Introduction
Organizations understand the need to employ a continuous improvement (CI) strategy to achieve operational excellence in production. The most common business strategy suitable for continuous improvement is Six Sigma (Albiwi, 2017). Since its emergence in the United States around the 1980s, Six Sigma has been appreciated as a helpful tool for minimizing variation and improving the performance process. The approach reduces manufacturing costs and makes organizational savings occur as far as the bottom line. When done correctly, the approach helps guarantee customer satisfaction easily (Albliwi et al., 2017). Microsoft is among the prosperous organizations enjoying the concept of six-sigma is a continuous improvement plan, which aids the firm to identify, eliminating, and reducing product defects.
Microsoft as an Organization with a Problem for Improvement
Microsoft, as a technological firm operates on a divisional structure, as this is more suitable for its progress. The structure stresses the firms’ output, but at the same time forces it to shift its thinking about services and devices versus the packaging of the software (Tinypulse, n.d.). The main dilemma and problem were to align the operational strategy to the new corporate one. This strategy is more demanding for the company, making its trained employees operate as individuals in their orientation. Times are changing fast; therefore, the organization needed to comply, but the staff was used to executing as per the outlines of its previous strategy, thus, the responsive and executive speed was slow (Albliwi, 2017). As noted by Tinypulse (n.d.), despite the long-lived success of Office and Windows products for this business, Microsoft was struggling to match its product value to other companies. With a changed operation focus, in terms of structure, products, and services, the organization is supposed to maintain its sustainability in terms of its corporate structure to market forces and conditions.
The Objective of Using Six Sigma
Six Sigma is a tool that facilitates the identification, elimination, and reduction of defects from a process, a product, or a transaction. It works in a continuous improvement strategy, although the solution might not be achieved at the beginning but becomes clear throughout the process (Erturk & Tuerdi, 2016). This report seeks to utilize Six Sigma as a strategy, which helps Microsoft as a technological firm to establish its newly adapted divisional approach (Stevenson, 2018). The technique suggests the company balance its services and devices versus the packaging of its software for it to achieve its goals effectively. This problem requires the utilization of the available employees fully in their orientation. According to TINYpulse (n.d), this approach helps optimize and assess techniques, which makes the organization able to review new projects funneled into an improvement cycle. The action helps in the creation of a plan of action to sustain optimal performance maintenance. Such a study serves the company with the ability to note where to put more concentration in modifying a particular product to give customers the best.
Microsoft embraced the idea of Six Sigma as a way of generating a stabilized Quality Management approach. The technique has since been influential in identifying the organization’s pain points (Scott, 2019). This happens by embracing training and learning, metrics, and collaboration tools to help the team members, managers, and all management in the decision-making process. Through consultation with other corporations that were using this technique, Microsoft’s employability mechanism became more apt (Albliwi et al., 2017). The firm became able to incorporate independently other key findings as per its many years of experience to help sustain the Six Sigma process.
The Desired Outcome
The general ideology is that Six Sigma is a statistical term, with the ability to measure how a process deviates from perfection. This approach, therefore, will enable Microsoft as a firm to quantify the available number of defects in a given process, and understand the functional methods, which would help in eliminating the flaws. The desired outcome thus is for the organization to understand the process of acquiring focus, and the identification of the path to improvement.
Metrics to Measure Success
With Six Sigma, it is easier to identify the metrics that would measure processes through which the company would determine its performance. The technique will apply the DMAIC model as a metric, which employs a contextual technique that seeks the reduction of Microsoft’s problem and improvement of its product quality. The first metric is the definition of the objectives and problem. The definition is an important metric as it summarizes the project plan by focusing on the specification of the problem. It becomes easier to handle the problem when it is targeted in a clear manner (Riyadhi, 2020). This metric also helps link the project to the objectives of the business and helps in executing the problem statement. The goal and problem of the scope of the project are determined at this metric, thus, envisioning the ins and outs of the project.
The next metric which helps in determining success is the measurement aspect. The metric helps in the collection of the data, especially the relevant ones to the project. Through this phase, the parameters needed are identified, the ways to qualify them and collect the inappropriate data way. This phase is vital as it gives a common understanding and language suitable for the collected information (Scott, 2019). The analysis is another metric, and it is crucial in finding the root cause of the company’s problem. Through the available analysis, there is the identification of gaps that occur between goals and actual performance. This metric permits for the identification of causes, which have confined the firm in its current position.
Improvement is another metric, by which the process will be measured concerning the determination of its potential solutions and the ways to test, improve and implement them (Albliwi et al. 2017). The metric is important because it brings on board owners and stakeholders in terms of consultation and suggesting improvement plans. Control is the last metric, which is functional in the generation of a solution that is detailed in the context of the monitoring plan. Therefore, the definition, measures, analysis, improvement, and control are the metrics that would measure the success as they all connect to support the project.
The Process for Determining Root Causes
The process for determining to root causes would include redesigning and designing, the process that seeks improvement, and the management process. The main role of Six Sigma in an organization is to assure various titles, responsibilities, authorities are assigned to the staff’s independence in education. This means Six Sigma provokes the implementation of specialization. Such an arrangement ensures proper coordination of the organization effectively and in the event makes the processes to be easier (Albliwi et al., 2017). Therefore, it becomes easier for Microsoft company to understand the problem and manage that everyone is given a position that they understand the best.
Various methods can be used to help the company reach its improvement and sustain the appropriate results. Various tools would be used to follow through on the steps of the Six Sigma strategy; however, the main ones here would be utilizing data analysis and research designs. By using Six Sigma as a way to initiate an improvement, every company should first know the road map (Scott, 2019). Proper research will help investigators understand it envisions, which this approach gives in the context of criteria laid down by consumers (Stevenson, 2018). Research is vital here because it allows for a deeper understanding of the requisite for improvement in data analysis.
Methods for Improvement and Method to Sustain Results
Luckily, various tools support the use of Six Sigma if adequately put in use. For improvement purposes, it is appreciable to note the core processes as well as key consumers, in a perfectly defined manner. The performance of the project should then be measured, with important issues prioritized, implemented, and analyzed for improvements. Six Sigma should be integrated and expanded accordingly to maintain track of the project’s progress (Abd-Elwahed & El-Baz, 2018). These methods are vital in determining the viability and stability of the entire project. Define, measure, analyze, improve and control are continuous improvement strategies that will continue working for this Microsoft company.
In conclusion, it is essential to mention Six Sigma, as a useful approach, which ensures continuous improvement strategy for organizations. For instance, Microsoft is one of the many organizations utilizing this tactic to stabilize its organizational structure. The corporation was becoming outdated concerning service delivery, which made Google and other technology-related companies overpower them. Providentially, the Six Sigma mechanism made the enterprise acquire a proper Microsoft team to strengthen the business’ operation. With proper processes determining the root cause, and tools helpful in assessing the situation, it becomes easier for any firm to solve the at hand problems dragging the firm.
Though it started in the United States in the 1980s, the strategy aids hundreds of establishments to adopt speed and ease service delivery to customers.
References
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