The findings of this paper are of both theoretical and
practical importance, and we address both issues below.
Little research has been carried out on the topic of control
forms in a Lean organization, despite the importance
of Lean in many organizations today. To our knowledge,
no study has quantitatively tested the impact and complementarities
between various control forms in a Lean
organization. Kennedy and Widener’s (2008) case study
on this topic is the first to propose systems fit of control
forms with synergetic complementarities (Gerdin and
Greve, 2004). Their case study, however, did not provide
quantitative analysis of the performance effects. Earlier
case studies had difficulties in proving the effect of Lean
in a quantitative manner (Selto et al., 1995). Our findings
add to this modest base of research. Additionally, we found
evidence that the control forms do not have a purely additive
(incremental), but rather a balanced complementary,
synergetic effect on performance. Thus, increasing the level
of a control form enhances performance, but if off-balance
to other control forms is increased, some of the effects
from the increased control forms will be thwarted, and
in total this shows the complementary effects on performance.
Hence, it would be better if both the level of the
control form is closer to the ideal state, but it would also
be better if the balance between them was the same as the
balance in the ideal state. Consequently, our findings indicate
that the controls of Lean should be seen as a control
package. We consider this empirical result our first contribution.