No one enjoys making a mistake in his or her job hunt at the cost of the job which he or she has applied for. Yet mistakes do happen either because of misconceptions, faulty guidance or advice, or by failing to develop an effective strategy. Furthermore, these mistakes are not just limited to either resume writing or poor interviewing, but a lack o

If the cost of quality is high, looking through the Six Sigma glass the cost of poor quality is still higher. Companies bear a huge cost of about 9-16 percent of their revenues on problem solving. This is the cost of poor quality, or COPQ, as it is known. Motorola discovered this in the late 1970s at a huge price. General Electric has put the cost

Man is so made that he can only find relaxation from one kind of labor by taking up another - Annatole France in The crime of Sylvestre Bonnard. It is common knowledge that people of different personalities tend to identify themselves with different career or job profiles. Professional satisfaction is predominantly connected to your attitude and

Since its introduction in the 1990's, 6-Sigma has become the buzzword in both the manufacturing and service industries. The various methodologies used in 6-Sigma are based on a disciplined and data driven approach that help in eliminating defects and achieving near perfection by restricting the number of possible defects to less than 3.4 defects pe

Selecting the most appropriate Six Sigma Black Belt project is the most common problem faced by students who enroll themselves in a Six Sigma training course. The project is necessary as it helps students learn the practical aspects of Six Sigma implementation programs. The project is conducted either before the commencement of the training program

The last few years have done wonders for demonstrating the power and potential offered by Six Sigma Quality, Motorola's now famous revolutionary business design strategy. It is clear that it has become quite popular among many businesses who have undertaken the massive re-training and re-thinking of their policies and procedures in order to im

Today, Six Sigma covers a very wide range of industries such as healthcare, banking, manufacturing and construction, to name a few. The 2 methodologies adopted by Six Sigma take care of the existing process and the new processes that still need to be developed, through DMAIC and DMADV respectively. DMAIC and DMADV are acronyms for process improvem

In today's competitive environment, market segmentation is the latest buzzword and is being touted as the next big thing in corporate management, especially marketing and sales. Lean Six Sigma would have failed just like any other quality improvement methodology, but it survived the test of time because it was quick to adapt to the challenges of ma

Though measuring results and procedures is extremely important to the proper functioning of any business, there is a problem presented by the common habit of managers to focus on only the most recent results that have been achieved, instead of patterns and trends that explain outcomes over time. There is a great deal of risk involved in centering o

Very easily, Six Sigma is your best bet for maximizing return on investment, more so in troubled economic times. However, the success of implementation depends much on its achieved degree of alignment with the problems. Ifs and buts not withstanding, there are stories to support both sides of the issue. First let's consider the negative side of the

The type of coaching provided to employees may differ from organization to organization, but the most common type is Green Belt coaching that caters to employees at the lower level of the organizational hierarchy. These employees may not be a part of the organization's decision-making machinery, but since they are the people who actually carry out

Since most of process improvement projects are targeted at satisfying the needs and requirements of customers, it becomes necessary to give due consideration to the Voice of the Customer (VOC) in order to ensure the success of process improvement projects. Explained below are some of the techniques that can be utilized for ensuring the success of S

Six Sigma concepts and methodologies certainly help in reducing defects and increasing efficiencies, but that does not mean that we can overlook the need for maintaining operational excellence throughout the Six Sigma implementation process and beyond. Explained below are some of the methods and strategies that you can employ for maintaining op

Employees often do not lend their full cooperation and support because they are of the opinion that they will lose their jobs after Lean Six Sigma is finally implemented. Some employees may also think that they may be asked to work more or shoulder multiple responsibilities; as such, they often resist the changes being suggested. Such confusion

Conducting hypothesis testing is necessary because in most Six Sigma quality improvement projects, a lot of money is at stake and if unproductive changes are made, it could seriously affect both the company's finances as well as its productivity. To avoid such undesirable situations, businesses need to test the efficacy of the proposed changes with