Kaizen and Lean management autonomy and self-orientation, potentiality and reality …

In the automotive industry there are currently two important models for improving the quality, from the commercial approach to after-sales, passing, of course, through all the stages of production. One model, the Kaizen was born in Japan in $$$$$, it is infused with the oriental culture and of way of life of the Japanese people. The other model is the Lean which appears in $$$$ and wants to be the answer, or the western version, to Kaizen. It is for me important to show that globalization and internationalization leads to transfer technologies and models from one culture to an other but that is not enough for to have the same results. This paper aims to present the difficulties met to transfer the Kaizen philosophy under the generic term of Lean management. As Kaizen, Lean Management provides technical and managerial tools that can lead to the performance but, the main difficulty seems to come from the working structure: lean management is supported by structures based on a hierarchy while Kaizen is supported by permanent interactivity between employees and their supervisors based on trust, respect and autonomy and the ethical values of solidarity and altruism. This requires a mindset which leads to give self-orientation capabilities for both each workers, employees and executives and for collectives. Here is probably a fundamental key for reengineering.