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Example research essay topic: Cultural Change Management Philosophy - 1,888 words

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The history of Six-Sigma The roots of Six Sigma as a measurement standard go back to Carl Frederick Gauss (1777 - 1885) who introduced the concept of normal curve. Six Sigma as a measurement standard in product variation can be traced back to the 1920 's when Walter Stewart showed that three sigma, from the mean is the point where a process requires correction. As history would seem to have it, the beginnings of Six Sigma really come from 1979 when an exasperated Motorola executive named Art Sundry said, at a meeting, "The real problem at Motorola is that our quality stinks!" . Apparently, this statement led to series of activities that in turn led to the discovery of the crucial correlation between higher quality and lower development costs in manufacturing products of all kinds. The problem was that the common thought was that quality initiatives simply cost too much money. What Motorola realized is that if these initiatives were done right, improving quality would actually reduce costs.

Motorola decided to take the approach that high quality products should actually cost less to produce. Motorola reasoned that the highest quality producer should be the lowest cost producer. THEORETICAL ANALYSIS OF THE CONCEPT OF SIX-SIGMA What is Six-Sigma Six-Sigma has at least three different meanings depending upon the context; there is not one answer to what is Six-Sigma. The first answer to what is Six-Sigma is that it is a management philosophy. Six-Sigma is a customer based approach realizing that defects are expensive. Fewer defects mean lower costs and improved customer loyalty.

The lowest cost, high value producer is the most competitive provider of goods and services. Six-Sigma is a way to achieve strategic business results. Another answer to what is Six-sigma is Six-Sigma is a statistic. Six-Sigma processes will produce less than 3, 4 defects or mistakes per million opportunities. Many successful six sigma projects do not achieve a 3, 4 defects or less. That just indicates that there is still opportunity.

A third answer to what is six sigma is that six sigma is a process. To implement the Six-Sigma management philosophy and achieve the Six-Sigma level of 3, 4 defects per million opportunities or less there is a process that is used. The Six-Sigma process is define, measure, analyze, improve and control DMAIC. When answering the question what is Six-Sigma we must understand that Six-Sigma is not a set of new or unknown tools. Six-Sigma tools and techniques all are found in total quality management. Six-Sigma is the application of the tools on selected important projects at the appropriate time.

Statistical Six-Sigma Definition - How does it work? What does it mean to be "Six Sigma"? Six-Sigma at many organizations simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. But the statistical implications of a Six Sigma program go well beyond the qualitative eradication of customer perceptible defects. It's a methodology that is well rooted in mathematics and statistics.

The objective of Six Sigma Quality is to reduce process output variation so that +six standard deviations lie between the mean and the nearest specification limit. This will allow no more than 3, 4 defect Parts Per Million (PPM) opportunities, also known as Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO), to be produced. As the process sigma value increase from zero to six, the variation of the process around the mean value decreases. With a high enough value of process sigma, the process approaches zero variation and is known as "zero defects. " APPLICATIONS AND BENEFITS OF SIX-SIGMA - Integrating Six Sigma and Lean Manufacturing When companies such as Mercedes, Pella, Maytag and hundreds of others began their lean journeys, they turned to the Lean Production System and kaizen to get moving. As they reduced unneeded inventory-like lowering a water line to expose the rocks-they discovered the need for even more advanced methods of determining the root causes of abnormalities. The Lean Sigma transformation has taken these companies from an intuitive level, in which trained operators and engineers can begin to see and - fix issues, to the more complex.

At the higher level, where issues are not obvious to the casual observer, we use statistical tools to uncover abnormalities. Lean Sigma uses both Six Sigma and lean principles to reduce defects and drive cultural change. Focused on lead-time and variability reduction, Lean Sigma is a methodology aligned with a time-based strategy at the speed of Kaizen Breakthrough. Lean Contributions: o Identification of defects is immediate with one-piece flow o Kaizen is efficient method to eliminate defects because of its bias for action, extensive team involvement, and immediate corrective action. Six Sigma Contributions: o Focused on reducing variation o Focused on specific target areas o Capable of focusing on defects caused by the interaction of several variables o Measurement focused The Lean Sigma Transformation Each level of transformation takes place in a cross-functional team environment, with collaboration and data collection and analysis driving cultural change. In the more advanced stage of the transformation, Lean Sigma Champions, Black Belts, and Green Belts are deployed throughout a business to root out variation and abnormality using statistical tools.

To launch this stage successfully, flow should first be established, either on a model line or company-wide. Once flow is established, our "best practice" is first to raise awareness among the professionals who will oversee the Lean Sigma effort: o Champions receive a week of training, during which executives assess their current metrics and then focus on defining the business objectives that will drive projects. o Black Belts receive four weeks of training, culminating in a project that must show substantial financial benefit to the company. After training, the Black Belt is ready to initiate projects and mentor Green Belts. o The Green Belt receives two weeks of training, plus ongoing mentoring. Green Belts devote a minority percentage of their time to individual projects but are recognized as experts and up-and-coming leaders.

The Lean Sigma transformation can take an entire enterprise from an initial kaizen creating the first working cell to deployment of Lean Sigma Black Belts who will discover the causal effects of raw materials and processing on finished quality. Automate, integrate and collaborate The human nervous system translates information into action in different ways depending on need. Your organization's nervous system should behave in the same manner. Just as driving skills become automatic, the infrastructure to support the analyze-integrate-control portion of Six Sigma should be automated to shorten cycle times and eliminate redundancy. The analysis of key metrics within the Six Sigma framework is most often handled within a small project format.

Once the data are collected, easy-to-use desktop statistical packages are essential to the success of the project. Other project aspects may best be handled with automation. For example, streamlining the data collection and access process for Black Belts can be accomplished through automating the transfer of data into the desktop analysis package. Automation can reduce redundancies such as the re-entering of data, retyping of comments, reformatting for financial measures and so on.

Other tasks lend themselves to automation as well; especially during the control stage of Six Sigma projects and for the monitoring of critical metrics once a process reaches maturity. Such automation frees the brain of the organization to focus on new and creative ways to achieve customer delight. Once such successful automation of the control stage is occuring within the corporate level of a successful company widely recognized for its use of Six Sigma. The challenge was to deliver Six Sigma quality charts on network availability, performance and utilization as well as problem management time-to-restore in a Web enabled application to internal company customers and major suppliers.

The company is meeting the challenge by implementing a fully automated Web enabled application where all of the charts including attributes and variables charts, defects per million opportunities charts, run charts and so on-have the capability to allow drilling down to detailed data for further investigative purposes. The automation of the control stage for this company provides value by: o Increasing productivity by decreasing time needed to generate charts and Web interfaces. o Providing customers with measurable data to compare to service level agreements. o Providing measurable data to hold suppliers to service level agreements.

o Providing internal data to help technicians focus improvement efforts. o Allowing common distribution with no client software required due to Web interface. o Providing ease of use for intended customers of the application. Ultimately an organization's IT system should be structured to sustain the benefits realized from Six Sigma. Process documentation, action items and responsibilities, and systems for monitoring and achieving return on investment are all a part of the Six Sigma process. Sustaining Six Sigma For an entity to sustain the benefits of Six Sigma, it must be collaborative and connected in using its information infrastructure.

Black Belts and others need the ability to access data, create information from it and use it intelligently, storing their knowledge within the constructs of a collaborative environment. They need to link prior knowledge and information to current projects and have the ability to do context sensitive searches for relevant information throughout the information infrastructure. Additionally, management, executive staff and information users need to receive information in a way that simplifies decision making along the value chain. In a truly supported collaborative environment they access and bring multiple sources of relevant information to bear when making decisions.

An information infrastructure promoting collaboration will "connect the disconnects" in the organization. This setup allows everyone to feel connected to the organization's mission and fosters the cooperation between suppliers and manufacturers, manufacturers and customers, and businesses and consumers that is critical to success in this age of e-business. CRITICAL THINKING ABOUT SIX SIGMA Can Six-Sigma Keep Up With Technological Change? Even with glowing reviews from CEO's and Stock Markets, a wise business executive must still ask some difficult questions.

If Six Sigma is expensive and carries significant risk, what should I consider before I commit? We need to keep at least one eye on technology trends, even while we focus the other on Six Sigma. Any company that focuses exclusively on improving their existing operations and products risks obsolescence as technology, products, and even entire markets change. Is there a way to make Six Sigma efforts work better, and produce results faster at lower cost?

In "Measurements and the Knowledge Revolution, " Thomas Pearson presents a strategy to combine best quality management methods with new information technology to produce maximum results. By automatically building exactly the right knowledge at just the right time, the results of Six Sigma efforts can be greatly enhanced. "Measurements and the Knowledge Revolution" outlines seven predictive process management (PPM) methods that function simultaneously and iteratively, collecting product and process measurements, monitoring for compliance to plans and schedules, recognizing opportunities for improvement, managing complex dynamic operations for accuracy and flexibility, and maximizing quality, cost, features, and delivery times. The seven PPM methods reach beyond traditional quality and statistical methods, using the power of modern information technology to accelerate and enhance overall results: o Automated statistical process monitoring means all potential causes and effects of both problems and improvements are monitored and automatically recognized. When important changes in process or product occur, the system and operating personnel will know. o PPM filters the chaos effects o...


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Research essay sample on Cultural Change Management Philosophy

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