Proceedings of the Hamburg Interrnational Conference of Logistics (HICL) – 20

Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

Toyota Kata: Empoweringg Employees

for Target-Oriented Improvement - A
Best Practice Approach

Published in: Innovations and Strategies for Logistics an

nd Supply Chains
Wolfgang Kersten, Thorsten Blecker and Christian M. Ringle (Eds.), August 2015, epubli GmbH
ISBN (online): 978-3-7375-4059-9, ISBN (print): 978-3-7375-7805-9
ISSN (online): 2365-5070, ISSN (print): 2635-4430
Toyota Kata: Empowering Employees for
Target-Oriented Improvement - A Best Practice
Approach
Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

In western companies Lean Management is often falling short of expectations. Nor-

mally, the reason for this is the focus on a methodological approach concurrently
neglecting behavioral aspects. The article based on a case study approach offers a
holistic approach to Lean Management implementation by empowering employees
for a decentralized and goal-oriented improvement process considering behavioral
aspects.

Keywords: Lean Management, Employee Empowerment, Toyota Kata,

Case Study
176 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

1 Introduction and Problem Statement

Business environments are characterized by global competition, saturated

markets and differentiated customer requests. Long-term survival in these
environments claims for entrepreneurial agility and continuous improve-
ment of business processes. An approach to handle these challenges is
Lean Management (LM).

1.1 Lean Management - An Introduction

The term Lean Management originates from the book "The machine that
changed the world" by Womack, Jones, und Roos (1991). It summarizes the
results of a study on the performance of automobile manufactures, which
identifies the performance superiority of Toyota compared to other manu-
factures. Womack, Jones, und Roos (1991) trace the performance superior-
ity of Toyota to the applied production method, which they name Lean
Management after the focus on waste elimination within the value-adding
process. LM focuses on the customer´s need to which corporate activities
are aligned. Focusing on these value creating activities from a customer´s
perspective enables two major opportunities: First, non-value adding ac-
tivities (waste) can be minimized, which results in cost reduction. Second,
by producing according to customer needs the customer satisfaction is
achieved, which results in sales increase. As both of the results enable com-
petiveness, LM has drawn attention from companies worldwide as an effec-
tive instrument for the development of companies´ performance.
However, LM implementation efforts often do not provide the desired effi-
ciency increase in western companies (Blanchard 2009; Abele, Cachay, und
 Toyota Kata 177

Witecy 2012). Liker (2012) and Rother (2009) name the way to LM as the
cause for this underperformance. Western companies mostly approach the
lean philosophy by setting up projects, who apply lean methods like value
stream mapping and kanban to smooth the processes and thereby improve
the process flow. This results in a significant process improvement first; but
after the project end, the process will not be further improved and stay, in
the best case, at the created level.
Toyota follows a different approach, whereby employees on the shop floor-
level are entrusted with the task of process improvement. Their goal: a con-
sistent and target-oriented development of new standards in the processes
of value creation. This strongly emphasis a mixture of soft factors like lead-
ership skills for empowering the employees and hard factors like methods
to analyze the processes.
Liker (2007) underlines this hypothesis by referencing to an internal Toyota
Document, which describes the fundamental Toyota Principles guiding the
way to a LM Implementation, named the 4P-Model (Figure 1). Thereby, the
fundament is laid by a philosophy, achieving a long-term vision, which in
the Toyota case is a just in time process (Rother 2009). The second layer is
a guide for process development following certain principles, i.e. leverag-
ing the customer needs and creating flow, to approach the vision. The third
and fourth layer emphasize the importance of soft factors, like the way of
collaboration between employee and supervisor, as a basis for process im-
provement at the shop floor-level, which has been neglected in western LM
approaches so far.
178 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

Problem
Solving
(CI and
Learning Processes)
People / Partner
(respect, challenged promote)

Process
(Elimination of waste)

Philosophy
(Long-term thinking)

Figure 1 4-P Model of Toyota (Liker, 2007)

Aiming to fill the research gap, Liker and Franz (2011) as well as Rother
(2009) focused their research on the questions how the improvement pro-
cesses of Toyota are structured and how they could be integrated into the
behavioral routines at the shop floor level. Liker and Franz (2011) identified
the Toyota Business Practices (TBP) as the method used for continuous im-
provement (CI) at the shop floor level. The TBP are inspired by a simple
PDCA cycle and follow 8 steps:
1. Define the problem in relation to the ideal state (Plan),
2. Capture the current state (Plan),
3. Identify the root cause (Plan),
4. Set an improvement target (Plan).
5. Select a suitable approach (Plan),
6. Experiment (Do),
7. Control the results (Check),
8. Adapt, standardize and spread the solution (Act).
 Toyota Kata 179

For applying this procedure as a routine an internalization is needed.

Toyota achieves this internalization by using the procedure at the shop
floor under the guidance of a coach. This approach is didactically valuable,
because it supports the following key assumptions of learning (J. K. Liker
und Meier 2007):
— people learn by taking small steps through a long-term period,
— the knowledge should be transferred by a coach,
— the process should be undertaken as learning-on-the-job,
— the small learning steps should be integrated into a big picture
and be standardized.
Rother (2009) carried out several experiments in which he derived a struc-
ture combining the 8 steps of problem solving and the key assumptions of
learning. He named the procedure the Toyota Kata, referring to the martial
art procedure of continuously repeating motion sequences till they become
automatic routines. The Toyota Kata consists of the Improvement and the
Coaching Kata. The Improvement Kata is the routine for a target-oriented
improvement. It consists of four basic steps, which can be understood as
an equivalent to the Toyota Business Practices (Figure 2):
180 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

Occur

Problems Next
Current target
and Vision
state condition
barriers
Understand
and overcome

2. Understand 4. Work towards 3. Define target 1. Orientation on

current state target condition condition long-term target

Figure 2 The 4 Steps of the Improvement Kata (Rother 2009)

The basic idea is the strategic orientation on a long-term target (step 1). In
case of Toyota this is a Just-In-Time-Principle representing a process with
no waste, which provides an orientation for the improvement activities.
Step 2 is about understanding the current situation of the process in scope.
Depending on the current situation, a reachable, short term target in direc-
tion towards the long-term target can be defined (Step 3). Step 4 is a step
by step approach to reach the set target. For the step by step approach ex-
periments are applied. Within these experiments a hypothesis is formu-
lated first. Second, experiments are performed within the process. Third,
result and hypothesis are compared. Fourth, if the hypothesis can be con-
firmed the experiment is standardized and implemented into the process.
The Coaching Kata on the other hand is the complementary routine to the
Improvement Kata. It serves in providing the needed skillset for the im-
prover, guiding him with questions by a coach through the improvement
process (Figure 3).
 Toyota Kata 181

Improvement Kata
1. Understand Reflection
Vision
2. Understand 3. Define 4. A P
Current State target cond. C D

Planning Problem Solving

What
to do? How is the What is the
situation like? next step?
Why ? Does he
take the How does What should he
right steps? he think? learn next?
Coaching Kata
Figure 3 Interaction between Coaching and Improving Kata (Rother 2009)

1.2 Problem Statement and Research Aim

Liker (2011) and Rother (2009) provide an idea how the Toyota philosophy
and process principles can be approached within operational processes
and thereby provide a consistency of improvement at the shop floor. Nev-
ertheless, they do not provide a holistic approach to implement the rou-
tines into companies as they neglect strategic aspects. The paper aims in
filling that gap by the development of a holistic concept which provides
answers to the following research questions:
— Which elements need to be considered in the concept?
— How should the elements be allocated?
— What does a suitable implementation approach look like?
— How should an evaluation of the approach look like?
182 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

The research questions will be answered through empirical research in

companies, who apply a lean approach based on the fundamentals raised
by Liker (2011) and Rother (2009). Therefore, section 2 provides a detailed
view into the methodology applied, before the findings will be presented in
Section 3. Finally, Section 4 discusses the findings and concludes the paper.

2 Research Methodology

The project aims at answering the research questions, which include sub-
jective and interpretative parts as they deal with behavioral aspects
(Frankel, Naslund, und Bolumole 2005). For obtaining scientific results in
this area qualitative methods are particularly suitable (von Rosenstiel 2005,
238).
To meet this demand the research project follows a methodology sug-
gested by Gläser and Laudel (2010). It is based on three steps,
1. Preparation of the empirical research,
2. Conducting the empirical research,
3. Analysis of the data, which are used to structure this section.

2.1 Preparation of the Empirical Research

Empirical research should ensure that the survey methods are following re-
search standards and provide the requested answers to the research aim
(Flick, Kardorff, und Steinke 2005).
To meet this demand the current state of research in the field was inte-
grated by a comprehensive review, whereby the soft factors were consid-
ered particularly. The theory provides deep insights into the structure and
 Toyota Kata 183

application of CI at an operational level. Nevertheless, they show some

shortcomings from a management perspective as they neglect strategic
and normative aspects. These strategic aspects are relevant for implemen-
tation efforts dealing with an adaption of behavioral aspects. To integrate
them, a generic approach from organizational theory constructed by
Bleicher (2011) was selected and used for the embedment of LM theory. It
will be introduced in the following.

2.1.1 Embedding Lean into the Management Approach by

Bleicher

The approach by Bleicher (2011) offers a systematic procedure for the

adaption of corporate-culture, in which normative and strategic as well as
operative management perspectives are considered. It can be categorized
as a socio-technical approach. Socio-technical approaches understand the
organization as a system containing social and technical aspects, which
have equal importance to the organization. In Bleicher´s work this is re-
flected by activities through the different management perspectives sup-
porting the management aim. Those activities are supported by structural
aspects referring to the hard facts as well as behavioral aspects referring to
the soft facts. An overview about his management approach is offered in
figure 4.
184 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

Management Philosophy

Normative Management
Corporate Policy
Corporate Corporate
Constitution Missions Culture
VERTICAL INTEGRATION

Strategic Management

Corporate Programs Problem

Structures Behavior

Operative Management
Organizational Cooperative
Tasks
Processes Behavior

Structures Activities Behavior

Corporate Development

Figure 4 Management Approach for Cultural Adaption Considering Soft

and Hard Factors (Bleicher 2011)

Into this generic approach the theory of lean management was embedded,
filling every pillar from the normative to the operational management per-
spective. As a result a complete theoretical picture on implementing LM
considering culture change through the different management perspec-
tives was developed and used for the deduction of an interview guideline,
confirming that important aspects were included.
 Toyota Kata 185

2.1.2 Selecting Appropriate Cases

The selection of cases is an important part of case-study research as it de-

fines the set of entities from which the sample is drawn and thereby has
huge impact on the results (Eisenhardt 1989). In this case we tried to select
companies, which have decent knowledge in the context of the research
questions. Pilot interviews showed that randomized samples will not lead
to suitable cases, as we just interviewed companies using technocratic ap-
proaches focusing on hard factors for implementing Lean Management.
One Company used a CI-Process. But employees were restricted in empow-
erment and the process was not linked to the company's goals.
A consultant company collaborating with Mike Rother and collecting
hands-on experience in this field could name two companies, who gained
first experience with the concept of the Toyota Kata. These two companies,
who can be categorized as OEMs, were contacted and selected as appropri-
ate cases.

2.2 Conducting the Empirical Research

Guided by the constructed theoretical framework the companies and con-
sultancy were interviewed. The persons interviewed were each responsible
for the lean implementation efforts. Afterwards, if possible, a walkthrough
in applying departments - investigating the procedures of the method - was
done. Finally, a CI cycle was observed and the improver was interviewed.
The collected data was additionally verified and completed using docu-
ments like presentations and data results of the CI processes. Table 1 sum-
marizes the empirical research approach listing companies as well as the
applied research methods.
186 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

Table 1 Overview of Methods Applied in the Observed Companies

Interview Observa- Interview Analysis of

Company time tion of CI with the internal
[hours] cycle Improver documents

A 5 Yes Yes Yes

B 1 No No Yes

Consul-
5 Yes Yes Yes
tancy

2.3 Analyzing the Empirical Data

Analyzing the empirical data aims at an understanding for the different
causal mechanisms of the LM approaches. By comparing the differences as
well as the similarities of the concepts, a concept can be derived which is
suitable for a generic LM approach and thereby provides an answer to the
research aim (figure 5).
To make the empirical data comparable steps of extraction and prepara-
tion were applied (Gläser und Laudel 2010).
 Toyota Kata 187

Causal Mechanism of
class of cases

Comparative Analysis of Causal Mechanisms

Causal Causal Causal

Mechanism 1 Mechanism 2 Mechanism 3

Case Analysis 1 Case Analysis 2 Case Analysis 3

Case 1 Case 2 Case 3

Figure 5 Procedure of Deriving a Causal Mechanism for LM Implementa-

tion (Gläser und Laudel 2010)

2.3.1 Extraction of Data

In this step relevant data for an understanding of the individual LM con-

cepts is extracted. To identify the relevant data a search grip, based on the
theoretical framework including its categories, was constructed and ap-
plied to the collected data. By aligning the research grip and its categories
to the theoretical framework it was secured that the theoretical considera-
tions guide the study (Gläser und Laudel 2010). Still, the categories within
the research grid were openly shaped and could be adapted during the in-
vestigation, confirming that all relevant information could be considered.
188 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

2.3.2 Preparation of Data

This step aimed in quality improvement of the extracted data. Therefore,

the raw data was checked for redundancy and contradictions. Then it was
structured according to the categories (Gläser und Laudel 2010).
The result is a structured basis of information which summarizes empirical
information about the investigated cases and contains the relevant infor-
mation to answer the research questions.

3 Results / Findings

In this section the results of the case studies as well as the derived concept
developed by the analysis of the cases are presented. The section will be
structured, regarding to the research questions, in three sections. In the
first section fundamental elements of the CI process as well as the process
itself are described. The second section is presenting the derived imple-
mentation approach for the CI process. In the third and last section the
evaluation approach for measuring the success of the concept is intro-
duced.

3.1 Method of CI
Both companies as well as the consultancy applied a CI method which is
very similar to the approach by Rother (2009). They used the Improvement
as well as the Coaching Kata. Nevertheless, they added additional elements
like roles, detailed procedures for process analysis and a procedure to
transform the vision into individual improvement targets.
 Toyota Kata 189

3.1.1 Transforming the vision into personal objectives

The first step of the Improvement Kata "Orientation towards a long-term

target" implies the need for a suitable target condition on process level.
Nevertheless, Rother (2009) is not explaining the way Toyota is deriving in-
dividual target conditions for the processes from the company´s vision.
The observed companies as well as the consultancy used a structured pro-
cedure named Hoshin Kanri (Löfving u. a. 2014; Reitz 2008) for cascading
the vision into target conditions. Thereby, the first step is the development
of a vision for the company´s processes. It should reflect an orientation for
development, i.e. a process which results in competitive advantages.
Within Toyota the process vision is a Just-In-Time-process (JIT) picturing a
process without waste (Rother 2009). In the sample companies the vision
was developed in a workshop on Top-Management-level. In both cases the
vision was inspired by a JIT process and expressed in numbers like 0 de-
fects, 0 waste, and 0 work accidents. After the vision was approved by the
committee, a challenge for the company was derived from it. A challenge is
representing a mid-term target on the way towards the vision. The consul-
tancy recommends a time horizon from 1-3 years for its realization. The
companies developed 1 year challenges due to the fit of 1-year-objectives,
which were embedded in the companies.
For the development of the challenge the current state on plant-level needs
to be mapped as the target-setting is dependent from the current situation.
The tool used to map the current state was value stream mapping, because
it provides deep quantitative insights into the processes. In the workshop a
quick mapping of the process was preferred. From that current state a tar-
get condition was constructed and accepted by the whole leadership team.
190 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

In a last step the challenge, which was on plant-level, was derived into tar-
gets for the different departments.
After the workshop the department managers conducted target agreement
discussions with their employees. Input for the discussion was the target
agreement of the department manager. His target agreement was then
transferred into suitable targets for the employee applying the method of
"catchballing". Thereby, the department manager asked the employee to
check the target for feasibility. After a plausibility check the targets were
either accepted or renegotiated. The process was repeated through all hi-
erarchy levels to the level of the improver. This procedure, cascading the
vision to the operational level, ensures that all operational improvement
activities add to the big picture and thereby enhance the companies' tar-
gets (figure 6).

Phase 1:
Vision Workshop Vision

Challenge

Target Target
Department 1 Department 2

Target Target Target Target

Process 1 Process 2 Process 1 Process 2

Phase 2: Cascading the targets to the shop-floor

Figure 6 Setting Improvement Targets on Shop Floor Level

 Toyota Kata 191

3.1.2 The Improvement Kata

In the observed companies the applied improvement routines on shop

floor-level were similar to the procedure proposed by Rother (2009). The
improvers followed the four basic steps introduced in Section 1.1. But the
steps were extended by appropriate methods, i.e. to measure the current
situation one of the companies applied a process analysis, consisting of
four steps itself: The first step pictures the demand of the customer by cal-
culating his tact time. In the second step, relevant process steps are
mapped and delimited from processes out of scope. In step three, relevant
data concerning process stability and process tact is collected. While in
step 4 the collected data was compared to the customer demand. Compar-
ing the customer tact to the current process tact allows the learner to set a
target condition, which is reachable in a short-term horizon.
In the next step experiments to approach the target condition were se-
lected. Thereby, in both companies certain criteria needed to be fulfilled.
The process selected for the experiments should improve the whole system
and thereby provide a systemic impact. This is i.e. achieved when the se-
lected process is a bottle neck, which may be caused by a tact above the
aimed process tact time or unstable performance. The experiments com-
prise of:
— a hypothesis, which should be measurable,
— the testing of the hypothesis by conducting the experiments,
— the check of success by comparing hypothesis and results,
— and the standardization of the result, which includes an adjust-
ment of work instructions and standard costs when the hypothe-
sis is confirmed.
192 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

To manage the experiments the interviewee emphasized that within an ex-

periment only one factor should be varied and that a short feedback time
should be provided, which is essential for assigning the root cause.
All results from each step (current state, target condition, experiment se-
lection, hypothesis and result) were documented. One company used a
board located at the process, while the other used result sheets. The im-
prover had the possibility to work on a daily basis on the improvement of
his processes. Therefore, an average time span of 10% of the total working
time was allowed.

3.1.3 The Coaching Kata

The coach acted very closely to the questions suggested by Rother, which
is very helpful to guide the improver through the process. The consultancy
pointed out, that a very important step is the definition of the target condi-
tion. It should be placed in a so-called learning zone, where the target is
challenging but not out of reach. Thereby, the improver does not get frus-
trated but motivated.
The companies were very strict on not providing decisions by the coach.
Even if the improver had a suggestion, which obviously did not point in the
right direction, the coach just led through questions. If the learner did not
see the point, he did an experiment and gained experience.
Nevertheless, the two companies decided to add the role of a 2nd coach.
The 2nd coach provides a feedback to coach on a regular basis and thereby
develops the coaching skills. Coaching as well as the feedback through the
 Toyota Kata 193

2nd coach were held on a regular basis. In the observed companies coach-
ing took place once a week. The feedback from the 2nd coach was provided
one to two times a month.

3.2 Implementation Approach

Within the analyzed cases the initial step of the implementation aimed in
convincing the management team of the Kata Approach. Therefore, a work-
shop in which the managers applied the Improvement Kata from the im-
prover perspective under guidance of the consultancy was conducted. It
provided an understanding for the value of the approach and resulted in a
management buy-in as an essential precondition for success.

3.2.1 Setting the Project Scope

After the management-buy-in the setting for the project was designed in
cooperation with the consultancy. Therefore, the scope of the project re-
garding the companies' penetration as well as personnel and financial re-
sources was set. Both companies started with a pilot area. Within the pilot
area the total numbers of improvers, coaches and 2nd coaches were
named. In the observed cases the role assignment was strictly oriented on
hierarchy. The improvers were the team-leaders of the departments in
scope. The next hierarchy level was entrusted with the task of the coaches,
while the 2nd coach was either a lean expert or the department manager.
The consultancy emphasized that a role allocation due to hierarchy is a rea-
sonable approach, but is not mandatory. Other possibilities might be the
integration of staff positions etc.
194 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

While one company just focused on the shop floor-level as the area of im-
provement, the other company wanted to implement the improvement
routine through all hierarchy levels. A restructuring of the organization
was in neither company in scope. The reason for this exclusion is an ap-
proach, which prefers "function before structure". On the one hand the
companies stated that workflow-oriented structures might be helpful for
reducing potential losses in interfaces between the departments. But on
the other they wanted to focus on the change in the improvement culture.
This is best achieved with trusted work relationship and thereby sticking
to the old structures.

3.2.2 Roll Out Approach

For the role out, initial training was provided. Thereby, in phase 1 the top
hierarchy level underwent an in-depth Improvement kata training under
guidance of the consultancy. When the routine was internalized phase 2 be-
gun. In phase 2 the top hierarchy level managers took the role of the
coaches and trained the next hierarchy level in the Improvement kata.
Within that training the top managers were supervised by the consultancy,
taking the role of the 2nd coaches. In the next phases this procedure was
repeated till the learners on operational level were trained. This top-down
training approach, which follows best practices in learning, as you learn in
small steps with a trusted coach in a working environment, is visualized in
figure 7.
 Toyota Kata 195

Phase 1 Phase 2 Phase 3

Kata Expert Supervisor
2nd Coach

Kata Expert Supervisor 2nd Supervisor

Coach

Supervisor 2nd Supervisor Team Leader

Improver

A P A P A P
C D C D C D

Figure 7 Top-Down Roll-Out Approach for Training the Staff

3.3 Evaluation Approach

To assess the success of the Kata Approach the companies applied mone-
tary as well as non-monetary evaluations. The approaches are introduced
in the following sections.

3.3.1 Monetary Evaluation Approach

The monetary evaluation aims at proofing short-term benefits of the ap-

proach. This is not the primary goal, but often a necessary prerequisite for
realization as companies are more and more judged by short-term perfor-
mance. In both cases the companies realized the monetary evaluation by a
cost-benefit calculation. Thereby, all efforts for implementation like con-
sulting fee, invested time for improvement efforts by the staff and experi-
ments cost, were transferred into Euros and summed up. On the other side
196 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

improvement efforts, which were tracked in the cost standards, were offset
against.
In calculations of both companies benefits outweighed the costs. While one
company didn’t name exact numbers, the other had a positive result better
than 0.5 Mio € in 2013 and a total sum close to 1.8 Mio € within 4 years after
the start.

3.3.2 Non-Monetary Evaluation Approach

The non-monetary approach focuses on the penetration of the program

through the organization and its long-term development. Due to its pro-
gram phase the non-monetary evaluation approach was just applied in one
company.
It works by "evaluating the kata through the kata" as the interviewee said.
It is basically done by setting a target condition and approaching it by eval-
uating the current situation and taking actions to develop in direction of
the target. In case of the applying company the categories for target condi-
tion were the stability of the coaching's (measuring the regularity against
planned coaching's) and the penetration through the organization.
The evaluation took place every year and was done by the consultancy.
This is not mandatory, but provides neutrality which can be a factor if dif-
ferent departments are asseded. At the end of the evaluation, counter-
measures were disused and a new target condition was set.
 Toyota Kata 197

4 Discussion and Outlooks

The conducted study shows that LM implementation efforts towards a de-

centralized and target-oriented CI by empowered employees can be suc-
cessfully achieved in Western Industry.
Key to success is considering and influencing behavioral aspects, which has
been successfully done by applying the Toyota Kata. The companies, which
have been observed, adjusted the routine by adding analysis tools and
complemented it by a target cascading process to the shop floor level en-
suring its contribution to the big picture. For the roll-out a Top-Down Train-
ing process supported the skill transfer which was needed to conduct ex-
periments, as well as behavioral change. To evaluate the progress of the
change monetary and non-monetary evaluation approaches were used.
The concept of implementation is summarized in figure 8.
Nevertheless, normative and strategic structure aspects like cooperative
constitution and structures were not integrated into the approaches. The
more progressed company planned to integrate those structural aspects in
the next years, which could be a research focus in the near future.
198 Matthias Ehni and Wolfgang Kersten

3a. Actions
Vision
Workshop 5.
and Target 4. Applying
1. 2. Monetary
Cascading the Kata at
Leadership Setting the and Non-
Shop-
Buy-In Scope 3b. Monetary
Floor-Level
Top-Down- Evaluation
Training of
Staff
Figure 8 Summary of the LM Implementation Approach

As we could not find a consideration of behavioral aspects by randomly in-

terviewing companies, we contacted a lean consultancy for accessing users
of the behavioral LM approach. The potential integration of behavioral
change without falling back to the consultancy is still to prove. The proof
will be tested in a next research step, were the concept will be applied and
further developed in a company.
 Toyota Kata 199

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