Organizational development-lean thinking through the LeanGame learning game

Abstract

This article presents research where organizational change was carried out in the health care organization in Satakunta’s Health Care District. In the district's new strategy, Lean thinking was chosen to support a strategic goal, to increase employee’s and patients’ satisfaction towards the care they received. This development need has been reported in earlier studies to find enhancement ways for operations. LeanGame is an educational game, which combines two distinct elements: Lean, a philosophy and management system, and interactive game that let players get to familiarize themselves the Lean thinking through the game. The LeanGame is linked to the organization’s strategic approach for continuous development implementation. This paper introduces the LeanGame piloting in Health Care District. Article handles development of LeanGame and the LeanGame piloting. Article describes results of piloting, reveals the results of testing the educational game in professional development and gives future research suggestions as well as future development needs for Lean Game.