The right model

Large corporations have included Six Sigma into their corporate culture, and human resources are looking to benefit from Six Sigma initiatives. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from Six Sigma by adopting it as the standard for process improvement similar to the bigger multinational companies. Motorola pioneered Six Sigma in the mid-1980s, and has expanded itself to many manufacturing as well as service providing companies.

Dr RB Smarta, Managing Director, Interlink Business Consultancy, feels that SMEs by nature need to be nimble, flexible, lean and focused on results. She believes that many a times, multi-tasking and accountability measures can be further sharpened with the help of intensive training and extensive analysis as part of Six Sigma.

There is a huge scope for the SMEs to implement a revised model of Six Sigma as SMEs not only need to produce quality results inside the organisation but are also required to procure quality results from alliance partners or outsourcing companions. Overall,whether it’s a big enterprise or an SME, what works is a quality conscious team.

Some organisations have adopted Six Sigma totally or have modified it slightly to suit their needs. The industry segments that have adopted Six Sigma vary from manufacturing to services to ITES & IT. Ratna Vali, Group Head - Human Resources (HR), TMI Network gives a broad overview on areas in which HR can play a role in Six Sigma.

According to her, HR contribution begins by building a culture of quality through training, sharpening the skills and understanding the need for quality. She believes that SMEs cannot afford to take on big competitors through promotion, advertisement and more. Therefore, the only route is 'Zero' defect, whether products or services.

Ms Vali further opines that there is a need of building a culture of service orientation and vendor development to see that incoming raw materials and the quality correspond to the quality to be delivered and also ensure minimum wastage to ensure price competitiveness along with 'Zero' defect product quality and high service orientation. Accordingly, HR can pitch-in to increase its levels and make a difference significantly through employee involvement and empowerment covering every artisan- skilled, semi-skilled as well as unskilled.

The Center for Excellence in Operations, Inc is an excellent example of a management consulting firm specialising in Lean, Six Sigma, Supply Chain Management and Accelerated Product Development.

The firm has completed several projects in the HR arena ranging from compensation comparability, hiring/recruiting process, gain sharing (profit sharing) and recognition/rewards process, performance review process (to include lean/Six Sigma and continuous improvement accomplishments), the coaching/associate development process, leadership development and many others. Terence T Burton, President, The Center for Excellence in Operations, Inc, believes, "No one is exempt from improvement in any organisation - Everyone can get better."

SAP India has implemented Human Capital Management (HCM) solutions, which delivers leading-edge human capital management capabilities that empower organisations to significantly improve workforce potential.

For example, SAP ERP HCM helps organisations attract the right people, develop and leverage their talents, align their efforts with the organisation's corporate objectives and retain top performers. SAP has a specific solution - SAP for manufacturing, which gives discrete and process manufacturers the full range of capabilities needed to plan, schedule, sequence, execute and monitor production with embedded lean. Nagaraj Bhargava, Vice President, Marketing & Sales Operations, SAP India has thrown light on the steps/processes undertaken by the firm's HR team to achieve Six Sigma. He says,

"If an organisation wants to adhere to six sigma practices, it needs to take HR and people management to the next level. Here, solutions like SAP HCM help a great deal in empowering people, which would be the key for organisations that are looking at Six Sigma."

Human Resources can contribute to creating a climate of openness and trust. Ms Vali understands that honesty will not only help own a mistake and correct it but also improve the process. Getting right skilled people on board, constantly upgrading the skills, educating on what is competition and what is service and eventually exposing them to the customer and to the vendor are some of the guidelines suggested by Ms Vali that will aid SMEs to raise Six Sigma levels in the management.

For the success of Six Sigma initiative, HR professionals have to play a significant role. The HR department will have the opportunity to contribute only if its professionals have the right expertise, proficiency, ability and knowledge. The HR professionals should be able to show the Six-Sigma executives the worth they can add. So, it is important to acquire the necessary skills, and it is imperative for the senior leaders to know how HR can become the pillars of this initiative.