The necessity for continuous development and improvement has become universally acknowledged. Management distinguishes various approaches to continuous improvement (CI), with Kaizen and Six Sigma among the most famous ones. The Six Sigma method has proven its effectiveness throughout several decades. Introduced by Motorola Corporation in 1987 and honed by General Electric in the 1990s, Six Sigma has seen successful implementation in healthcare, sales, finances, and other areas (Singh & Rathi, 2018). In my opinion, Six Sigma offers the best answer to the CI problem due to its clarity and well-developed structure.
Most importantly, Six Sigma provides the managers with a clearly defined step sequence for implementing and monitoring CI solutions. All activities performed under the Six Sigma method can be divided into five stages according to the DMAIC framework. In this acronym, “D” stands for “define”, “M” — for “measure”, “A” — for “analyze”, “I” — for “improve”, and “C” — for “control” (Singh & Rathi, 2018). Under the Six Sigma approach, the CI process flows smoothly and logically, starting from the definition of the problematic area and ending with monitoring of corrective actions. In contrast, Kaizen can be viewed as a vague notion, a series of mutually independent process innovations generated by the workers (Carnerud et al., 2018). Therefore, Six Sigma is superior to Kaizen in situations that demand a systemic approach to quality improvement.
Overall, Six Sigma does not suffer from the overly-philosophical spirit innate to Kaizen. As such, it offers a valuable advantage of versatility to the managers. The management field occasionally views Kaizen as the link of Japanese philosophy missed by organizations in the West (Carnerud et al., 2018). On the contrary, Six Sigma focuses on specific problems and targeted solutions instead of delving into philosophy. As a result, Six Sigma mobilizes employees’ minds on problem-solving instead of overloading them with demands to change mentality according to a vague foreign concept.
References
Carnerud, D., Jaca, C., & Bäckström, I. (2018). Kaizen and continuous improvement–trends and patterns over 30 years. The TQM Journal, 30(4), 371-390.
Singh, M., & Rathi, R. (2018). A structured review of Lean Six Sigma in various industrial sectors. International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, 10(2), 622-664.