SUMMARY
One of the major tasks to undertake when starting Six Sigma is to define the appropriate roles and their responsibilities of the team. Among the important Six Sigma roles are:
These so-called generic roles aren’t at all mandatory. Some roles even overlap, but they will help you understand the “Belt” titles such as Black Belt, Green Belt, or Master Black Belt.
The term Black Belt originated from Motorola in the early 1990s. It refers to individuals possessing special expertise in statistics and technical product/process improvement. Adopted from the martial arts, the term suggests a finely honed skill and discipline. The other different labels, such as Green and Master, recognize depth of training and experience in Six Sigma.
Initially, the labels were almost exclusively a technical role, focused on manufacturing and product-related improvements. Lately, however, the role and the skills that define them have become more diverse, depending on the business. At any rate, four factors seem likely to govern the differences.
Most importantly, in principle, a Black Belt candidate must have completed a certain number of successful improvement projects before earning this official designation. Further, he should display some management skills so that he can better direct the organization toward a common goal: achieve Six Sigma. He must also have the technical expertise, or build on his technical skills. For him to do this is to make the role a permanent position.
As you can see it is not easy to choose the people to form the Six Sigma team. Difficult though it may be, you need to do it because so much work in Six Sigma involves teams. One critical consideration is not to overload the team with too many members. Each member must have a clearly well-defined role. You need therefore to consider the following issues when choosing the members for a Six Sigma team.
a. A member must know very well the process being improved and the customer.
b. A member must be knowledgeable about the problem at hand and has ready access to data.
c. The key skills needed for the project must be identified.
d. The groups or functions that will be most directly affected must be pointed out.
e. The degree of management/supervisory/frontline representation.
f. The skills, functions, or organizational levels to be obtained during the project.
COMMENTARY
The need to clearly define roles and responsibilities to avoid overlapping and duplication is rightfully emphasized in this chapter. Everybody in the organization must be involved in this Six Sigma initiative. Unless there is a clear structure, conflicts will surely arise even at the earliest stage of implementation.
It is likewise well noted that a corps of experts and champions are selected then trained. This should be the case for these are the very people who will spearhead the program. Once they are into their Six Sigma roles, they should be allowed to work full time. Otherwise, if these roles are just added to their usual responsibilities, they will lack focus, and sustainability of implementation will most likely fail.
