Reconstructing Six Sigma barriers in manufacturing and service organizations

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractPurpose -The purpose of this paper is to empirically validate how the effectiveness of the most influential barriers to Six Sigma implementation may vary in relation to dimensions of organizational factors in a developing country. Design/methodology/approach -An empirical survey, using 500 self-administered questionnaires, was conducted. Data about 47 Six Sigma barriers and specific organizational parameters from 132 usable questionnaires, with a response rate of 26.4 per cent, were collected and analyzed by means of statistical data analysis package. Findings -The results highlight the key role of soft impediments, i.e. knowledge and support, and hard impediments, i.e. professionals and finance, as the most influential barriers to Six Sigma implementation. The analysis clearly shows that only specific barriers are significantly influencing Six Sigma implementation in relation to dimensions of organizational factors. Practical implications -Decision makers and quality managers should not waste their resources on overcoming all Six Sigma barriers. High attention should be given to the most obstructing barriers in relation to organizational context. Before implementing Six Sigma projects, managers are advised to activate and boost the level of Six Sigma knowledge and support by means of knowledge management functions such as Six Sigma knowledge acquisition, sharing, storing, revealing, etc. among organizational members. Originality/value -The paper is one of the first studies which examines a large number of Six Sigma barriers and their effectiveness in relation to dimensions of organizational factors in a developing country.

Investigating the readiness of people in manufacturing SMEs to embark on Lean Six Sigma projects

“…However, when the constructs of LSS readiness were analysed individually, then it was found that working with data and statistics is the only LSS readiness construct that will be affected by the EC and IC significantly, where educational enhancement plays the most significant role as an IC factor to promote working with statistics. This is consistent with the study conducted by Aboelmaged (2011) who has highlighted the knowledge barrier as the key factor in failing to accept change and LSS in SMEs. The result of this research has also been consistent with the argument from Maleyeff et al (2012) who have proposed that undertaking higher education is an enabler for CI practices in any organisation.…”

“…Although the study presented here only considered seven SMEs within the German manufacturing supply chain it has addressed to some extent the research gap (Atmaca and Girenes, 2013;Thomas and Barton, 2006) of human behavioural factors and their relationship with LSS. Moreover, this research developed more in-depth analysis of the people-related success and failure factors in implementing LSS in SMEs that have already been identified by literature and variety of authors (Prashar, 2014;Aboelmaged, 2011;Choi et al, 2012;.…”

“…Training has been recognised as an essential catalyst for teamwork to occur (Daily et al, 2012). Comprehensive training has been seen as one of the key success factors in LSS deployment in any organisation (Kumar et al, 2011;Antony et al, 2005;Zu et al, 2010;Arnheiter and Maleyeff, 2005), while Aboelmaged (2011) has highlighted the knowledge barrier as the most critical barrier factor which results in failure to accept change and impedes the implementation of LSS. It was also indicated by Manville et al (2012) that intellectual and EC will be further developed through learning.…”

“…Lean Six Sigma projects of management support, organisational culture, a lack of appropriate training, knowledge and awareness are all relevant factors when considering taking an LSS approach (Prashar, 2014;Aboelmaged, 2011;Kumar and Antony, 2008).…”

Design and Application of New Quality Improvement Model: Kano Lean Six Sigma for Software Maintenance Project

“…Perrer et al [23] examined the integration of Lean principles with Six Sigma methodology as a logical approach to continuous improvement and provided a conceptual model for their successful integration. Gamal Aboelmaged's et al [24] study clearly showed that only explicit barriers considerably influenced Six Sigma implementation in relation to dimensions of organizational factors. Vinodh et al [25] and Vinodh and Prasanna [26] identified that the Lean anchorage in the LSS process was rather weak and that it had to be enhanced for improving the effectiveness of LSS approach.…”