Employees performance and Kaizen events success: does supervisor behaviour play a moderating role?

The studys goal was to identify the factors contributing to the practical completion of Kaizen events (KEs). The effect of the work-study mans characteristics, the supervisors conduct and the autonomy of the Kaizen team are analysed in this study. Data were collected from 249 respondents working in the manufacturing sector in India, mainly those who had been involved in Kaizen projects. Three-step procedures, namely, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis and partial least squares, have been applied to test the research hypotheses through structural equational modelling. The exploratory factor analysis extracted in-role performance, creative performance and human aspect as latent variables explaining work-study mans performance (eigenvalue = 1). The studys findings indicate that the performance of work-study man (in-role, creative and human) and supervisors conduct is directly related to the success of KEs. It was shown that supervisors might influence the outcomes of KEs only by moderating the human aspects. Additionally, the degree of autonomy of the Kaizen team was found having a significant positive relationship with the success of KEs.