There are criticisms about Six Sigma which say that the methodology is an elitist technique. Through all this, Six Sigma has proven itself to be a highly effective management tool. Most of the incidences of roadblocks to Six Sigma have come from external sources. In the rare events of its failures, they are ultimately determined to have been caused by improper training of belts or Master Black Belts, not because of system errors.
How the Business World Looks at Six Sigma
Six Sigma is looked upon as a strategic business tool in the business circles, notwithstanding what others would like to think. However, it is regarded as the ultimate tool of improvement and profitability, able to both meet and exceed customer expectations and increase customer satisfaction levels.
Factors That Determine Six Sigma's Success
Typically Six Sigma's success depends a lot on two things. They are the steadfast commitment by top management to implementation and the success of the black belts as implementers.
The commitment of the top management is necessary until the completion of the program. The reasons cited for the lack of interest by management are basically financially oriented. Hefty consultation fees in millions of dollars that run for years and the training cost for the belts are the main reason - because Six Sigma takes time to implement, to show results and impact return on investment, the expenses incurred in Six Sigma implementation bears heavily on the bottom line of the company.
In addition to these reasons, there are roadblocks hit by black belts. These require intervention by Champions to diffuse tensions and resolve problems in implementation. These problems can be in the form of non-cooperation from a specific business division. Competition between divisions in the company can cause a few sparks to fly. In cases like these, upper management needs to take quick and decisive action to diffuse the tensions. If this fails, it can result in lack of motivation of the team.
The question on whether or not the belts succeed depends a lot on the training and their experiences. But unfortunately there is a big gap here as there is no centralized training or and no standardization. Universities, private institutes and corporations train Six Sigma candidates. Due to this, it is observed that there is a big question mark over the quality of training. Belts from different training backgrounds can fail to make a solid team, as there are chinks in Six Sigma training uniformity due to disparities in training levels.
Summarized View
You can summarize the business realities faced by Six Sigma as follows: 1.Huge cost and time required for implementation
2.Slow showing of financial benefits and customer satisfaction
3.Possibility of management losing interest midway
4.High cost of consultants
5.Skirmishes between the belts and the rest of the staff threatening team cohesiveness
6.Elitist notion of 6 sigma professionals; income disparities with the staff demotivate the latter
7.Financial benefit: 0.5% to 1% per project
To overcome business continuity challenges, a business will be required to formulate emergency or disaster management plans, also referred to as business continuity. Further, businesses also need to ensure that the plans prove effective, for which they can use the highly effective concepts and methodologies of Six Sigma.
Six Sigma can certainly help in devising the most effective contingency plans because it follows a statistical approach for solving problems rather than using gut feelings, that can prove to be wrong.
Employing DMAIC For Business Continuity
Most businesses nowadays are using the DMAIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, control) methodology for devising contingency plans for the future because the methodology is supposedly the best project management tool available. DMAIC was originally devised as a method for improving the efficiency of business processes, but now businesses are employing it for managing all types of projects, be it a quality improvement project or a business continuity project.
The DMAIC Process For Business Continuity
When DMAIC is being used for managing a business continuity project, the first step involves defining all the potential threats that can affect the company's productivity and profitability. Once the threats have been defined, the next step involves measuring the exact effects that each of these potential threats will have on the business. This is done with the help of advanced statistical tools and techniques or Six Sigma simulation software tools, all of which help in making the most accurate predictions.
After this, the project management team conducts a brainstorming session to analyze the threats in detail and to seek innovative and cost-effective solutions for dealing with such problems. To get better results, businesses need to ensure that suggestions and recommendations are solicited from experienced personnel working in different functional departments such as sales, purchase, warehousing, and others. This is necessary because the external threats not only have the potential to disrupt a company's production but can also have disastrous effects on the efficiency of other functional departments.
Based on the recommendations, improvements are then made wherever required across all functional departments. These improvement initiatives are aimed at either reducing or eliminating the potential damage that can occur in case the company were to face the threats for real. In the last phase of the DMAIC process, effective control systems are put in place so as to keep a regular check on the efficacy of improvements that were made earlier. Deploying control systems is necessary because disasters and contingencies can occur at any time and if the improvement measures are not up to mark, they will fail to provide the requisite level of security and protection.
Once all the requirements of DMAIC are met, a business needs to do nothing other than concentrate on its core processes, something that becomes a lot easier when both the external and internal threat perceptions have been eliminated with the help of business continuity plans.
Tony Jacowski has sinced written about articles on various topics from University, Six Sigma and Information Technology. Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online and certification classes for lean six sigm. Tony Jacowski's top article generates over 90500 views. to your Favourites.