Purchase Solution

Lean Production and Employee Empowerment

Not what you're looking for?

Ask Custom Question

Lean production relies heavily on the concept of employee empowerment. For example, Toyota Manufacturing is regarded as a leader in lean production.

What are some of the benefits of employee empowerment?
What are some of the disadvantages of employee empowerment?
In your opinion, is employee empowerment a fad or a useful tool? Why?
As a manager, what steps would you take to maximize the effectiveness of teams?

Purchase this Solution
Solution Summary

The expert examines lean production and employee empowerment. The disadvantages of employee empowerment is determined.

Solution Preview

The success and failure of a leader is often found in their ability to empower peers and subordinates to accomplish their daily duties while maintaining a positive work culture. As the question states, many workplaces today possess a very wide mix of generational groups. Before we can review how a leader empowers his or her employees, we must first define empowerment. Though empowerment has many definitions and is often based on the perception of the person asking the question, I define empowerment as the ability to provide purpose, motivation, and direction to peers and employees while maintaining a positive work climate. In saying this, the leader in question must be able to empower employees to the extent that these employees take ownership of the task and require little to no supervision. Leader's ability to empower employees is essential to producing a high level of productivity in accomplishing the organizations objectives.

According to Stephen Covey ...

Purchase this Solution
Free BrainMass Quizzes
Managing the Older Worker

This quiz will let you know some of the basics of dealing with older workers. This is increasingly important for managers and human resource workers as many countries are facing an increase in older people in the workforce

Transformational Leadership

This quiz covers the topic of transformational leadership. Specifically, this quiz covers the theories proposed by James MacGregor Burns and Bernard Bass. Students familiar with transformational leadership should easily be able to answer the questions detailed below.

IPOs

This Quiz is compiled of questions that pertain to IPOs (Initial Public Offerings)

Balance Sheet

The Fundamental Classified Balance Sheet. What to know to make it easy.

SWOT

This quiz will test your understanding of the SWOT analysis, including terms, concepts, uses, advantages, and process.

View More Free Quizzes
Related BrainMass Solutions

  • Lean Manafacturing, Six Sigma, Sociotechnical Manufacturing

    The socio technical design appears to be geared toward empowerment of employees by increasing knowledge level, gaining commitment by providing incorporating both the present employee and the same employee in their future state, supporting the employee

  • Recommendations on Efficiency and Effectiveness of Manufacturing Sub Processes

    This is achieved through Teamwork, Voluntary Activities, Consensus Building, Training, Multi-skilling, Instilling a Sense of Pride, Employee Empowerment and Leadership development.

  • Organizational Development Scenario

    "Employee empowerment [creates a culture]...companies that have an employee empowerment culture usually surge ahead of their competitors and become industry leaders" (Nayab, 2011).

  • Management Theory

    It changed the management in its US plants from a vertical structure to a lean and collaborative culture. Instead of blaming and shaming employees the managers started rewarding the employees.

  • Employee Empowerment and Decision- making

    A manager dedicated to employee empowerment must be willing to give up control of some aspects of work production.

  • Wal-Mart's Motivational Strategies

    Employee empowerment Doughty in his work "Employee Empowerment: Democracy or Delusion" emphasized that employee empowerment is a "therapy".

  • Importance and benefits of lean accounting

    Lean accounting enables increase in production without significant increase in business capital. Further, lean accounting is used to improve employee efficiency.

  • Implementation of JIT/lean system

    Five s (5S): A methodology consisting of five workplace practices namely sorting, straightening, shining, standardizing, and sustaining- that are conducive to visual controls and lean production.

  • Lean Manufacturing

    In some larger companies that don't use lean manufacturing, the amount of waste caused by the normal production process actually takes more than one employee to control, reduce for further use or disposal, etc.

View More Related Solutions