Dayal Saran M

Participated in GB programme in July, 2009 as a fresher. Now 1.5 years into professional life, I have tried to use the six-sigma principles in all aspects of work and the results have been extrememely satisfying... After all, this is all we care for at work.

I don't agree with Mr. Rahul on his statement that the top management should be certified black belts. In organisations, we ususally have have a project owner who monitors, guides and mentors the project. He is assisted by several project coordinators who look after various aspects of the project. The project owner is the window person who reports to and updates the top management about the project status and he may or may not be from the top management rung. The top management usually does futuristic planning and gaps identification than worry about the success and failure of a current project. Now for effective deployment of Six-sigma, this project owner has to be a Black belt with sufficient experience in the same and the coordinators, Green belts. It is merely sufficient if other stake-holders in the project understand the importance and methodology of six-sigma approach towards achieving the results. Now, coming to the question as to why organisations fail to implement six sigma, there are 2 issues: 1) This project owner is usually an experienced person who has risen to this positon based on: Experience in the organisation Understanding of the overall working of the organisation and clarity of the systems and processes in the organisation. Loyalty of the person towards the organisation This person may not be having sufficient exposure to six sigma. A six sigma approach to a specific project is usually defined by this person as he is the owner of that project. 2) Other people who are selected for the project at key decision making positions are usually people who are known for their loyalty to the organisation. Organisations do not wish to hire experienced six-sigma certified people at key playing roles because of their lack of understanding of systems and processes of the organisation. Also, in such cases there may be a fear of compromising with some confidential information. The key to sucessfully deploy Six-sigma is to train the employees in six-sigma right from the trainee stage so that the six-sigma methodology becomes the 'way of life' for the organisation to grow. Please give feedback on this. Regards, M Dayal Saran, Maruti suzuki India Ltd.