LMC Professional Standards & Ethics 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A lean practitioner is pressured by a plant manager to report a 20% efficiency gain before the quarterly review, but actual gains are only 12%. The practitioner should:
- Report 20% to support the plant manager's credibility
- Report 12% and document the pressure received (Correct answer)
- Report an average of 16% as a compromise
- Delay the report until gains improve to 20%
Correct answer: Report 12% and document the pressure received
Accurate reporting is a non-negotiable professional standard; documenting the pressure protects the practitioner and creates an audit trail.
Question 2: The concept of 'genchi genbutsu' (go and see) has an ethical dimension because it:
- Reduces travel costs compared to remote analysis
- Prevents managers from making decisions based on assumptions rather than facts (Correct answer)
- Eliminates the need for written reports and auditable records
- Demonstrates hierarchy by having leaders visit the shop floor
Correct answer: Prevents managers from making decisions based on assumptions rather than facts
Going to the actual place to verify facts directly is an ethical stance against decision-making based on hearsay, bias, or unverified data.
Question 3: Which scenario represents a conflict of interest that a lean consultant must disclose?
- Having previously worked in a different industry than the client's
- Recommending a specific software vendor in which the consultant holds equity (Correct answer)
- Charging a daily rate higher than the industry average
- Preferring one lean tool over another based on personal experience
Correct answer: Recommending a specific software vendor in which the consultant holds equity
Financial interest in a recommended vendor creates a conflict of interest that must be disclosed so the client can make an informed decision.
Question 4: A lean team identifies that a proposed waste-reduction change will eliminate 15 jobs. Ethical lean management requires the team to:
- Abandon the improvement to protect jobs
- Implement the change immediately to capture savings before resistance forms
- Communicate transparently with affected employees and work with HR on transition plans (Correct answer)
- Reclassify the eliminated roles as 'redeployment opportunities' without further action
Correct answer: Communicate transparently with affected employees and work with HR on transition plans
Ethical lean practice balances operational improvement with genuine respect for workers, which includes honest communication and active support for affected employees.
Question 5: In continuous improvement, 'yokoten' (horizontal deployment of best practices) becomes an ethical issue when:
- The originating team receives credit for the idea
- A practice is copied to other sites without verifying its safety and applicability (Correct answer)
- Sharing knowledge reduces one site's competitive advantage within the enterprise
- Documentation is required before deployment begins
Correct answer: A practice is copied to other sites without verifying its safety and applicability
Deploying a practice without validating its safety and suitability for the new context can harm workers and operations, making due diligence an ethical obligation.
Question 6: A lean practitioner who knowingly uses copyrighted training materials without a license is violating which professional standard?
- Continuous improvement obligation
- Intellectual property and legal compliance standards (Correct answer)
- Value stream mapping protocols
- Gemba walk frequency guidelines
Correct answer: Intellectual property and legal compliance standards
Professional ethics include compliance with intellectual property law; using unlicensed materials violates both legal and ethical standards.
Question 7: Which action by a lean leader best exemplifies ethical accountability after a failed improvement project?
- Reassigning the team members to different departments
- Conducting a blameless post-mortem and sharing lessons learned organization-wide (Correct answer)
- Deleting the project's records to prevent future audit findings
- Attributing the failure to external market conditions
Correct answer: Conducting a blameless post-mortem and sharing lessons learned organization-wide
A blameless post-mortem followed by transparent knowledge sharing demonstrates accountability, a core ethical value in lean leadership.
LMC Professional Standards & Ethics 3
A lean practitioner is pressured by a plant manager to report a 20% efficiency gain before the quarterly review, but actual gains are only 12%.
The practitioner should: