Lean in higher education

Abstract

PurposeThis research aims to investigate and define the eight wastes of lean philosophy in higher education institutions (HEIs) by proposing a multi-stage model.Design/methodology/approachThe authors have used a specific multi-criteria decision-making method, fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory, to investigate the cause–effect relationships and importance order between criteria for wastes in HEIs. In total, 22 criteria were categorized under eight wastes of lean. The study was implemented in a business school with the participation of faculty members from different departments.FindingsThe results showed that the most important wastes in the business school selected were repeated tasks, unnecessary bureaucracy, errors because of misunderstanding/communication problems, excessive number of academic units and creation of an excessive amount of information. Another important result was that all the sub-wastes of talent were in the causes group, while motion and transportation wastes were in the effect group.Practical implicationsA road map to guide lean transformation for HEIs is proposed with a multi-stage model and potential areas for improvement in HEIs were presented.Originality/valueThis study proposes a multi-stage structure by applying multi-criteria decision-making to HEIs, focussing on wastes from a lean perspective.