The Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework

The Lean philosophy is well-established and known for its continuous improvement approach to operational excellence (Stone, 2012). This global phenomenon has been researched in various directions and sub-categories of Lean. However, the most prevalent fact in research is the low success rates and/or implementation challenges. According to Miina (2012), only about 10% of Lean implementation projects are done successfully, implying that approximately 90% of Lean implementation projects fail due to a multitude of reasons. As a result, several authors have uncovered that misunderstanding Lean is one of the main contributors to the low success rate (Nordin et al., 2012; Bamber and Dale, 2000; Bhasin, 2011; Bonavia and Marin, 2006; Crute et al., 2003; Lee‐Mortimer, 2008; Wong et al., 2009). Moreover, some researchers suggest that cultural differences may also contribute to low success rates due to Lean originating and being deeply rooted in Japanese culture (Melton, 2005; Worley and Doolen, 2006; Danese et al., 2018; Hoogvelt and Yuasa, 1994). To structure future research around this, Ahmad (2013) put forward a framework that depicts the need for cultural adaptations of Lean implementation plans.

Based on the aforementioned, South African researchers have explored the idea of using a native management philosophy, Ubuntu, in correlation with Lean to bridge the gap in cultural differences and mitigate misunderstanding Lean to increase Lean implementation success rates (Mangaroo-Pillay and Coetzee, 2022). Ubuntu is the ancient indigenous African concept of “Humanness” or what it means to be human (Broodryk, 2007; Mangaroo-Pillay and Coetzee, 2022; Karsten and Illa, 2005; Bolden, 2014; Kelly, 2018; Matolino and Kwindingwi, 2013; Mbigi, 1997; Msila, 2015; VA Heerden, 1998; Mangena, 2016; Muxe Nkondo, 2007). This research led to the development of a literature-based framework that allows for the “translation” of Lean concepts into the South African context. As, various South African organisations have low success rates with Lean implementation projects.

In a similar vein, it is worth exploring the cultural adaptions needed for successful Lean leadership implementation. The current South African Lean leadership frameworks focus on specific industries and areas like the supply chain and automotive industry (Msibi, 2019; VA Der Merwe, 2016), with a lack of a general framework for any industry. Moreover, there is a lack of studies on Lean leadership in South Africa since 2020. Ergo, this study aims to delve into the similarities between Lean leadership and Ubuntu leadership to propose a South African Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework.

There is an African proverb that says: “If you want to go fast, go alone, but if you want to go far, go together”. This proverb sheds light on the need for evolved leadership in the 21st century, where it is about how leaders can take their team, department and company to a better place such that they can all succeed together (Balle et al., 2015). Deshwal and Ali (2020) explain that leadership is a process whereby someone makes use of the skillset and know-how to lead and bring a group of employees in the desired direction that is required for their organisation’s goal and objectives to be met. However, Balle et al. (2015) suggest that in today’s fluid hyper-connected world, the aim of leadership is no longer to create a following but rather to develop more leaders. This leans into the idea of Lean leadership, which is employee focused.

The growing Lean body of research shows that to increase Lean implementation success rates, organisations must fully committee to Lean as a cultural transformation, guided by leadership that drives and maintains the change (Aij et al., 2015b; Aij et al., 2015a; Al-Balushi et al., 2014; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014; Ghosh and Sobek II, 2015; Netland et al., 2020; Holmemo et al., 2023; Santos et al., 2024). Lean leadership is a hallmark of the Toyota Production System and is akin to its success in pioneering Lean (Liker and Convis, 2012). Lean leadership is a systematic method for the successful implementation and continuous improvement of Lean philosophy (Liker and Convis, 2012; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013; Santos et al., 2024; Holmemo et al., 2023). Furthermore, it encapsulates the co-operation of employees and leaders in their mutual striving for perfection, which entails a customer focus of all processes and the long-term development of leaders and employees (Liker and Convis, 2012; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014; Dombrowski and Mielke, 2013).

Liker and Convis (2012) explain that leaders must first develop themselves to a certain level before they can take responsibility for developing others and lead the organisation towards achieving challenging goals in the Toyota way. This development of Lean leaders happens in four stages and pivots around the core values of the bedrock of Toyota leadership (Liker and Convis, 2012); this is depicted in the diamond model of Lean leadership development in Figure 1.

Dombrowski and Mielke (2014) built on the work presented in Figure 1 and explained that the missing link between Lean tools and sustainable continuous improvement within organisations is Lean leadership. This led to the development of 15 rules for a sustainable Lean implementation in terms of Lean leadership (Dombrowski and Mielke, 2014). The fundamental principles of Lean leadership and their corresponding rules are illustrated in Figure 2.

From Figure 2, the five principles of Lean leadership can be seen in Blocks A to E, along with their corresponding rules for sustainable Lean implementation. Based on the findings presented in Figure 2, Aij et al. (2015b) conducted a study to provide insight into the attributes and characteristics of effective Lean leaders. While their study was focused on health care, their findings can be generalised to Lean organisations. It was found that the following attributes are needed for each of the Lean leadership principles (Aij et al., 2015b):

• Improvement culture – Task identity, feedback, autonomy, belief in improvement and honesty were identified as attributes of Lean leaders. These emphasise the need for leaders to recognise the importance of involving employees in Lean initiatives, to embrace improvement plans themselves and to honestly recognise failure and see it as an opportunity for improvement.

• Self-development – Show interest, facilitate resources, emotional intelligence, visualising greatness, aware of status and skills were identified as attributes of Lean leaders. Successful Lean leaders are open to developing their own skills and competencies.

• Qualification – Empowerment, trust, communication, clarify, governance and consistency, and fit for purpose were identified as attributes of Lean leaders. This enables leaders to support employees’ development, both individually and collectively.

• Gemba – Care, recognition, engagement, leader-employee relationship, communication and fairness were identified as attributes of Lean leaders. The leader considers the Gemba as the place of learning and action and performs regular Gemba walks publicly with these attributes.

• Hoshin Kanri – Define and provide value, demonstrate Lean principles, communication and role adaption were identified as attributes of Lean leaders. These attributes help the leader to focus on continuous improvement processes and strategic alignment of activities, processes and goals, maintain a customer focus and act within the hierarchical structure of the organisation.

Currently, there are several studies within the Lean leadership research sphere; Table 1 captures a summary of the strengths and weaknesses of some of the frameworks.

Overall, the most prevalent theme of Lean leadership research is the need for co-operation and engagement between workers and leaders in Lean organisations. Furthermore, it is important to remember that Lean should be seen as a cultural transformation that requires buy-in on every level of the organisation.

Ubuntu is the ancient indigenous African concept of “Humanness” or what it means to be human (Broodryk, 2007; Mangaroo-Pillay and Coetzee, 2022; Karsten and Illa, 2005; Bolden, 2014; Kelly, 2018; Matolino and Kwindingwi, 2013; Mbigi, 1997; Msila, 2015; Van Heerden, 1998; Mangena, 2016; Muxe Nkondo, 2007). It is imperative to note that the philosophy was only recently documented in literature in the 1990s. Prior to this, Ubuntu was passed down from generation to generation verbally as the foundation of hope and leadership (Broodryk, 2006a).

While Ubuntu is apparent throughout Africa, it is important to understand that each country has its own undertaking of philosophy, wherein the philosophy slightly differs from country to country (Mangena, 2016; Muxe Nkondo, 2007). In modern day, the Ubuntu philosophy can be found in several African countries like Zimbabwe, South Africa, Mozambique, Zambia, Malawi, Botswana, Ghana, Angola and the democratic Republic of Congo (Mangena, 2016).

Mangaroo-Pillay and Coetzee (2022) explain that: “With South Africa being a melting pot of rich diversity and cultural wealth, it is composed of several cultures and subcultures. In South Africa, the Ubuntu philosophy often governs the way a great deal of the population live their lives. Moreover, some South African cultures may unconsciously exercise Ubuntu principles, even without referring to it by name”.

The crux of the Ubuntu philosophy is summarised in the isiZulu aphorism “umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, which translates to “I am a person through other people” (Broodryk, 2006b). Furthermore, Ubuntu encompasses eight basic values, namely, Broodryk (2006b):

1. Caring – sympathy, appreciation and empathy;

2. Compassion – humanness, human rights, humanity, spontaneity, friendliness and helpfulness;

3. Forgiveness – understanding and consideration;

4. Honesty – good versus bad, norms and openhandedness;

5. Love – kindness, charity, tolerance and peace;

6. Perseverance – strength, commitment and cohesion;

7. Responsibility – respect, obedience, giving unconditionally and sharing; and

8. Self-control – order, dignity, informality, redistribution and spirituality.

The aforementioned core values of Ubuntu transcend into the leadership sphere (Ncube, 2010). Studies explored the values of Ubuntu as a leadership philosophy, placing special emphasis on collectivism and relationships over material things (Ncube, 2010). While there are various definitions of Ubuntu leadership, a fulsome definition is provided in the following quote from Burgess (2017):

In literature, different authors may differ in the principles of Ubuntu leadership; therefore, it is worth analysing the existing body of research on Ubuntu leadership to analyse and synthesise the principles.

To explore the existing body of literature on Ubuntu leadership, a systematic literature review (SLR) was conducted. This SLR took the form of a scoping review, thus allowing for the scoping of various studies to analyse and collate the principles of Ubuntu leadership. Due to the limited literature on Ubuntu leadership, an SLR was the best way to ensure that all the existing literature was reviewed, thereby not missing a relevant study with a traditional literature review. The SLR methodology suggested by Albliwi et al. (2014) was used and is detailed as follows:

• Step 1: Develop a research purpose and/or objective – clearly state the goal of the SLR.

• Step 2: Develop research protocol – create a research protocol that includes the purpose, inclusion criteria, exclusion criteria, databases, keywords and quality assessment criteria.

• Step 3: Establish relevance criteria – state the reasoning for if a resource is relevant to this study.

• Step 4: Search and retrieve the literature – conduct searches on applicable scientific databases to find literature.

• Step 5: Selection of studies – use the inclusion and exclusion criteria to select studies.

• Step 6: Quality assessment for relevant studies – assess the quality of each paper.

• Step 7: Data extraction – extract relevant information from the papers.

• Step 8: Analysis and synthesis of findings – analyse and synthesise the data from the papers to find themes and patterns.

• Step 9: Report – report the review in detailed results.

• Step 10: Dissemination – publish the SLR.

The outcomes of Steps 1 to 6 are captured in sub-section 3.1–3.6, while Steps 7 to 8 are in Section 4.1 and 4.2, respectively (as they are the findings of the study). Steps 9 and 10 are addressed by documenting and publishing this study.

The purpose of this research is to investigate the available literature on Ubuntu leadership, to extract and collate the principles of Ubuntu leadership.

Table 2 depicts the research protocol, which includes the purpose of the study, along with the inclusion and exclusion criteria to mitigate researcher bias. The table also encapsulates the databases searched, along with the keywords and quality assessment criteria. It is important to note that the search was not time bound and included studies up till February 2024 when the search was conducted. Additionally, to find Lean studies with a focus on leadership, business and engineering, the databases in Table 2 were selected.

To leave room for as many studies to be included as possible, it is important to have very specific relevance criteria (Albliwi et al., 2014). Thus, to keep the search as wide as possible and due to the limited pool of literature, the only inclusion criteria was that studies should discuss the principles.

The search and retrieval process is documented in the “identification” section of Figure 3, which shows the relevant database search results for the keywords. In total, 41 studies were the result over the six databases.

After removing duplicates and non-publications (retraction notices), 28 studies remained for evaluation of their abstracts. Figure 3’s ‘screening’ and ‘Eligibility’ sections showcase the outcome of this step. Studies were excluded for the following reasons:

• Some studies did not discuss the principles or definitions of Ubuntu management.

• Some studies confused Afrocentric and servant leadership styles with Ubuntu leadership.

• Some studies had a religious take.

• Some studies had a specific focus on feminism.

• Some studies were focused on education and political leadership.

The quality assessment was conducted on each of the publications by reading the full texts. Ergo, ten research publications were selected for inclusion in the SLR, as depicted in Figure 3’s “Inclusion” section.

The findings of the study are from part of Steps 7 and 8. These two steps are discussed in Sections 4.1 and 4.2, respectively.

Once the list of publications was finalised and their full texts studied, a summary of the leadership principles mentioned was captured. Thereafter, themes started to emerge from the occurrence of Ubuntu leadership principles and were marked down with an X. The titles, author and year, Ubuntu leadership principles and the emerged themes are captured in Table 3.

From Table 2, the following subsection captures the analysis and synthesis of the findings.

The majority of the publications found mention Nelson Mandela as the paragon of an Ubuntu leader, as he had demonstrated the values of Ubuntu through his recognition of the value of all people. All the studies agree that Ubuntu leadership is about communality, interconnectedness and serving the community at large. Ubalijoro and Lee (2022) state that leaders should let go of blame and ego to be open to interdependence, shared responsibility and interconnection. Setlhodi (2019) explained that an Ubuntu leader needs to be ready to cultivate African solutions that people can relate to solve their problems. Furthermore, the study found that the responsibility of Ubuntu leadership and shared values denote the genealogy of African practices (Setlhodi, 2019).

Additionally, Muller et al. (2019) found that Ubuntu leadership is posited to positively influence organisational performance by increasing employee engagement. Cultural and racial transformation of organisations is a key concern in South African organisations; Van der Colff (2003) explains that Ubuntu leadership could be integrated into an organisation to enable the leadership to dismantle the past organisational culture, thereby promoting the development of a new inclusive culture. To move South Africa forward in the technological era, it is suggested that Ubuntu leadership might manifest well within the 21st century’s Industry 4.0 context, as Ubuntu leaders are to be change drivers (Elkington, 2020). Ubalijoro and Lee (2022) agree, stating that by using Moore’s Law, technologies are reaching the remotest parts of Africa, thereby harnessing Africa’s capacity for technological leap-frogging.

From the 10 publications examined in the SLR, the common Ubuntu leadership principles were identified from the themes and patterns of converging data. Furthermore, many authors cautioned readers to be aware of servant leadership and Afrocentric leadership, which are similar to Ubuntu leadership but not the same.

The common Ubuntu leadership principles found are:

• Believe in collective responsibility – Leaders must believe in and practice the responsibility of the collective (the community, organisation and so forth). It is important that leaders exhibit care, tolerance, compassion and selflessness when doing this.

• Exercise collective decision-making – Leaders must consult team members before making decisions, especially if it affects them. It is important that leaders modify plans to include team members’ suggestions and address their concerns. It is essential for leaders to delegate responsibility and authority to team members for important tasks and decisions. Thus, trusting members to make decisions.

• Serve the community – Leaders must remember to serve the community at large (be it the organisation or team). Leaders must think of the greater good and encourage team member to do the same.

• Drive change – Leaders must have a strong personality to drive needed changes while getting buy-in from other team members. It is essential for an organisation and team members to grow, develop and improve continuously.

• Exercise compassion and respect – Leaders need to remember the saying that underpins the Ubuntu philosophy: “I am a person through other people”, which implies that we are all interconnected. Ergo, leaders must approach team members with compassion and understanding about their situations while showing them mutual respect at all times.

• Practice shared development – Leaders must ensure that their skills are developing constantly. And, just as they have been uplifted and developed, they too must uplift and develop the team members. Leaders must understand that if everyone has an opportunity to improve, the whole community will improve in turn.

• Value people – Leaders must see the value in each and every one of their team members. Leaders must view the purpose of a business as the promotion of harmonious relationships with stakeholders, especially with employees, and not solely profit maximisation.

• Display loyalty – Leaders must be faithful to and trusting of their team members and the organisation. They must exercise and live the organisational values and the core values of Ubuntu.

• Demonstrate reconciliation for conflict management – Leaders must try to keep the team harmonious at all times. Within the Ubuntu philosophy, this implies that leaders must encourage team members to discuss their challenges and disagreements with each other to find common ground.

• Be transparent and opened – Leaders must exercise transparency, honesty and curiosity to encourage ideas and initiatives more than criticism towards team members.

• Support interconnectedness – Leaders must understand that their community is inextricably bound together in Ubuntu. Implying that their actions and decisions will affect the organisation and team.

• Encourage employee development – Leaders must encourage team members to develop their skills and uplift them, for if the whole team improves, the whole organisation (community) can benefit from it.

• Elevate employee performance – Leaders must be given the opportunity to evaluate team member performance, to identify their skills and possible opportunities for development.

• Demonstrate enthusiasm or optimism – Leaders must create a positive and encouraging workspace for team members; this can be achieved by demonstrating enthusiasm and optimism.

Lean leadership principles and Ubuntu leadership principles have similar ideas, such as the importance of people (team members), improvement, development and decision-making. From the data extracted during the SLR, Ubuntu leadership principles (Section 4.2.2) were compared to Lean leadership principles (Section 2.1); this is captured in Table 3. While there were several correlations between the principles, it was also noted that they were variations, as each leadership style has teachings that are uniquely theirs. These variations are present in Table 4, such as a few Ubuntu principles that did not have corresponding Lean principles, this is presented in the last row of the table. Moreover, it was noted that some Lean principles did not have enough detail covered when matched with a corresponding Ubuntu principle. More specifically, for improvement culture, Lean teaches that failure should be viewed as a possibility to improve; Ubuntu does not cover this sufficiently. Additionally, for Hoshin Kanri, Lean emphasises demonstrating Lean philosophy principles, communicating well and practicing role adaptation; Ubuntu principles do not cover this sufficiently.

Given the correlations and variations between Lean leadership principles and Ubuntu leadership principles (Table 4), the following set of Lean–Ubuntu leadership principles were established to combine the principles of both leadership styles:

• Humanness – Leaders must always remember to support interconnectedness and serve the community.

• Improvement culture – Leaders must continuously strive for perfection in the workplace. This is enhanced by driving change, believing in collective responsibility and being transparent and opened with the team. Additionally, leaders must remind team members that failure is a possibility to improve.

• Self-development – Leaders must ensure that they are role models for the organisation. This is enhanced by driving change, being enthusiastic and optimistic, as well as practising shared development to upskill themselves and the team.

• Qualification – Leaders must focus on the long-term development of employees and ensure continuous learning takes place. This is enhanced by practising shared development, encouraging employee development and evaluating employee performance to identify opportunities for learning.

• Gemba – Leaders must view the Gemba as a place for learning from their team. Leaders must allow the team to collectively make decisions based on their first-hand experience and knowledge. This is enhanced by exercising respect and compassion by truly valuing team members and displaying loyalty to their team.

• Hoshin Kanri – Leaders must align customer focus and organisational goals on all levels. Leaders must demonstrate the Lean philosophy principles and demonstrate role adaptation. This is enhanced by driving change in alignment with the goals of the team.

As discussed in the introduction (Section 1), several authors have found that misunderstanding Lean is one of the main contributors to the low success rate (Nordin et al., 2012; Bamber and Dale, 2000; Bhasin, 2011; Bonavia and Marin, 2006; Crute et al., 2003; Lee‐Mortimer, 2008; Wong et al., 2009). Moreover, some researchers suggest that cultural differences also contribute to low success rates due to Lean originating and being deeply rooted in Japanese culture (Melton, 2005; Worley and Doolen, 2006; Danese et al., 2018; Hoogvelt and Yuasa, 1994). To execute future research around this, Ahmad (2013) put forward a framework that illustrates the need for cultural adaptations of Lean implementation plans.

To address this problem of low Lean success rates and the need for cultural adaptations of Lean implementation strategies, the Lean–Ubuntu leadership principles were used to develop the Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework (Figure 4). This framework is a literature-based framework that provides guidance to organisations wanting to implement Lean leadership in the South African context, by using Ubuntu as a bridge in understanding the cultural differences in leadership styles from the East (Japan).

Guidance in framework design from Aalbregtse et al. (1991) and Anand and Kodali (2009) was used to design the Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework, specifically that a framework must:

• depict an outline of a philosophy;

• communicate a change process that should be adopted to achieve a new vision; and

• compel different parties within an organisation to address a substantial list of key issues.

The Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework was engineering in the form of an African drum, with the Lean–Ubuntu leader being the drumbeat of the organisation culture. In a similar vein to the Lean leadership house framework (Figure 2) and to stay to true to the Lean philosophy, the new framework uses a similar structure. The foundation of the Lean–Ubuntu framework is humanness, a teaching that underpins the Ubuntu philosophy and the South African Culture. The base of the drum is improvement culture, strongly rooted at the base of this framework and in the foundation of the Lean framework (Figure 2).

The neck of the drum is self-development to symbolise how leaders cannot hold up the team without developing themselves first. The top hull of the drum is made up of qualification and Gemba, as they are seen as equal pillars in the Lean leadership model. And finally, the very top of the drum is Hoshin Kanri, as it is always part of the final steps in the Lean philosophy. Furthermore, the Lean–Ubuntu leadership model incorporates both the correlations and variations in the leadership styles, as discussed in Table 4.

The framework in Figure 4 can be used to guide South African leaders in Lean organisation to understand how to fit the Lean philosophy within the local context. The framework takes into consideration that the foundation of successful relationships (leadership) is humanness. Lean leaders will be able to harness the power of Ubuntu (a common ground for South Africans) to embody leadership qualities that encompass both Lean and Ubuntu. This will make Lean leaders more appealing to employees, which means they are more likely to listen to what the Lean leaders have to say. This acts as a bridge for the gaps in misunderstandings of Lean leadership principles and increases the chance of buy-in from employees during Lean implementation projects.

Lean implementation projects have a low success rate due to various reasons like misunderstanding Lean and cultural difference in implementing Lean outside of Japan. Researchers suggested creating a cultural adaptation of Lean for an improved buy-in of employees and high success rates during Lean implementations.

Taking inspiration from the work of Mangaroo-Pillay and Coetzee (2022) on the comparison between the management styles of Lean and Ubuntu, this study aimed to delve into the similarities between Lean leadership and Ubuntu leadership to propose a South African Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework. This led to the development of the framework presented in Figure 4, using a SLR to collect data. The connections between these management styles are evident from their similar ideas of the importance of people (team members), improvement, development and decision-making. However, several variations between the two styles were noted. As to not dilute either of their teaching, the designed framework was an amalgamation of the principles of both styles.

By using this leadership framework, South African organisations will be able to bridge the gaps in misunderstandings of Lean leadership principles and have a better chance of buy-in from employees during Lean implementation.

This study focused on the development of a literature-based framework; however, it is recommended that future studies validate the model by practical implementation in South African organisations. Additionally, this framework is limited to a South African cultural adaptation of Lean leadership; it is suggested that future studies explore other cultural adaptations in other countries.

This study focused on the conceptualisation and design of the Lean–Ubuntu leadership framework. The theoretical implications of the framework include improved Lean implementation success rates in South Africa, as it provides a customised approach to Lean leadership in the local context. It also introduces a new leadership style by combining elements of Ubuntu leadership and Lean leadership.

Due to the theoretical nature of this study, it is not known what the practical implementation of this framework does to the organisational culture. However, it creates the opportunity for leadership that is more inclusive of diverse cultures in the South African environment. It also fosters the climate for enhancing employee buy-in during implementations.

Both Ubuntu and Lean philosophies teach the importance of people and team members; by using this framework, organisations have a better opportunity to engage with employees and help them better understand Lean during the implementation stages and bridging the gap to a brighter South Africa.