Abstract

The culture of lean implementation is considered as a key element for its long-term sustainability and leaders play a
crucial role, since they are responsible for influencing individuals and teams. This article aims at empirically
examining the relationship between the behavioral orientation of leaders from different hierarchical levels (middle
managers and frontline leaders) and the implementation phase of the Lean Manufacturing (LM) roadmap. The
proposed method relies on both qualitative and quantitative fronts since it combines the results of semi-structured
interviews with lean experts and a cross-sectional survey with 225 leaders from different Brazilian companies that
are undergoing LM implementation. The study bridges a gap observed in the literature regarding LM
implementation, as it enables the identification of the relationship between multi-level leadership styles and the
implementation phases of LM roadmap. The findings support the existence of a transient leadership style orientation
along the Lean implementation and provide evidence that there is not a single best leadership style for lean
implementation.