The Six Sigma project deals with Six Sigma methodology like DMAIC, DMADV, and DFSS, Business Process Management and Statistical tools, these 3 make the Six Sigma Management System. We cover the methodology and statistical tools in Six Sigma courses, like Green Belt, Black belt etc. In this article, we are not going to discuss these methods and Statistical tools, as these form the technical side of the Six Sigma approach.
We will talk about the Management system, which we need to use, while successfully running the Six Sigma project. This is a more real-world approach, and we need to see all the aspects of the management and their reluctances. Apart from this, we will learn, how a Six Sigma gets a kickoff.
First, we will see all the reluctance, while proposing for the Six Sigma projects, and then we will see what all are the things we need to capture and present it in front of the stakeholders to convince them to approve the Six Sigma projects.
Any Six Sigma problem, which starts with the practical problem or opportunity will definitely get a practical solution. The Six Sigma Management system is robust and designed to guide an organization’s performance improvement initiatives at all levels.
While starting the Six Sigma project, there are many reluctances we need to encounter. We will talk about those reluctances as below:
1. Unwilling to adopt the change – “Change is only constant”, however, we as humans are not always ready for a change. Therefore, pursuance for change is required while we submit a project proposal, we need to update the stakeholders for the change, which will happen after the improvement.
2. In the problem-solving approach, we mostly get the reactive approach and need to deal with the process experts to make them agree to a new approach.
3. Sometimes, we will not get the leadership support from operations for the project, we should understand their reluctance issues and pursue them accordingly.
1. Creating a project vision, and aligning with the company’s goal and vision.
2. Creating the new roles and opportunities for the operation managers.
3. R and R (Rewards and Recognitions), for people whose are contributing more and to set up an example for others.
4. Certification for people who are involved in a project and conduct the basic training.
5. Develop the feedback sessions to collect all the feedback received from all external and internal clients (including employees at all levels).
6. Sort out the roles and responsibilities for all members who involve in the project by ARMI and RASIC.
For any organization while starting the Six Sigma project, we face reluctance and resistance in the process, which can be of any type, generally, it is divided into 4 main categories i.e. Technical, Political, Organisational resistance or Individual resistance.
In the technical resistance, employees are not willing to work in different methods, change acceptance for any employee is not easy, for them adjusting in the new environment from the existing one is a difficult process. We need to focus on high-level concepts which can help them to build their capacity to work on another work environment.
Political Resistance and Organisational resistance: Sometimes, changes make employees insecure, they feel in a new environment they will not be able to put their expert knowledge and that they might lose their authority in the organization.
Sometimes, some individual employees fear new changes.
While running a project, you should involve the senior associates and keep them in confidence. The fear of employees can be decreased by their mere involvement in the project.
GE company used the CAP tool since they believed the success of any project not only depends upon the technical solution, sometimes it is required that people should be ready to accept the project and accept the new changes.
Creating a shared need
This is the reason for running a project. It should be aligned with the vision of the company. It can be in alignment with the 3Ds: Data, Demonstration, and Demand.
Shaping a Vision
The vision should be clear and aligned with the stakeholders' vision, i.e. the company’s vision.
Mobilising Commitment
We need to make a strategy to win the support from all the key stakeholders, for that we need to first convince the lower level management, since the upper-level management relies on them only, if we succeed to convince the lower level, it will be easy to buy out from the upper-level management.
Making Change Last
The change can be consistent if it is accepted and used by the whole team. The best practice should be shared with them, so that the changes will be inherently acceptable, not just for a time being but always.
Monitoring Progress
While monitoring the change, one should see the difference between before and after. The measurement must be clear enough to show the success of the project.
Identify the business and their problems/opportunity for Improvement.
The Six Sigma opportunity can be identified in different ways - by Voice of the customers (Reactive or by proactively conduct the survey or focus group). Or it can be by the voice of the process, or by making a control chart to check if the process is stable or not.
These are the ways we can find the Six Sigma opportunity, we can get in other ways also while doing the Gemba to get the process improvement opportunities.
The improvement area could have a large scope, so it would be better if we can cover a small improvement area and run the project accordingly.
While running any project, it is necessary we must not know the solution, if we have the solution in hand, we can directly fix issues without any hindrance.
The Six Sigma Methodology is a kind of scientific approach which is based upon the Metric Hypothesis.
As we all know, the main focus of the Six Sigma is to realize the customer value.
The customer-driven organizations have the qualities as listed below:
1. They focus on flat hierarchy, i.e. every people have authority at their level to take decision for organization benefits.
2. Manage the communication by regular meetings and focus groups.
3. Top Management should be supportive and understanding.
4. Must be active on customer’s feedback and take actions accordingly.