Melhoria de Serviços Públicos: Aplicação da Abordagem Lean para Redesenho do Processo de Emissão de Diplomas de Pós-Graduação em uma IFES

Abstract

Public organizations tend to be more bureaucratic and because of that, they pay more attention to the control of procedures and observance of standards, and less attention to the achievement of results. The Lean approach provides tools and techniques for process improvement, guided by customer value creation (increased effectiveness) and elimination of activities that do not contribute to the creation of value (increased internal efficiency). In this regard, the Lean approach can contribute to improving the quality of public services – which are a source of dissatisfaction and questioning – and encompasses the fiscal constraint scenarios that have been imposed on the public sector worldwide. However, as an approach developed for manufacturing processes, the consulted literature presents the proposition that it is necessary to adapt the techniques and tools offered by the Lean approach to its application in administrative or service processes in public organizations. Therefore, the main goal of the present research was to investigate the ways in which the Lean approach can be applied to the analysis and improvement of the issuance process of graduate degree diplomas of the Federal University of São Carlos and it was guided by the following specific objectives: discussing the state of the art regarding the application of the Lean approach focused on administrative or service processes, especially in public organizations; mapping the current state of the issuance process of graduate degree diplomas of the Federal University of São Carlos using Lean approach; analyzing the current state of this process, using Lean approach; identifying opportunities and proposing improvements for this process, using Lean approach; and reporting and discussing the application of the Lean approach to the improvement of the studied process. The methods used were the systematic literature review (SLR) for the definition of the conceptual-theoretical structure, aiming at understanding the state of the art on the subject; the case study to direct data collection of the field research, using as sources of evidence: participant observation, records in files and documents. SLR has shown a lack of Lean approach studies related to administrative or service processes applied to public organizations. The Value Stream Mapping (VSM) of the current state and the VSM of the future state were built, enabling the proposition of improvements to the studied process, based on principles and Lean tools. The VSM of the future state has enabled - besides decreasing the verified lead time of the current VSM state -, the reduction of the process lead time variability considering the processed batch and a reduction of possible flows, which happen due to ruptures, exceptions and constant rework. The use of the Lean approach, aiming at improving the process of the case study object, it was possible to discuss the adjustments to the Lean approach that were necessary for its application in this investigation: administrative process and service in public organization.