot be achieved without building and developing human capacity.Team members must not only have the confidence and competence to undertake assignments but also have the opportunities to expand and excel.Confidence and competence increase when people gain more experience in organization and management and acquire new knowledge and skills, including the capacity to generate knowledge (Chaturvedi, 2008;David, 2005).Empowerment is combination of inter-organizational constructs comprising commitment, organizational citizenship behaviour and motivation as reflected in Figure 1.

Organizational
Citizenship Behaviour Several organizational researchers have focused their work on empowering management practices, including the delegation of decision making from higher organizational echelons to lower ones and increasing access to information and resources for individuals at the lower levels.However, Thomas and Velthouse (1990) advocated the need for alternative perspectives on empowerment that distinguish between situational attributes (management practices) and job incumbent cognitions about those predominant influences of employees' attitudinal factors on performance (psychological empowerment).Past researches have established a constructive relationship between employees' cognitive attitudes and performance (Petty et al., 1984), emotions and acceptable job outcomes (Staw et al., 1994) and personality traits and job performance.These cognitive attitudes, traits and emotions are antecedents to psychological empowerment (Poisat, 2006).Robbins et al. (2002) indicate that psychological empowerment manifests in four cognitions relating to work and work contexts.These dimensions are meaning, competence, Self-determination and impact.They are delineated thus: • Meaning: Meaning is the value of work goal or purpose that is judged in relation to an individual's own ideals or standards (Thomas and Velthouse, 1990).Meaning involves a fit between the requirements of work responsibility and beliefs, values and behaviours.
• Competence: Competence, or self-efficacy, is an individual's belief in personal capability to perform activities with skill.Competence is synonymous with the individual's belief, personal mastery, or effortperformance expectancy.This dimension deals with workforce efficacy.
• Self-determination: While competence is a mastery of behaviour, self-determination is an individual's sense of choice or autonomy in the initiation and regulation of actions or work behaviours and processes.
• Impact: Impact refers to an individual's perceived degree of influence over outcomes in one's workplace.It is the degree to which a person can influence strategic, administrative or operating outcomes of work.
Employees' attitude and perceptions of the work environment are a necessary intervening variable in the empowerment process (Robbins et al., 2002).These components can be viewed as the essential prerequisites for the motivation to engage in empowered behaviour in the work environment.Employees are incited to have a sense of feeling and conviction that their activities and contributions in the workplace are worthwhile (meaning).In addition, they must feel that they are able and competent to engage in what they do (competence), perceive the opportunity to make choices without fear (self-determination) and believe that their behaviour and actions will have some influence on their environment (impact).

Concluding Remarks
The foregoing sections describe the various constructs on which the principle of employee empowerment and participation is based.Emphasis was placed on the assessment of existing theories that expound the employee empowerment concept and the identification of employees' organizational behaviours.These constructs influence the full involvement of employees in the implementation of lean traditional and modern approaches to employee motivation, commitment, organizational citizenship, self-efficacy and emotion.They were further analyzed to determine the underlying drivers that underscore employee participation and empowerment in organizational continuous improvement through the adoption of lean.
Based on the literature scan, it is the researchers' conviction, that an employee empowerment approach, though by no means an absolute answer to all performance matters, can greatly enhance employee performance with respect to quality, efficiency, innovation, customer care, job satisfaction as well as organizational profitability.Luthans and Peterson (2001) and Lawler et al. (2001) indicate that empowered employees in the organization are motivated to perform and take actions that improve business.

METHODOLOGY
A questionnaire was developed from both primary and secondary data and administered to thirty three companies/respondents in the Eastern Cape of South Africa.Out of 33 questionnaires distributed to the respondents, 27 were completed and returned which corresponds to a response rate of about 82%.The case organizations investigated were Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEM) of automotive components and suppliers of allied components to companies such as Toyota, BMW, Volkswagen, General motors, and NISSAN among others.The questionnaire was designed to obtain representative views of the respondents on the influence of Lean/Kaizen tools on employees' empowerment in the workplace.Likert scales were provided on a rating continuum (1-5) to measure the varying degrees of respondents' opinions about the relative worth of the attributes in the subsets.However, the questions were structured to explore the respondents' reactions to the level of adoption, implementation and performance of lean-based employees' empowerment in their organizations.
Data obtained from the questionnaires were analysed using Excel Spreadsheet and statistica (version 9.0).The results and interpretations shown in tables and charts are presented as findings in section 4. Based on the findings of the study, the conclusion drawn may be deemed indicative of the level of functional performance of Kaizen tools and employee empowerment in the study context.Table 2 reveals that the majority of the respondents (59%) were operations managers while thirty-seven percent (37%) were Supervisors/Group leaders.This indicates an adequate capture of the core participants/implementers of the scheme in the study context.Table 3 indicates the ratings of the duration of the adoption of lean principles in production processes.From the table, a significant proportion of the respondents (76%) submitted that their organizations had been in the lean practice for more than two years (36% respondents claimed 2-5years, while 40% asserted adoption of more than 5 years).It is clear from this result that majority of the automotive components companies in the Eastern Cape are not first timers in the implementation of lean/Kaizen production.In Table 4, the ranking of the dependent variables that are considered in the questions relating to the implementation and adoption of lean principles in the organizations are analysed.Given the analysis presented in table 3, the following deductions can be made:

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The first deduction is that 93 per cent (74%+19%=93%) of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed that there was an adoption of a teamwork policy in their organizations.This statement ranked first in agreement with a mean rating of 4.6 and a high standard deviation of 0.9; while about 4% of the respondents strongly disagreed to the adoption of a teamwork policy.A comparison of the mean score of 4.6 with the aggregate mean of 3.7 and the small standard deviation (0.9) indicates a reliable consistency and high congruency among the respondents' submission on the adoption of teamwork as a conceptual feature in the target organizations.

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Again, 93 per cent (30%+63%=93%) of the respondents strongly agreed or agreed that worksheets are displayed conspicuously for the team and operators.This statement ranked second with a mean of 4.5 (standard deviation of 0.9).The ratings on the workers' autonomy to make changes and improvement suggestions on the worksheets, as well as, the statement indicating that the worksheets are clear and displayed at every work station was widely endorsed by the respondents (strongly agreed or agreed 96% respectively) and received third and fourth place with a mean of 4.4 respectively.A comparison of the mean scores of the lean conceptual features' with the aggregate mean of 3.7 reveals markedly higher scores of 0.8, 0.7 and 0.7 respectively.This comparison shows that there is strong evidence from the respondents to support the conspicuous display of worksheets at every work station while the workers are allowed autonomy to effect improvement changes to them.These results concur with the hypothetical statement which stated that most South African automotive industries did restructuring exercises and adopted lean manufacturing techniques in order to improve manufacturing efficiencies and overall organizational performance through a better use of organizational resources.

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Another deduction is that ninety seven per cent (56% + 41%=97%) and eighty nine per cent (70% + 19%= 89%) of the respondents, respectively, strongly agreed or agreed that their organizational staff understand and appreciate lean benefits and that there is potential problems identification, correction and communication during lean production activities.These factors are ranked fifth and sixth with mean scores of 4.3 and 4.0 respectively.Only a trivial proportion of respondents, 3.7% respectively, disagreed with the statement.

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Most respondents (22%+59%=81%) strongly agreed or agreed that team leaders are able to motivate, assist and handle the organization of work at the work place.The act of solving production problems through teamwork was rated strongly agreed or agreed by a large proportion of the respondents (48%+30%=78%).These features are rated eighth and ninth respectively with a mean score of 3.9 each.These mean scores are greater than the aggregate mean of 3.7 with a higher score of 0.2 each.Statistically, it can, therefore, be concluded that significant evidence exists in support of the statements.
Issues such as operators' training in problems solving (44%+19%=63%; mean score=3.5);dedicated staff to handle lean change (48+11=59%; mean score=3.3);emphasis on the Kaizen suggestions scheme in lean implementation (41%+15%=56%; mean score=3.3);team leaders' ability to interpret and coordinate drawn value stream mapping for production processes (44%+4%=48%; mean score=3.2);availability of dedicated staff or unit to promote lean principles (30%+22%=52%; mean score=3.1);periodic training of staff in lean/Kaizen tools (30%+15%=44%; mean score=3.1);operators understanding of the seven waste tools of lean (44%; mean score=3.1)were compared with the aggregate mean of 3.7.They were all found to be less in value to the aggregate mean; hence it can be concluded that these factors did not have a strong correlation with the significant familiarity of the lean conceptual features in organizational processes.The rating of the extent of the implementation of lean principles at the workplace was rated least by the respondents (22%+4%=26%) with a mean score of 2.7.The comparison of this mean with the aggregate mean showed a large deviation of 1.0.This result is a pointer to an acceptable indication that the automotive components companies are experiencing a poor implementation of the lean/Kaizen concepts.The opinion of the respondents was that the mode of implementation was lacklustre even though the majority of the automotive components manufacturing companies did adopt the lean/Kaizen systems of production.
It is important to note that every world-class organization is expected to absorb and score high on the analysed features that are considered in this section.Leibowitz (2003) concurs with Neagoe and Marascu Klein (2009) that world-class manufacturing should hinge on the adoption and pursuance of continuous improvement strategies that strike an effective balance between the element of standardization and the innovative forces of the Japanese production systems.The opinion of the respondents was that the mode of implementation was lacklustre, even though the majority of the automotive components manufacturing companies did adopt the lean/Kaizen systems of production.

Table 5: Comparison between the independent variables and company size: Comparing means
From Table 5, it is seen that the variable 'Organizational familiarity with the lean/Kaizen conceptual features' obtained mean scores of 3.54 and 3.99 from organizations employing between 0-200 employees and those with above 200 employees respectively.Although, this difference is not statistically significant (p > 0.05), the effect size measure (Cohen's d = 0.63) indicates that the difference is still of practical significance since the ranking is a medium Cohen's d.The p-value of 0.1264 showed that there is a strong congruence with the variable by the respondents from small and large organizations.There is no statistically significant difference at p < 0.05.It can be deduced therefore that the respondents from the small and large companies concurred that their companies are familiar with the lean/Kaizen conceptual features in manufacturing processes.
Another deduction from table 4 is that the variable 'Organizational hierarchical awareness of the idea suggestion scheme' achieved high mean scores (3.77), as rated by the respondents from organizations employing more than 200 employees and a score mean of (3.14) from respondents from companies employing between 0-200 employees.It can be seen that this difference is not statistically significant (p > 0.05), the effect size measure (Cohen's d = 0.65) indicates that the difference portrays practical significance since the ranking still falls within a medium Cohen's d.The p-value (0.1132) and the medium rating for the effect size indicate no statistically significant difference at p < 0.05, between the respondents from small and large companies respectively.Therefore, it may be inferred that respondents from both small and large companies concurred that there is hierarchical awareness of the Kaizen suggestions scheme in their automotive components manufacturing companies in the Eastern Cape.
The high means scores (3.93 and 4.20) for both small and large organizations showed a large difference.Even though, this difference is not statistically significant (p > 0.05), the effect size measure (Cohen's d = 0.36) indicates that the difference is still practically significant.The Cohen's d is ranked small with a relatively high congruence and relationship strength.It can be concluded that the respondents from both small and large companies concurred with the existence of an organizational policy for employee participation in idea submission processes in their organizations.The evidence here is that there is no statistically significant difference (p = 0.3772) with regards to the variable.L6-Extrinsic rewards for employee participation in the Kaizen suggestion scheme.Conceptual Features *Statistically significant at 5% level (p < 0.05) L = Large; M = Medium; S = Small Furthermore, the table shows that the variable 'Implementation of the Kaizen ideas suggestion scheme' obtained mean scores of 2.96 and 3.71 from organizations employing between 0-200 employees and those with above 200 employees respectively.The difference in the means is significantly large though the effect size measure for the Cohen's d is 0.47 apiece; however, the p-value of 0.0121 indicates a statistical significance at the 5% level.This shows that there is an inconsistency in the submissions of the respondents from both types of organizations (small and large) and there is a statistically significant difference at p < 0.05.It can be deduced therefore that the respondents from the small and large companies do not concur that their companies have a proper implementation of the Kaizen ideas suggestion scheme.
The analysis of the variable 'Intrinsic rewards for employee participation in the Kaizen ideas suggestion scheme' shows a strong agreement, with the scored means of 3.94 and 3.90, amongst the respondents from organizations employing between 0-200 employees and those with above 200 employees respectively.This difference in means is relatively small with a statistically significant difference (0.04).The small effect size of the strength of the relationships (Cohen's d = 0.06) in the analysis, coupled with a p-value of 0.8766, indicates no statistically significant difference at p < 0.05.It can be inferred therefore that the respondents from the small and large firms agreed that the automotive companies adopt an intrinsic reward system in motivating the suggestion scheme in their organizations.A further comparison with respect to the extrinsic rewards showed that the respondents from the small and large companies contrasted greatly (means = 2.74; standard deviation =1.30 for small companies and mean = 4.15; standard deviation = 1.25 for large companies).This difference is statistically large and not significant.Although they obtained a Cohen's d coefficient of 0.86 apiece, the t-test with a p-value of 0.0104 (rated large) at the significant level p > 0.05 proved that there is a statistically significant difference at the 5% level.This indicates a high disparity amongst the respondents with regard to the practice of an extrinsic reward system in motivating the employees' participation in organizational processes/ideas suggestions in their organization.

DISCUSSION
This study was undertaken because organizations are continuously exploring ways to improve their competitive advantage in order to ensure their survival in the global market.Many authors have stressed the pivotal roles that empowered and engaged employees play in securing a competitive edge for organizations.The research findings of Brewster et al. (2003), Kiger (2002) and Poisat (2005) confirmed that improved business performance hinges not only on improved processes, technology and products but also equally on the involvement and participations of employees in Organizational processes.Slack et al. (2001) and Poisat (2005) believe that many South African automotive component industries performed restructuring exercises and adopted lean manufacturing techniques in order to improve their manufacturing efficiencies and overall organizational performance through the better use of their organization's resources.The implementation of these principles and techniques, however, are devoid of worldclass motivation, employee empowerment/engagement, involvement in decision making and other forms of organizational processes.This study captures the opinions, feelings and experiences of the respondents about the organizational performance and functionality of Lean-based employee empowerment in the South African automotive components companies under investigation.

CONCLUSION
There is decisive evidence of the significant contribution that participating and engaged employees make towards an organizations' competitive advantage.The literature scan in the study has revealed key functional and operational issues that must be considered for the effective employee empowerment and engagement in organizational processes.These include favourable organizational context, an all-inclusive decision-making policy, training, evaluation and motivation/rewards.However, it is concluded in this study, that South African automotive organizations have not realized this fact, and need to be more proactive in implementing employee empowerment and engagement strategies.

RECOMMENDATIONS
In view of the findings and conclusion, the study recommends as follows: • The automotive companies require to pursue an awareness of Kaizen-based empowerment Scheme and an up-to-date adoption of lean tools by enlightening the organizational echelon (from top management to the shop-floor staff) of the importance of the lean production system and its role in supporting the core business of the organization.

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The automotive components organizations should establish clear Kaizen/Lean objectives and communicate these to the workers and various departments or parties involved in production and service delivery.The objectives are necessary as a benchmark for all organizational activities.

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Well qualified and experienced Kaizen assessors/evaluators should be appointed to prepare evaluation plans, feedback/relay of assessments and administration of rewards for the organizations.The performance evaluation professionals should also help in drawing a sound performance evaluation policy and ensuring that funds are available for evaluation and reward exercises.

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A flexible organisational structure that encourages a favourable employee/employers relation and organizational citizenship should be put in place within the organizations.

Table 1 : Overview of the Japanese 5s Principles
-Determine the frequency of usage for every item in the workplace -Marking the items that are not used -Disposing of the non-essential items -Eliminating sources of cluster and unwanted items

Table 4 : Mean and Standard deviation for the level of familiarity with the lean\Kaizen conceptual features (n=27) Statements SD
. ..........................................SA • Constant training and development of staff on ideas development and submission techniques should be pursued by the firms.• Within the South African context, organizations should pay as much as they can afford even if it is more than what other companies pay for similar work.This form of extrinsic reward can motivate more commitment and participation in organizational profitability.• Organizations should offer as many benefits as they can afford, even if it is more than what other companies offer for similar work.This intrinsic reward can also motivate job satisfaction and organizational citizenship.• Companies should insist that employees, at all levels, share in the achievement of the business.Business results and how individuals contribute to achievement should be shared with all cadre of employees.• Every effort should be directed towards encouraging management to show a sincere interest in their employees' well-being.