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1. Introduction
The prevailing literature states underlying virtually every Lean failure is the fundamental issue of corporate culture and change management ([3] Bicheno and Holweg, 2009; [2] Atkinson, 2010; [23] Saurin et al. , 2011). The literature dictates that nine of the top ten barriers to change are quoted as being people-related, including poor communications and employee opposition ([21] Ransom, 2008; [16] Lee, 2007; [32] Vinodh and Balaji, 2011 and [26] Shook, 2010). [5] Cocolicchio (2008), [13] Hines et al. (2008) and [7] Dalal (2010) concur that any strategy, regardless of its strengths, will not be accepted if it is outside the bounds of an organisation's culture. The investigation for this article advocates a viable and appropriate change strategy which would improve the potential likelihood of securing successful Lean implementations. It proceeds to advocate preventative actions that British manufacturing organisations should pursue in their efforts to improve their implementation records. The literature ([2] Atkinson, 2010; [13] Hines et al. , 2008; [28] Sim and Rodgers, 2009) dictates that less than 10 per cent of UK organisations have accomplished a successful Lean implementation. The manner in which change is introduced, embraced and tackled is defined by an organisation's culture ([28] Sim and Rodgers, 2009, [29] Singh et al. , 2010).
2. Literature review on lean and change
Every company should discover its own way to implement Lean. There is no universal method that applies to all organisations ([12] Henderson and Larco, 2003; [21] Ransom, 2008). An explicit prerequisite for a Lean enterprise is the need to have a consistent vision ([28] Sim and Rodgers, 2009). This serves as a roadmap to success through the business plan ([34] Womack and Jones, 2005; [1] Albert, 2009). An organisation is required to know where it wants to go (the objective) and how you intend to get there (the plan). Consequently, it is necessary to cascade the top-level strategies into the division, department and finally to individual responsibilities, action plans, quantifiable goals and timeliness ([24] Schonberger, 1996; [11] Haskin, 2010). Before any focus on the Lean techniques it is imperative to achieve a conducive culture; unless the organisation manages to anchor the appropriate behaviours into its culture, the transition is destined to founder ([25] Shah et al. , 2008;...