MBA Journal November 2011

Management - Decisions That Will Benefit The Company

Many managers are getting canned and if you are an individual who holds a management position with a thrviing company then perhaps your job is safe. If however you are a person in a place of upper management within a company that is not doing well then you are most likely losing a little sleep at night wondering when it will be when your company will give you the ax. It may sound harsh but whenever a company isn't doing well it is the heads of upper management and CEO's that have to watch out. After all, no good company is going to fire the underpaid worker bees, as they are the crux of the company. No instead it will be the overpaid members of upper management who are going to have to accept the brunt of the responsibility and therefore it is wise to wake up and smell the coffee before it is too late.

As a manager you are probably seeing that the company's numbers are not all they could be, not everything they should be. Perhaps you are thinking that you have done nothing wrong and that this has little to do with your ability or inability to manage. Likely you are right. It is most likely nothing that has to really do with you but it is however, something that you really need to look at and consider if you really want to make a difference.

Keeping all this in mind, in the end it doesn't really matter whether any of this is your fault or not because you will be the one to blame and in the end you will likely find that you lose your job because of a failure to produce. Instead of waiting for the day that they give you your walking papers you are better off trying to find solutions to the company's problems. In order to best find the solution that works you will need to assess the company and the problems that it is having. In many cases you may just find that revamping the company's structure without actually changing anything else can be helpful.

One way to really make changes to a company is to implement a new six sigma management program and create a new format which focuses on the end result and the customer experience. Something along the lines of Six Sigma can create the right focus for your company and implementation and training may be just what can help you to enhance those sales figures and improve the company's bottom line. In the end a move like this may seem a bit daring and scary but it could mean the difference between saving your job and improving the company or being handed your walking papers.

Online Or In Person – Which Version Of Six Sigma Is For You?

These days learning takes on several different forms and as such you are likely to find that whatever you are looking for you will either be able to take in person classes in or you will be able to find an online intensive course for. Six Sigma is no different.

The computer age has not only changed the face of business but it has also changed the ways in which we acquire knowledge and as such the opportunities to acquire information are endless. Programs like Six Sigma, which have a widespread appeal, are those that are offered in a variety of different settings in multiple languages and locations all throughout the world.

Companies that have decided on Six Sigma and the training, certification, and 6 sigma implementation that go along with it are likely to then be stuck wondering whether an in person or online training program is best for their company size and structure. While there is a slight discount for taking the classes online most companies lean towards this method because it allows them the flexibility to allow employees to train at their own pace but around their workload as well. Most companies can’t afford to shut down in order to send everyone to class at the same time.

Some companies however, feel that the hands on approach in better and they prefer to have their staff go to classes at a local university. In order to overcome the issue of having the entire staff gone at once, these companies may take one of two approaches. They will either allow upper management members to attend in person classes and other level employees to take the online version of the same training, or they will break employees down into two or three different groups that will allow all employees to have the same training opportunities but still allow them to keep their business up and running during the process.

Training employees in separate groups is not necessarily ideal and the one drawback of doing this is that it will take longer to implement 6 Sigma because of the longer training time. In the end, there are options and each business owner should decide for themselves which training method works best for them and their employees. There is no right or wrong, just what works and doesn’t for particular businesses.

Calculating your process sigma

Six Sigma is one of the most influential quality control measures ever introduced to the business community. Calculating Process Sigma enable managers to evaluate how close they are to attaining perfection. Sigma level 6 is the highest level attainable therefore calculating Process Sigma can help evaluate your efficiency. It is a five step process that includes:

1. Defining Defects
2. Defining Opportunities
3. Measuring Opportunities & Defects
4. Calculating Yield
5. Looking up Process Sigma

Defining Defects

Defects are the lowest levels of fault that can occur in a system. Motorola, the founder of Six Sigma once defined a defect as a paper that did not function properly when shipped to the customer. For a software company, this defect may be an error in the installation of newly launched software. Whenever the software fails to install, it is counted as a defect.

Defining Opportunities

An opportunity is the lowest defect recognizable by the customer. Therefore, a single defect can have multiple opportunities. Referring to the software installation example, multiple opportunities can be present in a single installation. For example, engineers may notice that a large number of software fail to install after Step 2. Likewise, 20% of the software fail after Step 3. If a software installation is a multi-step process, it can have multiple opportunities.

Measuring Opportunities & Defects

After you have defined the defects and opportunities, it is vital to create a sound data collection plan, which will ensure that the data is well-organized and statistically reliable. Reverting to the software example, if engineers find that 200 software failed to install properly then 200 is the number of defects. Likewise, if the installation is a 5 step process then there are 5 opportunities during an installation process.

Calculating Yield

The yield calculation is very simple as it is measured by subtracting the total number of defects from the total number of opportunities, and dividing the result by the total number of opportunities multiply by hundred. Taking into account the software example, there were 200 defects therefore 10000 installations in a 5 step installation process converts to 50000 opportunities.

Opportunities: 50000
Defects: 200
Yield: (50000 – 200 / 50000) * 100 = 99.6%

Looking up Process Sigma

The sigma conversion table provides the corresponding level attained according to the results of the yield. On a typical Yield to Sigma conversion table, 99.6% may equal to a Sigma of 4.2.

Six sigma's link to business' bottom line

Six Sigma is a measure of a company’s ability to provide quality from the manufacturing level to the end product. It employs six strategies that vary between the average and the required specification in determining if the expected quality has been attained. For a company to achieve Six Sigma rating, it cannot produce more than 3.4 rejects for every million products. These defects are usually viewed from a customer’s point of view and cannot be sold to them.

The Six Sigma methodology strives to improve how business is conducted with the overall result being 100 percent quality products and services while at the same time reducing expenses and waste. Companies and businesses across the board are always looking for individuals who have a Six Sigma certification as they may help them in reducing waste and increasing quality.

The Six Sigma system is divided into three levels which include the Yellow Belt, which is the basic training that an individual receives. The individual at this level supports Six Sigma projects and partakes in problem solving and finds the root causes of problems. They are however not project managers and usually report to the Green and Black Belts.

The Green Belts are the worker bees of the Six Sigma; they are expected to offer relevant information that is usually received from Yellow Belts. They are not ready to be leaders and but are active team leaders.

The Black Belts are the leaders and are responsible for supervising both the Green and Yellow Belts. Individuals in this group look to be more efficient and productive by eliminating any defects that would disqualify the company from receiving a Six Sigma rating. The Black Belts are expected to manage the company and ensure that the Six Sigma methodology is implemented in the whole business.

The aim of every business is to reduce expenses and increase profit .Six Sigma can help a business increase its bottom line by eliminating wastage of resources and expenses that are not beneficial to the running of the business. Since the number of defects should be minimized as much as possible, the quality of products is increased which means customers are satisfied as their needs are met.

Six Sigma is Not Just a Fad

Six Sigma is a process improvement methodology that can be used in any workplace and offered by executive education training facilities that are certified in teaching Six Sigma. Top executives of any business are responsible for setting up the vision for Six Sigma and the employees are responsible for implementing what was learned during the training.

So what is Six Sigma? The Six Sigma course goes over the Six Sigma philosophy and how to apply it to an individuals’ role in the work place on a daily basis. Six Sigma is used to improve the process of how a business is run, as it will teach participants how to properly identify what doesn’t work in the workplace and how to remove that from its system to improve productivity.

Participants of the Six Sigma training will learn organizational goals and the basic tools for improving how the workplace operates and how to implement those tools properly. Participants will also learn how to plan and manage projects and how to understand, for an example, the ‘voice of the customer.’ Each Six Sigma project within a company follows a series of events that has specific target goals, such as cost reduction or an increase of profits to focus on. More about that process is learned in the course.

The certification is obtained by an instructor-led training and can cost anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a thousand dollars, depending on who is teaching the training and where the training is being held.

Under the Six Sigma umbrella, one can obtain different levels of Six Sigma; for an example Six Sigma Yellow Belt Certification is obtained by employees that have basic a basic understanding in Six Sigma Tools. Green Belt Certification is obtained by employees who have more of an understanding of Six Sigma and how to apply those understandings to their job duties. Master Black Belt certification is for those individuals who have mastered the Six Sigma philosophy and spend 100% of their time devoted to Six Sigma.

Six Sigma courses can typically last about 10 days in length and upon successful completion, means that one is certified in that particular belt.

There are many benefits to obtaining Six Sigma training, including increased customer loyalty, time management, employee motivation, team building, decrease costs and much more. Six Sigma is beneficial to any working professional in a business environment.

Applying Six Sigma to Improve Diagnostic Imaging

The healthcare industry is ripe with opportunities for Six Sigma methodologies to be applied. Quality medical attention is a worldwide concern, and as more countries look for ways to improve and streamline their healthcare systems, the Six Sigma approach to effective management is being adopted in several hospitals, clinics, medical offices, and diagnostic centers.

Major healthcare organizations operated under the concepts of Quality Control and Total Quality Management for many decades before looking to Six Sigma as an efficient solution. The aging populations in developed countries have put a major strain on healthcare systems, particularly in the areas of operational costs and customer satisfaction. The increasing cost of medical care and the rising number of patients who demand quality medical attention is a deep concern for health administrators everywhere.

Diagnostic imaging and radiology are two practice areas within healthcare that administrators often seek to improve in terms of delivery cycles. A fine-tuned diagnostic imaging system in a medical facility is essential to delivering holistic patient care. Some of the problems that radiology departments often run into include: overwhelming numbers of pending appointments, bottlenecks, unmanageable traffic, and staff members who are stretched too thin. The cumulative effects and incremental improvements of Six Sigma are tailor-made for diagnostic imaging, a process that can't be simply stopped for overhauling.

The application of Six Sigma in healthcare is similar to the Hippocratic process of gathering information to develop a diagnosis. The five phases of problem definition, measurement, analysis, improvement, and control can be easily assimilated by health care practitioners and administrators. Six Sigma has been applied in large organizations like the Stanford Hospital and Clinics in the United States and the Red Cross Hospital in the Netherlands.

One of the problems that overwhelmed diagnostic imaging centers face is that 20 to 30 percent of the exams they perform aren't always necessary. Physicians can easily fall into repetitive patterns of ordering imaging tests for their patients, thereby encumbering radiology departments and exposing patients to higher levels of radiation. Such a problem was faced by the Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) until it decided to deploy a Six Sigma solution. The Minnesota DHS now utilizes a software tool which deploys a decision-making process prior to ordering a diagnostic imaging exam. Based on a score provided by the software tool, health care professionals can determine whether a diagnostic imaging test is actually needed.

Six Sigma About As Perfect As It Gets

Six Sigma results everyone would like to have them but few know what they truly are. In truth Six Sigma really only stands for one thing and that is the near perfection that every one of us seeks throughout the course of our lifetime. For all intensive purposes when we speak about 6 Sigma results we are speaking about a method of making a business better than it ever could have hoped to be before by improving customer satisfaction.

Since customers are the bottom line to any business they are the ones that need to be impressed with whatever your company is making, producing, or providing. This product may be in the form of a manufactured good but doesn’t necessarily need to be since a company may be producing a service instead of a product. This can happen.

In a Six Sigma thought process the entire process of production is carefully evaluated along with the imperfections in that process. Evaluating each step of the way what can be done to improve customer satisfaction, which in turn will increase profits and help to boost sales to a higher level. Refinement of the process becomes key to the company’s success and becomes the focal point of the entire company structure.

Of course, it is the goal of every company to achieve the best possible results that they can and Six Sigma is truly designed to do just that. It works to provide the company with options and feedback about the different steps that can be taken to produce gradually better results. With the right structure and implementation most companies see an improvement in their bottom line right away and therefore most companies work within the structure to continue to further refine their results. Statistical analysis provides companies with the overall assessment of results that they need to continue down the road to increased success.

It is within the Six Sigma guidelines that companies can achieve everything that they hope to and more. Most companies wind up exceeding their initial goals within a six month period of time and find that Six Sigma not only serves to improve the company’s bottom line but also improves the overall function of the company as a whole.

Coronary Artery Bypass Grafts: Six Sigma Breakthrough

Coronary artery bypass grafting, otherwise known as CABG is a six sigma break through. It is a surgical procedure which can increase blood flow to the heart. This procedure is generally done on patients with severe forms of coronary heart disease (CHD), also known as coronary artery disease.

This condition occurs when plaque accumulates on the inside of coronary arteries. Plaque is a substance which is made up of cholesterol, calcium, fat, and other particles found in blood. This plaque can decrease the flow of blood to the heart, causing subsequent breathing difficulties, chest pain, and eventually heart attack if the blockage is severe enough. Because coronary heart disease can be fatal, it is imperative that an early diagnosis is made and surgery such as CABG is performed in serious cases.

Coronary artery bypass is an open-heart surgery which is done with great frequency in the USA. The physicians who do this type of surgery are called cardiothoracic surgeons. Candidates for CABG are those who have life-threatening forms of CHD and have tried other methods of treatment with no success.

This surgical procedure uses blood vessel grafts to bypass one or several blocked arteries and restore healthy blood flow to the heart. These grafts are taken from the other veins and arteries in the patient, generally found in the legs (saphenous), the arms (radial), or the chest (thoracic). The graft is twisted around the artery which is blocked, allowing new paths for oxygen-rich blood to reach the heart.

The candidate for coronary artery bypass surgery can expect to live a much more active lifestyle after the procedure. They can also expect to have an improved quality of life due to the cessation of chest discomfort and other symptoms. The pumping action of the patient's heart will improve if the muscles has been damaged by heart disease. Additionally, the risk of heart is substantially decreased, and their chances of survival are greater.

Coronary artery bypass grafting isn't the only treatment for coronary artery disease. A number of people can be treated successfully with medications, lifestyle changes, or a less invasive procedure called an angioplasty.

People who receive this surgery generally have excellent results. After a coronary artery bypass graft, up to 85 percent of patients have significantly fewer symptoms, less chance of heart attacks, and a greater chance of living for 10 or more years. Additionally, this is a surgery thought to be relatively safe and is therefore a viable option for those suffering from otherwise impending heart failure.

Minimize the Risk of the Unknown in Six Sigma Projects

There are times when the reasons behind a project failing is unknown. This is actually relatively common because there is no technique that will help with the integrity of the decision making process. The good news is that there are methods to help with keeping that integrity in check. The trick is to find out which events and processes have damaged the project to help with finding out where it went wrong.

Six Sigma helps to do that because it will aid with increasing the knowledge. It will also help in other ways, which will aid with improving the success-fulness of a project.

The first is through the use of insurance tools, which will help to manage the level of unknown risk. These are often something that many businesses will ignore because they will not help with the process of gaining the knowledge about the project. However, by looking into them, it will help with the quicker process of solving the problem.

There are a number of different tools that can be looked into and one of those is through Charter Development. There is always a charter in some way, shape or form. By ignoring and forgetting about the charter, there is a part of the project that will be forgotten about. There are some common areas that are commonly forgotten about – the statements of the problem being too vague, the selection of the team being poor and even the estimation of costs being careless. Without these being focused on during the project and after the failure, the next projects are bound to fail.

The next tool is the Stakeholder Analysis, which is the process of the management selection and the resources used. This is usually the process of looking into the human elements. Without looking into these, a project is definitely going to fail.

The above two are known as the “define” section and it is important to look into the “measure” of the tools. The first is the Measurement System Analysis. This is the process of the decision making and poor decisions will always lead to a project failing. The most common problems are when the data has been looked at incorrectly or the wrong data has been used. There may even be problems with the way that the data has been collected.

The Team Facilitation is another are during this phase. It is important to look into the way that the team works together, especially during the analyzing of the data. If the data is analyzed incorrectly due to the team not being able to work together, the project is going to fail.