Six Sigma Quality A Structured

Six Sigma quality: a structured
reviewand implications for future

research
Mohamed Gamal Aboelmaged
Management Department, College of Business Administration,
Ajman University of Science and Technology, Ajman, United Arab Emirates
Abstract
Purpose This paper aims to clarify emerging aspects and trends of Six Sigma literature over 17
years, from 1992 to 2008.
Design/methodology/approach The literature on Six Sigma from 417 referred journal articles in
business and management disciplines, information systems and computer science, engineering,
healthcare, etc. were systematically analyzed based on a scheme that consists of four distinct
dimensions: publication year and journal, major themes, research type, and application sector (i.e.
manufacturing vs service).
Findings A number of key ndings emerged: Six Sigma research is growing rapidly, covering
various disciplines and domains with a great focus on Six Sigma tools and techniques; empirical
research is dominant with more emphasis on case study approach; and the growing gap between
manufacturing- and service-focused articles implies the return of Six Sigma to manufacturing as its
initial base. Although a large volume of literature is available on Six Sigma, the topic is still under
development and offers potential opportunities for further research and applications.
Originality/value The paper provides both academics and practitioners with a useful framework
for pursuing rigorous Six Sigma research through explaining the chronological growth of Six Sigma,
challenging themes of Six Sigma research, dominating research types and application areas in Six
Sigma, and the major sources of Six Sigma information.
Keywords Six Sigma, Total quality management, Lean production, Supply chain management
Paper type Literature review
Introduction
Six Sigma has evolved from scientic management and continuous improvement
theories by combining the nest elements of many former quality initiatives.
Originally, Motorola was the rst to launch a Six Sigma program in the 1980s. In 1988,
Motorola was the rst company awarded the Baldrige Award, which led other
organizations to show an increased interest in adopting and modifying Six Sigma
methodology. Companies such as Allied Signal, IBM, and General Electric adopted Six
Sigma as a corporate requirement for strategic and tactical operations to produce
high-level results, improve work processes, expand employees skills and change the
culture. Now, Six Sigma is well established in almost every industry and many
organizations worldwide have modied Six Sigma methodology and tools to t their
own operations.
For the term Six Sigma there appears to be little consensus on its denition.
Proposing an emergent denition of Six Sigma based on a grounded theory approach,
Schroeder et al. (2008) concluded that Six Sigma offers a new structure that promotes
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
www.emeraldinsight.com/0265-671X.htm
IJQRM
27,3
268
Received March 2009
Revised September 2009
Accepted September 2009
International Journal of Quality &
Reliability Management
Vol. 27 No. 3, 2010
pp. 268-317
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0265-671X
DOI 10.1108/02656711011023294
both control and exploration in improvement efforts. They asserted that academics
need to develop a deeper and richer knowledge of Six Sigma so that they do not over
hype or quickly dismiss it. Table I shows examples of Six Sigma denitions that reect
different perspectives. From a statistical perspective, Six Sigma is a metric of process
measurement symbolized by the Greek letter s that represents the amount of variation
with a normal data distribution. Fundamentally, Six Sigma quality level relates to 3.4
defects per million opportunities (DPMO). The focus of Six Sigma is not on counting
the defects in processes, but the number of opportunities within a process that could
result in defects so that causes of quality problems can be eliminated before they are
transformed into defects (Antony, 2006). From a business perspective, Six Sigma could
be described as a process that allows companies to drastically focus on continuous and
breakthrough improvements in everyday business activities to increase customer
satisfaction (Andersson et al., 2006).
In this paper, we classify the literature on Six Sigma research and present a
comprehensive review of these studies. The review covers 417 journal articles
Andersson et al. (2006) Improvement program for reducing variation, which
focuses on continuous and breakthrough
improvements
Antony (2002) A business performance improvement strategy that
aims to reduce the number of mistakes/defects to
as low as 3.4 occasions per million opportunities
Banuelas and Antony (2002) A philosophy that employs a well-structured
continuous improvement methodology to reduce
process variability and drive out waste within the
business processes using statistical tools and
techniques
Behara et al. (1995) The rating that signies best in class, with only 3.4
defects per million units or operations
Bendell (2006) A strategic, company-wide, approach . . . focusing on
variation reduction, projects have the potential of
simultaneously reducing cost and increasing
customer satisfaction
Black and Revere (2006) A quality movement, a methodology, and a
measurement. As a quality movement, Six Sigma is a
major player in both manufacturing and service
industries throughout the world. As a methodology,
it is used to evaluate the capability of a process to
perform defect-free, where a defect is dened as
anything that results in customer dissatisfaction
Chakrabarty and Tan (2007) A quality improvement program with a goal of
reducing the number of defects to as low as 3.4 parts
per million opportunities or 0.0003 per cent
Kwak and Anbari (2006) A business strategy used to improve business
protability, to improve the effectiveness and
efciency of all operations to meet or exceed
customer needs and expectations
Table I.
Examples of Six Sigma
denitions
Six Sigma
quality
269
published between 1992 and 2008. The paper is divided into four remaining sections.
First, the research methodology used in the study is described. This is followed by the
classication framework in the second section. Third, Six Sigma articles are analyzed
and the classication results are reported. Fourth, conclusions are presented and the
implications of the study are discussed.
Research methodology
The research targeted peer-reviewed journal papers having more than two pages, as
academics and practitioners alike most often use journals to obtain information and
disseminate the highest level of research ndings, both in width and breadth research
ndings. Therefore, editorials, news reports, book reviews, viewpoints, conference
papers, masters and doctoral dissertations, textbooks, and unpublished working
papers were excluded. The survey focused only on papers with Six Sigma as a part of
their titles. The exceptions are those articles that are explicitly dealing with Six
Sigma but for some reasons the authors decided to use one of Six Sigma
methodologies, DMAIC or DFSS, in the title. Finally, to avoid never ending revision
of the article, the end of 2008 was selected as the cut-off date. These criteria should
allow a quality and comprehensive set of papers on Six Sigma by different elds. The
compiling effort has been carried out over 19 months through extensive database
search, internet search, reference checking, etc. However, it is possible that there exist
an article that is not surveyed in this paper.
Considering the nature of the research on Six Sigma, it would be difcult to group
the literature under any specic disciplines. As a result, various online journal
databases shown were selected and searched to provide a comprehensive bibliography
on Six Sigma literature. The literature contributions were primarily of articles from
research databases including Emerald, Science Direct (Elsevier), ProQuest Global,
Interscience, Inderscience, ASQ, Springer and IEEE-Xplore. These databases provide
online delivery systems with full text access to thousands of high quality articles and
journals that cover a wide range of social and applied science titles including business
and management disciplines, engineering, healthcare and computer science. The
search yielded 417 Six Sigma articles from 147 journals. Each article was carefully
reviewed and then the data was organized to produce a classication from several
perspectives. Although this research is not exhaustive, it serves as a comprehensive
base for an understanding of Six Sigma research.
Classication framework
The classication framework was based on the literature review, the nature of Six
Sigma research, and the work of Nonthaleerak and Hendry (2006) and Brady and Allen
(2006). The articles were reviewed, analyzed and classied based on four dimensions as
follows:
(1) Publication year and journal.
(2) Major theme and subject.
(3) Research type.
(4) Application sector: manufacturing vs service.
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This framework will provide guidelines for pursuing rigorous Six Sigma research by
explaining the chronological growth of Six Sigma, challenging themes of Six Sigma
research, dominating research types and application areas in Six Sigma and the major
sources of Six Sigma information.
Results and analysis of the classications
Distribution by year of publication
Figure 1 shows the distribution of 417 Six Sigma articles published over the period
from 1992 to 2008. There appears to be limited research outputs before 2000. The
blooming years for Six Sigma research were between 2000 and 2006 since the number
of journal articles has increased signicantly over this period, and started to decline in
2007. However, the escalation in number of Six Sigma articles in 2008 is noteworthy.
Distribution of articles by journal
There were a total of 147 different journals fromvarious business, engineering, statistics,
information systems/technology and healthcare disciplines that published Six Sigma
articles. Figure 2 demonstrates that the vast number of articles (122 articles, 53 percent)
is published in 14 journals, while 196 articles (47 percent) were published in 133 journals,
among them 91 journals published one article only and 42 journals published 2 to 4
articles each. Among the leading journals, International Journal of Six Sigma and
Competitive Advantage had by far the largest number of articles per journal (72 articles,
17.3 percent). Since 2004, the journal is devoted to advancing the understanding and
practice of Six Sigma research. To reect the close relationship between total quality
management and Six Sigma research, total quality management journals had the second
largest percentages of Six Sigma articles. This includes Total Quality Management and
Business Excellence and The TQM Journal (previously, The TQM Magazine which share
the second position (27 articles, 6.5 percent each). Besides, the engineering perspective to
Figure 1.
Distribution of Six Sigma
articles by year
(1992-2008)
Six Sigma
quality
271
quality deployment is noticeable in Six Sigma articles since the third and fourth largest
percentages of Six Sigma articles are in Quality Engineering (23 articles, 5.5 percent) and
Quality and Reliability Engineering International (18 articles, 4.3 percent). International
Journal of Product Development (eight articles, 1.9 percent) had the fth position.
International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management and International Journal of
Production Research share the sixth position (seven articles, 1.67 percent each). The
seventh position is shared by The Quality Management Journal and The Journal of
Figure 2.
articles by journals
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Validation Technology (six articles, 1.43 each). Four journals including Measuring
Business Excellence, Journal of Organizational Excellence, Journal of Manufacturing
Technology Management, and Journal of Healthcare Management share the eighth
largest percentages of Six Sigma articles (ve articles, 1.2 percent each). Surprisingly,
these 14 journals represent the main disciplines that construct Six Sigma research;
business, engineering, and healthcare. A comprehensive list of all contributing journals
is illustrated in the Appendix.
Distribution of articles by themes
Table II provides a comprehensive list containing the themes and their classied
references for each theme. It is unavoidable to have an article that is relevant to more
than one theme, so listing an article under more than one theme was allowed. For
example, an article may address critical success factors for Six Sigma implementation
but provide information on Six Sigma tools and techniques. In such a case, a more
weighted theme is chosen to classify the article according to the authors judgment. A
total of 13 themes were identied in Six Sigma articles. The most heavily published
theme is in Six Sigma tools and techniques (169 articles). The two major Six Sigma
methodologies, DMAIC and DFSS, made up the second largest proportion within Six
Sigma themes (87 articles). DAMIC (54 articles) and DFSS, design for Six Sigma (33
articles). The conventional relationship between Six Sigma and other quality
approaches, TQM and continuous improvement in particular, had the third largest
number of articles (48 articles), while the human structure of Six Sigma in terms of the
Belt system had the fourth position (37 articles) (Figure 3).
This is followed by the relationship between Six Sigma and lean production in the
fth position (34 articles). Success factors for Six Sigma implementation is the sixth
largest proportion within Six Sigma themes (33 articles). Evaluating Six Sigma in
terms of challenges and benets is in the seventh and eighth positions with 31 and 29
articles continuously. Selection of Six Sigma project is in the ninth position (16 articles).
Themes that link Six Sigma with management disciplines are also present. This
involves organizational change in the tenth position (14 articles), supply chain in the
11th position (13 articles) and organizational learning in the 13th position (seven
articles). Surprisingly, there are relatively fewer articles on Six Sigma education in the
12th position (11 articles). An elaboration of the cited themes is presented in the
following subsections.
Six Sigma tools and techniques. The great deal of Six Sigma literature has focused on
Six Sigma tools and techniques. They can be described as practical methods and skills
employed by Six Sigma project teams to tackle quality related problems for fostering
performance improvement. While Six Sigma tool has a specic role and is often narrow
in focus, Six Sigma technique has a wider application and requires specic skills,
creativity and training (Antony, 2006). Examples of Six Sigma tools include Pareto
analysis, root cause analysis, process mapping or process ow chart, Gantt chart,
afnity diagrams, run charts, histograms, quality function deployment (QFD), Kano
model, brainstorming, etc. Examples of Six Sigma techniques include statistical process
control (SPC), process capability analysis, suppliers-input-process-output-customer
(SIPOC), SERVQUAL, benchmarking, etc. Moreover, a Six Sigma technique can utilize
various tools. For example, statistical process control (SPC) is a technique that utilizes
various tools such as control charts, histograms, root cause analysis, etc.
Six Sigma
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273
Theme References Total
Tools and
techniques
Adams et al. (2004); Al-Aomar (2006); Al-Aomar and Youssef (2006);
Antony (2006); Antony (2007a); Antony and Fergusson (2004); Antony et al.
(2001); Antony et al. (2005); Antony et al. (2007a); Antony et al. (2007c);
Banuelas and Antony (2003); Banuelas et al. (2005); Basu (2004); Beard
(2008); Bellows (2004); Benedetto (2003); Bhatnagar and Pandey (2005);
Biedry (2001); Biehl (2004); Bigio et al. (2004); Box and Luceno (2000);
Brewer and Eighme (2005); Bunce et al. (2008); Card (2000); Carrigan and
Kujawa (2006); Caulcutt (2001); Chan et al. (2005); Chang and Su (2007);
Chang and Wang (2008); Chatterjee (2003); Chen et al. (2007); Chen et al.
(2005a, b); Cheng (2007b, c); Cheng et al. (2008); Cook et al. (2005); Cupryk
et al. (2007); Das and Hughes (2006); De Koning and De Mast (2006); De
Vore (2008); Doble (2005); Does et al. (2002); Drenckpohl et al. (2007);
Echempati and White (2000); Ehie and Sheu (2005); Elberfeld et al. (2007);
Eldridge et al. (2006); Erlandson (2006); Fairbanks (2007); Flott (2000);
Frank (2003); Frankel et al. (2005); Fuller (2000b); Gack and Robison (2003);
Glower (2006); Goh (2002b); Goh and Xie (2003); Goh and Xie (2004); Goh
et al. (2003); Graves (2002); Hahn (2005); Hahn et al. (1999); Han and Lee
(2002); Hare (2005); Harjac et al. (2008); Harrington and Trusko (2005);
Henderson and Evans (2000); Hendricks and Kelbaugh (1998); Holtz and
Campbell (2004); Hong and Goh (2003); Hsu et al. (2005, 2008); Huq (2006);
Hutchins (2000); Hwang (2006); Ingram (2000a, b, c); Isaacson (2008);
Johnston et al. (2008); Johnstone et al. (2003); Juras et al. (2007); Kanji (2008);
Kapur and Feng (2005); Kaushik et al. (2008); Knowles et al. (2004); Krishna
and Dangayach (2007); Krishna et al. (2008); Kumi and Morrow (2006);
Ladani et al. (2006); Lee-Mortimer (2006, 2007); Li et al. (2006); Lin et al.
(2008); Lipscomb and Lewis (2004); Little (2003); Lloyd (2006); Lucier and
Seshadri (2001); McAdam and Lafferty (2004); Mahanti (2005); Mahanti
and Antony (2005, 2006); Mahesh et al. (2006); Maleyeff and Kaminsky
(2002); Maleyeff and Krayenvenger (2004); Malhan and Rao (2005); Malliga
and Srinivasan (2007); Manikandan et al. (2008); Manual (2006); Markarian
(2004a, b); Miles (2006); Montgomery and Woodall (2008); Moorman (2005);
Morgan and Cooper (2004); Mukhopadhyay and Ray (2006); Murugappan
and Keeni (2003); Neagu and Hoerl (2005); Ng et al. (2005); Nonthaleerak
and Hendry (2008); ONeill (2005); Pan and Cheng (2008); Pandey (2007);
Patterson et al. (2005); Perng et al. (2008); Perry and Barker (2006); Pheng
and Hui (2004); Raisinghani et al. (2005); Rajagopalan et al. (2004);
Ravichandran (2006, 2007, 2008); Revere et al. (2004); Sadagopan et al.
(2005); Sahoo et al. (2008); Sarkar (2007a); Schon (2006); Schroeder et al.
(2008); Sehwail and De Yong (2003); Sekhar and Mahanti (2006); Setijono
(2008); Smith (1993); Snee (2004); Stewart and Spencer (2006); Su et al.
(2005); Sudhahar et al. (2008); Taner et al. (2007); Tannock et al. (2007);
Thakkar et al. (2006); Thiele et al. (2008); Thomas and Barton (2006);
Thomas and Lewis (2007); Thompson et al. (2008); Ung et al. (2007); Van
Den Heuvel et al. (2005); Van Iwaarden et al. (2008); Vaughan (1998); Vote
and Huston (2005); Woodall (2001); Woodard (2005, 2006); Wright and
Basu (2008); Xue-Liang et al. (2007); Yang (2004); Zaroukian and Sierra
(2006); Zhan (2008)
169
(continued)
Table II.
Classication of Six
Sigma articles by themes
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Methodology 87
DAMIC Antony (2006); Antony et al. (2007c); Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke (2007);
Bandyopadhyay and Lichtman (2007); Banuelas et al. (2005); Brewer and
Eighme (2005); Chen et al. (2005, 2008); Cronemyr (2007); De Koning and
De Mast (2005); Dedhia (2005); Dreachslin and Lee (2007); Drenckpohl et al.
(2007); Edgeman and Dugan (2008); Edgeman et al. (2005); Friday-Stroud
and Suttereld (2007); Hamza (2008); Henderson and Evans (2000); Ho and
Chuang (2006); Holtz and Campbell (2004); Hu et al. (2005); Jenicke et al.
(2008); Kaushik and Khanduja (2008); Kuei and Madu (2003); Kumar et al.
(2008a, b); Kumi and Morrow (2006); Lee-Mortimer (2007); Li and Al-Refaie
(2008); Li et al. (2008); Lipscomb and Lewis (2004); Lloyd (2006); McCarty
and Fisher (2007); Mahanti and Antony (2005, 2006); Mahesh et al. (2006);
Man (2002); Miles (2006); Neri et al. (2008); Sanders and Hild (2000c);
Schroeder et al. (2008); Sehwail and De Yong (2003); Szeto and Tsang (2005);
Taghaboni-Dutta and Moreland (2004); Taner et al. (2007); Tang et al. (2007);
Thawani (2004); Thomas and Barton (2006); Thomas and Lewis (2007);
Tong et al. (2004); Vote and Huston (2005); Wyper and Harrison (2000); Yeh
(2007); Yeh et al. (2007) 54
DFSS Amer et al. (2008); Anand et al. (2007); Antony (2002); Banuelas and Antony
(2003, 2004); Bayle et al. (2001); Chang and Su (2007); Chung et al. (2008);
De Feo and Bar-El (2002); Erlandson (2006); Ferryanto (2007); Gerhorst et al.
(2006); Goh (2001); Gremyr (2005); Hasenkamp and Olme (2008); Hu and
Antony (2007); Hu and Pieprzak (2005); Johnson et al. (2006a); Kalamdani
and Khalaf (2006); Khalaf and Yang (2006); Kovach (2007); Kovach and Cho
(2006); Liu et al. (2008); Mekki (2006); Rajagopal and Castillo (2007); Savage
(2007); Savage and Son (2008); Shahin (2008); Sokovic et al. (2005); Thomas
and Singh (2006); Yang (2005) 33
Quality approaches Aggogeri and Gentili (2008); Al-Mishari and Suliman (2008); Andersson
et al. (2006); Antony (2002); Black and McGlashan (2006); Camgoz-Akdag
(2007); Cheng (2007c); Cheng (2008); Craven et al. (2006); Dahlgaard and
Dahlgaard-Park (2006); Davison and Al-Shaghana (2007); Delsanter
(1992); Ehie and Sheu (2005); Ferng and Price (2005); Foster (2007);
Freiesleben (2007); Furterer and Elshennawy (2005); Goeke and Offodile
(2005); Green (2006b); Hagemeyer et al. (2006); Haikonen et al. (2004);
Hild et al. (2000); Hoerl (1998); Hong and Goh (2004); Jeffery (2005);
Klefsjo et al. (2006); Klefsjo et al. (2001); Knowles et al. (2004); Krishna
et al. (2008); Lupan et al. (2005); Pfeifer et al. (2004); Revere and Black
(2003); Ribardo and Allen (2003); Ricondo and Viles (2005); Sadagopan
et al. (2005); Sarkar (2007b); Savolainen and Haikonen (2007); Schroeder
et al. (2008); Stewart and Spencer (2006); Thirunavukkarasu et al. (2008);
Thomas et al. (2008a); Walters (2005); Wessel and Burcher (2004); Yang
(2004); Yang and Yeh (2007); Yeung, S. (2007); Zhang and Xu (2008);
Zu et al. (2008) 48
(continued)
Table II.
Six Sigma
quality
275
Belt system Andersson et al. (2006); Antony (2004b); Antony et al. (2001, 2005, 2007b, c);
Banuelas et al. (2006); Bendell (2006); Black and McGlashan (2006); Black
and Revere (2006); Buch and Tolentino (2006a, b); Gowen (2005); Green
(2006a); Green et al. (2006); Hagemeyer et al. (2006); Haikonen et al. (2004);
Henderson and Evans (2000); Ho et al. (2008); Hoerl et al. (2001); Ingle and
Roe (2001); Johnson et al. (2006b, c); Klefsjo et al. (2001); Kwak and Anbari
(2006); Lee-Mortimer (2006); Linderman et al. (2003, 2006); Mitra (2004);
Motwani et al. (2004); Pandey (2007); Pfeifer et al. (2004); Rasis et al.
(2002a, b); Sadagopan et al. (2005); Savolainen and Haikonen (2007);
Schroeder et al. (2008) 37
Lean production Al-Aomar (2006); Andersson et al. (2006); Bendell (2006); Bonilla et al. (2008);
Brett and Queen (2005); Byrne et al. (2007); Chang and Su (2007); Cupryk
et al. (2007); Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park (2006); De Koning et al. (2006,
2008a, b); Fairbanks (2007); Ferng and Price (2005); Furterer and
Elshennawy (2005); Gibbons (2006); Hu et al. (2008); Jin et al. (2008); Khalaf
and Yang (2006); Kumar et al. (2006); Marti (2005); Mazzola et al. (2007);
Morgan and Cooper (2004); Naslund (2008); Pickrell et al. (2005); Pojasek
(2003); Proudlove et al. (2008); Ricondo and Viles (2005); Shah et al. (2008);
Shahin and Alinavaz (2008); Sharma (2003); Su et al. (2006); Thomas et al.
(2008b); Van Den Heuvel et al. (2006) 34
Success factors Antony (2004a, 2006, 2008a); Antony and Banuelas (2002); Antony and
Fergusson (2004); Antony et al. (2005, 2007a, 2008); Buch and Tolentino
(2006a, b); Byrne (2003); Chakrabarty and Tan (2007); Cheng (2007a, 2008);
Chung et al. (2008); Coronado and Antony (2002); Feng and Manuel (2008);
Frings and Grant (2005); Gowen (2005); Hilton et al. (2008); Ho et al. (2008);
Jenicke et al. (2008); Kumar (2007); Laosirihongthong et al. (2006); Linderman
et al. (2003, 2006); McAdam and Evans (2004b); Knowles et al. (2005);
Sanders and Hild (2000a); Shanmugam (2007); Szeto and Tsang (2005);
Wessel and Burcher (2004); Yang et al. (2008) 33
Challenges Antony (2004b, 2006, 2007b, 2008a, b); Antony et al. (2001, 2008); Cheng
(2007a); Feld and Stone (2002); Gijo and Rao (2005); Goh and Xie (2004); Goh
et al. (2006); Hammer (2002); Ho et al. (2006); Hoerl (1998); Kumar (2007);
Kumar et al. (2008); Kwak and Anbari (2006); Lee and Choi (2006); Liu et al.
(2008); McAdam and Evans (2004a, b); McAdam and Lafferty (2004);
McAdam et al. (2005); McClusky (2006); Nonthaleerak and Hendry (2006);
Sanders and Hild (2000b); Senapati (2004); Shahabuddin (2008); Van Den
Heuvel et al. (2004); Yeung, S. (2007) 31
Benets Agarwal and Bajaj (2008); Aggogeri and Gentili (2008); Antony (2004b,
2006); Antony et al. (2001, 2005, 2007c); Behara et al. (1995); Carnell and
Lambert (2000); Chen et al. (2005); Das et al. (2006); De Mast (2006); Desai
(2006, 2008); Douglas and Erwin (2000); Feld and Stone (2002); Freiesleben
(2006); Ganesh (2004); Goh et al. (2006); Hutchins (2000); Johnson (2002,
2006); Johnson and Swisher (2003); Kuei and Madu (2003); Kumar et al.
(2007); Kwak and Anbari (2006); McClusky (2006); Sahoo et al. (2008); Snee
(2004) 29
(continued)
Table II.
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Project selection Antony (2004a, b, 2006); Antony et al. (2001, 2005, 2007c); Banuelas et al.
(2006); Bonilla et al. (2008); Hu et al. (2008); Jung and Lim (2007); Kumar et al.
(2007, 2008); Kumi and Morrow (2006); Kwak and Anbari (2006); Savolainen
and Haikonen (2007); Su and Chou (2008) 16
Organizational
change
Brewer (2004); Carnell and Lambert (2000); Craven et al. (2006); Davison and
Al-Shaghana (2007); De Feo and Bar-El (2002); Fazzari and Levitt (2008);
Immaneni et al. (2007); Llorens-Montes and Molina (2006); Lok et al. (2008);
Motwani et al. (2004); Rajamanoharan and Collier (2006); Sadagopan et al.
(2005); Schroeder et al. (2008); Thawani (2004) 14
Supply chain Antony et al. (2006); Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke (2007); Chan et al. (2006);
Chappell and Peck (2006); Das (2005); Dasgupta (2003); Garg et al. (2004);
Gowen (2005); Knowles et al. (2005); Wang et al. (2004); Yang et al. (2007);
Yeh et al. (2007) 13
Six Sigma
education
Anderson-Cook et al. (2005); Cook et al. (2005); Edgeman and Dugan (2008);
Ho et al. (2006); Maleyeff and Kaminsky (2002); Man (2002); Mitra (2004);
Montgomery et al. (2005); Rao and Rao (2007); Stevenson and Mergen (2006);
Weinstein et al. (2008) 11
Org. learning Box (2006); Jeffery (2005); Lin et al. (2008); Motwani et al. (2004); Ricondo and
Viles (2005); Savolainen and Haikonen (2007); Wiklund and Wiklund (2002) 7 Table II.
Figure 3.
articles by themes
Six Sigma
quality
277
Six Sigma methodologies (DMAIC and DFSS). The second largest part of Six Sigma
literature deals with the theorization and application of Six Sigma methodologies.
There are two major improvement methodologies in Six Sigma. The rst methodology,
DMAIC, is used to improve already existing processes and can be divided into ve
phases; dene, measure, analyze, improve and control. Several studies have shown
successful cases of DMAIC application in a variety of contexts such as healthcare
(Dreachslin and Lee, 2007), thermal power plants (Kaushik and Khanduja, 2008),
retailing (Kumar et al., 2008a), nancial services (Kumar et al., 2008b) and
manufacturing process (Li et al., 2008; Tong et al., 2004). In contrast, the second
methodology, design for Six Sigma (DFSS), is used for new processes or when the
existing processes are unable to achieve business objectives such as customer
satisfaction (Andersson et al., 2006). DFSS methodology can also be divided into ve
phases (DMADV); dene, measure, analyze, design and verify (Banuelas and Antony,
2003). Antony (2002) refers to DFSS as a powerful approach to design products and
processes in a cost effective and simple manner. Applications of DFSS are also varied
from high-tech manufacturing (Chung et al., 2008) to designing new housing (Johnson
et al., 2006a).
Six Sigma belt system. A part of Six Sigma structure is the role of Six Sigma leaders
who initiate, support and review improvement projects. Most Six Sigma organizations
adopt the hierarchical level of black belt and green belt systems. A black belt is a
full-time team leader dedicated to the Six Sigma initiative. Black belts are equipped
with expertise in using the Six Sigma methodology and statistical analysis techniques
for process improvement. Individuals at the highest level of expertise in Six Sigma
methodologies are called master black belts. They teach, coach and mentor the
lower-level black belts and green belts. About 5 percent of employees in Six Sigma
organization will be black belts, while the rest are trained to be green belts. Green belts
are project leaders and/or process experts who integrate Six Sigma into their daily job
duties. They are trained in the use the Six Sigma methodology and dedicating
approximately 30 percent of their time toward Six Sigma initiatives. Most of the
literature on Six Sigma belt system focuses mainly on belts training and attributes.
For example, Ingle and Roe (2001) contrasted the Six Sigma black belt programs used
in both Motorola and General Electric (GE). They concluded that GE has a more
structured approach to training black belts than does Motorola. The program in GE is
more intensive, takes a shorter time and therefore results in a greater number of
accredited black belts. The authors also warn about the dangers of focusing on the
metric rather than the mission in black belt training since some people were only
becoming black belts in order to be promoted, and those that could not become black
belts were resentful and disillusioned. With regard to black belts attributes, Antony
et al. (2007b) and Black and McGlashan (2006) found that several characteristics were
more essential than others in considering potential black belt candidates. The key
attributes of Six Sigma black belts in manufacturing companies include effective
communicators, change agents, customer advocators, team builders, results-driven
mindset personnel and positive thinkers. With regard to green belts, Green (2006a) and
Green et al. (2006) uses case studies to examine the nature of their training, work and
the projects in which they were involved.
Selection of Six Sigma projects. Selection of Six Sigma projects has received
substantial attention from authors (e.g. Antony, 2004a; Banuelas et al., 2006; Hu et al.,
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2008; Jung and Lim, 2007; Kumar et al., 2007; Su and Chou, 2008) given that the right
selection of Six Sigma projects is one of the most critical factors for the effective
deployment of a Six Sigma program. Antony (2004a) has indicated some project
selection criteria when a service organization wants to implement Six Sigma programs.
Those criteria include nancing, customer satisfaction, cost, risks and alignment of
strategic business goals and objectives. If project selection is systematically sloppy, the
entire Six Sigma effort could fail. Based on the results of a survey study, Banuelas et al.
(2006) have pointed to project selection criteria employed in UK organizations. These
criteria include customer satisfaction, nancial benets, top management commitment
and the integration with the companys strategy. Moreover, Su and Chou (2008)
employed three main steps for selecting Six Sigma projects. Those steps are
understanding and analyzing the voice of customers (VOCs), drawing up the
organizations business strategic policies and deploying the possible Six Sigma
projects based on the organizations business policies and the voice of customers. They
suggest that Six Sigma projects can be prioritized based on evaluating benets and
risks of each project. However, the prioritization of projects in many organizations is
still based on pure subjective judgment and very few powerful tools are available for
prioritizing projects (Su and Chou, 2008). Cost benet analysis, cause and effect matrix,
brainstorming and Pareto analysis are among these tools and techniques which can be
employed to identify and prioritize such projects (Banuelas et al., 2006).
Six Sigma and quality approaches. Six Sigma literature has linked Six Sigma to
quality approaches through two pivotal perspectives. The rst perspective links Six
Sigma to TQM, while the second treats Six Sigma as a continuous improvement
approach. Within the rst perspective, Six Sigma authors (e.g. Andersson et al., 2006;
Black and Revere, 2006; Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park, 2006; Ferng and Price, 2005;
Furterer and Elshennawy, 2005; Green, 2006a; Ricondo and Viles, 2005) asserted that
Six Sigma is not an alternative to TQM.
Even though most Six Sigma tools and techniques are already being applied in the
TQM eld and both approaches preach that continuous improvement of quality is
essential to business success, there is a vital distinction between them. Hence, the
impression raised by some researchers (e.g. Thirunavukkarasu et al., 2008) that Six
Sigma could be easily implemented in a company that implements TQM is still
debatable. While authors regard TQM as a mushy management system consisting of
values, methodologies and tools that aims to improve customer satisfaction, they
consider Six Sigma as a more structured methodology that fosters product and process
improvement so that the defects are never produced in the rst place. Contrary to
TQM, Six Sigma allows organizations to measure process capability and improvement
efforts internally and externally. Schroeder et al. (2008) have identied four core
advantages of Six Sigma over TQM. These advantages involve the focus on nancial
and business results, use of a structured method for process improvement or new
product introduction, use of specic metrics such as DPMO, critical-to-quality (CTQ),
and use of a signicant number of full-time improvement specialists. According to
Antony and Banuelas (2002), Ford found that Six Sigma is more prot orientated, while
TQM focuses on xing the quality problem regardless of the cost. The above
mentioned differences afrm the necessity of critical ingredients related to Six Sigma
training, structure and focus to ensure successful transformation from TQM to Six
Sigma in an organization.
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279
On the other hand, Six Sigma has gained popularity as a continuous improvement
strategy aimed at reducing process-variations (Antony, 2002; Ehie and Sheu, 2005;
Haikonen et al., 2004; Savolainen and Haikonen, 2007; Stewart and Spencer, 2006). This
view is triggered through the link between the DMAIC-structure described above and
the Demings plan-do-check-act (PDCA) cycle. The idea in both procedural practices
forms a continuumover time for dynamic continuous improvement structure to sustain
business performance and bottom-line (Savolainen and Haikonen, 2007). Operationally,
continuous improvement should be guided by Six Sigma tools and techniques for
dening specic process to be improved, analyzing root causes and designing actions
for making improvement (Ehie and Sheu, 2005).
Six Sigma and lean production. Recent Six Sigma studies have focused on the
relationship between Six Sigma and lean production (e.g. Andersson et al., 2006;
Arnheiter and Maleyeff, 2005; Bendell, 2006; Chang and Su, 2007; Dahlgaard and
Dahlgaard-Park, 2006; Ferng and Price, 2005; Naslund, 2008; Pickrell et al., 2005) or on
the implementation of the new labeled concept Lean Six Sigma (e.g. Bonilla et al.,
2008; Byrne et al., 2007; Cupryk et al., 2007; De Koning et al., 2006, 2008a, b; Furterer
and Elshennawy, 2005; Gibbons, 2006; Marti, 2005).
The authors arrived at a conclusion that lean and Six Sigma complement each other
and represent a powerful framework for eliminating process waste and variation when
used together. Lean production is primarily concerned with eliminating waste and
reducing cycle time in processes, but cannot reduce variation alone. Six Sigma can
reduce variation and improve process by applying a problem-solving approach using
statistical tools, but alone does not reduce waste or cycle time. Another distinction
between the two approaches is related to the scope. Whereas lean production
encompasses the entire organization value chain, Six Sigma concentrates more
narrowly on specic project or process within an organization. Despite these
differences, both approaches share common features that may combined together to
develop the Lean Six Sigma concept as an improvement methodology that
maximizes shareholder value and improves customer satisfaction, cost, quality,
process speed and invested capital by reducing variation and eliminating waste in an
organization (Byrne et al., 2007). Typically, some of lean Six Sigma cases that have
been reported in the literature are applied in service settings including nancial service
(De Koning et al., 2008a, b), healthcare (De Koning et al., 2006), and local government
(Furterer and Elshennawy, 2005).
Six Sigma success factors. Key factors for success or failure during Six Sigma
implementation have always been subject to intensive literature (e.g. Antony, 2004b,
2006; Antony and Fergusson, 2004; Antony and Banuelas, 2002; Antony et al., 2005;
Buch and Tolentino, 2006b; Chakrabarty and Tan, 2007; Coronado and Antony, 2002;
Kumar, 2007; Kwak and Anbari, 2006; McAdam and Evans, 2004a; Revere et al., 2006;
Szeto and Tsang, 2005; Wessel and Burcher, 2004). The most cited success factors in
Six Sigma literature include the following:
.
Strong top management involvement and commitment.
.
Selection of Six Sigma projects.
.
Changing organizational culture.
.
Aligning Six Sigma projects to corporate business objectives.
.
Cross-functional team working.
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.
Effective communication.
.
Infrastructure (both organizational and IT infrastructure).
.
Training.
.
Linking Six Sigma to business strategy, customer, HRM, suppliers.
.
Measurement.
.
Accountability.
.
Understanding tools and techniques within Six Sigma.
.
Project management skills.
Benets of Six Sigma. When Six Sigma is implemented successfully, it will offer a
disciplined approach for improving effectiveness and efciency in a broad range of
businesses. The most cited benet of Six Sigma in the literature is customer
satisfaction (e.g. Behara et al., 1995; Chen et al., 2005; Das et al., 2006; Desai, 2006;
Douglas and Erwin, 2000; Ganesh, 2004; Kuei and Madu, 2003; Kumar et al., 2007;
Rylander and Provost, 2006). Freiesleben (2006) suggested that successful application
of Six Sigma quality is positively correlated with better nancial performance and
prot generation. In the manufacturing context, Six Sigma benets are related to
various areas such as reduction in process variability, reduction in in-process defect
levels, reduction in maintenance inspection time, improving capacity cycle time,
improving inventory on-time delivery, increasing savings in capital expenditures,
increase in protability, reduction of operational costs, reduction in the cost of poor
quality (COPQ), increase in productivity, reduction of cycle time, reduction of customer
complaints, improved sales and reduced inspection (Antony et al., 2005, 2007a; Kwak
and Anbari, 2006). Service organizations adopting Six Sigma strategy, on the other
hand, will have various benets. According to Antony (2006, 2004a), Antony et al.
(2007c), and Kwak and Anbari (2006), Six Sigma benets for service organizations may
involve improved accuracy of resources allocation, improving accuracy of reporting,
reduced documentary defects, improving timely and accurate claims reimbursement,
streamlining the process of service delivery, reduced inventory of equipment, reduced
service preparation times, improved customer satisfaction, reduced defect rate in
service processes, reduced variability of key service processes, transformation of
organizational culture from re-ghting mode to re-prevention mode with the
attitude of continuous improvement of service process performance, reduced process
cycle time and hence achieve faster service delivery, reduced service operational costs,
increased market share, improved cross-functional teamwork across the entire
organization, increased employee morale, reduced number of non-value added steps in
critical business processes through systematic elimination, leading to faster delivery of
service, reduced cost of poor quality (COPQ) (costs associated with late delivery,
customer complaints, costs associated with misdirected problem solving, etc.),
increased awareness of various problem solving tools and techniques, leading to
greater job satisfaction for employees, improved consistency level of service through
systematic reduction of process variability and effective management decisions due to
reliance on data and facts rather than assumptions and gut-feelings.
Six Sigma challenges. Bridging the gap between the theory and practice in Six
Sigma research has been given more attention by Six Sigma researchers (e.g. Antony,
2004b, 2007b, 2008b; Chakrabarty and Tan, 2007; Goh and Xie, 2004; McAdam et al.,
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2005; McAdam and Evans, 2004a, b; Nonthaleerak and Hendry, 2007; Senapati, 2004;
Shahabuddin, 2008). Although its powerful strategy and impact on industry and
service sectors, Six Sigma still lacks a theoretical underpinning with other
management theory (Antony, 2008b). However, Linderman et al. (2003, 2006)
attempt to enhance the underlying theory by linking Six Sigma to goal theory. They
develop a set of propositions that need further empirical verication. McAdam and
Evans (2004a, b) have claimed that the Six Sigma program is weak in understanding
customer needs and transforming these needs into products. Other Six Sigma
limitations are related to its application. These challenges and limitations as illustrated
by Antony (2004b, 2007b, 2008b) are as follows:
.
The 1.5 sigma shift resulting in a 3.4 DPMO does not make sense in service
processes.
.
The impact of leadership styles on Six Sigma success needs more research.
.
No unied standards have been accepted regarding the contents of belt training.
.
The relationship between the cost of poor quality (COPQ) and the sigma quality
level (SQL) is based on experience not empirical research.
.
The relationship between COPQ and its nancial impact in SMEs needs further
research since SMEs are hardly considering quality costs.
.
Availability of quality data is still a great challenge in Six Sigma projects.
.
In some cases, the solutions driven by Six Sigma are expensive and only a small
part of the solution is implemented at the end.
.
Six Sigma project selection in many organizations is based on subjective
judgment.
.
The calculation of defect rates is based on the assumption of normality, while the
calculation of defect rates for non-normal situations is not yet properly
addressed.
.
Owing to dynamic market demands, critical-to-quality characteristics (CTQs)
should be critically examined at all times and rened as necessary.
.
Training programs usually do not address forecasting and time series methods.
.
Six Sigma research needs to investigate the validity of 5 sigma approach
assumption in design for Six Sigma (DFSS).
.
There is no standard curriculum for Six Sigma in many top schools.
Six Sigma education. A series of Six Sigma papers have pointed to the entry of Six
Sigma program in an educational context. Edgeman and Dugan (2008) have argued
that the pragmatic and intellectual focus of Six Sigma combined with tools and
strategies from engineering and business, develops a magnet curriculum that attract
many students. They have suggested two deployment approaches for its academic
instruction. The rst approach is via central control at the unit, departmental, or
college level for their own students and to attract students from other elds, while the
other approach is via a radiant instructional model with core courses and elective
courses in discipline specic areas that match students needs. Moreover, Antony
(2008b), Ho et al. (2006), Mitra (2004), and Rao and Rao (2007) believe that a Six Sigma
framework provides an excellent platform for integrating statistical, management and
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technical tools and skills into the curricula of engineering and business schools to help
students tackle business problems in organizations. Further, Rao and Rao (2007)
suggested that all students of management must leave the institution as certied black
belts. Maleyeff and Kaminsky (2002) and Cook et al. (2005) have revealed a positive
feedback from students regarding a course on Six Sigma taught at US universities.
However, successful academic adoption of Six Sigma curricula require not only ne
content, but also its organization and supporting culture that rely in part on intellectual
and practical experiences from external contributors such as Six Sigma black belts
(Edgeman and Dugan, 2008).
Six Sigma and organizational change. Many authors have seen Six Sigma as an
organizational change vehicle that possesses a culture of accountability, quality, and
innovation (Brewer, 2004; Carnell and Lambert, 2000; Craven et al., 2006; Davison and
Al-Shaghana, 2007; Immaneni et al., 2007; Lok et al., 2008). Schroeder et al. (2008)
suggested that Six Sigma should be viewed as an organization change process. The
view will improve Six Sigma implementation through identifying what needs to be
changed and boost change management process itself. Thawani (2004) revealed that
Six Sigma has been deployed strategically to change the culture of organization
through inculcating process control discipline in business context. The main issue is
that organizations need to know when and how changes can be made to deploy Six
Sigma tools. Sadagopan et al. (2005) suggested three Six Sigma transitions (i.e.
physical, psychological, and mindset) which are required for successful
implementation of Six Sigma program. These transitions ensure changes in
resources, employees and management to facilitate the implementation of alternative
processes that achieve 3.4 DPMO in organizational performance. In the same vein,
Llorens-Montes and Molina (2006) suggested that the implementation of a Six Sigma
program needs successful change management of behavioral and work processes to
achieving planned aspirations. Moreover, Rajamanoharan and Collier (2006) used
change management model as a framework to explore Six Sigma implementation
issues. They indicated that successful change management can be facilitated by
leadership support, learning capacity and IT leveragability while a low level of cultural
readiness and an inadequate knowledge-sharing capability inhibits successful change.
A success story of organizational transformation process to implement Six Sigma in
Dow Chemicals has been reported by Motwani et al. (2004).
Six Sigma and supply chain. Several studies have investigated how Six Sigma
methodology can effectively be employed in supply chain management (SCM) to measure,
monitor and improve the performance of the whole supply network. For example,
Dasgupta (2003) called for the application of Six Sigma metrics as a comprehensive and
exible framework for evaluating and benchmarking the performance of a supply chain
and its entities against world-class standards. Wang et al. (2004) developed an application
guideline for the assessment, improvement and control of quality in SCM in Taiwan using
Six-Sigma improvement methodology. They advocated that improvements in the quality
of all supply chain processes lead to cost reductions as well as service enhancements.
Although they demonstrated that Six Sigma has not been successfully adapted to deliver
similar benets across supply chains, Knowles et al. (2005) concluded that Six Sigma does
have something novel to offer organizations over the contribution of existing approaches to
supply chain improvement. They proposed a conceptual model that integrates the
Balanced Scorecard, SCOR model (Supply Chain Reference model) and Six Sigma DMAIC
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methodology in a strategic- and operational-level cycles. Chappell and Peck (2006)
concluded that Six Sigma can be applied to supply chains by following the DMAIC
framework and employing a mixture of quantitative and qualitative tools. However, they
also suggest that it is difcult to implement Six Sigma methodology throughout the supply
chain under some circumstances related to stock holding policies and levels of demand.
Furthermore, Antony et al. (2006) proposed a Six Sigma constrained genetic algorithm
(GA) based heuristic to optimize supply chain performance through the synchronization of
the business processes. The suggested model aimed at minimizing the total cost and
ensuring very high delivery probability within the customer specied delivery window. In
the same scene, Garg et al. (2004) introduced Six Sigma supply chains as a new notion to
describe and quantify supply chains with sharp and timely deliveries. Using inventory
optimization (IOPT) problem, they show that the design of Six Sigma supply chains can
deliver products within a customer specied delivery window, with at most 3.4 missed
deliveries per million. Presenting a real industry case about Six Sigma methodology for the
SCM, Yang et al. (2007) argued how the black belt program in Samsung has produced
highly qualied and talented SCM specialists, who are currently training the methodology
to members in their organizations and leading SCM projects. As a result, SCM projects in
Samsung are prepared and conducted in a more disciplined way and their outcomes are
continuously monitored and shared through the companys repository.
Six Sigma and organizational learning. Few studies have looked at the link between
Six Sigma and organizational learning from a perspective that Six Sigma methodologies
are mature enough to be integrated with different learning approaches. Wiklund and
Wiklund (2002) discussed Six Sigma as a company-wide approach for organizational
improvement incorporating organizational learning. The authors covered the factors that
are essential for improving organizational learning and for stimulating the competence,
development and motivation among personnel. Further, Ricondo and Viles (2005)
considered Six Sigma as an improvement program that can be linked to organizational
learning under certain conditions depending on their problem-solving capabilities.
Savolainen and Haikonen (2007) examined the dynamics of organizational learning in the
context of Six Sigma implementation in organizations. They suggested that learning in
Six Sigma implementation is a single-loop and incremental type where the learning
process is characterized by measurement, detection and correction of errors and cost
reduction. Consequently, continuous improvement occurs through procedural practices
like in the DMAIC-cycle that forms a structure for sustained learning process.
Distribution of articles by research method. The distribution of articles by research
method is shown in Table III. About 63 percent of the articles (263 articles) were
classied as empirical articles using either surveys or case studies, while about 37
percent of the articles (154 articles) were theoretical articles that usually employ
extensive literature review to focus on the development of concepts, propositions,
models, or theory building. Also, it is clear that case study is the most dominant
research method in Six Sigma articles (231 articles, 55.4 percent). Figure 4 shows the
growing gap over the years between case study method and other research methods,
particularly survey research. Case study method is used to document and analyze Six
Sigma implementation in particular contexts; industry, service, process or phase of a
specic project. Examples of Six Sigma case study research include Desai (2006)
concerning applying Six Sigma approach to improve customer service in an Indian
small scale industry, Echempati and White (2000) regarding analyzing hinge
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Total
Method References n %
Case-focused
articles
Adams et al. (2004); Agarwal and Bajaj (2008); Al-Aomar (2006); Al-Mishari
and Suliman (2008); Amer et al. (2007, 2008); Anand et al. (2007); Antony and
Fergusson (2004); Antony et al. (2007c); Arul and Kohli (2004);
Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke (2007); Bandyopadhyay and Lichtman (2007);
Banuelas and Antony (2003); Banuelas et al. (2005); Bayle et al. (2001); Beard
(2008); Behara et al. (1995); Benedetto (2003); Bigio et al. (2004); Bonilla et al.
(2008); Box (2006); Brett and Queen (2005); Brewer (2004); Brewer and
Eighme (2005); Bunce et al. (2008); Byrne (2003); Camgoz-Akdag (2007); Chan
et al. (2005); Chang and Su (2007); Chappell and Peck (2006); Chatterjee (2003);
Chen et al. (2005a, b, 2007, 2008); Cheng et al. (2008a); Craven et al. (2006);
Cupryk et al. (2007); Das (2005); Das and Hughes (2006); Dasgupta (2003);
Davison and Al-Shaghana (2007); De Koning et al. (2006, 2008a, b); De Vore
(2008); Desai (2006, 2008); Doble (2005); Does et al. (2002); Douglas and Erwin
(2000); Dreachslin and Lee (2007); Drenckpohl et al. (2007); Echempati and
White (2000); Edgeman et al. (2005); Ehie and Sheu (2005); Elberfeld et al.
(2007); Eldridge et al. (2006); Erlandson (2006); Ferng and Price (2005); Frank
(2003); Frankel et al. (2005); Furterer and Elshennawy (2005); Garg et al.
(2004); Gerhorst et al. (2006); Gibbons (2006); Gijo and Rao (2005); Goel and
Chen (2008); Goh (2001, 2002b); Goh et al. (2003); Gowen (2008); Green (2006a);
Green et al. (2006); Hagemeyer et al. (2006); Haikonen et al. (2004); Hamza
(2008); Han and Lee (2002); Harjac et al. (2008); Harrington and Trusko (2005);
Hasenkamp and Olme (2008); Henderson and Evans (2000); Hendricks and
Kelbaugh (1998); Hensley and Dobie (2005); Hild et al. (2000); Hilton et al.
(2008); Ho and Chuang (2006); Ho et al. (2006, 2008); Holtz and Campbell
(2004); Hong and Goh (2003, 2004); Hsu et al. (2008); Hu and Antony (2007);
Hu and Pieprzak (2005); Hwang (2006); Immaneni et al. (2007); Ingle and Roe
(2001); Isaacson (2008); Jenicke et al. (2008); Jin et al. (2008); Johnson (2002,
2006); Johnson and Swisher (2003); Johnson et al. (2006a, b, c); Johnston et al.
(2008); Johnstone et al. (2003a, b); Jung and Lim (2007); Juras et al. (2007);
Kalamdani and Khalaf (2006); Kapur and Feng (2005); Kaushik and
Khanduja (2008); Kaushik et al. (2008); Khalaf and Yang (2006); Knowles et al.
(2004); Kovach (2007); Kovach and Cho (2006); Krishna and Dangayach
(2007); Krishna et al. (2008); Kumar (2007); Kumar et al. (2006, 2007, 2008a, b);
Kumi and Morrow (2006); Ladani et al. (2006); Lee-Mortimer (2006, 2007); Li
and Al-Refaie (2008); Li et al. (2006, 2008); Lin et al. (2008); Lipscomb and
Lewis (2004); Liu et al. (2008); Lloyd (2006); Lok et al. (2008); Lucier and
Seshadri (2001); McAdam and Lafferty (2004); Mahanti and Antony (2005,
2006); Mahesh et al. (2006); Malhan and Rao (2005); Malliga and Srinivasan
(2007); Manikandan et al. (2008); Markarian (2004a, b); Marti (2005); Martin
et al. (2006); Mazzola et al. (2007); Mekki (2006); Miles (2006); Morgan and
Cooper (2004); Morusca and Cupryk (2005); Motwani et al. (2004);
Mukhopadhyay and Ray (2006); Murugappan and Keeni (2003); Neagu and
Hoerl (2005); Neri et al. (2008); Ng et al. (2005); Nonthaleerak and Hendry
(2008); ONeill (2005); Pan and Cheng (2008); Pandey (2007); Patterson et al.
(2005); Perng et al. (2008); Perry and Barker (2006); Pheng and Hui (2004);
Pickrell et al. (2005); Proudlove et al. (2008); Rajagopal and Castillo (2007);
Rajagopalan et al. (2004); Rasis et al. (2002a); Rasis et al. (2002b);
Ravichandran (2006, 2008); Revere and Black (2003); Revere et al. (2004);
Sadagopan et al. (2005); Sahoo et al. (2008); Sarkar (2007a, b); Savage (2007);
Savage and Son (2008); Savolainen and Haikonen (2007); Sehwail and De
Yong (2003); Sekhar and Mahanti (2006); Setijono (2008); Shahin (2008);
Sharma (2003); Smith (1993); Sokovic et al. (2005); Stewart and Spencer
(2006); Su and Chou (2008); Su et al. (2006); Su et al. (2005); Sudhahar et al.
(2008); Taghaboni-Dutta and Moreland (2004); Tang et al. (2007); Tannock
et al. (2007); Thakkar et al. (2006); Thiele et al. (2008); Thomas and Barton
(2006); Thomas and Lewis (2007); Thomas et al. (2008a, b); Thomas and
Singh (2006); Thompson et al. (2008); Tong et al. (2004); Ung et al. (2007); Van
Den Heuvel et al. (2004, 2005, 2006); Van Iwaarden et al. (2008); Vaughan
(1998); Vote and Huston (2005); Wang et al. (2004); Woodall (2001); Woodard
(2005, 2006); Wright and Basu (2008); Wyper and Harrison (2000); Xue-Liang
et al. (2007); Yang and Yeh (2007); Yang et al. (2007); Yeh (2007); Yeung, V.
(2007); Zaroukian and Sierra (2006); Zhan (2008); Zhang and Xu (2008) 231 55.4
(continued)
Table III.
Classication of Six
Sigma articles by
research method
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alignment problems using six-sigma quality, Furterer and Elshennawy (2005) on
implementing TQM and lean Six Sigma tools in local government, Gerhorst et al. (2006)
about using DFSS in product development at Ford Motor Company and Knowles et al.
(2004) on Six Sigma application at a UK food manufacturer. The analysis is typically
narrow, in-depth and provides a thorough examination of a limited Six Sigma area.
Some case study articles represent anecdotal examples of Six Sigma practices, without
exploring practice in any rigorous or in-depth manner. On the contrary, surveys
represent the least dominant research method in Six Sigma articles (32 articles, 7.7
percent) where typical wide perspective or supercial generalization are employed to a
Total
Method References n %
Review-focused
articles
Aggogeri and Gentili (2008); Al-Aomar and Youssef (2006); Anderson-Cook
et al. (2005); Andersson et al. (2006); Antony (2002, 2004b, 2006, 2007a, b,
2008b); Antony and Banuelas (2002); Antony et al. (2006); Arnheiter and
Maleyeff (2005); Banuelas and Antony (2004); Basu (2004); Bellows (2004);
Bendell (2006); Biedry (2001); Biehl (2004); Bisgaard and Freiesleben (2000);
Black and McGlashan (2006); Box and Luceno (2000); Brady and Allen (2006);
Brewer and Bagranoff (2004); Byrne et al. (2007); Card (2000); Carnell and
Lambert (2000); Carrigan and Kujawa (2006); Caulcutt (2001); Chan et al.
(2006); Cook et al. (2005); Coronado and Antony (2002); Cronemyr (2007);
Dahlgaard and Dahlgaard-Park (2006); Das et al. (2006); De Feo (2000); De
Feo and Bar-El (2002); De Koning and De Mast (2005, 2006); De Mast (2006,
2007); Dedhia (2005); Delsanter (1992); Edgeman and Dugan (2008);
Fairbanks (2007); Fazzari and Levitt (2008); Feld and Stone (2002); Ferryanto
(2007); Flott (2000); Foster (2007); Freiesleben (2006, 2007); Friday-Stroud and
Suttereld (2007); Fuller (2000a, b); Gack and Robison (2003); Ganesh (2004);
Garg et al. (2004); Glower (2006); Goeke and Offodile (2005); Goh (2002a); Goh
and Xie (2003, 2004); Goh et al. (2006); Graves (2002); Green (2006b); Gremyr
(2005); Hahn (2005); Hahn et al. (1999, 2000); Hammer (2002); Hare (2005);
Hoerl (1998, 2004); Hoerl et al. (2001); Hsieh et al. (2007); Hu et al. (2005, 2008);
Huq (2006); Hutchins (2000); Ingram (2000a, b, c); Jeffery (2005); Johnson
(2006); Kanji (2008); Kleasen (2007); Klefsjo et al. (2001, 2006); Knowles et al.
(2005); Kuei and Madu (2003); Kumar, M. et al. (2008); Kumar, U. et al. (2008);
Kwak and Anbari (2006); Lanyon (2003); Lee and Choi (2006); Linderman et al.
(2006); Linderman et al. (2003); Little (2003); Llorens-Montes and Molina
(2006); Lupan et al. (2005); McAdam et al. (2005); McCarty and Fisher (2007);
McClusky (2006); Mahanti (2005); Maleyeff and Kaminsky (2002); Maleyeff
and Krayenvenger (2004); Man (2002); Manual (2006); Markarian (2004a, b);
Mitra (2004); Montgomery et al. (2005); Moorman (2005); Naslund (2008);
Nonthaleerak and Hendry (2006, 2007); Pfeifer et al. (2004); Pojasek (2003);
Prabhushankar et al. (2008); Raisinghani et al. (2005); Rajamanoharan and
Collier (2006); Rao and Rao (2007); Ravichandran (2007); Ribardo and Allen
(2003); Ricondo and Viles (2005); Rudisill and Clary (2004); Rylander and
Provost (2006); Sanders and Hild (2000a, b, c); Schroeder et al. (2008);
Senapati (2004); Shah et al. (2008); Shahabuddin (2008); Shahin and Alinavaz
(2008); Shanmugam (2007); Smith and Phadke (2005); Snee (2004); Sodhi and
Sodhi (2005); Stevenson and Mergen (2006); Thawani (2004);
Thirunavukkarasu et al. (2008); Treville et al. (2008); Vestal (2004); Walters
(2005); Weinstein et al. (2008); Wiklund and Wiklund (2002); Yang, C. (2004);
Yang, K. (2004, 2005); Yeung (2007); Yilmaz and Chatterjee (2000); Zu et al.
(2008) 154 36.9
Survey-focused
articles
Antony (2004a, 2008a); Antony et al. (2001, 2005, 2007a, b, 2008); Banuelas
et al. (2006); Bhatnagar and Pandey (2005); Black and Revere (2006); Buch
and Tolentino (2006a, b); Chakrabarty and Tan (2007); Chang and Wang
(2008); Cheng (2007a, b, c, 2008); Chung et al. (2008); Feng and Manuel (2008);
Frings and Grant (2005); Gowen (2005); Kumar et al. (2007);
Laosirihongthong et al. (2006); McAdam and Evans (2004a, b); Revere et al.
(2006); Schon (2006); Szeto and Tsang (2005); Taner et al. (2007); Wessel and
Burcher (2004); Yang et al. (2008) 32 7.7 Table III.
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286
large number of cases. Examples of Six Sigma survey research involve Feng and
Manuel (2008) who conducted a national survey of Six Sigma programs in US
healthcare organizations, Antony (2004a) regarding Six Sigma application in UK
service organizations, Antony et al. (2005) concerning Six Sigma implementation in
manufacturing SMEs in the UK, and Black and McGlashan (2006) on essential
characteristics of Six Sigma black belt candidates in US companies.
Distribution of articles by sector: manufacturing vs service
According to this distribution, empirical Six Sigma articles (263 articles, 63.3 percent)
are broken down into two major sectors; manufacturing and service. Table IV shows
that the majority of empirical articles are deemed to be manufacturing-focused (169
articles, 64.3 percent). This category comprises articles examining Six Sigma within
manufacturing contexts such as semiconductor (e.g. Su and Chou, 2008; Su et al., 2005),
automotive (e.g. Chen et al., 2005; Krishna et al., 2008; Kumar et al., 2007), aerospace
(e.g. Maleyeff and Krayenvenger, 2004), chemical (e.g. Motwani et al., 2004; Doble,
2005), software (e.g. Antony and Fergusson, 2004; Hong and Goh, 2003, 2004; Mahanti,
2005; Mahanti and Antony, 2005, 2006), pharmaceutical (e.g. Cupryk et al., 2007;
Morusca and Cupryk, 2005), steel (e.g. Sarkar, 2007a, b) and aluminum (e.g. Das and
Hughes, 2006) industries. On the contrary, service-focused articles constitute the least
published empirical articles in Six Sigma (52 articles, 34 percent). Healthcare context,
however, is the most dominant setting in the service category. Examples of Six Sigma
articles in healthcare include Antony et al. (2007c), De Koning et al. (2006), Dreachslin
and Lee (2007), Feng and Manuel (2008), Harrington and Trusko (2005), Jin et al. (2008),
Johnstone et al. (2003a), Lloyd and Holsenbach (2006), Proudlove et al. (2008), and
Taner et al. (2007). Other service contexts may include government (e.g. Furterer and
Elshennawy, 2005; Ho and Chuang, 2006), banking (e.g. Immaneni et al., 2007), and
education (e.g. Thakkar et al., 2006; Weinstein et al., 2008). Table IV provides a
comprehensive list containing classied references for each of Six Sigma application
Figure 4.
articles by research
method (1992-2008)
Six Sigma
quality
287
Total
Sector References n %
Manufacturing-
focused
Agarwal and Bajaj (2008); Al-Mishari and Suliman (2008); Amer et al.
(2007, 2008); Anand et al. (2007); Antony (2008a); Antony and
Fergusson (2004); Antony et al. (2005, 2007a, b, 2008); Arul and Kohli
(2004); Bandyopadhyay and Jenicke (2007); Banuelas and Antony
(2003); Banuelas et al. (2005, 2006); Bayle et al. (2001); Bhatnagar and
Pandey (2005); Black and Revere (2006); Brewer (2004); Buch and
Tolentino (2006a, b); Bunce et al. (2008); Byrne (2003); Camgoz-Akdag
(2007); Chang and Wang (2008); Chatterjee (2003); Chen et al. (2005,
2007); Cheng (2007a, b, c); Cheng et al. (2008a); Chung et al. (2008b);
Cupryk et al. (2007); Das (2005); Das and Hughes (2006); Dasgupta
(2003); Davison and Al-Shaghana (2007); De Vore (2008); Desai (2006);
Doble (2005); Echempati and White (2000); Ehie and Sheu (2005);
Erlandson (2006); Gerhorst et al. (2006); Gibbons (2006); Gijo and Rao
(2005); Goel and Chen (2008); Goh (2001); Goh (2002b); Gowen (2005);
Green (2006a); Green et al. (2006); Hagemeyer et al. (2006); Haikonen
et al. (2004); Hamza (2008); Han and Lee (2002); Harjac et al. (2008);
Hasenkamp and Olme (2008); Henderson and Evans (2000);
Hendricks and Kelbaugh (1998); Hild et al. (2000); Ho et al. (2008);
Holtz and Campbell (2004); Hong and Goh (2003, 2004); Hsu et al.
(2008); Hu and Antony (2007); Hu and Pieprzak (2005); Hwang (2006);
Ingle and Roe (2001); Johnson (2002); Johnson and Swisher (2003);
Johnson et al. (2006b, c); Johnston et al. (2008); Jung and Lim (2007);
Kalamdani and Khalaf (2006); Kapur and Feng (2005); Kaushik and
Khanduja (2008); Kaushik et al. (2008); Khalaf and Yang (2006);
Knowles et al. (2004); Kovach and Cho (2006); Krishna and
Dangayach (2007); Krishna et al. (2008); Kumar (2007); Kumar, Met al.
(2006, 2007); Kumar, U. et al. (2007); Ladani et al. (2006); Lee-Mortimer
(2006); Lee-Mortimer (2007); Li et al. (2008); Li and Al-Refaie (2008); Li
et al. (2006); Lin et al. (2008); Liu et al. (2008); Lok et al. (2008); Lucier
and Seshadri (2001); McAdam and Evans (2004a, b); McAdam and
Lafferty (2004); Mahanti and Antony (2005); Mekki (2006); Mahanti
and Antony (2006); Mahesh et al. (2006); Maleyeff and Kaminsky
(2002); Manikandan et al. (2008); Markarian (2004a, b); Mazzola et al.
(2007); Miles (2006); Morusca and Cupryk (2005); Motwani et al.
(2004); Mukhopadhyay and Ray (2006); Murugappan and Keeni
(2003); Neagu and Hoerl (2005); Nonthaleerak and Hendry (2008); Pan
and Cheng (2008); Pandey (2007); Patterson et al. (2005); Perng et al.
(2008); Pickrell et al. (2005); Rajagopal and Castillo (2007);
Rajagopalan et al. (2004); Rasis et al. (2002a, b); Ravichandran (2008);
Revere et al. (2006); Sadagopan et al. (2005); Sahoo et al. (2008); Sarkar
(2007a, b); Savage (2007); Savage and Son (2008); Savolainen and
Haikonen (2007); Schon (2006); Sekhar and Mahanti (2006); Setijono
(2008); Shahin (2008); Sharma (2003); Smith (1993); Sokovic et al.
(2005); Su and Chou (2008); Su et al. (2005); Sudhahar et al. (2008);
Szeto and Tsang (2005); Tang et al. (2007); Tannock et al. (2007);
Thomas and Barton (2006); Thomas and Lewis (2007); Thomas et al.
(2008a, b); Thomas and Singh (2006); Tong et al. (2004); Ung et al.
(2007); Van Iwaarden et al. (2008); Vaughan (1998); Wang et al. (2004);
Wessel and Burcher (2004); Wright and Basu (2008); Wyper and
Harrison (2000); Yang and Yeh (2007); Yang et al. (2007, 2008); Yeh
(2007); Yeh et al. (2007); Zhan (2008) 169 64.3
(continued)
Table IV.
Classication of Six
Sigma articles by
application sector
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288
Total
Sector References n %
Service-focused Adams et al. (2004); Al-Aomar (2006); Antony (2004a); Antony et al.
(2001, 2007c); Bandyopadhyay and Lichtman (2007); Beard (2008);
Behara et al. (1995); Benedetto (2003); Bigio et al. (2004); Bonilla et al.
(2008); Box (2006); Brett and Queen (2005); Brewer and Eighme
(2005); Chakrabarty and Tan (2007); Chan et al. (2005); Chang and
Su (2007); Chappell and Peck (2006); Chen et al. (2005, 2008); Cheng
(2008); Craven et al. (2006); De Koning et al. (2006, 2008a, b); Desai
(2008); Does et al. (2002); Douglas and Erwin (2000); Dreachslin and
Lee (2007); Drenckpohl et al. (2007); Edgeman et al. (2005); Elberfeld
et al. (2007); Eldridge et al. (2006); Feng and Manuel (2008); Ferng
and Price (2005); Frank (2003); Frankel et al. (2005); Frings and
Grant (2005); Furterer and Elshennawy (2005); Garg et al. (2004);
Goh et al. (2003); Gowen (2008); Harrington and Trusko (2005);
Hensley and Dobie (2005); Hilton et al. (2008); Ho and Chuang (2006);
Ho et al. (2006); Immaneni et al. (2007); Isaacson (2008); Jenicke et al.
(2008); Jin et al. (2008); Johnson et al. (2006a); Johnstone et al.
(2003a, b); Juras et al. (2007); Kovach (2007); Kumar et al. (2008a, b);
Kumi and Morrow (2006); Lipscomb and Lewis (2004); Lloyd (2006);
Malhan and Rao (2005); Malliga and Srinivasan (2007); Marti (2005);
Martin et al. (2006); Morgan and Cooper (2004); Neri et al. (2008); Ng
et al. (2005); ONeill (2005); Perry and Barker (2006); Pheng and Hui
(2004); Proudlove et al. (2008); Ravichandran (2006); Revere and
Black (2003); Revere et al. (2004); Sehwail and De Yong (2003);
Stewart and Spencer (2006); Snee (2004); Taghaboni-Dutta and
Moreland (2004); Taner et al. (2007); Thakkar et al. (2006); Thiele
et al. (2008); Thompson et al. (2008); Van Den Heuvel et al. (2004,
2005, 2006); Vote and Huston (2005); Woodall (2001); Woodard
(2005, 2006); Wright and Basu (2008); Yeh (2007); Yeung (2007);
Zaroukian and Sierra (2006) 94 35.7
Table IV.
Figure 5.
articles by application
sector (1992-2008)
Six Sigma
quality
289
contexts. Figure 5 demonstrates the growing gap between manufacturing and
service focused Six Sigma research over years.
Conclusions and future research directions
Our conclusions are based on the analysis of 417 Six Sigma articles that were
published in 147 journals over a 17-year period from 1992 to 2008. Overall, we have
observed that Six Sigma research has attracted the attention of both practitioners and
academics. In particular, research activities on Six Sigma have increased signicantly
after 1999. The trend implies that more than 98 percent of Six Sigma articles were
published between 2000 and 2008. Clearly Six Sigma research is difcult to conne to
specic discipline since it is scattered across various journals from various domains
and elds.
The review has observed that Six Sigma research is empirical in nature which
reinforces the use of real-world data. Case study was the dominant approach in Six
Sigma research and this is may be due to the fact that quality problems in
manufacturing and service contexts are usually treated as a case in terms of
documentation and analysis. In addition, the lack of implementing Six Sigma tools and
methodologies across a wide range of processes or organizations makes the use of
survey approach impractical.
Although modications have been made in the Six Sigma framework to extend its
application from manufacturing to service context, the increasing gap between the
numbers of manufacturing and service focused Six Sigma articles since 2005
implies the return of Six Sigma to manufacturing as its initial base.
Although this review does not claim to be exhaustive, it does provide reasonable
insights into the state of the art in Six Sigma research. One of the most signicant
ndings from our analysis has been the great empirical focus on Six Sigma tools and
techniques. There is very little room for clarifying the confusion in the literature as to
what constitutes Six Sigma theory and how does it integrate with other improvement
strategies. We would argue that theoretical development is critical to the development
of Six Sigma studies. Based on the literature review presented in this paper, we identify
below a number of research implications and directions for future research as follows:
.
There is no doubt that Six Sigma research will grow rapidly in future covering
various disciplines and domains. Hence, there is a need to construct and clearly
present the application of Six Sigma within each domain in a proposed
framework or generic model.
.
It is not surprising that a large portion of the reviewed articles in this study were
related to Six Sigma tools, techniques, and methodologies. This reects the
researchers concern of the core nature of Six Sigma as a more structured quality
approach compared to TQM. Detailed analysis of these tools and methodologies
within manufacturing and service contexts is required.
.
We expect more research to be conducted on user experiences reecting Six
Sigma pros and cons in such context.
.
While researchers try to develop new Six Sigma applications, the capabilities of
user infrastructure need to be considered.
.
More theory based empirical research is needed to enhance the construction of
Six Sigma theory.
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290
.
There is a great potential for practicable application of survey approach in Six
Sigma research as a wide range of processes or organizations adopt Six Sigma
tools and methodologies.
.
Since the combined use of analytical and empirical research techniques has the
potential to offer greater insights into research, it is desirable to see more papers
apply triangulation approach in Six Sigma research through the use of multiple
data collection methods.
.
Researchers are encouraged to map the efforts of Six Sigma research in
manufacturing and service organizations to a proposed framework and then
provide a through analysis on each framework.
.
Researchers and practitioners are encouraged to propose a standard Six Sigma
curriculum design with multidisciplinary orientation.
.
Managing Six Sigma risks and crises is a new attractive topic for researchers.
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Appendix
Journal No. of articles
International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage 72
The TQM Journal (Previously, The TQM Magazine) 27
Total Quality Management & Business Excellence 27
Quality Engineering 23
Quality and Reliability Engineering International 18
International Journal of Product Development 8
International Journal of Production Research 7
International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management 7
Journal of Validation Technology 6
The Quality Management Journal 6
Journal of Healthcare Management 5
Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management 5
Journal of Organizational Excellence 5
Measuring Business Excellence 5
International Journal of Health Care Quality Assurance 4
International Journal of Productivity and Quality Management 4
Journal of Operations Management 4
Research Technology Management 4
Strategic Finance 4
Assembly Automation 3
Business Process Management Journal 3
IEEE Engineering Management Review 3
IEEE Software 3
International Journal of Management 3
International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management 3
Journal for Healthcare Quality 3
Journal for Quality and Participation 3
Managerial Auditing Journal 3
Managing Service Quality 3
The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 3
Asia Pacic Management Review 2
Benchmarking: An International Journal 2
Global Business and Organizational Excellence 2
IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering 2
IEEE Transactions on Electronics Packaging Manufacturing 2
International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology 2
International Journal of Logistics 2
International Journal of Operations & Production Management 2
International Journal of Process Management and Benchmarking 2
International Journal of Production Economics 2
International Journal of Services Technology and Management 2
Journal of American Academy of Business 2
Journal of Change Management 2
Journal of Corporate Accounting & Finance 2
Journal of Facilities Management 2
Journal of Materials Processing Technology 2
Journal of Quality in Maintenance Engineering 2
Journal of the Operational Research Society 2
(continued)
Table AI.
List of reviewed journals
for Six Sigma articles
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Leadership in Health Services 2
Organization Development Journal 2
Production and Inventory Management journal 2
Project Management Journal 2
Quality Management in Health Care 2
SAM Advanced Management Journal 2
Software Quality Professional 2
Work Study 2
Academy of Health Care Management Journal 1
Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology: An International Journal 1
American Journal of Surgery 1
Annual Reviews in Control 1
AORN 1
Applied Soft Computing 1
Best Practice and Research Clinical Anaesthesiology 1
Construction Management and Economics 1
Customer Management 1
Education Training 1
Employment Relations Today 1
Engineering Failure Analysis 1
Environmental Quality Management 1
European Journal of Operational Research 1
Expert Systems with Applications 1
Filtration and Separation 1
Gen. Intern. Med. 1
Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management 1
Harvard Business Review 1
Home Healthcare Nurse 1
Human Resource Development Quarterly 1
IEEE Control Systems Magazine 1
IEEE Spectrum 1
IEEE Transactions on Magnetics 1
Industrial and Commercial Training 1
Industrial Management & Data Systems 1
Information Management Journal 1
International Journal of Agile Systems and Management 1
International Journal of Applied Management Science 1
International Journal of Business and Systems Research 1
International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management 1
International Journal of Information Systems and Change Management 1
International Journal of Innovation and Technology Management 1
International Journal of Internet and Enterprise Management 1
International Journal of Logistics Systems and Management 1
International Journal of Management Science and Engineering
Management 1
International Journal of Manufacturing Research 1
International Journal of Manufacturing Technology and Management 1
International Journal of Organizational Analysis 1
International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management 1
International Journal of Services and Operations Management 1
International Journal of Technology Management 1
(continued)
Table AI.
Six Sigma
quality
315
International Statistical Review 1
JOM 1
Journal of Air Transport Management 1
Journal of Applied Statistics 1
Journal of Computer Information Systems 1
Journal of Construction Engineering and Management 1
Journal of Corporate Real Estate 1
Journal of Education for Business 1
Journal of European Industrial Training 1
Journal of Hazardous Materials 1
Journal of Healthcare Information Management 1
Journal of High Technology Management Research 1
Journal of Infection Control 1
Journal of Marketing Management 1
Journal of Nursing Administration 1
Journal of Organizational Change Management 1
Journal of Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Analysis 1
Journal of Quality Technology 1
Journal of Revenue and Pricing Management 1
Journal of Scientic and Industrial Research 1
Journal of Statistics and Management Systems 1
Journal of the American College of Surgeons 1
Knowledge Management Review 1
Leadership & Organization Development Journal 1
Management and Labour 1
Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal 1
Managing Information 1
Metal Finishing 1
Neonatal Network 1
Nurse Leader 1
Nursing Management 1
Operations Management Research 1
Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery 1
Performance Improvement 1
Plastics, Additives and Compounding 1
Production Planning and Control 1
Program: Electronic Library & Information Systems 1
Public Money & Management 1
Quality and Quantity 1
Quality Assurance Journal 1
Quality Management & Business Excellence 1
Reinforced Plastics 1
Risk Management 1
Software Quality Journal 1
Strategy & Leadership 1
Supply Chain Management: An International Journal 1
Technovation 1
The American Statistician 1
The Health Care Manager 1
Notes: Total number of journals 147; Total number of articles 417 Table AI.
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About the author
M.G. Aboelmaged is an Associate Professor of Business Administration in Ain Shams
University, Cairo, Egypt and Ajman University of Science and Technology, United Arab
Emirates. He has a PhD in Management Science from Lancaster University, UK, and an MA in
Public Policy and Administration from Institute of Social Studies (ISS), The Hague, The
Netherlands. His research interests include the adoption and implementation of information
technologies, enterprise systems, quality systems, e-business, and supply chain management
information quality. His work has been published in international conference proceedings
including IEEE International Conference on Management of Innovation and Technology,
Information Quality Conference at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), British
Academy of Management Annual Conference, The Operational Research Society Annual
Conference, Annual Global Information Technology Management World Conference, and the
Annual Conference on Crisis and Disaster Management. He has also published in Economic and
Business Review Journal, International Journal of Business Science and Applied Management and
International Journal of Enterprise Network Management. M.G. Aboelmaged can be contacted at:
gaboelmaged@yahoo.com
Six Sigma
quality
317
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