Introduction
Six Sigma can be described as a process which increases efficiency and decreases defects in production or operational processes with the end goal being an overall reduction in costs for the company in terms of resources saved. Taking this into consideration any company that suffers from consumer complaints regarding product quality can benefit from implementing various aspects of Six Sigma into their operational structure.
On the other hand what isn’t outright stated is the fact that Six Sigma can be thought of as a constraining and limiting form of management since it requires products, services and methods of operation to conform to a singular overriding plan that emphasizes a particular method of performance in order to achieve a certain end goal.
Problems with Six Sigma
This means that it at times limits management methods related to initiative, thinking outside the box or utilizing methods of management that aren’t necessarily a part of the company’s original management procedure. Based on this, it becomes a question of whether Six Sigma management methods are a necessity instead of an option in a company’s operational structure.
In the case, example provided it can be seen that high product defect rates reported by consumers necessitates the need for significant process change and as such, it can be seen that the implementation of Six Sigma in this particular case is a necessity in order to improve product quality and thus a company’s brand image.
Changes that will occur
Through the use of Six Sigma, it is expected that daily operations within the company will undergo drastic changes in the form of increases to efficiency and reductions in resource wasting operations.
This would involve department restructuring, removing redundant teams or operations, distributing roles among existing staff so as to increase human resource utilization without having to hire more workers, as well as the implementation of new production overseeing processes to ensure compliance to new standards.
Approaches to new projects under the new Six Sigma process would have to coincide with how adaptive such projects can become with the company’s new style of operations, whether they can be implemented quickly, efficiently and at low cost and how to ensure compliance with Six Sigma processes.
Overall it is expected that my management style and method of deductive methodology will actually be severely limited in terms of utilizing methods outside of established company operational procedures as dictated by Six Sigma.
In fact, it is expected that across the entirety of the company’s management structure decisions and methods of operational implementation will take on a “top-down” structure of management resulting in limited freedom in decision making however this should increase operational efficiency and reduce product defects.
From a certain perspective thought it can be stated that the use of Six Sigma cannot be considered entirely good for the company. Its confining and regimented use of statistics and metrics turns employees into numbers rather than people.
In a way, it can be stated that the Six Sigma process stifles creativity in favor of efficiency, which cannot be considered the best possible process in which to proceed in a technology-oriented business environment where innovation is prized above all else.
In fact, the very company that started the Six Sigma process “Motorola” failed to capitalize on changing smartphone technologies and innovations within the past decade resulting in its rivals such as Nokia and Apple, which place greater emphasis on innovation, effectively reducing Motorola’s market share to a third of what it used to be (Colvin, 2011).
It is based on this that while I do agree that greater efficiency and reduction of wasteful resource utilization is an advantage for the company the fact remains that regimented and procedure-oriented methods of management cannot be considered an ideal process to be implemented in light of current market trends where there are fewer barriers to entry and the need for constant innovation.
As such, this necessitates the implementation of certain vertical and horizontal management processes instead of a regimented top-down approach.
Reference
Colvin, G. (2011). Motorola’s Uphill Battle. Fortune International (Europe), 164(1), 34. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.