Perspectives on lean implementation challenges and potentials in higher education institutions: insights from South-East Europe (SEE)

Purpose Implementation of Lean in higher education institutions (HEIs) is relatively unexploited space. Although barriers are identified in general, they have never been quantified and prioritised to the best knowledge of the authors. In addition, combined quantified evaluation of the ease and the benefits of the Lean implementation in the HEIs functional areas, as a potential guide to sequence of Lean implementation, is also missing. Last but not least, research on this issue in less developed countries is almost absent. The purpose of this study is to address these gaps. Design/methodology/approach A Delphi study was conducted, in three cycles, with 20 university professors, all of whom have knowledge in Lean and experience in managing higher education institutions at middle to top management levels. Findings The study proved that, as expected, lack of top management support was perceived as the most influential barrier to Lean implementation, followed by the lack of Lean knowledge and several other barriers like complex and diverse customer structure. Administrative and operational processes were considered the easiest for implementation, with operational processes also seen as offering the highest benefits; in contrast, academic processes were viewed as the least favourable on both dimensions. However, all functional areas were rated above 3 on a five-point scale in both ease and benefit. Originality/value This study’s uniqueness lies in the facts that (i) it contributes original findings on Lean application within the South-Eastern Europe context, a region underrepresented in scholarly literature, (ii) draws conclusions on the specialised expertise of academics familiar with both Lean methodologies and HEIs management in the region, (iii) quantifies the barriers for Lean implementation and last, but not least (iv) identifies functional areas that could serve as effective starting points for Lean adoption in HEIs (based on combined evaluation of the ease of implementation and benefits from implementation among the functional areas).