Purpose: The shop-floor organization under lean production (LP) has been hotly debated for about three decades. As this organization concept leaves considerable room for interpretation, the content of lean-inspired changes can vary widely. This paper pleads for a contingency view of how LP is...

The 'fashionable' concept of lean production has been discussed more intensively in Germany than elsewhere in Europe but has resulted not only in rationalisation measures such as downsizing and delayering but also in implementing 'Gruppenarbeit'. Through interpretation processes at different...