Definition of Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a methodology of managing performance of processes. It does not only include improvement of projects but also all the steps which help in improving its success.
The steps involve:
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Establishment of roles:
Can be most successful if the leadership has a commitment to the philosophy and methodology that it entails. At each operational level, Process owners should be identified. They will be charged with the responsibility of tracking their group performance and hence determining the actions to be taken when some sort of improvement is needed. Some training should also be done to the Process owners so that they have some basic understanding and tools for working in managing processes.
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Creating a dashboard
After putting the personnel in place, the team should then start at the highest level which involves determining the success of the organization. The success can be in form of shareholder satisfaction or measures of profitability or achievement of the mission or vision depending on the organization’s goals.
The dashboard is a summary of the key measuring procedures of an organization. The dashboard will ensure that there are quantifiable measures put in place to ensure that there are improvements in the overall performance of the organization.
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Establishment of performance Expectations
After the clarification of the key metrics as in step 2 above, the level of performance acceptable in each area now needs to be determined. This may include the threshold level of customer satisfaction. The performance level can also be incorporated into the dashboard through several ways.
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Identify needs for Improvement:
After putting the dashboard in place, there is need to monitor the process performance by leaders regularly. If the established requirement is not met, the leaders will have to determine how to act. Decision making is a very important aspect at this point. A standard method should be established for putting the priorities on the improvement opportunities and determination of the best methodology in each case.
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Determining improvement approaches:
The approaches for having the improvement strategies in place is very vital at this stage. If a wrong approach is taken, then there is no positive improvement that will be realized instead there will a negative change in the overall performance of the organization.
For a better improvement to be realized, there is need to lay an improvement methodology which should be followed to the latter. After achieving the improvement goal, the project is then closed out and an update is done on the dashboard to reflect the new level of performance.
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Maintain the Framework
There is need for a continuous attention which ensures that the established procedures are maintained. Employees need to be trained and the dashboard updated with current performance levels and the changes that may appear to the key metrics. Priorities should also be revisited and documentations of such high-level procedures be made.
References
Nichols, F. (1991). The Final Season. St, Louis Browns Historical Society.
Bialik, C. (2008). Baseball’s Biggest Ninth-Inning Comebacks. The Wall Street Journal.
