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TQM
35,8 The integration of lean and human
resource management practices
as an enabler for lean deployment
2598 –a systematic literature review
Received 20 December 2022 Kamalpreet Kaur Paposa
Revised 24 December 2022
Accepted 24 December 2022 Mittal School of Business, Lovely Professional University, Phagwara, India
Prachi Thakur
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, India
Jiju Antony
Industrial and Systems Engineering, Khalifa University of Science and Technology,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
Olivia McDermott
College of Science and Engineering, University of Galway, Galway, Ireland, and
Jose Arturo Garza-Reyes
Centre for Supply Chain Improvement, Derby Business School,
The University of Derby, Derby, UK

Abstract
Purpose – The current research aims to map and investigate how human resource management and lean
practices can be integrated. This investigation will help identify the HRM aspects critical in the success of lean
initiatives while exploring the research gaps in the existing literature. The review also aims to delineate the
benefits and challenges of integrating lean with HRM systems to discuss further research and practice areas.
Design/methodology/approach – This study utilizes a systematic literature review method to identify and
synthesize the existing literature. As part of the process, a protocol that provided a plan for the review was
followed, including the research questions and the data to be extracted.
Findings – The study results indicate that aspects of HRM practice and policies such as training and development,
teamwork, motivation, communication, leadership, are key enablers of lean initiative deployment and success.
The benefits of the integration of human resources with lean can help in lean training and development,
communication of lean initiatives and successes, allocating and hiring continuous improvement personnel, and
supporting leadership in lean deployment. Challenges to integrating lean and HRM practices included lack of
integration and collaboration between disciplines. Further exploration areas in successful lean deployment would be
practical longitudinal case studies on lean deployments with human resource (HR) partnerships and involvement.
Practical implications – This review paper has crucial implications for practice relating to, integration of lean with
HRM structures and tailoring HRM initiatives to ensure the success of lean deployment and reduce risks of failure.
Originality/value – The systematic literature review study conducted in this paper is the first of its kind to
integrate and map the HRM concepts that can be integrated with Lean to deploy the initiative successfully.
This mapping is critical for ensuring the success of lean methodologies within an organization and paves the
way for future research. In addition, managers and organizations can find support and guidance from this
study to focus on vital areas of partnership between their lean and HR programs.
Keywords Lean management, Workforce management, Human resource management,
Human related lean practices
Paper type Literature review

The TQM Journal 1. Introduction

Vol. 35 No. 8, 2023
pp. 2598-2620
Enormous changes are being experienced by the global economy and industries concerning
© Emerald Publishing Limited
1754-2731
technological disruption, expedited development, market structures and changing
DOI 10.1108/TQM-12-2022-0355 government policies (Elrehail et al., 2020). Increased competitiveness among organizations
in all sectors has created an urge to improve operational efficiencies to gain a competitive The
advantage as a key driver to stay ahead in business (Antony et al., 2019; Vashishth et al., integration of
2019). One of the most widely adopted quality initiatives is lean management (LM) (Altria
et al., 2009). LM is one of the most widely accepted management styles deployed globally to
lean and HRM
improve business performances (Antony et al., 2020). LM is a strategy to identify business
problems continuously and search for better solutions through standardization and
simplification of work processes (Shin and Alam, 2020). Thus, lean is an essential
continuous quality improvement (CQI) process that organizations can leverage in a volatile, 2599
uncertain, complex and ambiguous (VUCA) environment. A multitude of research work and
attention has been focused on LM and process-oriented improvement; however, the human
and people aspect of such practices must also be focused on. More emphasis on human
resource management (HRM) in the context of its relationship to lean is an influential research
agenda (Gao and Low, 2015). It has been shown that when transitioning to lean practices that
HR can help facilitate this process by employing HRM practices (Gollan et al., 2015).
Lean principles are based on models developed from years of experience, and this entire
process of continuous improvement requires the involvement and engagement of people at
the grassroots level (Sparrow and Otaye-Ebede, 2014). Keeping the people concept in mind,
Moyano-Fuentes and Sacrist
an-D
ıaz (2012) define LM as a summation of all employees’
practices and their underlying thinking patterns in everyday behavior. True lean
manufacturing principles encourage every individual to continuously improve value-
generating activities and exclude nonvalue generation activities leading to increased
efficiency. Respect for people is a core concept within lean, as is the concept of involving
everyone from all levels of the organization. Indeed the 8th waste in Lean has been identified
as “under-utilization of employee skillset” (Womack and Jones, 1997).
Consequently, the involvement of an HR department in a lean deployment is crucial to the
success of a lean program. Furthermore, LM can only be successfully practiced in an
organization by carefully attending to the various HR issues (Sohal et al., 1993). Over time
there have been numerous research works on the human variable effect on the success of lean
(Bonavia and Marin-Garcia, 2011). Research by (Mart
ınez-Jurado et al., 2013) identifies the
effect of HRM practices that leads to cultural changes while adopting LM. The study stated
that various HR practices like training, communication, rewards, job design and work
organization play an important role during LP (Lean practices) adoption. However, the other
aspects and practices of HRM like leadership, mentoring, development, career management,
recruitment and selection, performance appraisal were rarely considered. Moreover, the
study is limited to the aeronautical industry only.
Similarly, a study by (Tortorella and Fogliatto, 2014) integrates HRM, organizational
learning and lean. The case study method was applied as the research was limited to a single
manufacturer located in Brazil. The study’s major strength was that it considered 15 sets of
HRM practices at the individual, team and organizational levels. In a recent study
(Wickramasinghe and Wickramasinghe, 2020) on Srilanka’s manufacturing firms, a model
was proposed and tested to see the effect of HRM practices on lean production practices,
which affect organizational and firm performance. The study recommended that HRM
practices strongly influence lean production and thus affect overall performance. However,
the study focused upon only those HRM practices which are already implemented but did not
include the HRM practices that are not being implemented fairly.
Much current research considers HRM as a bundle of lean and not a separate set of
activities that affect lean (Al-Hyari, 2020; Furlan et al., 2011). Few studies have been identified
which exclusively examines the effect of HRM on lean (Hernandez-Matias et al., 2019;
Moyano-Fuentes and Sacrist
an-D
ıaz, 2012; Tortorella and Fogliatto, 2014). However, these
studies are limited to a particular sector or industry or a particular set of HR practices. The
study of (Tortorella and Fogliatto, 2014) instilled a method to guide the adoption of HRM
TQM practices for better lean implementation. It stated that in the future, researchers need to collect
35,8 data to verify the impact of the evolution of HRM practices on an organization’s performance
indicators during lean implementation. It is crucial to extend the research work on the
instigation of HRM and lean for all these reasons. It is necessary to identify the various HRM
practices to be adopted at the organizational level and see how these practices can be
integrated with lean-to embark a lean culture for enhanced organizational performance.
Keeping this in mind, the present study aims to synthesize the lean literature by mapping it
2600 with HRM. Supporting these strong imperatives, the research will present the progression of
LM and HRM practices throughout the years by answering the following research questions.
RQ1. How has the research on LM and integration with HR practices progressed through
the years in terms of time and industry perspectives?
RQ2. What are the prominent LM practices which can be integrated with HRM?
RQ3. What driving factors can motivate HR Managers to integrate LM and HRM
methods?
RQ4. What are the benefits, critical success factors and challenges in applying HRM
principles and practices to LM deployment?
RQ5. What are the key gaps which need to be addressed in the LM-HRM
integration field?
In line with the objectives mentioned above, our contribution identifies various HRM
practices and LM practices that can be integrated and the driving factors that necessitate this
integration. Synthesis of existing literature also helps us mention the benefits and challenges
of lean and HRM integration. It helps understand how HRM be deployed and integrated into
LM, thus helping HRM practitioners and managers rethink HR policies in line with lean
deployments. Finally, it also helps us set a research agenda for future studies in LM.
The study is organized as follows: the introduction highlighting the need for the study and
research objectives followed by a discussion of review methodology. The review findings
follow the methodology and are succeeded by discussion and implications. The last section
concludes the study by determining the research gaps, limitations of the current research
work and future research opportunities within this study area.

2. Methodology
The wide availability of literature on both key concepts of the present study, i.e. LM and
HRM, makes it challenging to locate, summarize and synthesize the research and implicate it
in practice (Psomas and Antony, 2019; Samuel et al., 2015; Yadav et al., 2017). Therefore, a
systematic quantitative literature review (SQLR) process was adopted to achieve the
objectives, and the present study aims to identify and map the research carried out on the
intersection of LM and HRM. An SQLR differs from traditional literature review methods of
meta-analyses and narrative reviews on multiple aspects. Firstly, the emphasis on the
systematic process of literature search, extraction and synthesis is higher in SQLRs than in
other forms of review, making the work more scientific and replicable (Tranfield et al., 2003;
Yang et al., 2017). Flowcharts are a critical part of SQLRs that enhance review transparency
(Petticrew and Roberts, 2006; Yang et al., 2017). We have adopted a system flowchart
designed utilizing Lucid software for this work, as outlined in Figure 1. Adopting a
systematic flowchart assists future researchers in replicating and implication of the research
findings (Petticrew and Roberts, 2006). Besides, SQLR is recommended when the area under
study is interdisciplinary and conducted in different settings using various research designs
(Pickering and Byrne, 2014). Given the research objective of this research in reviewing all the
 The
integration of
lean and HRM

2601

Figure 1.
Flowchart
demonstrating
selection process of the
articles

available literature to identify the role of HRM practices in LM, the nature of the intersection
of fields becomes multi- and interdisciplinary; therefore, an SQLR was deemed the most
appropriate synthesis tool.

2.1 Phase I: planning the review process

After identifying the need to conduct a literature review, a review team was formed to plan
the review protocol and its execution (Tranfield et al., 2003). The meetings also included
formulating the research questions to best meet the research objectives after discussing and
identifying various concurrent dialogs.
Scopus database by Elsevier provides two critical benefits in the review process: (1) the vast
multidisciplinary repository of the database allows the expansion of search area; (2) database’s
predetermined selection and filtration options (language, subject, year of publication) allow
automation of the filtration process while making it time-efficient (Pham et al., 2021; Thakur
et al., 2021). Therefore, Scopus was selected for the literature search and, only peer-reviewed
academic publications were included, excluding books, project reports, teaching cases, editorial
notes, conference papers and unsubstantiated gray literature at the preliminary stage of the
search process (Psomas and Antony, 2019). Furthermore, from the myriad of conceptual,
TQM descriptive and exploratory articles screened, literature reviews and meta-analyses were
35,8 excluded from the review to avoid the repetition of information (Fischl et al., 2014).
The time frame for the review was limited to the past decade on reviewing previous
studies, which have recommended that researchers analyze more recent research to delineate
the emerging trends in the selected field under study (Sadeghi Moghadam et al., 2021).
This selection is also justified because the number of research articles in LM has increased
substantially after 2010 (Erthal and Marques, 2018; Henao et al., 2019; Samuel et al., 2015).
2602 Search terms for the review included the following: LM, six sigma, quality management (QM),
HRM and workforce management. To ensure any relevant articles were not excluded, a
second review of the abstracts and titles of the excluded articles was carried out.

2.2 Phase II – conducting the review

The second step in the review process included constructing search strings based on the
search terms identified by the review team in the primary stage. For example, a sample search
string was [“Human Resource Management”] AND [“Lean”]. An initial search using the
selected strings in Scopus database resulted in 252 articles. In the multilevel screening
process, primary screening involved examining the title, abstract and keyword; secondary
screening included full-body relevance examination followed by the tertiary screening of
matching the remaining articles against the inclusion and exclusion criteria to include only
the highest quality articles (Psomas and Antony, 2019). Articles that did not align with the
review aims were excluded at each step, resulting in a final 56 articles selected for review and
synthesis (Figure 1). The complete process of article selection, screening and removal was
overseen by the review team, and any disputes regarding inclusion or exclusion of any article
were addressed and resolved during the review meetings (Tranfield et al., 2003).
Bibliographic information was downloaded from Scopus with additions of keywords from
the full text included manually for the comprehensive overview. The addition of benefits and
challenges in adopting HRM initiatives within LM initiatives was suggested to be also entered
as a keyword search based on other similar works carried out by (Psomas and Antony, 2019).

2.3 Phase III – reporting and dissemination of findings

Following the guidelines of recent reviews in LM (Antony et al., 2020; Psomas and Antony,
2019), the present state of research, an in-depth synthesis and future research agenda are
presented in the following section. This presentation and reporting will help map the growth
within the LM and HRM field and areas to work on, both for academics and practitioners
working in these fields.

3. Classification and analysis

After a detailed process of article review and selection, the finalized articles were subjected to
critical evaluation and analysis. In order to analyze the selected articles bibliometric tools
were applied (Donthu et al., 2020). Bibliometric analysis applies statistical methods to identify
the qualitative and quantitative changes in the given field of scientific study by establishing
the profile of publications in the study area and recognize tendencies within a discipline
(Rey-Mart
ı et al., 2016). A web application named biblioshiny under the R package (Aria and
Cuccurullo, 2017) was used to perform bibliometric analysis which includes descriptive and
relational analysis related to the study area (Paposa and Paposa, 2022).

3.1 Descriptive analysis

Descriptive analysis denotes the current research trends on the integration of LM and HRM.
In this study, various descriptive analysis indicators like the total number of publications,
citations per publications, sources of publications, annual scientific production, country The
scientific production, type of research article and research methods employed, and finally, the integration of
word cloud with the key indicators are presented.
3.1.1 Number of published papers in leading journals. In line with previous studies (Antony
lean and HRM
et al., 2020; Bhamu and Sangwan, 2014; Psomas and Antony, 2019), the reviewed articles’
distribution based on the journals they published is presented in Figure 2.
3.1.2 Number of published papers in the last decade. Figure 3 shows the number of articles
published in the last decade. It is clear from the results that most articles <40% were published 2603
in the last two years alone. The frequency of the year of publication helps ascertain the stages of
the history of the current research context (Danvila-del-Valle et al., 2019). Thus, from Figure 3,
light can be shed on how the research on LM practices in conjunction with HRM has progressed
in the last decade. It also signifies the rising importance of the human side of QM.
3.1.3 Number of published papers country-wise. The countries with the highest number of
studies from the selection are Spain (21), the United States of America (USA) (12), Iran (10),
Jordan (9) and India (9), as depicted in Figure 4.

Figure 2.
Journals with
publications on HRM
and LM

Figure 3.
Articles on HRM and
LM per year
TQM Country Scientific Production
35,8

2604

N. Documents
21
6
4
2
1
Figure 4.
Country-wise scientific
production

3.1.4 Distribution as per research methodology. Figure 5 demonstrates the research

methodology of the selected articles, and it is apparent that the majority were quantitative
studies (38; 68%) followed by qualitative ones (12; 21%). Only a handful of studies from the
selection used mixed method research (6; 10%). Questionnaires and surveys were popular data
collection tools in quantitative studies, while authors for qualitative studies used a myriad of
data collection tools, including personal interviews, documentary analysis, literature reviews
and documentaries. The vast majority of the selected articles were empirical (42; 75%), followed
by case studies (10; 18%) and conceptual studies (4; 7%), as demonstrated in Figure 6.
3.1.5 Most globally cited documents. Citation analysis on the selected articles is performed on
the assertion that authors cite a document only when considered significant for the research
purpose (Danvila-del-Valle et al., 2019). It signifies which publications and what type of research
have influenced the literature related research variables (de Bakker et al., 2005). Figure 7 gives a
graphical representation of the frequency distribution of the most globally cited documents on
the research topic. According to the top-cited author from the selection, LM and HRM help
achieve organizational performance through environmental management (EM) (Jabbour et al.,
2013). However, LM has a more substantial influence and significance on EM than HRM. The
second highest cited article was by (Furlan et al., 2011) and stated that companies need to
recognize the fundamental role of HRM in successfully implementing lean practices in the
organization. The article stated that managers need to ensure that people at every level are
wholly involved and highly committed to successfully implementing a lean philosophy and
making lean bundles (like JIT (Just in Time) and TQM (Total Quality Management)) the
backbone of the company’s operations.

Quantative Qualitative Mixed Method

11%
21%

68%
Figure 5.
Research methodology
wise distribution
3.1.6 Most frequently used author keywords. The word cloud is depicted in Figure 8. It The
highlights the most frequently utilized author keywords in the selected works. The word’s size integration of
and centrality in the cloud represent its relative prominence in terms of the respective theme
(Baker et al., 2021). The main keywords that appear include QM, training, communication, lean
lean and HRM

Empirical Case studies Conceptual

2605
7%
18%

75%
Figure 6.
Research article wise
distribution

Figure 7.
Most globally cited
research articles

Figure 8.
Word cloud generated
from selected
keywords
TQM production, employee involvement, HRM, lean production, just in time, lean manufacturing, top
35,8 management commitment and operational performance. It can also be stated that most of the
studies predominantly revolve around the manufacturing sector or the production industry.
3.1.7 Relational analysis. The relational analysis is a widely used technique for studying a
discipline’s semantic and conceptual structure. The tools and indicators of relational analysis
help study the level of complexity and identify the intellectual and social structures of the
field. Thus, relational analysis helps discover the relationships among the published research
2606 articles through their citation, author, author’s affiliation and keyword to conduct co-
occurrence analysis (Koseoglu et al., 2016). The various indicators of relational analysis
include co-citation analysis, co-word analysis, co-authorship analysis and bibliographic
coupling. In addition, various indicators like conceptual structures through factorial analysis,
co-occurrence networks and thematic maps are indicators for the present study.
3.1.8 Conceptual structure through factorial network from author keyword. Figure 9
highlights the essential factors from all the extracted and selected research work. It can be
seen that two factors have emerged prominently. The first one is depicted in red, which shows
lean and HRM practices. Secondly, the blue color depicts various outcomes like leanness,
operational excellence, waste reduction and supplier involvement.
3.1.9 Conceptual structure through co-occurrence network from author keywords. The
conceptual structure shows mainly three clusters – HRM, total QM and training (Figure 10).
When taken in conjunction with LM, it can be interpreted that HRM will improve operational
performance and quality.
3.1.10 Conceptual structure through thematic map from author keywords. Thematic
mapping helps identify the four different typologies of research themes depicting their
importance and development (della Corte et al., 2019). Figure 11 represents a thematic map
based on density (y-axis) and centrality (x-axis). Density measures the development of chosen
research theme, and centrality measures the importance of the research theme. Thus, the
graph is divided into four different parts. Author keywords have been taken as an input to the
query to thematic map.

Figure 9.
Conceptual structure
through factorial
network
 The
integration of
lean and HRM

2607

Figure 10.
Conceptual structure
through co-occurrence
network

Figure 11.
Conceptual structure
through thematic map

(1) Themes that appear in the lower-left quadrant are the emerging or declining themes.
These themes can either be emerging themes or were themes that have dropped off
from the research area. There is no such keyword from this study under this theme,
suggesting a dearth of research. This conclusion is backed up by the fact that just
under 40% of the research published in this area has been published in the last two
years alone (see Figure 2).
(2) Themes that appear at the lower right quadrant are the primary or transversal themes.
These themes represent low density but high centrality, indicating the high
frequency of research done on these areas. It includes HRM and QM. However,
TQM training has some parts in basic themes and some under motor themes indicate its
35,8 high relevance and importance. From the thematic map, it can be observed that the
construct HRM and TQM are intersecting at a point depicting some common areas of
research. It signifies the importance of the two constructs taken together and their
colossal scope within the study field.
(3) Themes that appear in the upper right quadrant are named motor themes which are
2608 developed and essential. It includes customer focus, operational performance and lean
production. This SLR (Systematic Literature Review) backs up developing themes as
many of the articles selected focus on LM and its benefits to operational performance.
(4) Themes that appear in the upper left quadrant represent high density but low
centrality. These themes are highly developed but isolated. For example, it includes
employee job competencies, job security and culture, which are HR practices that
have a bearing on the success of LM but are not explored in the literature.

4. Research findings
This section presents the critical findings regarding HR and lean aspects identified from the
selected articles. It also highlights the benefits, motivations and challenges of blending the
organization’s HR with its lean aspects. Moreover, it sheds light on the prominent lean principles
and the roles of employee and HR initiatives to implement lean initiatives successfully.

4.1 Key HRM aspects discussed in the literature

The various HR aspects were identified from the selected articles, and it can be observed that
HRM practices like training and development, communication, management and leadership,
motivation and teamwork play a crucial role in lean and initiatives (Figure 12).

4.2 Key lean aspects discussed in the literature

Figure 13 showcases various lean initiatives identified from the selected review papers and
shows that LM and TQM/CQI were by far the most utilized aspects discussed in the literature
to represent lean.

4.3 Benefits of implementing HRM and lean practices

The success of lean practices hugely relies upon humans’ ability to recognize, understand and
resolve complex industrial problems. Additionally, these practices are based upon systematic
and continuous improvement of business processes, and to do so, humans employed in the
company must be embedded entirely with all the systems and processes with maximum
speed. Implementing lean practices with a blend of HRM practices indicates a significant
surge in job autonomy, job satisfaction and operational performance (Vukadinovic et al.,
2019). Additionally, HRM practices are essential determinants in implementing LM. If a firm
exploited (developed, instituted and implemented) HRM practices to their highest potential
over time, it might create a production system that yields the highest performance through
incremental improvement (Wickramasinghe and Wickramasinghe, 2020).

4.4 Motivating factors for blending HRM and LM

After an intense analysis of all the selected articles, the various motivating factors that enable
an organization to integrate HRM with LM have been listed in Figure 14. The motivating
factors have been divided into three main categories: organisational, employees and
customers, depending upon how it contributes to these stakeholders.
 The
integration of
lean and HRM

2609

Figure 12.
Different HRM aspects
discussed in selected
literature

Figure 13.
Different LM aspects
discussed within the
selected articles

4.5 Principles of LM, associated employee roles and HR initiatives

An attempt has been made to identify the employee role and HR initiatives required to
implement LM. It is a step towards total QM of an organization wherein the management
develops a corporate culture characterized by increased customer satisfaction through
continuous improvement in which the firm’s employees continuously participate.
TQM •Achievement of company goals
35,8 •Stability in production, Optimum inventory
level & Smoother supply chain
•Cost reduction & Greater use of resources
•Employee retention
•Enhanced organizational learning
Organisation •Growth of overall sales, profit & market
2610 share
•Higher Customer Loyalty & Sustainable
competitive advantage
•Increased efficiency, quality & productivity
•Increased maufacturing , environmental &
organizational performance

•Problem solving
•Foster employee skills
Employees •Employee motivation
•Greater flexibility
•Lesser labour efforts

•Timely supplies
Figure 14. •Shorther delivery time
Motivating factors for Customers •Better Service Quality
integration of HRM •Better quality product
and LM
•Customer satisfa

4.6 Challenges associated while considering lean and HRM together

As discussed by the authors, lean initiatives or practices depend on a myriad of HRM policies
and initiatives (Psomas and Antony, 2019); however, challenges are often observed in
integrating the different systems. Different challenges identified and highlighted by the
authors in selected articles are showcased in Table 1.

5. Discussion and implications

Being the first article to systematically map HRM integration with lean, this review has
significant implications for managers and policy leaders from the discussion to develop and
effectively manage an integrated framework for the lean environment. Results of the current
review are specifically critical for researchers and academicians in both the disciplines of LM
and HRM to explore the constructs further and examine how the relationships between them
can be fruitfully harnessed for better and effective results.
Three types of analysis were done in the current review for the in-depth examination of
various relationships and patterns in the academic literature at the conjunction of LM and
HRM – descriptive analysis, relational analysis and qualitative analysis. The descriptive
analysis described the bibliometric aspects of the selected articles, while relational analysis
explored the semantic and conceptual structure of the concepts in focus through author
keywords and identified themes. Qualitative analysis dealt with delineating different factors
associated with HRM and LM integration.
The examination of the publication outlet demonstrates that most of the authors selected
journals dedicated to quality and LM for their research output. While the finding is
uncommon and in line with previous multidisciplinary research in QM (Antony et al., 2018;
Vashishth et al., 2019), authors must explore different avenues for research outlets rather than
monopolizing the sector. A crucial reason for this suggestion stems from the importance of
HRM in LM research. The current review demonstrates that soft factors such as leadership
Keywords related to
The
challenges Explanation Supporting references integration of
lean and HRM
Integrated LM and The HR department should be directly Abu-Doleh (2012), Ahmad and Schroeder
HRM structures involved in designing, implementing, (2003), Al-Hyari (2020), Alkhaldi and
and developing lean and quality Abdallah (2019), Alkhazali et al. (2019),
management systems Asante and Ngulube (2020), Bahadori et al.
(2018), B
athory (2020), Bello-Pintado et al. 2611
(2018), Furlan et al. (2011), Irfan and Kee
(2013), Kaynak (2003), Laohavichien et al.
(2011), Leyer et al. (2021), Marin-Garcia
and Bonavia (2015), Mellat-Parast (2013),
de Menezes (2012), de Menezes and Wood
(2015), Ramos et al. (2019), Tsiotras et al.
(2016), Vukadinovic et al. (2019)
Tailored HRM HR and lean quality management Abu-Doleh (2012), Ahmad and Schroeder
practices systems should develop HRM practices (2003), Al-Hyari (2020), Asante and
collectively to achieve the common goal Ngulube (2020), B
athory (2020), Furlan
et al. (2011), Furman and Kuczy
nska-
Chałada (2016), Kharub and Sharma
(2018), Kuei et al. (2011), Leyer et al. (2021),
Madanat and Khasawneh (2017), Oleyaei-
Motlagh and Bonyadi-Naeini (2014),
Para-Gonz
alez et al. (2016), Ruiz et al.
(2019), Shin and Alam (2020), Tortorella
and Fogliatto (2014), Voss et al. (2005),
Wickramasinghe and Wickramasinghe
(2020), Wolniak (2019)
Identification of Inherent HRM factors of lean systems Al-Hyari (2020), Gao and Low (2015), Gil-
specific HRM other than leadership, training and Marques and Moreno-Luzon (2013),
factors communication need to be identified for Hernandez-Matias et al. (2019), Kuei et al.
developing sustainable QM systems (2011), Marin-Garcia and Bonavia (2015), Table 1.
Mellat-Parast (2013), Para-Gonz
alez et al. Challenges in the
(2016), Tortorella and Fogliatto (2014), integration of lean
Tsiotras et al. (2016) and HRM

and communication play a critical role in the success of the LM environment (Jain and
Ajmera, 2019; Laohavichien et al., 2011); however, the focus of research has seldom been on
HRM factors. Rather, the majority of authors from the selection have clubbed multiple HRM
factors under popular umbrella terms such as HRM factors (Alkhaldi and Abdallah, 2019;
Ramos et al., 2019), HR initiatives (Kuei et al., 2011) or soft factors (Asante and Ngulube, 2020;
Hernandez-Matias et al., 2019). It is suggested that future researchers explore LM integration
with a focus on specific HRM factors rather than clubbing them within the umbrella term of
HRM (e.g. Leyer et al., 2021). Another important aspect of the discussion noticed in the current
review is the lack of specific relations (e.g. causality) of the HRM factors on LM factors.
Therefore, future researchers should narrow the research area rather than keep it broad. For
demonstration, a sample research question can be: what is the impact of leadership on LM
execution? or, how is job satisfaction related to LM?
The publication trend of articles is encouraging for future researchers and practitioners
equally. The upward trend of publications is a clear sign of the growing interest of academia
in exploring factors at the conjunction of HRM and LM. This trend should encourage future
researchers to build on the existing and upcoming literature to devise and execute in-depth
studies which bring more clarity to the role played by HRM in the LM. Given the importance
of organization framework and its related factors (such as communication and leadership) on
TQM LM deployment that has been pronounced in the current review (see (Hernandez-Matias et al.,
35,8 2019; Tsiotras et al., 2016)), industry practitioners must collaborate with researchers to design
exploratory case studies before executing LM tools enabling them to save costs and explore
which tools work best for their organizational structure.
Results of the country-wise scientific output and the methodology adopted in the
selected articles showcased that most of the studies are from the western countries (Spain
and USA), using quantitative research methods. While the finding aligns with the recent
2612 studies in LM and HRM disciplines, it is necessary to explore how HRM factors on LM
structures vary in Asian countries than in European or American ones. The proposed
difference in effects stems from the findings of the current review, where authors have
highlighted that cultural differences play a crucial role in LM (Mellat-Parast, 2013; Yang
and Yang, 2013). The importance of culture has also been emphasized by authors to be of
high significance but was not discussed adequately (as demonstrated by high density and
low centrality in Figure 11). Also, since cultural and organizational diversity within
nations is subjective (Wheeler, 2003), these differences must be explored with qualitative
research tools. Future researchers can add significant value to the current understanding
of the HRM and LM integration by in-depth interviews from Asian LM practitioners while
comparing the output with Western practitioners. It will also be fruitful to compare the
effectiveness of HRM initiatives for LM deployment depending on the culture, i.e. explore
the mediating or moderating effects of various cultural differences like power distance
(Martins et al., 2016), high or low-context of communication (Bjerregaard et al., 2009) and
gender roles (Martins et al., 2016) among others. Future researchers should also consider
case studies of organizations that will assist practitioners in identifying best practices in
the industry depending on the country.
Relational analysis of author keywords and identified themes delineated three crucial
aspects of the current research on HRM and LM integration; the first is the obvious significance
of HRM factors in the success of LM demonstrated in Figures 10 and 11. Training is showcased
as one of the most significant HRM initiatives supported by the cluster formation in Figure 10.
Studies from the selection demonstrate that training has a significant effect on employee factors
such as communication (Asante and Ngulube, 2020; Hernandez-Matias et al., 2019), employee
involvement (Furlan et al., 2011), employee empowerment (Alkhaldi and Abdallah, 2019) and
employee commitment (Furlan et al., 2011; de Menezes, 2012) which further impact the LM
within the organization. While this importance of training within LM has also been emphasized
in parallel LM works (Bouranta et al., 2021), the increased focus on training often translates to a
decreased focus on other HRM initiatives, as demonstrated by the current review (Figure 12).
Future researchers are encouraged to examine HRM aspects other than training, which
significantly impact the LM in the organization.
Job crafting, where employees are allowed the freedom to modify their tasks and relational
duties at the workplace (Lichtenthaler and Fischbach, 2018), is one of the HRM constructs
that is directly related to employee performance and productivity (Guan and Frenkel, 2018)
and has found little space in the discussion (Figure 12). Therefore, future researchers are
encouraged to pursue the relationship between job crafting and LM deployment. Exploration
of causal effects of job crafting on LM will also be an interesting avenue for future research.
Leadership was discussed in many studies within the selection; however, the leader-member
relationship (or LMX) found scarce space (Figure 12). While leadership is undoubtedly critical
for lean deployment in the organization, examining how the LMX impacts the LM is also
crucial. The importance of LMX for successful LM deployment has been highlighted by
recent research (Donnelly et al., 2021), where it is also distinguished that strong leadership
does not always translate to successful LM within the organizations. This failure of
leadership is attributed to other HRM factors such as culture, communication and power
distance (Bouranta et al., 2021; Donnelly et al., 2021), eventually working through the LMX
Therefore, along with the importance of a leader in the organization, it is critical to examine The
the impact of LMX on the LM implementation. Future researchers should explore the causal integration of
relationships between LMX and LM and any other mediating or moderating variable.
An in-depth qualitative analysis was carried out to understand the benefits, motivation and
lean and HRM
challenges associated with the integration of LM and HRM highlighted by the authors of the
selected articles for the current review. Findings of the current review demonstrate that
integration of HRM factors with LM has a significant impact on the output quality of the firm,
both in terms of product and services (Irfan and Kee, 2013; Mellat-Parast, 2013). This 2613
enhancement of quality output works through increasing the skills and competencies of the
employees along with other job-related factors such as motivation (Jain and Ajmera, 2019;
Womack and Jones, 1997) and satisfaction (Bahadori et al., 2018; de Menezes, 2012), helping the
organization to achieve its desired goals. Although different relationships have been explored
in the selected papers for the review, a dearth of research remains where a direct relationship
among HRM factors leading to organizational success is established. Previous research on the
LM deployment and organizational structure highlights the importance of different HRM
factors, but they are yet to be empirically tested. Therefore, future researchers should explore
which HRM factors play a more significant role in organizational success through LM. It will
also be interesting to compare different HRM factors in a series of studies. This exploration will
be especially useful for the practitioners as it can guide developing and modifying HRM
policies. Practitioners should also collaborate with researchers on integrating LM and HRM as
one of the most critical challenges identified in 56 selected articles revolves around integrating
and tailoring the HRM practices around LM goals (see Table 1). Therefore, future research
should add to the literature exploring additional HRM factors than leadership and training
(Table 2) while developing practical models for execution in the industry.

6. Conclusion
The current review is the first study to systematically map the importance of HRM practices
as enablers for LM within the organizations. In doing so, this study identified the benefits,
motivation and challenges associated with the integration of HRM practices with the LM
deployment as highlighted in the existing academic literature. The analysis of 48 articles after
screening through 252 articles demonstrates that critical engagement of the practices within
the academic literature remains scarce and needs scholarly attention. Within the selected
articles, HRM as an umbrella term was used instead of specific practices being the focus of the
discussion. Although the publication trend and the journal outputs were satisfactory, most
authors resorted to discussing training and leadership as a focal practice rather than delving
into nuances of complex HRM practices within the organization.
Given the increasing focus on discovering the mechanisms of HR practices that act as the
determining factor for the success of LM within organizations, the current review has several
theoretical and practical contributions. As demonstrated in the discussion, future research
needs to focus on studying the integration of HRM and LM practices within Asian and
African countries to diversify and compare the effectiveness of different practices based on
cultural differences. Scholars also need to explore nuances of different HRM practices that
significantly affect LM deployment. Given the importance of HRM practices on the quality
output of the organizations, it is also recommended that scholars explore the HRM practices
related which moderate the quality production within lean environment. On similar lines, the
review is essentially useful for practitioners on two crucial fronts, with the first is identifying
the benefits of LM and HRM integration. Our review results demonstrate that HRM practices
can make or break the LM initiatives supported by previous literature. Therefore,
practitioners should pay more attention to the HRM initiatives within the organization
rather than focusing solely on the rules and regulations of the LM deployment. The second
TQM Sr. Basic Relevant
35,8 No. Lean principles understanding Role of employees HR initiatives sources

1 Understanding Identifying and Employees’ Teamwork, Al-Hyari

customer value prioritizing priorities customer knowledge sharing, (2020),
customer value values and search Innovative culture Andersson
for innovative et al. (2006),
2614 solutions to enhance Ramos et al.
customer value (2019), Shin
and Alam
(2020)
2 Value stream Eliminating Employees develop Mentorship, Al-Hyari
analysis nonvalue adding new methods and suggestive (2020),
processes ensure continuous employee systems, Andersson
improvement motivating et al. (2006),
through optimum employees Ramos et al.
use of resources and (2019)
removing nonvalue
adding activities
3 Flow Ensuring Employees ensure Reliable and proven Alkhaldi and
continuous standardization of technology, Abdallah
improvement work, discipline, Ergonomics, leveled (2019),
flow in the and control to workload, training Andersson
production enhance overall and development of et al. (2006),
processes and service quality employees, Furlan et al.
supply chain participation, (2011), Gao
empowerment and Low (2015)
continuous
information flow
and communication
4 Pull Flowing the Employees identify Work Andersson
product at the new ways for standardization, et al. (2006),
pull of the reducing setup Teamwork, Yang and
customer and times to facilitate Training, Yang (2013)
avoiding stocks pull production flow Commitment,
Positive Morale
5 Perfection Continuously Employees strive Motivation and Andersson
reducing time, hard to sustain incentives, Quality et al. (2006),
space, cost, continuous culture, innovative Yang and
mistakes and perfection. They suggestions, Yang (2013)
efforts with a evaluate how their multiskilled
Table 2. pursuit of work contributes to employees,
Principles of lean and perfection the improvement of empowerment, Job
role of HRM factors the whole company rotation

important finding, critical for practitioners, is the tailoring of the HRM practices. Review
results indicate that majority of the organizations do not pay attention to modifying the HRM
practices depending on the culture and the internal and external environment, which becomes
a critical challenge for the LM initiatives. Therefore, practitioners should stop using the one-
size-fits-all approach with HRM practices and develop tailored practices while considering
the employees’ specific needs involved in the LM deployment.
While all possible care was taken during the selection and review process, this work is not
free from limitations. Three limitations were identified associated with the current review and
should be addressed in future works. First, the keywords used for the training were limited.
Although the keywords were selected after the discussion among authors, there is a
possibility that we might have missed out on searching through a few documents from the The
literature search. Second, full-text screening was carried out only on SCOPUS. While previous integration of
authors have noted the SCOPUS as a comprehensive database, few relevant academic articles
may have been published on other databases. Future research should therefore include
lean and HRM
other databases such as Web of Science. A literature search based on publishing houses
such as Elsevier and Emerald might also show some relevant articles we might have left
out. The third limitation concerns the subjectivity of interpretation of the review results.
While the results were discussed among the authors themselves, they should be replicated 2615
with caution.
Despite the limitations observed in the study, the current work lays the foundation of
future research and practice as the results of the current review demonstrate the importance
of the integration of HRM and LM practices within the industry. As globalization is
increasing and the pandemic brought business operations within our homes, it is important to
focus on the soft factors related to the humans working within the lean systems rather than
just going by the book.

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Jiju Antony can be contacted at: [email protected]

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