A Guide to Lean Six Sigma Management Skills A Guide to Lean Six Sigma Management Skills Howard S. Gitlow Auerbach Publications Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487‑2742 © 2009 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC Auerbach is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid‑free paper 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 International Standard Book Number‑13: 978‑1‑4200‑8416‑0 (Hardcover) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher can‑ not assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use.
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Total quality management.4’013‑‑dc22 2008046614 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.com and the Auerbach Web site at http://www.com Dedication This book is dedicated to all the worker bees who want to enjoy their work and cut their uncompensated overtime, but have no idea of how to go about it. I hope they find out how in this book. xiii About the Author. xv 1 The Meaning and Purpose of Work.1 Traditional View of Work.1 Doing Your Job.2 Reacting to Daily Crisis.2 Lean Six Sigma View of Work.1 A New Perspective on Life and Work.1 Principle 1: Life and Business Are Processes.2 Principle 2: All Processes Exhibit Variation.3 Principle 3: Two Causes of Variation Exist in Many Processes.4 Principle 4: Life and Business in Stable and Unstable Processes Are Different.5 Principle 5: Continuous Improvement Is Economical, Absent Capital Investment.6 Principle 6: Many Processes Exhibit Waste.7 Principle 7: Effective Communication Requires Operational Definitions.8 Principle 8: Expansion of Knowledge Requires Theory.9 Principle 9: Planning Requires Stability.2 Doing Your Job and Improving Your Job.27 vii viii ◾ Contents 1.3 More on Common and Special Causes (Improve the Process to Eliminate Daily Crises).1 The Funnel Experiment.2 The Red Bead Experiment.4 Four Questions You May Ask about Lean Six Sigma Management.86 2 Motivation and Compensation.1 Traditional View: Extrinsic Motivators.2 Lean Six Sigma View: Intrinsic and Extrinsic Motivators.2 Lean Six Sigma and Performance Appraisal.3 The Revised Performance Appraisal System.3 Slogans, Exhortations, and Targets That Demand Higher Levels of Productivity.4 Work Standards (Quotas and Piecework) on the Factory Floor.6 Barriers That Rob the Hourly Worker of His Right to Pride of Workmanship.7 Lack of Education and Self-Improvement Efforts.
110 4 Behavior and Relationships.1 Types of Individual Behavior.1 Purpose of Assertive Behavior.2 Steps toward Assertive Behavior.2 Selected Types of Relationships.1 Boss–Subordinate Relationships.2 Co-Worker Relationships.3 Selected Techniques for Improving Relationships.1 Other People’s Views (OPV).3 Alternatives, Possibilities, and Choices (APC).4 Improving Team Behavior.1 Stages of Team Behavior.2 Escalating “I” Messages for Improving Team Behavior.3 Conflict Resolution Skills for Improving Team Behavior.1 Step 1: View the Participants in the Conflict as Equals Trying to Solve a Problem to Their Mutual Advantage.2 Step 2: Identify the Viewpoints of All Participants of the Conflict.3 Step 3: Develop Alternative Solutions for the Conflict That Result in “Win–Win” Situations, or at Least “No Lose” Situations.4 Step 4: All Participants in the Conflict Review the “Win–Win” Solutions or Negotiate the Differences in Their Solutions to Create “No Lose” Solutions to the Conflict.5 Step 5: Avoid the Common Pitfalls of “No Lose” Solutions.6 Step 6: Try Out the “Win–Win” Solution or the Best “No Lose” Solution for a Limited Time Period.145 Preface Many worker bees are highly respected and well paid, and you may believe that they are happy with their jobs. Do not be fooled by their smiles. Many of them dislike their jobs and are “burned out” at work. So, if you are a worker bee just trying to do your job, it is possible that you think your job is boring, draining, and depressing.
And you have to do it for the rest of your work life! Is there hope? Well, to answer that question, you need to answer two more ques- tions. First, do you think your boss can help you get out of your negative work experience? Second, can you do anything to rise above your negative work experience? Question 1: Can Your Boss Help You Get Out of Your Negative Work Experience? The answer to the first question is a definite YES. Only your boss can change the structure of the system in which you work (your job). Most employees are power- less to modify policies and procedures, methods, rules, and schedules that create a negative work experience.
So, what can bring about positive change in your work experience? One answer is that the top management of your company makes an executive decision to become a Lean Six Sigma organization. Are you scratching your head and wondering what a Lean Six Sigma organization is? And what does this mean to me? Well, becoming a Lean Six Sigma organization could be a life- altering event for you and your company. You will learn more about why this is the case as you read this book. Question 2: Can You Do Anything to Rise Above Your Negative Work Experience? Because you cannot change your work conditions, is there anything you can do to improve your work experience? The answer is YES because when executives start talking about Lean Six Sigma management (and they probably will), you can be very supportive to the idea.
Now, executives, managers, and workers have a vehicle xi xii ◾ Preface (Lean Six Sigma management) through which they can work as partners toward a common goal. The goal is to create an exciting and energizing workplace to pursue the organization’s mission statement. The first major objective of this book will be to answer Question 2. The second major objective of this book is to present Lean Six Sigma manage- ment theories, tools, and methods from the worker bee’s point of view.
Addressing the second objective will largely resolve the first objective. Worker bees (employees) have as much desire (intrinsic motivation) to learn Lean Six Sigma as executives. Executives want to learn Lean Six Sigma to improve the bottom line of their organi- zation, as well as to improve their professional skill set and effectiveness on the job. Worker bees want to learn Lean Six Sigma to be able to increase enjoyment in their work, to better understand the system in which they work, and finally, to reduce uncompensated overtime.
The third major objective of this book is to explain how you can prevent daily crises from messing you up at work. This book aims to assist worker bees, and any executive who wants to know, in how to enjoy work. Acknowledgments I would like to acknowledge Stephen Alpert for his creative input for this book, and Shelly Gitlow for being my guiding light. xiii About the Author Howard S., is the Executive Director of the Institute for the Study of Quality, Director of the Masters of Science degree in Management Science, and a professor of man- agement science, School of Business Administration, University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida.
He was a visiting professor at the Stern School of Business at New York University (2007 and 2008), and a visiting professor at the Science University of Tokyo in 1990, where he studied with Dr. He received his Ph. in statistics (1969) from New York University. His areas of specialization are Lean Six Sigma Management, Dr.
Deming’s theory of management, Japanese Total Quality Control, and statistical quality control. Gitlow is a Six Sigma Master Black Belt, a Fellow of the American Society for Quality, and a member of the American Statistical Association. He has con- sulted on quality, productivity, and related matters with many organizations, including several Fortune 500 companies. Gitlow has authored or co-authored many books including Design for Six Sigma for Green Belts and Champions, Prentice-Hall (2006); Six Sigma for Green Belts and Champions, Prentice-Hall (2004); Quality Management: Tools and Methods for Improvement, 3rd edition, Richard.
Irwin (2004); Quality Management Systems, CRC Press (2000); Total Quality Management in Action, Prentice-Hall (1994); The Deming Guide to Quality and Competitive Position, Prentice-Hall (1987); Planning for Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, Dow Jones-Irwin (1990); and Stat City: Understanding Statistics Through Realistic Applications, 2nd edition, Richard D. He has published over 55 academic articles in the areas of quality, statistics, management, and marketing. While at the University of Miami, Dr. Gitlow has received awards for outstanding teaching, writing, and published research articles.
xv Chapter 1 The Meaning and Purpose of Work 1.1 Traditional View of Work 1.1 Doing Your Job Do you enjoy your work? If your answer is yes, great for you! But if your answer is no, then consider the following. Are you denied the freedom to use your talents, skills, and creativity on the job? Are your skills, knowledge, and talent being under- used, or abused? Do you get the “Sunday night blues”? If your answers to the above questions are yes, you are burned out at work! Many people say, “Work is called work for a reason.” 1 2 ◾ A Guide to Lean Six Sigma Management Skills As amazing as it may seem, work does not have to be a drain on your energy. It can actually fill you with energy, if you enjoy what you do and look forward to doing it, day after day and year after year. Many artists, athletes, musicians, and professors enjoy their work over the course of their lives.
You can enjoy your work also, or at least you can enjoy it much more than you currently do. It just requires a redefinition of work, and a management team that promotes the redefined view of work. This book will explain how it is possible for you to enjoy your work and cut your uncompensated overtime, assuming that executives do not crush the effort! Additionally, worker bees can learn Lean Six Sigma to know what their bosses are doing wrong to protect their self esteem; so they realize that they are not the problem, that the boss’s system is the problem. This is a big realization! 1.2 Reacting to Daily Crisis Most people go into work every day and are confronted with a long list of crises that requires immediate attention.
For example, Sarah is an administrative assistant in a department in a large, urban, private university. She comes to work every day to be greeted by a long “to-do” list of mini-crises that are boring and repetitive. The mini-crises include answering the same old questions for faculty and students, week after week after week. What room is my class in? Does the computer in Room 312 work? What are my professor’s office hours?
