--- title: Scientific interpretation - The Kaizen approach can improve your employees’ well being description: Scientific interpretation - Japanese continuous improvement methods such as Kaizen have been gaining in popularity in Western organizations over the past 10 years. These methods have been criticized, as some people find them inhuman and used to increase the rate of production, but can Kaizen also improve the psychological well being of employees? image: https://global-watch.com/hubfs/blog-import/pexels-photo-618550.jpeg --- Global-Watch Blog # Scientific interpretation - The Kaizen approach can improve your employees’ well being December 12, 2024 Japanese continuous improvement methods such as Kaizen have been gaining in popularity in Western organizations over the past 10 years. These methods have been criticized, as some people find them inhuman and used to increase the rate of production, but can Kaizen also improve the psychological well‑being of employees? Von Thiele Schwarz and colleagues (2017) carried out two studies to understand the relationship between employee well-being and interventions. They wanted to find out whether - **Kaizen** can be directly related to better **employee well-being**; - **Kaizen** can have a positive effect on the **well-being of employees **when used as a way of improving the **management of risk factors in the work environment**; - **Kaizen** **interventions **can transform the way of working as an organization. ###### **Legend****:** Recommendation of our expert ##### Expert advisor: - **Michel PÉRUSSE**, associate professor, Université de Sherbrooke ##### Authors: - **France ST-HILAIRE**, associate professor, Human Resource Management, Université de Sherbrooke **Étienne FOUQUET**, research assistant, Université de Sherbrooke **Maude VILLENEUVE**, research professional, Université de Sherbrooke **Rébecca LEFEBVRE**, research professional, Université de Sherbrooke *This initiative was made possible through a collaboration with the Université de Sherbrooke.* ![](https://global-watch.com/hs-fs/hubfs/blog-import/usherbrooke-400x133.png?width=221&height=74&name=usherbrooke-400x133.png)  --- ## What do we mean by : Kaizen? **Kaizen** is one of the **lean** methods – an approach to **production** management that claims to be light and efficient, where one seeks to increase the value of a product for a customer by reducing losses in the process, especially in terms of time. ##### THE EXPERT’S DEFINITION **Kaizen is** - a slow, continuous improvement method, done through small daily actions (as opposed to drastic change or radical innovation). - a quality management approach that aims to reduce lost time, material, space or efficiency by improving methods, processes or organization. - an **essentially participative **approach: in all cases, the intervention is done as a group, with several employees involved. ##### **A visual management method: Kaizen boards** - The Kaizen method can involve the use of a number of tools: Kanban, PokaYoke, 5S (the latter being other examples of “lean” visual tools, such as posters, shapes, colours to make tasks visually clear). - The use of visual management is common practice in Kaizen methods, as visualization promotes the participants’ ownership of the project. The boards serve to illustrate the process as a whole, and contribute to monitoring the implementation of the proposed improvements and the evaluation of their results. ##### **Psychological risks** **Psychosocial risks** are elements of the work environment (e.g.: overwork, role problems and conflicts, unsuitable schedules, lack of coordination of work) that don’t have a physiochemical aspect, but that can nevertheless harm the **physical** or **psychological health** of employees.   #### Method **Study 1:** In a Danish post office, the Kaizen board tool as a participative method was used to evaluate the improvement of employee well-being. To do this, two groups of participants were followed at two different points in time: - **Two analysis times: **at 0 months and 12 months for both groups. - **Number of participants:** 140 in group 1 and 137 in group 2. - **Average age: **2 years in group 1 and 46 years in group 2. **Study 2:** In a Swedish hospital, the Kaizen board tool as a participative method was used to evaluate employee well-being. To do this, two groups of participants were randomly created to represent all the different hospital units. For the first group, the intervention by the Kaizen board was used; for the other, no change was made in the work: - **Three analysis times: **à 0 months, 12 months and 24 months for both groups. - **Number of participants:** 171 people in the intervention group and 204 in the control group. - **Average age: **45.8 years in intervention group and 44.1 in the control group.** ** ** ** ***Because studies must always be interpreted with caution*** *Normally, evaluating the success of the Kaizen method in an organization is more effective when one observes its effect on a group of individuals. Although this study is based on an analysis of two groups, well-being was evaluated individually for each employee. Therefore, it would be interesting for other studies to validate the effectiveness of the Kaizen method in terms of its effects on individual well-being, as this is not common.* --- ## What do the results of the study tell us ? ### TRUE ! THE KAIZEN METHOD CAN IMPROVE EMPLOYEE WELL-BEING.  - **Improvement of psychosocial risk management** - Because it is participatory, the **Kaizen method** can be used as a way of improving **psychosocial risk management** and of changing how the work is organized. - Kaizen therefore indirectly promotes **employee well-being**. - Kaizen increases employees’ decision-making power over their work by promoting dialogue around processes and opportunities to act positively when it comes to psychosocial problems. - **Integration of the organization’s and employees’ objectives** - The more the Kaizen method combines the employees’ and the organization’s objectives at the same time, the greater the employees’ well-being.   #### How can I access the full article? 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