Replying to LO24951 --
Joan Gurvis noted that
>Peter Senge's book The Dance of Change has a nice review of Six Sigma and
>how that initiative impacted as was impacted by GM's change process.
(It's GE, not GM) Having looked it up, Jacquie Vierling-Huang definitely
writes in favour of Six Sigma.
Just a few minutes ago, I cited Deming with something like Six Sigma is a
nostrum, conformance to specifications miss the point.
Do we have a modern 'versus'-battlefield here? Shall we split in two
parties? Or do we have alternatives? Assuming that both sides have
something sensible to say, let's seek for what can be LEARNT from putting
both together!
Vierling Huang: "The Six Sigma methodology, known as DMAIC (Define,
Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) brings a rigor to identifying
defects, correcting them, and controlling work processes as a whole."
Deming's point was that conformance to specifications for the sake of that
specification miss the point. So he cautions us that the Define in Six
Sigma must not be done for the sake of Six Sigma ("We are going to miss
our Six Sigma goal this year. Put more pressure on the development
department to widen those tolerances!"). There must be a deeper cause, a
common cause for the definitions (specifications) AND Six Sigma. This
common cause is the reliable creation of value to the market.
We surely can assume that this is a common objective to both sides of the
'conflict'. And we can learn about the do's and don'ts from both sides in
order to better accomplish this objective.
Can we learn about learning with this example?
Well, I realize Kantor's four player system active, as discribed by
William Isaacs in his Dialogue:
Mover: asking the question on Six Sigma
Follower: answers of those who embrace Six Sigma
Opposer: answers of those who oppose Six Sigma
Bystander: a mail like this one, trying to capture the dialogue as a
process and searching for lessons that can be learnt.
What do you think? Aren't these four roles suitable to allow for a
dialogue with fire but without flaming?
Liebe Gruesse,
Winfried
--"Winfried Dressler" <winfried.dressler@voith.de>
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