World ’ s most admired company

Keys to Success :
•Outward thinking •Reward System
•Sense of Purpose •Candor
•Informality •Agility
•Work Out •Six Sigma
•Competitive advantage •Know how to measure
•Energy success
•Culture •Value System
• •
General Electric (GE) CEO (1981 -2001) Jack Welch
describes Six Sigma as "the most challenging and
potentially rewarding initiative we have ever
undertaken at General Electric" (Lowe 1998).
 Six sigma
Wise application of statistical tools within a
structured methodology
Basic Improvement Process in 5
Phases
Define 1 . What is important to the customer?

Measure 3 . What is the frequency of defects?

5 . When , where and why do defects occur?

Analyze

7 . How can we improve the process?

Improve

8 . How can we sustain the improvement?

Control

Customer Focused … Variation, Data - Driven … Disciplined

Approach
Challenges :
•The perception of “ Sick Sigma ”
•Culture change
•Understanding the DFSS ( Design For Six
Sigma )
•Training – especially management level
•Takes careful preparation and a commitment
to the foundational change efforts
required
•Statistical analysis is not generally part
of the engineering discipline in most IT
shops
•Implementation tends to be uneven and
lapses occur frequently
•Not everything has to be Six Sigma ; this
was our downfall on reengineering
efforts !
•Reliability of data from the field
•People must not fear giving “ bad news ”
Six sigma Deployment &
Evolution
1997 1998 1999 2000 - 08

“ Starting “ Building “Attackin “ Becoming

Up The g & Customer
& Laying Momentum , Eliminati Centric ”
The Expanding ng
Foundation ” The Variation
Engagement ” ”
Prove / validate Deploy 6σ Learn power Get customers
that 6σ can work broadly , add of variation to
capability thinking benefit from
6σ
How GE managed the Organizational
change issues
Top Management Engagement
•Visible , consistently supported and an played active role in
communication and reward
•Assured linkage of Six Sigma to corporate strategies
•Clear prioritization ( relative to other initiatives , programs
and priorities )
•Created clear accountabilities , expectations , roles and
responsibilities for the organization
•Conducted and attended regular reviews to assure and verify
progress
•
Employee Management
•Realized that employees were an important source of
intellectual power for new and creative ideas
•Rigorous Six sigma training
•Designed “ Work out programs ” at every level to give each
employee an opportunity to improve and influence the
operations
•Designed a culture and reward system to encourage people to
look outside the company
•
- Cont ’ d
•
Communications
•Clear communication of need to entire organisation
•Communicated regularly about the key success , Savings
, Customer appreciations and Six Sigma
•Communicated pertinent facts about Six Sigma in every
company meeting , team meeting and group gatherings
•Published the savings due to six sigma in the annual reports

•
Projects
•Created the Six sigma support central , where all the six
sigma projects , learning's and best practices documented
( and refresh regularly ).
•Assured linkage of Six Sigma projects to critical business
and customer needs .
•Established projects of appropriate scope and size
( significant savings & achievable ).
•Assigned a Champion and Black Belt to each project ( and hold
them accountable ).
•Implemented a project tracking system to facilitate
replication and reuse .
•
 Benefits
Financial rewards :
•1998 : $1 . 2 Billion less $450 Million in
costs … net benefits = $750 Million
•1999 Annual Report : more than $2 Billion net
benefits
•2001 : 6 , 000 projects completed ; $3 Billion in
savings
Cultural & Interal rewards :
•Open and free flow of ideas
•Improvements in organizational morale
•Institutionalization of a “ process & learning ” mindset
•Improved reliability and predictability of software
products and services
•Organizational recognition
•Employee Motivation
•Leverage of best practices from all business
External rewards :

•Increased value to the customers and shareholders

•Increased marketplace viability
•GE ’ s implementation is often the de facto model for
implementation
 As Jack Welch puts it: "What sets GE
apart is a culture that uses diversity as a
limitless source of learning
opportunities , a storehouse of ideas whose
breadth and richness is unmatched in world
business. At the heart of this culture is an
understanding that an organization's ability
to learn, and translate that learning into
action rapidly, is the ultimate
competitive business advantage ."
Organizational culture has been recognized as one major factor
or challenge to the Six Sigma implementation

Backup
Leadership as well as
Adaptability , Talent , Influence ,
and Networks

"You can't manage what you can't measure."

How Org culture influences any initiative

So org culture change can be changed if it is

designed carefully

Motivation
 The organizations that focused on
continuously measuring and driving
management behaviours, including
aligning initiatives and priorities,
yield a much higher return on their
programs than those who leave it to
chance.

I believe that Six Sigma can be the best thing that ever happened to a company. Or, a company can find
Six Sigma to be a dismal failure. It all depends on implementation. Organizations need to follow a road
map that leads an organization