Managing change in lean transition among Malaysian public service organizations

The Malaysian government stresses on the public service transformation that requires change of mindset among civil servants for high- performance services to customers. However, weaknesses in the process and service delivery have affected the expectations of customers. Lean management is believed to assist public service organizations in improving their productivity and fulfil the needs of the public. The objectives of the study were to identify the challenges faced by the public service organizations during the transition to lean, to investigate the success factor of lean implementation in public service organizations, to investigate the management of public service organizations during transition into Lean management implementation, and also to develop a framework of change management in lean implementation. The study employed qualitative research using the case study method. The methods of data collection used were interviews, document reviews and observation which were conducted in five public service organizations in Malaysia. The data were analysed using Atlas. ti software. Four challenges faced by the public service organizations were identified based on the data analysis. The challenges were resistance, knowledge, time and resource. Seven success factors for lean implementation in public service were also identified, which were management commitment, employee involvement, communication, knowledge, teamwork, organization readiness and culture. Besides, three important elements in managing change were identified, which were training, monitoring and motivation. The study also revealed the process or the steps taken in lean implementation. The result of the study can benefit many other public service organizations that are interested in implementing lean management. Therefore, it is hoped that future studies will focus on the change management framework developed, and refer to the steps taken by the case organizations in order to successfully change into lean management for continuous lean service implementation in their operations.