Organizational Management (MGMT) Graduate Course: Six SIGMA, Case Study 1 Assignment

Organizational Management (MGMT) Graduate Course

MGMT500, Six SIGMA, Case Study 1 Assignment-

Valerian B-K Masao II

Six SIGMA

Six SIGMA System is “a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success”. (Pande, N. a. C. (2000) preface xi). Also based on Pande, N. a. C. Six SIGMA unlike Total Quality Management (TQM) and its other predecessors is exceptionally dealing and conceptualizing the sole desires of clients and customers by using the benefits of new technologies that are more close to exactly information that clients and customers desire. Six SIGMA among all with its greatly use modern technologies that gives it upper hand attaining and using customer’s facts, statistics and facts that shape it to become dynamic system that is sustainable to business management by offering quality desired products/services with efficiency and profitable.

Six SIGMA is the shining star on the business or organization management because of its vast successes it has achieved. These successes such as decreased defect products, increased productivity, extensive products or services development, cost reduction or efficiency, wide growth of customers or clients, business cultural changes, growth of market shares, and production cycle-time reduction have benefited Six SIGMA System users to gain a solid competitive edge over TQM.

Six SIGMA is comparatively a new concept when is compared to its predecessors such as Total Quality Management (TQM). When Six SIGMA was found it was not aimed to become a replacement for TQM. Looking closely, both Six SIGMA and TQM have many resemblances and are like-minded in varied business environments. These resemblances can be found in the areas such as manufacturing and service industries. However, TQM has helped many businesses to improve their quality of manufactured goods and or services they provide. Whereas Six SIGMA has going extra mile ahead and become the potential vehicle of delivering even better results that those of TQM. (Pande, N. a. C. (2000). Page 41)

TQM:

On the other hand, Total Quality Management (TQM) is over and over again associated with the development or growth, exploitation, and maintenance or continuation of organizational and business systems that are necessary for a variety of business progressions. TQM is founded on a calculated approach that focuses on maintaining existing quality standards as well as making incremental quality improvements. TQM can also be described as a cultural initiative as it focuses on establishing a culture of collaboration among various functional departments within an organization for improving overall quality. On the other hand TQM, like Continuous Process Improvement (CPI) have diminished in many businesses since its boom of 1990’s. However, still many companies are using TQM principles as a tool to improve quality. (Pande, N. a. C. (2000). Page 41-42)

Comparison:

Implementing TQM quality was not the sole focus of the business or organization something that lead its focus on quality improvement to be not carried out organizational wise, from top management to all departments’ staffs. This disconnected integration of quality control and improvement was a catastrophic failure of TQM because it only focused on made up “quality council” that was to only focused on quality, in stead of focusing on quality as the main theme to all employees of the organization. Whereas Six SIGMA system, organizations are implementing a process management to improve to improve quality as a mater of daily procedure from top management to staff members with incentive mechanism. Unlike TQM, Six SIGMA is managing and improving integration organizational wise the involved businesses or organizations have incentive for every one in the business to participate in quality control as the goal. Whereas TQM integration between top leadership and staff was not well communicated and organizational quality control was limited to some key department such as production nad manufacturing function and not organizational wise. (Pande, N. a. C. (2000). Page 42-43)

Because TQM system chain managers and staff members were disconnected on decision process whereby top management were the only heavily involved and committed to this styetm, implementation of quality control became temporary measure and so obvious during top leadership changing. Six SIGMA is applied to connection from the top leadership to staff has made decisions made by top management to trickle down something that made Six SIGMA to become an organizational passion and belief and top management less questionable. Vivid examples are such Bombardier, AlliedSignal and GE successes. (Pande, N. a. C. (2000). Page 43)

TQM focus on the “quality” itself as the sole main theme of the plan made it become a unclear approach that can be understood organizational wise. This theme introduced what we now know as Quality Control or Quality Assurance Department and is mainly responsible to control quality, while the rest of the organization are left out to deal with quality, and it made it very difficulty and unrealistic for only one department o control quality of the entire organization.

Six SIGMA surpassed all its predecessors for so many reasons, to mention few; six themes of Six SIGMA are somehow the principles of this successful leadership system. These themes are inbreeded with combinations of so many other tools and methods that as a whole Six SIGMA became prominent and leading leadership system, the evolution of the quality management movement. For example, first theme, genuine focus on customer has made business and organizations to have knowledge of client’s requirements and expectations. Second theme, data and focused driven management, the true prime time evolution of the quality management movement, Six SIGMA uses the modern technologies to enable management leading by facts and data. Third theme, the process focus, management and improvement, because Six SIGMA recognizes that action is in the organizational processes, to master process improvement, management has to build competitive edge in capturing and wining heart and minds of customers with valuable goods. Fourth theme, Six SIGMA system is proactive management, businesses and organizations are more and more acting in advance of the events to avoid reactions after the errors (damage control/recalls/law suits/litigations) by delivering quality goods, products and services, because reaction mode is always costly in the long run. Fifth theme is boundary less collaboration, the main theme of Six SIGMA that emphasize that Quality Control and success in business/organization is the main goal of all employees and managers of the organization and the main competition is to serve the customers better not to tear down each others in the departments. GE Chairman Jack Welch’s mantras for business success was Teamwork improvement, remove departmental barriers, and linking top management with employees across organizational line all to focus of customer satisfaction by controlling quality of goods and services GE render and produce.  The sixth Six SIGMA theme is drive for perfection, tolerance for failure. It is a contradictory theme, but it simply rewarding the businesses that aspire to achieve success, and to do so one must constantly reinvent itself, taking risk. (Pande, N. a. C. (2000). Page 15 to 18)

Reference:

Pande, N. a. C. (2000). The Six Sigma Way: How GE, Motorola, and Other Top Companies are Honing Their Performance McGrow-Hill.

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