Six Sigma and Upper Management

Author: tjacowski
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Some of the main benefits associated with Six Sigma implementations in business organizations include increased profitability, reduced operational costs, and increased customer satisfaction. The nature of derived benefits may vary but the main criterion applied during these implementations is that the end result should be in accordance with the aims and objectives of the senior management.

This is necessary because the upper management is entrusted with the task of the overall growth of the organization and if results do not match upper management requirements, it could hamper the growth of the organization. It could also lead to a situation wherein the organization loses sight of its original aims and objectives.

Necessity of Upper Management Involvement

This business population is often busy with other important tasks and may not have the time or resources for getting actively involved in Six Sigma implementations. Sometimes the lack of commitment may also arise due the general perception of senior management that Six Sigma is related to work processes, which is the job of operational managers. It is true that most of the concepts are implemented at the process level but it does not mean that involvement of the upper management is not required. senior management support is necessary because the full scope of Six Sigma implementations is not limited to process improvements and stretches far beyond, transcending functional departments to expose the need for changes in the organizational structure.

This would be quite impossible to achieve until and unless the upper management strongly and actively supports the initiatives undertaken by the implementation team. For garnering support from the upper management, the quality department can make a presentation about the COPQ (cost of poor quality) of the organization. With the help of COPQ, the upper management will be able to understand the full implications of poor quality, which may include increased production costs and growing customer dissatisfaction.

Things to be done

Six Sigma projects are most successful when they are implemented from the ground up, i.e. they cover all aspects of a business process. This very often requires Black Belts to make major changes in the existing process, which is only possible after getting the requisite permission from the upper management. Sometimes they may intentionally deny giving the permission, fearing that in case something goes wrong, the blame will be entirely put on the upper management.

However, the chances of anything going wrong are minimal because with continuous support, guidance, and encouragement, the Six Sigma team members are bound to succeed in their initiatives. Statistics also reveal that organizations that provided upper management support had a much better rate of successful implementations. The success of any Six Sigma initiative depends on the resources that are made available to team members.

Of all the resources, the most important is the monitory support, which needs to be extended by the upper management all throughout the implementation stage. In some implementations, the upper management may also be required to provide managerial support to Six Sigma teams. The project implementation can continue even in the absence of managerial and financial support, but this is not advisable, as it will unnecessarily lead to the extension of the project implementation deadline.

Upper management needs to understand that Six Sigma projects have widespread and far-reaching implications and that they can be utilized for achieving existing goals and objectives. The upper management also needs to understand that all they need to do is to provide the necessary support; they do not have to actually inspect every improvement that is being made. Only then, Six Sigma implementations will be able to bring about considerable and long lasting changes in the organization.

About the Author

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.