Lean thinking in leisure: continuously improving event volunteering and management

ABSTRACT

The events industry is facing rapid societal change. Issues such as professionalization of the industry, competing funding streams, a crowded market, and decreasing access to volunteer labour are creating an environment of need for solutions. This paper proposes the application of lean thinking as a platform for simplification and continuous improvement in the event industry as a case example of potential broader relevance to the leisure industry. It scopes the event industry context, discusses the concept of lean, and proposes the testing of lean as a philosophy and methodology to assist event organizers and their volunteers navigate the changing event industry context. This paper also examines the potential benefits of lean to time poor volunteers to maximize the value of their participation.

KEYWORDS:

• Leisure
• leisure management
• events
• volunteering
• lean production
• lean thinking
• lean management

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge that there are practitioners applying, training and/or coaching others to apply lean and/or lean six sigma approaches to elements of the events industry. We also acknowledge that there is some research emerging in this subject area. We hope that this paper assists and encourages research and practice activity in this space.

Disclosure statement

Michael Bonney is the director of two companies, Cradle Coast Sports and Events & Productivity Improvers, that provide consulting and management services. These companies may be impacted by the research reported in the enclosed paper.

Notes on contributors

Dr Clayton J. Hawkins is a senior lecturer with the University College and an Associate of the Tasmanian School of Business and Economics at the University of Tasmania. He delivers lean thinking, leisure management, and event management units at the University of Tasmania. Clayton has coordinated sporting, entertainment and community events, held senior positions on boards and committees of community organizations, and owned and operated a business managing entertainers. He held a ministerial position on the Tasmanian Arts Advisory Board, is a Board Member of the Australian and New Zealand Association for Leisure Studies, is Deputy Director of the Tourism Research and Education Network at the University of Tasmania, and is a Fellow of the Institute for Place Management in the UK.

Mr Michael S. Bonney is both a Director of Productivity Improvers (a company providing productivity advice using lean, six sigma and lean six sigma approaches) and a Director of Cradle Coast Sports and Events (a company managing and/or partnering with sporting events such as triathlons, athletic carnivals and cycling road races). He is a Black Belt in both six sigma and the Caterpillar Production System. Michael has taught into the Lean Management Systems programme and teaches into Competitive Systems and Practices programmes at the University of Tasmania. He is a multiple Tasmanian champion in Life Saving and has led the coordination of numerous state and national championships in this arena. Michael is an Executive Member of Cradle Coast Tourism, a body advising local and regional government in the Cradle Coast region of Tasmania.

ORCID

Clayton J. Hawkins http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7761-0451