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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 47 (2012) 1358 1362

CY-ICER 2012

Application of six-sigma in educational quality management

Factually of management and Accounting,Islammic Azad university,Qazvin branch,Qazvin,Iran

Abstract Understanding of the key features, barriers, elements and weaknesses of six sigma methods will allow the organizations to support their strategic directions and increasing need for coaching supervision and training. This also creates appropriate opportunities for implementation of six sigma projects. This article considers the evolutionary review of the benefits and challenges of six sigma projects and recognizes the key and influential elements of the successful approach of six sigma method. This article also combines the lessons learnt from successful projects and considers the forthcoming improvements of six sigma approach. Effective principals and activities of Six Sigma will be successful through the improvement and constant sequence of organizational culture. Cultural changes before internalization in organizations need enough time and sense of responsibility. The propose of this paper is investigation the role of six sigma in theeducational quality in organization.
2012 2012 Published Publishedby byElsevier ElsevierLtd. Ltd.Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Hseyin Uzunboylu

Keywords: Six-Sigma, Project Management, Organizational culture

1.

Introduction

The six sigma method is a project-driven management approach to improve the organizations products, services, and processes by continually reducing defects in the organization. It is a business strategy that focuses on improving customer requirements understanding, business systems, productivity, and financial performance. Dating back to the mid 1980s, applications of the six sigma methods allowed many organizations to sustain their competitive advantage by integrating their knowledge of the process with statistics, engineering, and project management. Numerous books and articles provide the basic concepts and benefits of the six sigma method. The challenges and realities in implementing the six sigma method successfully are immense. However, the benefits of applying the six sigma method to technology-driven, project-driven organizations are equally great. The objective of this paper is to review and examine the evolution, benefits, and challenges of six sigma practices and identify the key factors influencing successful six sigma project implementation. The paper also integrates the lessons learned from successful six sigma projects and their potential applications in managing traditional projects, and considers further improvements to the methodologies used for managing six sigma projects. Wider applications of six sigma principles to the organization will succeed through senior management involvement, organizational commitment, cultural change, and effective project management. One of the main applications of the Six Sigma in this paper is educational quality management. By this approach we can

* Javad Mehrabi. Tel.:00989367118445 E-mail address:mehrabijavad@yahoo.com

1877-0428 2012 Published by Elsevier Ltd. Selection and/or peer review under responsibility of Prof. Dr. Hseyin Uzunboylu doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.826

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enhance the quality of educational performance and appraisal in organizations. Indeed the main question of this paper is that: how can improve the quality of education by means of Six-Sigma approach. 2 LITERATURE REVIEW OF SIX-SIGMA 2.1 Background Six-Sigma is a concept that was originated by Motorola Inc. in the USA in about 1985. At the time, they were facing the threat of Japanese competition in the electronics industry and needed to make drastic improvements in their quality levels(Adams,1998). Six Sigma was a way for Motorola to express its quality goal of 3.4 DPMO where a defect opportunity is a process failure that is critical to the customer). Motorola set this subject to disturbances that could cause the process mean to shift by as much as 1.5 S.D. off the target. Factoring a shift of 1.5 S.D. in the process mean then results in a 3.4 DPMO (see (Anderson,1989) and (Adams,1998). This goal was far beyond normal quality levels and required very aggressive improvement efforts. For example, 3 sigma results in a 66,810 DPMO or 93.3% process yield, while Six Sigma is only 3.4 DPMO and 99.99966% process yield (these computations assume a 1.5 S.D. shift in the process mean). Not all processes should operate at the Six Sigma level. The appropriate level will depend on the strategic importance of the process and the cost of the improvement relative to the benefit. If a process is at the two or three sigma level, it will be relatively easy and cost effective to reach the four sigma level. However, to reach five or Six Sigma will require much more effort and more sophisticated statistical tools. The effort and difficulty increases exponentially as the Process Sigma increases. Ultimately, the return on investment for the improvement effort and the strategic importance of the process will determine whether the process should be improved and the appropriate target sigma level as a goal. Six-Sigma has not been carefully defined in either the practitioner or academic literature(Antony, and Banuelas,2002). This has resulted in some confusion, since each author provides a different definition. In an attempt to develop the concepts and principles underlying Six Sigma, the following definition is offered: Six Sigma is an organized and systematic method for strategic process improvement and new product and service development that relies on statistical methods and the scientific method to make dramatic reductions in customer defined defect rates. This definition highlig Sigma improvement effort is determining exactly what the customer requires and then defining defects in terms of . From a goal setting perspective, Six Sigma advocates establishing goals based on customer requirements, not on internal considerations. Using customer requirements is certainly not something that is unique to Six Sigma, but it is important from a goal theory perspective. Six Sigma also uses unique metrics including Process Sigma measurements, critical-tomeasures(Antony, and Banuelas,2002). One of the first steps in the improvement process is to measure the current Process Sigma. This is done by defining current process defects in customer terms (critical to quality metrics), these improvement rule is often used to establish the goal for defect reduction. For example, if the baseline data from the metrics helps to clarify goals and make them explicit. However, sometimes baseline data may not exist for the process, as often occurs with a new process or product, which makes it difficult to establish explicit goals. As the above definition notes, Six Sigma uses a structured method, whether the task is process improvement or new product design. In the case of process improvement, the method is patterned after the plan, do, check, and act (PDCA) cycle (Antony and Banuelas,2002). One popular method uses define measure, analyze, improve and control (DMAIC) as the five steps in process improvement. A somewhat different set of steps called Design for Six Sigma is used for radical or incremental product design (define, measure, analyze, design and verify). Whatever method is chosen, however, it is important that the method be carefully followed and a solution not offered until the problem is clearly defined. Data and objective measurement is critical at each step of the method. The standard statistical quality tools are incorporated into the structured method as needed. However, Six Sigma guidelines demonstrate an integration of proper tools at each step of the method (Barney,2001). This careful integration of tools with the methods is unique to Six Sigma. Six Sigma uses a variety of improvement specialists to achieve its goals, often referred to as Black Belts, Master Black Belts, Green Belts and Project Champions. Full-time Black Belts lead

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improvement projects and typically receive 4 weeks of training. Master Black Belts receive even more training, and generally serve as instructors and internal consultants. Green Belts are part-time improvement specialists that receive less training since they provide supporting roles on the improvement projects. Finally, Project Champions who identify strategically important projects for the improvement teams and provide resources, typically receive an orientation to Six Sigma rather than detailed training. As can be seen, intensive and differentiated training is an integral part of the Six Sigma approach. Now that Six Sigma has been defined the main tenets of goal theory are considered which forms a basis for understanding Six Sigma. 2.2 Definition of Six-Sigma Motorola originally developed Six Sigma in 1987 and targeted an aggressive goal of 3.4 ppm defects (Barney,2001). In 1994 Larry Bossidy, CEO of AlliedSignal, introduced Six Sigma as a business initiative to -publicized implementation of Six Sigma at General Electric beginning in 1995 Currently, there are many books and articles on Six Sigma written by practitioners and consultants and only a few academic articles published in scholarly journals (Barney,2001). Reviewing the practitioner literature and these academic articles provides a starting point for defining Six Sigma. Six-Sigma has been defined in the practitioner literature in a variety of ways. This disparity leads to some uncertainty and confusion. Consider some of the following definitions from the practitioner articles. Quality Progress called Six -performance, data-driven approach to analyzing the root causes of business problems and solving allows companies to drastically improve their bottom line by designing and monitoring everyday business activities . vii). Blakeslee(1999) described Six Sigma as a disciplined and statistically based approach for improving product and process quality.On the other hand, Blakeslee called it a management strategy that requires a culture change in the organization. Recognizing the divergence in definitions, Blakeslee(1999) noted that Six Sigma has not been carefully defined in either the practitioner or academic literature. Many of the definitions of Six Sigma found in the literature are very general and do not provide elements or factors (variables, constructs, concepts). 2.3. Understanding Six Sigma 2.3.1. Six sigma strategies, tools, techniques, and principles Six sigma is a systematic, data-driven approach using the define, measure, analysis, improve, and control (DMAIC) process and utilizing design for six sigma method (DFSS). The fundamental principle of sixapplication production. Anbari (Blakeslee,1999) pointed out that six sigma is more comprehensive than prior quality initiatives such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI). The six sigma method includes measured and reported financial results, uses additional, more advanced data analysis tools, focuses on customer concerns, and uses project management tools and methodology. 3 SIX-SIGMA AND EDUCATIONAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT 3.1. Two perspectives of six sigma processes 3.1.1. Statistical viewpoint Six sigma method has two major perspectives. The origin of six sigma comes from statistics and statisticians. Antony et al.(2003), and Fuller(1994) discuss the six sigma method from a statistical, probabilistic, and quantitative point of view. From the statistical point of view, the term six sigma is defined as having less than 3.4 defects per million opportunities or a success rate of 99.9997% where sigma is a term used to represent the variation about the process average. If an organization is operating at three sigma level for quality control, this is interpreted as achieving a success rate of 93% or 66,800 defects per million opportunities. Therefore, the six sigma method is a very rigorous quality control concept where many organizations still performs at three sigma level. 3.1.2. Business viewpoint In the business world, sixprofitability, to

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needs and expectations(Fuller,1994). The six sigma approach was first applied in manufacturing operations and rapidly expanded to different functional areas such as marketing, engineering, purchasing, servicing, Educational Quality Management Measurement and administrative support, once organizations realized the benefits. Particularly, the widespread applications of six sigma were possible due to the fact that organizations were able to articulate the benefits of six sigma presented in financial returns by linking process improvement with cost savings. 3.2. Educational Quality Management In its most common use, education quality refers to the extent that an education system is able to achieve the generally accepted goals of education, central to which is knowledge and skill development(Fuller,1994). For the most part, education systems are deemed to be of higher quality when students demonstrate higher levels of achievement. Improving quality, in the view of many, involves taking actions that increase the amount students learn. However, most observers recognize that education systems have multiple goals, many of which go beyond the transmission of cognitive knowledge, such as the development of relevant employment skills and attitudes that facilitate civic engagement. Evidence on the quality of education is generally scarce and, in many parts of the world, the reliability of the evidence is on the decline (Fuller, 1994). For the last eight years however, the OECD countries have tried to reverse this trend. They have noticed that good education information was essential for improving trade and commercial relations, and together they have cooperated in a joint project to improve the quality and coverage of their educational statistics. The number of internationally reliable education indicators in OECD countries has jumped from 36 in 1992 to 51 in 1994, and now cover a wide range of measurements, including private expenditures, salaries, student and public attitudes about education, learning achievements, and labor market outcomes. However, less than one half of these OECD statistics are available for countries of the MENA region, and those which are available are often closed to public access and review. This handicaps analytic work on both educational quality and public awareness of education progress and creates problems for comparisons to other parts of the world. If we begin the discussion of education quality with a discussion of compulsory education, then education systems around the world may be thought of as falling into four basic categories. 4 CONCLUSION Successful implementation and growing organizational interest in six sigma method have been exploding in the last few years. It is rapidly becoming a major driving force for many technology-driven, projectdriven organizations. Factors influencing successful six sigma projects include management involvement and organizational commitment, project management and control skills, cultural change, and continuous training. Understanding the key features, obstacles, and shortcomings of six sigma provides opportunities to practitioners for better implement six sigma projects. It allows them to better support their organizati increasing needs for coaching, mentoring, and training. The statistical aspects of six sigma must complement business perspectives and challenges to the organization to implement six sigma projects successfully. Various approaches to six sigma have been applied to increase the overall performance of different business sectors. However, integrating the data-driven, structured six sigma processes into organizations still has room for improvement. Cultural changes require time and commitment before they are strongly implanted into the organization. Effective six sigma principles and practices are more likely to succeed by refining the organizational culture continuously. Understanding the key features, obstacles, and shortcomings of the six sigma method allows organizations to better support their strategic directions, and increasing needs for coaching, mentoring, and training. It also provides opportunities to better implement six sigma projects. This paper examines the evolution, benefits, and challenges of six sigma practices and identifies the key factors influencing successful six sigma project implementations. It integrates the lessons learned from successful six sigma projects and considers further improvements to the six sigma approach. Effective six sigma principles and practices will succeed by refining the organizational culture continuously. Cultural changes require time and commitment before they are strongly implanted into the organization. In its most common use, education quality refers to the extent that an education system is able to achieve the generally accepted goals of education, central to which is knowledge and skill

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development. Our Conceptual Framework propose a new insights to the managers in organizations that typically interact with education and quality. References
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