Unlocking the Relationship Between Lean Leadership Competencies and Industry 4.0 Leadership Competencies: An ISM/Fuzzy MICMAC Approach

The ascension of technology and evolution of productive processes indicate that leadership must evolve to direct organizations in the transition to the fourth industrial revolution. The main purpose of this article is to study the existing relationship between the competencies of Lean leaders and the competencies of current leaders in Industry 4.0. A systematic literature review was conducted, and we identified 18 Lean leadership competencies and 6 Leadership 4.0 competencies. Our results show the relationship between the leadership competencies using an interpretive structural modeling approach. The analysis of the driving power and dependence power of Lean and Industry 4.0 leadership competencies was performed with the fuzzy Matriced’ Impacts Croise´s Multiplication Applique´e a´ un Classement approach. A structural model was elaborated upon and showed the hierarchy among the investigated competencies, indicating the ones that should be prioritized. The principal conclusion of our study is that Lean leaders’ competencies can sustain the competencies that should be developed in Industry 4.0 leaders. Additionally, strong synergy among the competencies from both approaches is observed. To the best of our knowledge, our study is the first to present the relationship between Lean competencies and Industry 4.0 leadership competencies. The results obtained in this article may guide the shaping of new leaders who work in an Industry 4.0 environment.