Making Six Sigma Last: Managing the Balance Between Cultural and Technical Change 1st Edition

Organizations that are serious about being world-class will discover a vital component to their quality initiative in Making Six Sigma Last. George Eckes expertly and courageously tackles the difficult task of getting into the heads of those whose cooperation is essential to a successful quality effort. As he so aptly discussed in The Six Sigma Revolution, any change effort is sure to be met with resistance because of the "cultural" mind-set of those affected. In his simple but powerful formula, Q x A = E, George pinpoints the "A", or the cultural Acceptance of the tactical & strategic elements of Six Sigma as the oft neglected link between the Quality of these elements and the Excellence of the overall results.In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes provides tools to help create an awareness of the need for a Six Sigma culture (based on threats and opportunities), identifies the four types of resistance and specific steps that can be taken to overcome them, explains how to mold the vision of a Six Sigma culture, and provides specific tools that can be used to measure the culture of your organization. George also offers experienced guidance in how to change job structures in your organization in ways that can compound your Six Sigma success.Your time will be well-invested reading Making Six Sigma Last. It is benchmark work. You will be challenged, informed, encouraged, entertained, and very possibly taken to the next level in your pursuit of never-ending improvement.

E=QxA - the foundation for Deployment. Thank you so much.

Think about it. Seriously think about it. What was the downfall of your quality endeavor? Your performance improvement plan? Your Six Sigma initiative? Was the wrong strategy used or was it the wrong tactical approach? Mostly likely it was neither your strategy nor your tactical approach. The failure was most likely do to people. Most likely your people hadn't really bought in. Buy-in from your people is necessary for an initiative such as Six Sigma to be successful. The people in your organization create your organizations' culture. How do you get cultural buy-in? How can you sustain that buy-in?In the book Making Six Sigma Last, the author, George Eckes shows us how. Through heart-felt stories, humorous personal examples, and real business illustrations the author takes us through the process needed to create and sustain a culture that supports Six Sigma.First we learn about Q x A = E. This powerful formula shows us that: "Q" Quality, the technical and strategic elements of a Six Sigma initiative, times "A" Cultural Acceptance, of the technical and strategic elements of Six Sigma, determines "E" the success of the Six Sigma process. Then, the author addresses resistance. We are reminded that it's a natural process for people to resist change. Eckes describes four types of resistance and offers specific strategies for overcoming each. The next chapters show how to sell it and then manage it. Now it's time to ask did it work? Did you get the cultural buy-in you were attempting? How do you know? In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes offers a model that is used to measure the cultural acceptance within the organization or as Eckes says, "how well Six Sigma has been baked into the organization". Five case studies are used to illustrate these concepts. Then through profiles of leadership, the author shares real business examples of what worked, what didn't and why. Finally we learn how to sustain the culture that will support Six Sigma initiatives with the chapter on pitfalls: 10 things to avoid.Making Six Sigma Last is an informative and easy read. It's effective and efficient, hallmarks of Six Sigma. The book leaves you inspired and hopeful that this stuff really can work. Don't start without it!

In this companion text to The Six Sigma Revolution, Eckes provides a convincing (and data-driven) argument that Six Sigma success as a management philosophy that will embed itself within an organization can be described by the simple function Q x A = E. While short-term cost savings and temporary process modifications can be achieved by the imposition of the strategic and tactical elements of Six Sigma ("Q"), these successes cannot be sustained with significant attention to the cultural acceptance ("A") of these elements within a company.In Making Six Sigma Last, Eckes draws on his 20+ years of consulting experience to provide a handbook of tools and strategies to define, measure, analyze, and implement the changes needed to create a corporate culture that supports its Six Sigma efforts. Topics addressed include a.) how to identify and to deal with the types of resistance commonly found in organizations undergoing change; b.) how company leaders can create the vision, mold Six Sigma sustaining behaviors, and must be held accountable for the success of their efforts; c.) what it takes to create cultural acceptance of Six Sigma in terms of people, training, and attention; and d.) how to measure cultural acceptance. Eckes provides numerous anecdotes about companies, and their leaders, that exhibit both pluses and deltas in the implementation of a Six Sigma management philosophy.Well-written, well-organized, with helpful summaries and key learnings, and enough stories and measurement tools to keep both your "people" and "technical" managers intrigued, I strongly recommend Making Six Sigma Last for any company that is considering adopting Six Sigma or that wants to sustain the short-term successes it has achieved thus far. Eugene J. Nuccio, Ph.D. S4-Six Sigma Strategic Solutions