By Steve Towers
The original creators and advocates of Six Sigma, General Electric and Motorola (they even have their own University for Six Sigma!) are having a tough time. Compare them to ‘outside-in’ companies such as Apple (AAPL) and Southwest (LUV) airlines (58 quarters of successive profits) the contrast is stark. Investing $100 in July 2007 would have grown to $138 with Apple and shrunk to a paltry $40 with Motorola (MOT). General Electric are down a stomach churning $25 on the year. Customers and markets are making their choice everyday and the corresponding strategic decisions made in terms of business improvement have a direct impact on cost, revenue and service performance.
There are those who would say, and I quote Alberto Manuel, at FPAS - Industrias Metalurgicas - SA"When initially Steve Towers published (this) article he tried to demonstrate that companies such as Motorola that had embraced the six sigma had disastrous results with regard to shares price, and therefore that was the proof this approach was obsolete, I think he forgot that the company's failure was related to the inability to launch products whose features that consumers wanted, particularly after RZR model." (BPGroup - Linkedin ) I would respond that it is precisely because companies such as Motorola's have a fixation of 'doing things right' rather the focus on 'doing the right things' is at the root of their failure. Six Sigma and Lean are both culpable in causing organisations to encourage efficiency of potentially dumb work, despite the potential clear disconnect between that work and delivering good product and service. The Fourth Wave of Process Management (see Article) shows an evolution with guys like GE's new CEO Jeff Immelt now beginning to embrace more comprehensive and appropriate approaches. Perhaps those of us intent on flogging the horse called Six Sigma should reflect... you may be doing things right but are you doing the Right Thing? Investigate how to go 'outside-in' - Articles on this theme Gain the skills, access the techniques - Open training now
About the Author Steve Towers, CEO and BPGroup founder. Meet Steve at http://www.towersassociates.com/SBT_services.html#upcoming |
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