Respect for People: Lean Management through a Sustainable HRM Lens – A Literature Review

Abstract

Research Question: This study examines how the Respect for People (RFP) is conceptualized and operationalized in Lean Management literature, and what a Sustainable Human Resource Management (SHRM) perspective reveals about its boundaries. Motivation: RFP is one of the two foundational pillars of Lean Management, yet its meaning and organizational manifestations remain less clearly specified than those of continuous improvement. Idea: This study uses SHRM as a complementary analytical lens to examine where RFP is well developed, where its manifestations become weaker, and where its conceptual boundaries may lie. Data: A systematic review of 29 peer-reviewed articles identified through Scopus and Web of Science.  Tools: The review followed PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Findings: RFP is most extensively developed where people-oriented practices directly support process improvement or organizational performance, while corresponding practices that extend beyond immediate process needs toward broader or longer-term employee interests remain less developed. Four levels of RFP institutional depth are identified: declarative, relational, operationalized, and institutional. Contribution: The study reframes RFP in terms of its boundaries and depth of organizational embeddedness, using Sustainable HRM to distinguish between forms of respect tied to immediate process needs and those requiring broader, more durable obligations toward employees.