Statistics Roundtable: In With the Right Crowd
First, the good news: The importance of statistics related to the way the world does business has never been greater. Now, the bad news: The statistician and quality professional might become the proverbial middle man who gets cut out by these advances....
Building Task Cohesion to Bring Teams Together
Traditional, homogeneous teams made up of members of the same gender, race, and age tend to be more cohesive and more successful and effective in problem solving, but such sameness can produce bland and predictable solutions. On the other hand, a team...
Project Teams: How Good Are They?
Project teams have become the basic work units for most enterprises, but there are tough challenges, as illustrated by notable project failures featured in the media in recent years. A recent Quality Progress survey revealed a conflicting picture of...
Column: Career Corner: Link Employee Surveys and Quality
Because employee surveys often miss important information, here are five suggestions for making them more effective and less burdensome:
- Research who is conducting surveys, when and why.
- Track back to strategy.
- Clearly define what you...
Dealing With the Achilles' Heel Of Six Sigma Initiatives
Project selection is key to success
The project is completed by assigning a project manager to the project, providing the needed resources and using good project management techniques. Selecting a Six Sigma project The characteristics of good Six Sigma projects are summarized in Table 1. Fi...
A Road Map for Quality Beyond Control
This final installment in the "Quality in the 21st Century" helps quality professionals deal with seven problems noted earlier. First, to avoid imposing the one best way, hierarchies and control systems like the ISO 9000 series should give way to...
Why Should Statisticians Pay Attention to Six Sigma?
An Examiniation for Their Role in Six Sigma Methodology
At first, one might conclude that the six sigma methodology is nothing new. It uses statistical methods that have already been proven. It focuses on quality improvement and defect reduction and utilizes project-by-project improvement...
Why Should Statisticians Pay Attention to Six Sigma?
An examination for their role in the six sigma methodology
12. Hoerl and Snee, " Redesigning the Introductory Statistics Course" ( see reference 3). 13. Mikel J. Harry, The Vision of Six Sigma: A Roadmap for Breakthrough ( Phoenix: Sigma Publishing Co., 1994). 14. Mikel J. Harry, This Vision of Six Sigma: Tools ...
Improving Team Effectiveness
Successful teams are supported by assessment programs; management and individual commitment; and access to the skills, knowledge, and techniques that they need. More than a decade of experience has taught organizations that effective teamwork requires...
How to Manage Key Business Processes
The vital few cross-functional processes at a Borden Chemical plant have been managed for improvement. Management of these key business processes occurs in a system composed of a management team, department teams, and key process teams. Implementing...
Math Programming's Potential to Aid TQM Implementation
Communication, problem solving, and employee morale can benefit from mathematical programming techniques. Improvements in these three behavioral areas support total quality management (TQM). This is a bonus of math programming, the usual function of...
Use Technology to Unleash the Potential of Your Quality Improvement Teams
Group decision support systems (GDSS) can increase the effectiveness of problem-solving teams. Teamwork is important because groups create better decisions than do individuals, especially if the groups are cross functional. However, power, status, and...
TQM in the R&D Function
Research and development (R&D) units and organizations can use total quality management (TQM) to improve their products, services, and communication. Enhancement of the R&D process occurs in the customer-supplier chain of the process management model....
