Page 52 - Six Sigma Advanced Tools for Black Belts and Master Black Belts

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Further Thoughts 37
on their experience in dealing with problems and are confident enough to use their
intuition rather than resort to statistical tools deriving information from available data.
Such an attitude may be harmful to the success of Six Sigma. The middle managers
and supervisors who have experienced many other quality initiatives may regard Six
Sigma as yet another transient offering that will pass in due course.

3.3.4.2 Highly competitive job market
Few companies practice life-long employment in today’s competitive job market. This
is even more prevalent given the rapidly changing economic, social and technological
environment. People tend to change jobs more frequently, whether it be in pursuit
of ‘better prospects’ or involuntarily. The impact of frequent job changing is further
worsened by the fact that appreciable benefits from serious Six Sigma work can only
be felt a few years after projects have been initiated.
Corporate leadership plays a vital role in the successful implementation of Six
Sigma. The implementation structure of Six Sigma demands strong support from the
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Champions or executive management. Any changes in the executive management
will have adverse effects on the implementation. With hostile market conditions, cor-
porate leadership has become relatively more volatile. Chief executives are changed
frequently, or changes may be brought about through mergers and acquisitions be-
tween organizations. When higher-level management is changed frequently, it may be
difficult to maintain the same level of top-down commitment to Six Sigma initiatives.

3.3.4.3 Cyclical economic conditions

Economic trends are usually cyclical. In good times, companies may be more willing
to invest additional income on process improvement efforts. This tendency may be re-
versed during situations of economic downturn as companies struggle to keep afloat.
Such situations may be unhealthy for Six Sigma implementation, again particularly
in view of the fact that an extended training and application phase is often needed
before significant financial gains can be seen.

3.3.5 Summary of assessment
A consolidated table of the SWOT analysis is shown in Table 3.1.

3.4 FURTHER THOUGHTS

Six Sigma has been at the forefront of the quality movement in recent years. How-
ever, the hyperbole that often accompanies claims as to its effectiveness could lead
to unrealistic expectations. For example, it is commonly claimed by Six Sigma con-
sultants that a typical Six Sigma project could save a company at least US$200 000. A
specific Six Sigma project might well achieve this, but what happens when Six Sigma
is adopted by an organization that has an annual turnover of, say, US$100 000? Blindly
marketing Six Sigma with unrealistic promises will only hurt Six Sigma in the long