Teaching of operational excellence in Moroccan universities and high schools A major lever for a competitive Moroccan company Laila Elouarat
Janah Saadi
Khalid Kouiss
Université Hassan II Ain Chock, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electricité et de Mécanique B.P 8118, Oasis, Route d'El Jadida Maroc 212 5 22 23 07 89
Université Hassan II Ain Chock, Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Electricité et de Mécanique B.P 8118, Oasis, Route d'El Jadida Maroc 212 5 22 23 07 89
Institut Français de Mécanique Avancée Campus de Clermont-Ferrand BP 265, 63175 Aubière Cedex France 33 04 73 28 81 00
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
ABSTRACT The performance of any company can be stimulated by many factors, primarily their strategies for operational excellence. This paper aims to show that the teaching of this concept in Moroccan establishments designed to educate and train future managers to the tools and especially to the spirit of operational excellence, is one of the major catalysts for an efficient and competitive Moroccan company. Meeting this challenge requires a number of strategic and educational actions, which need consolidation of efforts of all actors affected by this project.
Keywords Operational excellence, lean approaches, higher education.
management,
pedagogical
1. INTRODUCTION The deployment of operational excellence is currently, on a worldwide scale, in the heart of the concerns of the industrialists anxious to improve their organization and increase productivity, agility and quality. Moroccan companies, on their part, will be forced to follow these international trends. This issue requires a priority to the development of skills in operational excellence in general, and to the promotion of profiles specialized in lean management in particular. Integration the teaching of this concept in Moroccan academic programs is one of the preliminary steps necessary to ensure qualified managers able to contribute in improving the competitiveness of Moroccan company, both at the national level that internationally.
However, the development of such a project is realizable only if Moroccan university start to adopt new strategies in this area, by founding dies of teaching excellence, integrating new educational approaches favoring active and sustainable learning, and also if all the partners involved in this project combine their efforts and strategies. Through this paper, we try to briefly treat the three following research questions: - Of what operational excellence and lean management are consisting? - To what extent the teaching of these concepts can contribute to the training of human resources able to carry out excellence initiatives within their companies? And how this teaching takes place in the international universities having already set up it? - Is the Moroccan context able to adopt such a teaching? And which are the main axes to target?
2. DEFINITIONS OF KEY CONCEPTS 2.1 Operational excellence Operational excellence is a widely used term. It originated from the field of strategic management (e.g. Porter (1980)) and has subsequently been adapted and extended by others (e.g. Treacy and Wiersema (1993)) [1]. It is the result of applying the scientific method to achieve the goal of a business. The scientific method gave rise to the seven quality tools and the Lean management and Six Sigma tool sets (among others), which enable people to measure facts so they can understand causes and effects. Armed with these insights, people can cause their companies to steadily improve quality and yields while reducing waste and cycle time [2].
WEE2011, September 27-30, 2011, Lisbon, Portugal. Editors: Jorge Bernardino and José Carlos Quadrado.
As mentioned above, lean management is one of the main steps leading to the Corporate Excellence.
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2.2 Lean management Lean management is a corporate philosophy and culture, having its focus on providing and increasing the value delivered to the customer. It pursues this goal through a continuous process of identifying and eliminating waste and non-value-added activities, improving product flow through the enterprise, and pursuing perfection in the final good or service sold to the customer [3]. The deployment of lean management is based on a certain number of tools mainly the 5S, Kanban, the VSM (Value Stream Mapping), the SMED (Individual Minute Exchange off Die), the TPM (Total Productive Maintenance), etc. But beyond this toolbox, Lean management is especially a mode to think and act. Typically, individual employees trained in lean are often unable to implement the principles and tools learned once they are back on the job because lean practices are not imbedded in the knowledge base of the company’s workforce [4]. That’s why, our vision is that inculcate lean principles should be initiated during the university course, enabling students to acquire basic reflex behaviors leading to appropriate treatment of problems in all circumstances. Surely, this vision involves obligatory the use of specific teaching approaches.
Figure 1. Constructive theory by Jean Piaget [21].
Many experiments have been conducted in this direction. In the next section we find out their main features.
3. REVIEW OF SPECIFIC EXPERIMENTS OF TEACHING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE Teaching lean management is often used as an indicator of the involvement of institutions in training operational excellence [5]. With this in mind, we focused in this work on teaching experiences of lean management in various universities worldwide. On the basis of the articles covering this subject which we procured (about fifty articles), we will discuss specificities of these experiments in terms of pedagogical theories and approaches used and in terms of modalities of conduct.
3.1 Pedagogical adopted
theories
and
approaches
Figure 2. Cone of Learning by Edgar Dale [22].
By analyzing the various articles collected, we noticed that the authors were inspired mainly by three theories of active learning to develop their experiences. These theories are: the Constructivist Theory [6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,], the Cone of Learning [14,15,16,17], and the Learning by Doing [18,19,20].
Figure 3. Learning by doing by John Dewey [23]. 788
These three theories have all the common point to be centered on the student and to privilege his active participation, against the traditional models of transmissive teaching. They support research by test-error, the experimental groping, manipulating as well as the exchange between participants. They also stipulate that the assimilation of knowledge is even easier when a great number of senses are stimulated and when we integrate the mental participation in the learning process. As for the pedagogical approaches used, we noted that the most current are: physical and virtual simulations, approach by projects, and the case studies. We focus in this paper on the peculiarities of each of these approaches by referring to the experiences reported, without going into detailed theoretical descriptions. • Approach based on the use of simulations: The use of virtual or physics simulations in the teaching lean management, is increasingly widespread. They are used in approximately 70% of the experiments studied. Through this approach, the teachers sought to foster in their students a better understanding of reality, thanks to a reproduction of situations experienced in the industrial environment. The basic principle of these simulations is to start from an unfavorable situation at startup of the exercise, leading to an improved situation in the end. The first simulated system is often a system with pushed flow, characterized by a functional organization, inventory stock, long cycle times and a lot of wastes and discards. Throughout the simulation, students are expected to improve this situation by drawing on principles of lean management and finding appropriate solutions. • Approach by projects: It is the second teaching approach used in our database of articles with a percentage of 40%. The teachers relied on this approach to enable students to exceed the stage of the simple acquisition of knowledge, by engaging them in continuous or alternating industrial projects with regional companies. The students had specifications and implementation schedules that met the requirements of both the company and the training program. They were faced with significant and challenging issues, which stimulated their autonomy and their involvement in solving problems. These exercises in situations were judged by the authors, certainly the most instructive, as they allowed to learn, in addition to the tools and methods, the human and managerial side related to the implementation of lean enterprise. • Case study Approach: Some teachers were based on case studies to confront their students with some problem situations. Often, these case studies were provided to the universities by professional associations in the framework of collaboration between these associations and the universities. Professionals attended frequently students in the treatment of these case studies [17,24]. • Approach based on work by group and cooperation: Except one single experiment, where the training of lean was carried out individually [25], we noticed that in all the experiments reported, there was talk of interaction and interactivity The students were put in groups of 3 to 12 and worked collaboratively. In addition to achieving the common goals to the
team, the teachers took care on the development of human skills and acquisition of social values. The newsgroups were also encouraged by the teachers. The students were often invited to speak to discuss a book, to make presentations on the progress of their projects, or to deliberate after each session of simulations. The objective is to encourage students teaching each others. It remains to note that the majority of the experiments studied were based on the association of several of these approaches at the same time. Often teachers were using simulations in parallel on projects in industry, or discussion groups, or others. We note also that a portion of lectures remained indispensable in most of these experiences to prepare and sensitize students, and to allow them a first discovery of the fundamental concepts of lean management.
3.2 Modalities of conduct Even if the experiments studied based on the same pedagogical theories and approaches, they sometimes differed on how they conduct. The main differences were: • Titles and axes of courses: The term “Lean” appeared sometimes clearly in the official headings of the courses like “Lean Process Design” or “Lean Principles and Application”. In other cases by cons, this term is not explained directly in the heading of the courses even if its principles are approached there. The titles that come up frequently are “Management Production” and “Management Engineering”. The main areas covered in these courses are: comparison between Push flow and Pull system, the Value Stream Mapping, Line balancing, Supply Chain Management, Six Sigma, Kanban, 5S and continuous improvement. • Duration and frequency of exercises: One of the divergences between the multiple experiments is the time allocated to each exercise and its frequency. Some were based on only one exercise requiring a high level of commitment and occurred in one session from 90 minutes [16,26] to one day [27,28]. Other exercises by cons were repeated over several sessions during the year [29,30,31,32]. This last type of experiments was the most used, because the majority of the persons in charge of teaching of lean insisted on the repetition of the exercises to highlight the improvements and their conditions of success, and also to train students to persevere. The multitude of the sessions and the repetition of exercises allow students to move from the stage “tools” at the stage “culture” and to really touch the notion of continuous improvement. • Degree of freedom: Another dimension that marks the difference between the multiple experiments is the degree of freedom allowed to students in each experiment. Some exercises, particularly those of short duration, were more restrictive and constraining, because the students were informed and required to follow specific instructions regarding the steps to be carried out and decisions to be taken. By cons in exercises conducted over a long period with several repetitions, working conditions do not force student initiatives. Instead, teachers encouraged students to innovate and find their 789
own solutions suitable. They sought to develop a competitive spirit between the students and motivated them to improve their solutions from one round to another.
contribution was to facilitate groups, supervise, guide and support students in their approach.
• Physical investment: The physical investment necessary for the conduct of simulations also differed according to the experiments.
In the articles collected, the terms most frequently used to describe the role of teacher were: animator, supervisor, facilitator and coach [37,42].
In the majority of the exercises, simple matters like paper, cups or offices accessories (glue, scissors, hole punch, paper clips ...) were sufficient for the manufacture of items used in the simulation of a production line (lampshade [26],aircraft paper [33],...). Manual tasks made by students in these cases are also simple: assembling, cutting, sticking, folding and packaging. These exercises have the advantage of being practical, feasible and not expensive.
• Commitment of the partners: Among the main strengths of the experiments discussed in this study, we can cite the collaborative efforts between universities and other economic partners. Their engagement was very significant. They participated in the program definition, and also in the training of students, especially in case studies and simulations, without forgetting their mentoring efforts at industrial projects and traineeship [35,36,42].
Other exercises used toys of construction like K'NEX or the bricks of Lego [26,27,28,30,31,34]. These toys have the great advantage of being easily and quickly assembled and disassembled, and allowing changes of models to test the impact of change series and flexibility on productivity. For simulations requiring operations complicated (wagons [31], submarines [35], aircraft carrier [36],…), students simulated operations of sub-contracting, by communicating their ideas and plans with the technicians of the laboratory who dealt with these operations. Sometimes, these operations of designs and assembly were done by students themselves, but during other courses, or by other students registered in other more technical branches. This type of experiments was very enriching for students in terms of communication and partnership, and encouraged collaboration and complementarities between classes [37]. Other experiments by cons required heavier investments, putting up permanent structures and spaces in the form of workshops models, consisting of a set of machines and workstations flexible and removable, allowing to train students in a context close to industrial environment [29]. • Participants: As reported previously, the students were still required to work in groups. But the specificity of some experiments is that the groups were interdisciplinary. Thus, some universities had established lean management courses designed to students from different specialties and even different institutions: engineers student, management students, law students and other specialized on human resources [38,39]. Despite some difficulties with the overlap in the schedules and the time necessary for the integration of students, these experiences were considered to be particularly rewarding for students and teachers [29.40]. An exceptional experience had initiated collaboration between several universities in different countries, namely the United States, Mexico, Scotland and Taiwan. The experience was a good example of collaborative distance work and cooperation between multinational teams [41]. • Evaluations: We found that the majority of experiments were ending in surveys to assess the relevance of the method and the success of the experiment. These evaluations were made either by students or by teachers or by outside specialists, and enabled continuous improvement of exercises and training [37,38]. • Role of teachers: In the experiments studied, the teacher's role was modified compared to traditional teaching. His main
• Improvement of the programs: Another major asset noted is the application of the principle of the continuous improvement in the upgrading of training from one year to another and even from one session to another. We have already advanced that the majority of the experiments was ending in evaluation surveys. According to the suggestions made by students or others actors, teachers incorporated the necessary improvements.
4. WHAT ABOUT MOROCCO? For establishing a strategy of teaching operational excellence in Morocco, we must necessarily pass through an analysis of the ability of the Moroccan educational system to adopt such a project. The first step is analyzing the regulatory and economic context of higher education in general, and the challenges it faces. Then, in the absence of a specific teaching of operational excellence and lean management in Morocco, we have treaded the educational field which is closest for them and which covers many of their principles and tools, namely teaching industrial engineering. We have thus observed its course of evolution, its main purposes and issues.
4.1 Context and stakes of Moroccan higher education The formation of human resources constitutes one of the key levers adopted by Morocco to upgrade the national economy. The government had also declared the decade 2000-2010, a national decade of education and training. Several measures had been taken to accomplish this mission. Thus, a reform was thus engaged into 1999/2000 by the Moroccan government, through the National Charter of Education and Training. Before this reform, programs and plans of the study were fixed by decree whereas the delivered diplomas were national with identical contents in all the institutions. After the reform, the universities obtained a pedagogical and financial autonomy allowing them a great degree of flexibility to meet the needs for the socio-economic environment. Universities have now the capacity to conceive and deliver educational programs in accordance with the standards established by the supervisory department. Nevertheless, the Superior Council of Teaching (institutional unit with advisory vocation) had underlined in its 2008 activity report that in spite of some tangible progress of the reform, curriculum revision has not yet achieved the discounted goals. The contents are still predominated by theoretical knowledge at the expense of 790
practical knowledge. These same contents still suffer from a low adequacy with external needs because of the modest involvement of socio-economic partners in program design.
National schools of Applied Sciences (ENSA). This trend was even more pronounced following the launch of 10.000 engineers program.
In practice, according to the same report, the teaching methods are still far from being student-centered. They are based on the direct transmission of the knowledge and expertise of the teacher to the learner, without giving up discovery approaches which have the potential to build knowledge adapted to any new situations. Moreover, teaching through practical and experimental works record deficiencies due to lack of teaching materials, the limited number of professors and the high proportion of time allocated to lectures [43].
To prepare an overview on the current state of teaching industrial engineering in Morocco, we consulted the various university sites, as well as various guides for students, to identify the principal institutions having integrated, to date, this specialty in their curriculum.
Following these conclusions and to accelerate the implementation of the reform, an Emergency Plan entitled Najah 2009-2012 was adopted in June 2008. This plan was organized around areas of intervention identified as priorities by the Superior Council of Teaching. The overarching goal is reconciling theory and practice in the Moroccan educational system and solving the dilemma of the inadequacy training/employment [43]. This desire to restructure the national system of higher education was further enhanced through the commitment of Morocco in several development programs aiming at improving the country's position in the international economy and strengthening the competitiveness of national companies. These programs cover key sectors of Moroccan economy, namely industry (National Pact of Industrial Emergence), agriculture ( Green Plan for the development of agricultural), internal trade (Rawaj Program), international trade (Morocco Export Plus Plan), tourism (Tourism Plan 2012), logistics (National strategy of Development of Logistic Competitiveness), etc. These development programs should have a direct bearing on programs of higher education in Morocco, because their implementation and success depend critically on the availability of appropriate human skills.
4.2 Context and issues of teaching industrial engineering in Morocco The industrial engineering has known a remarkable evolution during these last years. From a technological approach mainly focused on automatic and robotics, it passed to a multidisciplinary approach which requires triple competency in technical, economic and socio-organizational fields and a decompartmentalization of disciplines in order to have a more holistic solution to business problems.
We noted that it is now widespread in almost all engineering schools, and even in some other academic institutions, in particular faculties of sciences and technology, faculties of sciences, schools of technology, etc… However, any school of management has yet integrated this specialty in its curriculum. The diplomas awarded are not all of the same level. We find engineering degrees, DUT, professional licenses… This mixture is interesting since it ensures various profiles corresponding to different hierarchical and functional needs. By consulting the various offers of training, we could note that the main general objectives affiliated to teaching industrial engineering relate to training managers able to help upgrade the Moroccan company, preparing polyvalent human resources capable of managing and improving the performance of complex systems, training engineers to controlling the design, deployment and evaluation of production systems, developing methodological tools allowing the simulation of the systems of production, etc. As for the stakes facing the teaching of industrial engineering, we can say that it is surely affected by some findings developed in the previous subsection. Nevertheless, it benefits from other privileges compared to general university education. As reported previously, the majority of the establishments integrating industrial engineering courses are engineering schools and faculties of science and technology. These are establishments with regulated access, characterized by a selective admission of students compared to other faculties with open access. They are equipped with structural advantages: high level of students, low ratio students/teacher, availability of materials, etc. Although the following table is not topicality (we have not found more recent), it allows however a comparison of the ratios by field of education. Table 1. Ratio Students/Teacher per field (2007-2008) [43]. Field of studies
For several years, the Mohammedia School of Engineers (EMI) was the only Moroccan establishment to ensure a specialty in this area. Industrial engineering has been introduced there in the early 1990s with a class of a dozen engineers per annum. Since 1997, an enhancement program of industrial engineering has been conducted in Morocco, within a Franco-Moroccan cooperation, in order to support the Moroccan university system to develop programs and implement research projects able to satisfy the needs for the SME in this area. This program was relayed in 2001 by the Industrial Engineering Network (RGI). This dynamics was expanded in 2004 by the program Tempus Meda UEFP which focused on the promotion of teaching industrial engineering in Morocco, and more particularly in the
NB Students
NB Teachers
Ratio S/T
Original teaching Legal, Economic and Social sciences Letters and Human sciences
4.354
118
37
106.702
1.252
85
83.115
2.119
39
Sciences
47.539
3.148
15
Sciences and Technology
9.527
1.020
9
Medicine and Pharmacy
7.882
1.051
7
Dental Medicine
1.023
86
12
Engineering
4.249
399
11
Technology
4.189
381
11 791
Trade and Management
3.194
132
Translation
97
11
9
Sciences of Education
707
52
14
272.578
9.769
28
Total
24
Thus, the students enrolled in industrial engineering courses benefit from a better educational support compared to the other establishments with open access, improved teaching conditions, and better teacher-students relationships. The teaching of some subjects is sometimes ensured by temporary teachers exerting in the industrial field. These speakers allow to provide to the students a vision closer to industrial and economic reality, and to sensitize them with the requirements of the workplace. In addition, projects and traineeship are part of training. This allows students to have a first contact with the working environment. However, details of training that we were able to consult (organization of the modules, subjects taught, time volumes…) show that the teaching of this discipline is still based mainly on traditional approaches to training. The dominant perspective continues to favor the principle that theoretical learning takes place in the classroom, while practical learning is done on the job. We note, however, some pedagogical innovation efforts on the part of some teachers. Nevertheless, these actions are based primarily on the goodwill of a limited number of motivated teachers, and do not form part of a global educational strategy. Regarding contacts with professional environment, they are still limited to offer internships to students or receive them during occasional visits. The private sector, industry and services do not yet participate in the preparation, guidance or revision of training programs. We elsewhere noticed, when analyzing the various programs of several institutions, that these programs are too marked by the technicality related to general engineering. Many technical subjects are included in programs with significant numbers of hours, while other materials useful to a future industrial engineer or manager do not appear or have a minimal load time. Even if students take core courses in communication, foreign languages and some management subjects, these remain insufficient for training highly versatile and polyvalent frameworks. Admit however that it is still difficult to assess the adequacy of training with the needs of the labor market because Moroccan firms are not yet all conscious of the role of industrial engineering in improving their competitiveness. Our companies have not yet fine vision of the true expectations for an industrial engineer or manager.
5. PROPOSED AREAS FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF TEACHING OPERATIONAL EXCELLENCE IN MOROCCO Our objective in this section shall not make general recommendations or suggestions. The guidelines formulated by the National Charter and the Emergency Plan discussed widely
the all areas of higher education, reflecting a large national will to improve this sector. Our goal is to provide practical axes of work closely with our research subject. Thus, our proposal is articulated around two areas: a strategic axis and a pedagogical one.
5.1 Strategic axis At this stage, we think the strategic focus is a higher priority. In fact, any attempt to develop and promote a model of teaching operational excellence must be part of an overall strategy initiated not only by the university authorities, but by all the actors concerned with this field. The key actions we propose are: • Promotion of lean management: apart from some large companies, especially multinationals, lean management is not yet a hot topic for the Moroccan companies. Some of his tools are sometimes used, but their utilization is still limited and ad hoc, without being inserted within a comprehensive and sustainable view of continuous improvement. The promotion of lean management must then make object of a national effort of sensitizing on the solutions provided by this approach in terms of productivity, quality and responsiveness. Let us note that during the preparation of this work, the Moroccan government has launched, in May 2011, an initiative in this direction entitled "Inma Project". This project is dedicated to promoting operational excellence and lean management within national companies with a view to increasing their competitiveness. It is a very recent initiative to be consolidated over time and generalized to a large number of companies. • Involvement of the economic environment: Large firms which have already taken note of lean management and/or have already launched several projects in this direction, must collaborate, encourage and engage the educational instances to meet continuously their new needs. We suggest the development of a network of business-university partnership, based on the promotion of Lean management in the Moroccan company, and its teaching in Moroccan universities. The former experiment of the Network of the Industrial engineering (RGI) could possibly be taken as example. • Cooperation between national establishments: We noticed that the foreign universities involved in teaching Lean management worked collaboratively with each other. . Most of them are part of consortia and networks, in order to share their experiments and practices. Nationally, academic institutions wishing to engage in this field must also develop projects of cooperation and coordination. These efforts are especially to develop between engineering schools among them on the one hand, and these schools and faculties on the other hand. • Cooperation with the international universities: In addition to the cooperation within a country, we noted that universities from various countries collaborated together to develop educational programs of lean management, and to train their reciprocal teachers with the latest approaches approved in the field.
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Our universities, through their centers of expertise, should aspire to be part of this international community around the promotion and teaching of Lean management. Join these networks would be the biggest catalyst for the promotion of lean management in Morocco, both at firms and in universities.
- An active learning centered on the student, placing it as the main actor in the learning; - A reinforcement of the learning for using knowledge gained in appropriate situations; - A participative interaction which allows a construction of knowledge, skills and social values.
5.2 Pedagogical axis In addition to the strategic axis, implementing an active teaching of lean management in our schools and universities require the establishment of an appropriate instructional design. Any instructional design must be conducted in five phases, according to the following diagram:
better
The pedagogical approach which we consider most appropriate to teaching lean management is the approach by project and problem (APP). Nevertheless, the final choice of the approach is a strategic decision which must be made by the above-mentioned national committee. • Educational actors to involve: Teachers have a vital role in the success of this project. To contribute effectively, they would constantly be asked to update their knowledge and pedagogical abilities. They must also be put in contact with the professional world and trained on the practices of companies. We recall that many teachers are trying individually to improve and diversify their teaching tools. Nevertheless, to make a success of this project nationally, individual wills should be attached to a public desire to establish a continuous updating of educational and pedagogical practices. To better involve teachers, there must have an incentive to investment in the design and development of educational tools. Innovative teachers can be rewarded by offering them for example certified training courses in lean management.
Figure 2: The ADDI instructional design model [44]. In the previous section, we have tried to analyze briefly the starting situation. In this section, we will advance reflections on the second phase, which consists in proposing some elements of the pedagogical device to adopt. We will discuss learning outcomes to reach, teaching methods to adopt, as well as educational actors to be involved. • Educational objectives to reach: We have noticed that the objectives assigned for the Moroccan institutes are relatively broad ones, and does not allow a precise idea of the specific goals to reach, or a reliable basis for evaluating the skills acquired. A more precise definition of the objectives will facilitate the choice of teaching methods and means to put in place, by specifying for each module operational objectives that should be explicit, observable and measurable. These specific objectives will constitute the main targets and mandatory program, and will be used as official reference to graduation and recognition of competences acquired. This task of definition of objectives must be assured by a multifield national committee, counting preferably among its members representatives of the professional world. This committee could benefit from the know-how of the countries preceding us in this field, either through an effective cooperation, or by benchmarking their best practices. Nevertheless, it is necessary to take care to adapt any steps to our own context. • Teaching methods to adopt: We already noticed that the prominent characteristic in the listed experiments of teaching lean management is that they are mainly based on active approaches centered on the student. At our level, it is necessary to set up pedagogical readjustments respecting three principal guidelines:
In addition to permanent teachers, and to develop even more the practical spirit of the formation, establishments may make use of industrial stakeholders, not just at seminars, but by involving them as free-lance teachers. This measurement will allow sharing of experience between teachers and awareness of students to the realities and requirements of the work world. A real student involvement is also essential. In general, students seem to value non-depth learning, mainly because of the heavy workload and the form of evaluations. They should be encouraged to promote deep learning, by sensitizing them with the advantageous of such experiences both academically and professionally. Student representatives should be implicated in an active way in the process of preparation or change of program content and in defining the guidelines and pedagogical materials.
6. CONCLUSION Following the definition of operational excellence and lean management, a review of some international experiments of teaching operational excellence (lean management) , and on the basis of an analysis of the conditions in Morocco, we have put forward a proposal for some actions to implement in order to complete such a project in Morocco. Through this, we have tried to provide some brief replies to the three questions of research mentioned in introduction. This work constitutes a preliminary step for other future works that will address other issues not yet dealt. The brief replies made in this paper could still be enhanced by direct surveys. Also, conducting a pilot experiment in one of the Moroccan establishments is a possibility that requires deep thought from us.
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