Modeling the drivers of organizational culture based on lean university leadership with an interpretive structural modeling approach

Subject Areas :

Khadijeh Nadri ^{1 *} , Mohammad Naqi emani ² , فتاح ناظم ³

1 -
2 - Department of Educational Sciences, Roudehen Branch, Islamic Azad University, Roudehen, Iran (Corresponding Author)
3 - عضو هیات علمی واحد رودهن

Received: 2025-03-11 Accepted : 2025-04-14 Published : 2025-04-30

Keywords: Organizational culture, university, leadership, lean leadership.,

Abstract :

This study seeks to investigate the modeling of organizational culture drivers based on lean leadership. In terms of purpose, this study is applied and conducted in a survey manner. 21 professors from different departments of Islamic Azad University in Tehran participated in this study. A qualitative approach and structural-interpretive modeling method were used to design the model. Accordingly, the purpose of the present study is to identify and classify the organizational culture drivers based on lean leadership of the university. The sampling method in the qualitative section was purposeful. The qualitative data collection tool was a semi-structured interview protocol. Theoretical coding was also used to analyze the data. The statistical population of the interpretive structural modeling section in the field of classifying the drivers consisted of 21 faculty members from different departments of Islamic Azad University in Tehran. The criterion for expertise was at least 5 years of faculty membership. The sampling method was also accessible and purposeful, respectively. Based on the findings of the qualitative section, 125 open codes were analyzed and categorized, and finally 9 drivers were extracted. The drivers of the organizational culture based on lean leadership of the university included 9 factors: university management planning based on lean principles, employee participation, inclusive and supportive lean university structures, a systemic approach in university administration, long-term thinking of managers, continuous improvement, adaptation of lean thinking to education, customer focus, and university stakeholders. Also, based on the results of interpretive structural modeling, the most dependence in university management planning was based on lean principles. University stakeholders and customer focus had the least dependence and the most impact. It was also determined that the variables of customer focus, continuous improvement, adaptation of lean thinking to higher education, and university stakeholders were independent variables..