A percepção de práticas soft lean e do desperdício de conhecimento em instituições de ensino superior do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

With the due importance that knowledge has for people and organizations, it is essential to ensure that it is not lost or wasted within the work environment, with the departure of positions, professors teaching outside their area of specialization, etc. Since the occurrence of this waste or loss, it results in negative consequences for the organization. Thus, this study addressed the Lean management philosophy as a means to avoid such occurrences, as one of the waste it aims to reduce is the waste of knowledge itself, together with the interconnection of Soft Lean practices, which are related to people management practices. In this context, this study aims to evaluate the relationship of Soft Lean practices with the waste of knowledge in HEI. In seeking to achieve the objectives, as methodological means, the research was classified as descriptive and predominantly quantitative, with a survey, applied to servers and employees of public, private and community HEIs in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, the private and community were only for statistical comparisons, the main focus is public HEIs. The questionnaire was applied online, resulting in 837 respondents who were part of the final sample. As main results, it was identified that private and community HEIs had higher averages for factors related to Soft Lean practices. In public HEIs, in turn, a higher incidence of knowledge wastage was identified. Also, it was identified that Soft Lean practices and the loss or waste of knowledge have significant predominantly negative correlations with each other, so that "management leadership" with the "loss of tacit knowledge" and "continuous improvement" with the “loss of tacit knowledge”, resulted in the highest correlations, significant and negative, presented in the analyses. Among the Soft Lean practice factors, “management leadership” had the highest negative correlation with the loss or waste of knowledge, while “employees/servers involvement” was the least correlated factor. As contributions, this research brings important considerations and guidelines for managers who seek to reduce the waste of knowledge within HEIs. The study has some limitations, such as the online application of questionnaires, a gap in the literature to be investigated and deepened on the waste of knowledge in HEI, among others. As suggestions for future research, the use of other methods to apply the research, different statistical tests and the use of other practices related to the Lean philosophy are indicated.