1Assistant Professor, Department of Statistics, Ramjas College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, 110007, India, anuradha_rc@hotmail.com
2Assistant Professor, Maharaja Agrasen Institute of Management Studies (Under GGSIP University), New Delhi, 110085, India
Six Sigma is known a quality approach that not only targets the bottom line but at the same time emphasises on the organisational structure, management commitment and leadership. A critical factor on which the success of Six Sigma methodology depends is the involvement of the people responsible for achieving the desired breakthrough results. Six Sigma has specifically defined roles and responsibilities right from the leadership to executives lower down the hierarchy in the form of the standardised Belt Rank system.
Another distinctive characteristic of Six Sigma is that it is project intensive. The financial results of this methodology are a direct result of the structured projects that are implemented by the players in the form of teams. The onus of successful deployment of Six Sigma culture in the organisation lies with the entire team. Black Belts (BBs) in particular are instrumental in identifying Six Sigma projects and the BB selection process is considered a very important activity at the outset. Thus, two important inter-linked characteristics of Six Sigma are the Six Sigma projects and the BB selection process.
This paper presents research from 13 organisations in India on the behavioural, organisational and leadership aspects of Six Sigma linked to these two characteristics. It establishes management commitment, organisation and communication at work as the top critical success factor (CSF) for Six Sigma project success. Data from these organisations are also analysed to determine the skills the organisation should focus on while selecting executives for the BB training process.
Six Sigma, Organisation, Leadership, Belt ranks, Skills, Action learning, Training
