The “5S” system of management—Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, and Sustain—has long stood for efficiency through tidiness and uniformity. The 5S system began in precision manufacturing spaces; clutter was discouraged because it might cause errors or delays, as were distracting personal effects. But 5S has somehow begun to bleed from car assembly lines and operating theaters and semiconductor manufacturing plants, where it might make sense, to the office cubicle, where it does not. Management gurus sing the praises of the “lean office.”
This comes from the Japanese production systems of the 1980s, when Japan was the source of all that is good. It fits the Japanese culture very well.
