Effect of soft lean practices and diversity, equity and inclusion on employees’ psychological safety

Purpose This study aims to examine the impact of the relationship between soft lean (SL) practices and diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) practices on employees’ psychological safety (PS). Design/methodology/approach This study surveyed 271 middle and senior managers from manufacturing organizations in India and Brazil that have implemented both SL practices and DEI initiatives. This study used multivariate data analysis techniques to assess the practitioners’ responses. Findings The findings indicate that when both SL and DEI practices are poorly adopted, the frequency of organizations with lower PS is significantly greater than the ones with a higher level of PS. When SL and DEI practices are highly adopted, there seems to be a significant increase in PS levels. In other words, DEI practices adoption seemed to boost the effect of SL practices on PS. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is one of the first to provide empirical evidence about the synergistic effect of the relationship between Lean Production and DEI initiatives on employees’ psychological safety. Although Lean Production has already been a point of concern for most organizations, DEI has become more relevant in the past few years. Therefore, the proper understanding of such a relationship also offers valuable contributions to theory, practice and society.