<p> This research explored the challenges that New Hampshire manufacturers faced in introducing and sustaining improvement initiatives and the social dimension of this issue.</p><p> Using an ethnographic methodology, participant-observation was employed to examine the culture of a New Hampshire manufacturer. Through active participation in work groups, regular assignments, and meetings, an understanding of the impact the culture had on the implementation of a set of improvement techniques known as lean manufacturing was gained. Observations illuminated the leadership roles that both management and workers play. Nine themes described the lived experience and the social forces that guided that experience. These themes were: subgroups, lack of overall teamwork, dominant clique, lack of management interaction, focus on the past, workers social lives, individual cooperation, pride in workmanship, lack of process ownership. The effect of these nine themes on the lean initiatives was explored. Finally, the study extrapolated the findings to provide recommendations on successful practices in sustaining lean improvements.</p>
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:PROQUEST/oai:pqdtoai.proquest.com:3604804 |
| Date | 25 January 2014 |
| Creators | Wilson, Jane T. |
| Publisher | Franklin Pierce University |
| Source Sets | ProQuest.com |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | thesis |
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