Improved cross-functional teamwork across the entire organization.

Transformation of organizational culture from fire-fighting mode to fire-prevention mode.

Increased employee morale.

Reduced number of non-value added steps in critical business processes through systematic elimination, leading to faster delivery of service.

Reduced cost of poor quality (COPQ) (costs associated with late delivery, customer complaints, costs associated with misdirected problem solving, etc.).

Increased awareness of various problem solving tools and techniques, leading to greater job satisfaction for employees.

Improved consistency level of service through systematic reduction of variability in processes.

Effective management decisions due to reliance on data and facts rather than assumptions and gut-feelings.

Conclusion

Six sigma is one of the versatile tools that can be used almost anywhere one wants to improve the quality of the process output. Services are typically characterized by variability and intangibility due to presence of human element. This is where operations and marketing of the product (i.e., the service) are happening simultaneously. "Six Sigma" helps to overcome this intangibility through a more objective definition of errors (defects) and measurement. Therefore, it is important to move to next level of service delivery with processes of higher maturity which can happen with "six sigma".

However, wherever high degree of customization is required and this customization is dependent on personnel rather that equipments or facilities, application would require high degree of expertise of understanding six sigma and its principles.

References

http://www.sixsigma4service.com/

"Service Encounter", Chapter 8 from Service Management, Professor James Fitzsimmons, University of Texas at Austin

Marketing Management by Kotler Keller

Slides of green belt training

www.emeraldinsight.com

PAPERS
     a) Six Sigma in the UK service organisations: Results from a pilot survey, Jiju Antony Caledonian Business School, Glasgow Caledonian University, Glasgow, UK.

Next

* Contributed by: -
Jinesh Kothari & Abhishek Raghuvanshi,
FPM-32,
IIM Lucknow.