Six Sigma And Business Process Management: Improving Quality And Efficiency

Discuss about the Six sigma and business process management.

What is Six Sigma and how does it work?

According to the article, Six Sigma is a technique used by organizations to improve their quality process through the elimination of waste process within the organization. When an organization adopts and implements Six Sigma tools, there are certain processes within the company that will change (Miller, 2014). As an illustration, Six Sigma changes the DNA of an organization. The main reason why companies implement Six Sigma technique is to increase their efficiencies and decrease both customer complaints and product malfunctions (Arumugam, Antony & Linderman, 2016). Some of the importance of Six Sigma that wasn’t acknowledged by the author of the article include; Helps an organization to flowchart its processes in which there will be enabled documentation of different processes within the organization.

In a business organization, documentation involves numerous aspects of all organizational processes. Some of these processes include the roles of employees and the decision making process towards achieving the different needs of the consumers (Kasemsap, 2018).  With these flowcharts, the company will have an opportunity to make improvements in areas not performing according to their set objectives. Secondly, Six Sigma helps an organization to eliminate any business performance that drags the company behind (Nikhanj, 2010). With the Six Sigma tools, employees are also able to reduce defects within an organizational process, with their constant analysis, they can identify any problems with business processes and make the desired changes. Lastly, with Six Sigma, an organization can be provided by an opportunity for continuous growth. This is because, when there is an elimination of waste, there will be improved efficiencies.

Implementation of Six Sigma tools is a six-step process which must be followed to yield better results and enhance a proper organizational understanding of how the tools are used to derive change (Shamsuzzaman, Alzeraif, Alsyouf & Khoo, 2018). Take, for instance; the first step is the identification of a project where the defects within an organization can be identified. A major problem within an organization could be customer satisfaction. According to the article, there is an overall method that is used during a Six Sigma project. The method can be abbreviated as DMAIC standing for Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve and Control. When an organization wants to introduce a new product, they can use the DMADV process which stands for Define, Measure, Analyze, Design and Verify.

The second step involves training in which the person in charge should be knowledgeable and have the appropriate skills necessary to run the Six Sigma tools. The next process will require having a team with a black belt team leader (Graves, 2014). The team will have a group of members who will be appointed by the team leader. When selecting team members, it should be a collaborative effort between the management and the employees. The black belt leader will be able to plan the implementation. This will be followed by an execution plan. The last step is an evaluation. In the article, the author hasn’t identified the last step which is an evaluation. For the article, the last step is planning.

Benefits of implementing Six Sigma in small and large organizations

Employees will be a key resource as they will provide the evaluation criteria and other parameters. With evaluation, the organization will be able to determine the tools and techniques that work for employees and identification of areas that requires improvements (Benner & Tushman, 2015). One of the group members acknowledged that evaluation is a significant step that the author shouldn’t have ignored. The group members concluded that assessment helps an organization to determine the effectiveness of adoption of the Six Sigma techniques. Business processes are complicated hence requires constant evaluation to determine and assess their performances based on the goals and objectives set by an organization (Tenera & Luís Carneiro, 2014).

Six Sigma is a technique that can be applied in different industries. Some of these industries include; Small industries and lean manufacturing industries. When it comes to small industries, the implementation of Six Sigma is always a challenging experience (Sunder, Ganesh & Marathe, 2018). However, there are different ways that a small business can sustain Six Sigma improvements. The members of the group gave the following ways in which this can take place. They include; ensuring that all the employees in the organization are properly trained based on the new processes that are to be adopted within the organization (Laureani & Antony, 2018). With this, the employees can be able to understand, develop skills and have adequate knowledge of the Six Sigma tools based on business process and management.

Small businesses organization should work towards implementing changes quickly without interfering with the quality of the services or products being offered. Implementation of Six Sigma requires adequate resources (Sreedharan & Raju, 2016). This will require small businesses to adequately budget through continuous consultation of adoption and practices of Six Sigma tools. Despite these challenges, Six Sigma techniques can benefit an organization in different ways. As an illustration, according to group members, the following were the benefits; improved teamwork through increased employee engagement, improved customer satisfaction and increased profit margins. When it comes to lean manufacturing industries are large companies which have incorporated Six Sigma techniques within the production process with an objective of improving cash flow and reduction and reducing inventory (Jacobs, Swink & Linderman, 2015).  Examples of lean manufacturing companies include plastic and chemical industries. There is certain lean manufacturing organization such as TBM which has implemented Six Sigma using Kaizen methods. This is a technique where an organization will use cross-functional teams to complete a project based on set objectives. With this kind of method, the author has realized that the Kaizen method is a faster method of implementing Six Sigma techniques within an organization. As a result, based on the article, the author advice organization to use this kind of method because it will take two months instead of six months. This should only take place when an organization has all the resources and budget necessary to run the operations using the Six Sigma approach (Dabestani, Shahin, Saljoughian & Shirouyehzad, 2016).

The six-step process for successful Six Sigma implementation

The group members agreed with the author when it came to the significance of the Six Sigma approach in an organization. In the current consumer world, companies are working on different methods of improving customer satisfaction (Conger, 2015). This is because the needs of consumers are evolving whereas there is much organization competing to satisfy these gaps within the consumer world. Just as the author has said, the implementation of Six Sigma approach organizations will be able to improve its competitive advantage. This will increase its market share that will be translated into increased profits and other market advantages (Sabry, 2014).

In conclusion, Six Sigma is a process that business organization should adopt and implement to stay competitive within its target market. The rate at which the needs of consumers are evolving, organizations should have adequate tools that will able to provide appropriate information on reducing waste and improving efficiencies within the organization. According to the article, Six Sigma implementation and adoption within an organization have numerous benefits for both small and large companies. Some of which include: driving growth. Improving business processes and business operation within the organization. The team members concluded that the implementation of Six Sigma requires an organization to understand their business process. With this, they can align their processes/operations with the right Six Sigma tools. Additionally, organizations should be aware that employees play an important role. Without acknowledging their presence, it will be difficult for the process to succeed as they will be implementing the Six Sigma tools. The successful approach towards implementing Six Sigma is an assessment of customer satisfaction.

References

Arumugam, V., Antony, J., & Linderman, K. (2016). The influence of challenging goals and structured method on Six Sigma project performance: A mediated moderation analysis. European Journal of Operational Research, 254(1), 202-213.

Benner, M. J., & Tushman, M. L. (2015). Reflections on the 2013 Decade Award—“Exploitation, exploration, and process management: The productivity dilemma revisited” ten years later. Academy of management review, 40(4), 497-514.

Conger, S. (2015). Six sigma and business process management. In Handbook on Business Process Management 1 (pp. 127-146). Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg.

Dabestani, R., Shahin, A., Saljoughian, M., & Shirouyehzad, H. (2016). Importance-performance analysis of service quality dimensions for the customer groups segmented by DEA: The case of four star hotels. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 33(2), 160-177.

Graves A. (2014). Six Sigma for Small Businesses. Accessed Date26 August 2018.Retrived from: https://www.sixsigmadaily.com/six-sigma-small-businesses/

Jacobs, B. W., Swink, M., & Linderman, K. (2015). Performance effects of early and late Six Sigma adoptions. Journal of Operations Management, 36, 244-257.

Kasemsap, K. (2018). Applying Lean Production and Six Sigma in global operations. In Operations and Service Management: Concepts, Methodologies, Tools, and Applications (pp. 582-612). IGI Global.

Laureani, A., & Antony, J. (2018). Leadership–a critical success factor for the effective implementation of Lean Six Sigma. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 29(5-6), 502-523.

Miller K. (2014). What is Six Sigma and why is it important? Accessed Date 26^th August 2018. Retrieved from: https://www.workzone.com/blog/six-sigma/ 

Nikhanj K. (2010). Time to Evaluate: Better Training Means Better Lean Six Sigma Experts. Accessed Date 26 August 2018.Retrived from: https://www.processexcellencenetwork.com/lean-six-sigma-business-performance/articles/time-to-evaluate-better-training-means-better-lean

Sabry, A. (2014). Factors critical to the success of Six-Sigma quality program and their influence on performance indicators in some of Lebanese hospitals. Arab Economic and Business Journal, 9(2), 93-114.

Shamsuzzaman, M., Alzeraif, M., Alsyouf, I., & Khoo, M. B. C. (2018). Using Lean Six Sigma to improve mobile order fulfilment process in a telecom service sector. Production Planning & Control, 29(4), 301-314.

Sreedharan, V. R., & Raju, R. (2016). A systematic literature review of Lean Six Sigma in different industries. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 7(4), 430-466.

Sunder M, V., Ganesh, L. S., & Marathe, R. R. (2018). A morphological analysis of research literature on Lean Six Sigma for services. International Journal of Operations & Production Management, 38(1), 149-182.

Tenera, A. M. B. R., & Luís Carneiro, P. (2014). A Lean Six Sigma (LSS) project management improvement model. SELECTED PAPERS FROM THE 27TH IPMA (INTERNATIONAL PROJECT MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION), 912-920.