| Six Sigma is now a long-established process | | | | viewed by ordinary workers as a top-down initiative |
| improvement methodology that has been | | | | imposed from above by an elite cadre of Black Belts, |
| demonstrably effective in turning round the fortunes of | | | | who in their detachment from everyday work and |
| many industrial companies. Its relentless focus on | | | | their impenetrable jargon resemble nothing less than |
| quality and its goal of stable and consistent process | | | | external management consultants. |
| performance has played an important role in narrowing | | | | In contrast, the idea of Yellow Belt training means that |
| the gap between Western production standards and | | | | every employee, from the mail room to the factory |
| the lean production model of Japan. Above all, Six | | | | floor, whether facing internal or external customers, is |
| Sigma has instilled a culture of data analysis and | | | | schooled in the basic statistical quality techniques of |
| quantitative thinking well beyond its engineering roots, in | | | | Six Sigma. This has the potential to be nothing short of |
| businesses from call centres to hospitals. | | | | revolutionary. It also brings the entire organisation closer |
| The hierarchy of Six Sigma change management is | | | | to Deming's original lean vision which was in some |
| well known and characterized by a clear division of | | | | ways the antithesis of the data-driven, |
| labour. Black Belts are dedicated full time change | | | | target-obsessed focus of Six Sigma. The Japanese |
| agents that manage and deliver process change | | | | management pioneers sought a world where |
| projects. They typically spend two or more years | | | | numerical targets could be safely abandoned because |
| away from operational management and lead | | | | the culture of absolute quality would run so deep. |
| substantive projects under the auspices of Master | | | | Deming's famous tenth point of his famous "Fourteen |
| Black Belts, who act as trainers, technical experts and | | | | Points" business manifesto read: "Eliminate slogans, |
| champions of the Six Sigma program. Green Belts, | | | | exhortations and targets for the workforce asking for |
| meanwhile, are generally line supervisors and | | | | zero defects and new levels of productivity". He |
| managers who are schooled in basic principles of Six | | | | believed that it was process and systems - not |
| Sigma and apply them to projects within their | | | | workers - that led to poor performance. He added |
| workplace, or in support of larger Black Belt projects. | | | | "Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. |
| In recent years, a new term has entered the rainbow | | | | Substitute leadership". |
| lexicon of Six Sigma - the Yellow Belt. These are the | | | | It is no surprise that some of the most fertile |
| employees at the ground level of the business who | | | | environments for Six Sigma Yellow Belt deployment |
| are trained in basic Six Sigma concepts and ideas, | | | | are companies where Six Sigma quality concepts |
| such as Pareto analysis, cause and effect diagrams | | | | have been fused with lean production ideas. An |
| and fish-bone (Ishikawa) diagrams. Not all organisations | | | | organisation that eliminates waste, focuses on "takt |
| use or apply the term, but the temptation is to follow | | | | time" and total process flow and strives to eliminate |
| the martial arts ladder and view Yellow Belts as simply | | | | bottlenecks as identified by the Theory of Constraints |
| a lesser rung on the scale of Six Sigma enlightenment. | | | | (Goldratt) requires all employees to be committed to |
| Such a narrow view of Yellow Belts would be a | | | | the program. |
| profound mistake. | | | | Never forget that in most organisations it is junior level |
| First, the rise of Yellow Belts involves the final victory | | | | employees which form the direct interface with that |
| of the concept that practitioners really matter, and | | | | most valuable commodity, the customer. In call centres |
| consultants are less relevant. The deeper that Six | | | | and at retail stores and counters, or on a production |
| Sigma principles can be embedded in the everyday | | | | line actually assembling the product, it will be statistically |
| work patterns and cultural code of organisations, the | | | | aware and quality-focused Yellow Belts who ensure |
| closer they are to transforming the company at a | | | | that a Six Sigma program delivers the goods. |
| profound level. One danger of Six Sigma is that it is | | | | |