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Company Politics And Six Sigma
No grouping of human beings is without some amount of politics.
Managing deployment of Six Sigma in your organization will
unavoidably run into some personal issues and conflict. However,
with deft handling of the personal and political issues that
come up, along with patience and perseverance, your Six Sigma
deployment will not get derailed.
Political factors that can affect a Six Sigma project include
personal resistance to change, inflexible company policies, and
incompatibility with existing organizational methods and goals.
Not surprisingly, all of these factors also affect business
processes of any kind. They are not unique to Six Sigma. This is
one of Six Sigma's strengths: realistically acknowledging the
way politics work in an organization. Six Sigma is not just
number crunching. It understands the importance of and
encourages the involvement of people throughout and at all
levels of the organization working together toward a common
goal. Six Sigma encourages planning, communication, and openness
about processes, procedures, and information.
Many people see change, any change, as loss--a loss of their
power or a loss of the security of the old way of doing things.
Thus, people are prone to defend the old way, out of habit and
out of unease. They wonder how change will affect them and what
exactly happens behind the scenes and if they don't know, become
apprehensive. This is a problem that can be overcome through
communication. Six Sigma successes require clear and open
communication at all levels. Any change in an organization will
meet some resistance, either intentional or just from inertia.
When management can effectively communicate that it is behind
that change and can communicate the positive aspects of the
change, resistance and "turf" politics can be countered and
overcome.
Another problem is people who disregard the value and power of
Six Sigma and consequently, they are reluctant to support Six
Sigma projects. To the uninitiated, Six Sigma may appear similar
to or simply an evolution of other quality programs. There have
been so many quality improvement fads over the years. It is not
surprising that people are now a little jaded. Others may see
Six Sigma as solely another cost-cutting or productivity
enhancement fad. This is a short-sighted view. Six Sigma is
neither a fad nor just another quality initiative. It is a "way
of life." It is a multi-level, cyclical movement toward
continual process improvement. The quality improvement fads sell
themselves as cheap and easy quick fixes. The reality is that
there are no quick fixes to significant process improvement. Six
Sigma understands that; it is not a simple quick process.
However, the right Six Sigma training and information will help
people to understand that Six Sigma is significantly different;
it is a robust continuous improvement strategy and process.
Once projects are begun, Six Sigma projects can become a battle
of wills for control over which strategy, approach, or tool is
used. Team meetings can devolve into arguments over which
measurement to use, how it will be calculated, which charts will
be generated, whether to use DMAIC or DMADV, etc. Six Sigma is
not about making things more difficult. It is about using common
sense to make things easier. It is certainly about recognizing
that there is more than one road to improvement and more than
one right answer to a problem.
In overcoming political problems, the leadership of senior
management is critical. Successful Six Sigma programs are built
on a solid organizational foundation. The organizational
structure and system needs to be clearly identified and
communicated to the entire organization to successfully
implement Six Sigma Quality. Becoming a Six Sigma organization
doesn't just happen. Planning and training goes into setting up
a successful Six Sigma organization. Employee roles and
responsibilities must be established and clearly communicated to
all. For many companies successful in Six Sigma, the key factor
has been the direct involvement of their top leaders.
Six Sigma is about getting everyone involved. A Six Sigma
project forms a team of people who work together to identify
problems and develop solutions. Such teams are not isolated
teams rearranging the world for everyone else to live in. These
teams are serving the organization by employing the skills and
tools they have learned to increase quality and reduce defects.
Instilling the team concept along with expert training will go a
long way toward solving potential political troubles in your
organization.
About the author:
Peter Peterka is the principal Six Sigma Consultant
in practice areas of DMAIC and DFSS. Peter has over 15 years
experience including implementation of Six Sigma
in Healthcare.
Peter Peterka
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