Contextual factors: assessing their influence on flow or resource efficiency orientations in healthcare lean projects

Abstract

The outcomes of lean projects have been mixed, with some being successful while many others have not. An explanation for this is a paradox that can develop depending on the focus of the project. Ironically, in projects where the focus is on maximizing the efficiency of a resource (‘resource efficiency’), this focus might lead to worsening of the resource’s efficiency, thereby generating an ‘efficiency paradox’. This paradox does not usually arise in projects where the focus is on the subject of interest being processed through the system in the most efficient manner (‘flow efficiency’). The aim of this paper is to investigate the factors that give rise to either form of efficiency. We conduc..