Lean manufacturing and human resources: a systematic literature review on future research suggestions

The purpose of the present study is to identify and classify future research suggestions of Lean Management (LM) which are related to human resources (HR) aspects. Based on a systematic literature review (SLR) of peer reviewed journal articles in LM, a total of 147 articles published in 35 journals during, 2016–2020 by four major management science publishers were collected. The LM-HR future research suggestions identified in the literature were classified into themes through applying the ‘affinity diagram’ which then were prioritised through the ‘Pareto diagram’. An increase in the number of articles with LM-HR future research suggestions is observed during the review period and the study highlights the need for considerable attention to be paid to future suggestions related to training, managerial, cultural and performance aspects of LM. Classification of themes reveals five broad theme categories, namely ‘top and middle management’, ‘employees’, ‘work features’, ‘LM implementation and results’ and ‘national and organisational culture’.