Knowledge Management, Change Management and Lean approach: an integrated view. The business case of an international company: Ansaldo STS

Nowadays many economic factors undermine organizations performance in a wide range of industries. Economic downturns, globalized markets, concentration trends are increasing competitive pressure on companies. Among the several strategies adopted for facing such market challenges, the lean methodology has been having an increasing popularity over last three decades. To implement this methodology an entire company is required to make an huge effort in adopting a new way of working. In this process, organization knowledge is strongly impacted and many changes are brought across the whole company. A proper management of knowledge management (KM) and change management (CM) appears then crucial for an effective lean deployment within an organization. The main objective of this thesis is to identify a clear connection among KM, CM and lean methodology emphasizing how fundamental is a proper management of KM and CM for boosting a successful lean deployment within an organization. Therefore, an integrated view of KM, CM and lean is suggested as a solution for an effective lean methodology deployment that, based on an accurate knowledge management process, can bring positive organizational changes. A business case focusing on the V2A - Values to Actions – the change program launched by Ansaldo STS S.p.A. – is then proposed for validating the theoretical framework.