The §


  is a management system that maps

an organization's strategic objectives into performance metrics
in four perspectives: financial, internal processes, customers,
and learning and growth


 
 R what the strategy is to achieve in that
perspective.
   R how progress for that particular objective will be
measured.
 
 R the target value sought for each measure.


 R what will be done to facilitate the reaching of the
target.
  
    

growth revenue growth

profitability return on equity

cost leadership unit cost

  
    

new products % of sales from new products

responsive supply on time delivery

to be preferred supplier share of key accounts

customer partnerships number of cooperative efforts

w 
   

—anufacturing excellence Cycle time, yield

Increase design productivity Engineering efficiency

Reduce product launch delays Actual launch date vs. plan

w 
   

—anufacturing learning Time to new process maturity

% of products representing 80% of

Product focus
sales

Time to market Time compared to that of competitors

˜¢efine the measurement Architecture
˜Specify strategic objective
˜Choose strategic measures
˜¢evelop the implementation plan
˜¢esign and test a customised Balanced Scorecard design
method. To ensure representative coverage, testing was
undertaken in three Business Units and one Function.
˜RollRout of the reference design process with further business
units and functions;
˜Training on the deployment of the reference design process for
the client¶s internal facilitators,
˜Awareness sessions for key financial managers.
˜Strategies were not clearly formulated, communicated or linked to
inRyear plans;
˜Accountabilities were not clearly defined;
˜Consequences of failing to deliver against the plan were unclear;
˜Performance monitoring relied very heavily on detailed financial
metrics alone, and;
˜Financial targets were set at easily achievable levels.
The challenge was developing a process that management
teams could follow that would allow these long term strategic
goals to link to present inRyear priorities, and for these priorities
to be associated with ³balanced´ metrics, sensible targets and
clear accountabilities.
In many S—T¶s it was unusual for the whole team to meet faceR
toRface. This presented a serious challenge for the Balanced
Scorecard design activity
˜wffRline working to brief the S—T members oneRonRone by
telephone or faceRtoRface about the process, and to develop, and
review a draft ¢estination Statement developed by one or two
members of the S—T working with the facilitators based on the
existing fiveRyear Plans and Strategies.
˜Group working by the S—T to confirm/finalise the ¢estination
Statement and then develop from it a Strategic Linkage model (SL—
that would document the key priorities for the S—T in the year ahead
and form the basis of their Balanced Scorecard.
˜—ore offRline working after the workshop wherein the
business unit planning team (who would be responsible for
operating the Balanced Scorecard once it was complete
would with the internal project team to describe the priorities
on the SL— in more detail, and develop measures and targets
 Balanced Scorecard designs were created within 19 Business
Units, each resulting in Balanced Scorecards showing 12R18
month priorities , metrics and targets. 16 of the workshops were
in major Business Units and 3 within functions in the UK,
continental Europe, USA and Africa.
Translation of strategy into measurable parameters.
Communication of the strategy to everybody in the firm.
Alignment of individual goals with the firm's strategic objectives R
the BSC recognizes that the selected measures influence the
behavior of employees.
Feedback of implementation results to the strategic planning
process
Lack of a wellRdefined strategy
Using only lagging measures
Use of generic metrics
The term "Six Sigma" is widely used to refer to all of the following:
A structured method for improving business processes. This method,
called ¢—AIC (define, measure, analyze, improve, and control , is
supported by an assortment of statistical tools.

A statistical measurement of how well a business process is

performing. A process that performs at "Six Sigma" produces only 3.4
defects out of every million opportunities to produce a defect.

An organizational mindset in which people make decisions based on

data, look for root causes of problems, define defects based on
customer rather than internal requirements, seek to control variation,
track leading indicators of problems to prevent them from happening,
etc.
 Senior executive who sponsors the overall Six Sigma Initiative.
  SeniorRlevel executive who is responsible for implementing Six Sigma within the
business.
  —iddleR or seniorRlevel executive who sponsors a specific Six Sigma project,
ensuring that resources are available and crossRfunctional issues are resolved.
§
§

FullRtime professional who acts as a team leader on Six Sigma projects.
Typically has four to five weeks of classroom training in methods, statistical tools, and
(sometimes team skills.
 
 §
§

Highly experienced and successful Black Belt who has managed
several projects and is an expert in Six Sigma methods/tools. Responsible for
coaching/mentoring/training Black Belts and for helping the Six Sigma leader and
Champions keep the initiative on track.
 §

PartRtime professional who participates on a Black Belt project team or leads
smaller projects. Typically has two weeks of classroom training in methods and basic
statistical tools.
   Professional who has general awareness of Six Sigma (through no formal
training and who brings relevant experience or expertise to a particular project.
 w  Professional responsible for the business process that is the target of a
Six Sigma project.
˜Human resources professionals will be able to help foster teamwork
development, conflict management solutions, and communication
among the Six Sigma team.
˜Throughout the entire Six Sigma Process, HR professionals will be
able to help document best practices, find and define problems and
statistical analyses, and offer potential preRexisting data that is needed
for these projects.
˜Another part of Six Sigma Projects that these people will be familiar
with is the use of scorecards
˜Building a competency model that will help identify candidates with
the right mix of technical, team, and leadership skills and abilities.

˜Creating job descriptions that help candidates fully understand the

position and expectations prior to signing on.

˜¢eveloping a retention strategy that will help ensure Black Belts

complete their rotation and the organization recoups its investment in
training and development.
˜Analyzing existing compensation arrangements to identify the extent
to which those arrangements will support the Six Sigma initiative.

˜Creating a strategic compensation plan that will better support Six

Sigma.

˜¢eveloping a nonRmonetary reward program for Six Sigma teams.

˜Ensuring team leaders and members get training and/or
coaching in teamwork, conflict management,
communications, dealing with difficult team members, and
other team effectiveness skills.

˜Providingteams with tools that allow them to diagnose their

own performance and identify when and where they need
help.

˜Acting as a resource for Black Belts who encounter teamR

related challenges they cannot surmount.
˜Ëorking with Six Sigma Sponsors, Leaders, and Champions to
identify elements of the culture that might hinder the achievement of
Six Sigma goals.

˜Advising on change plans that will target those specific cultural

elements.

˜Identifying how Six Sigma can be rolled out in a way that works
with, rather than against, the current culture.
¢rafting a change management/ communications plan that
addresses the people side of the Six Sigma rollout.

Helping create a "case for change" that describes:

The reasons for and benefits of Six Sigma.
How the organization will help employees succeed in new ways of
working.
How Six Sigma fits with other ongoing initiatives.
Counseling Six Sigma Leaders and Champions on how their
behavior can help or hinder Six Sigma's acceptance throughout
the organization.
˜HR can play a pivotal role in the knowledge management aspect of
six sigma projects. There is immense learning in the six sigma
process.
˜¢uring the implementation of the project, business processes are
examined on a microscopic level, and their productivity is analyzed
on a numerical basis.
˜The learning process needs to be collated and disseminated within
the organization.
˜The Hr team can be the knowledge resource center that can
enhance business capabilities.
eed for improvement in HR
˜ ¢id not enjoy a desirable reputation in the company
˜ reactive, uncoordinated, overRmanned and unprofessional,
delivering poor, slow and non costReffective services.
˜ The outputs of the key HR processes were not clearly defined
Business environment prior to Six Sigma ¢eployment
‡ wrganization environment

‡ Employee development

‡ Resourcing

‡ Reward

‡ Communication

‡ wrganization improvement
Ëhat is six sigma
Six Sigma is a logical approach to achieving continuous
improvements in areas critical to the success of any manufacturing or
serviceRoriented business
¢efine: key processes are defined.
—easure: Ëhat is the capability of the process?
Analyse: Ëhen and where do defects occur?
Improve: How can Six Sigma capability be achieved? Ëhat are the vital
few factors that control process results?
Control: Ëhat controls will we put in place to sustain the gain?
Improvement Team
The main stakeholders were:
‡ Internal customers: to participate in the specification of objectives and
targets, selection of particular measures of performance which are
aligned with the overall business and HR strategy and to provide a
feedback.
‡ HR process owners and participants: in addition to the same role as of
internal customers, to learn and deploy Six Sigma improvement tools
and to develop, implement and sustain in continuous improvement of
their processes that optimize measures of performance to the
satisfaction of all stakeholders.
wbjectives
‡ develop and implement HR processes and measures of performance
with embedded continuous improvement, owned by HR process
participants, that would deliver defined strategy, with the focus on
complete internal customer satisfaction.
‡ increase job security and survival of HR central within the company,
increase employability of HR staff, promote Six Sigma and promote the
success of empowered, highRperformance teams.
—ethodology: ¢eployment of Six Sigma process improvement
methodology
‡ ¢efine
Prioritization started with identification of the service provided.
Process needs were identified to provide a service that
satisfied the customers.
‡ —easure
Generally, measures of performance were selected that have
an impact on cost, quality, throughput time and/or human
reaction. Quality function deployment was used to identify and
analyse measures of performance that are aligned with
customer requirements and HR strategy objectives
—ain objectives
to ensure alignment of HR and business strategic objectives;
to define criticalRtoRquality measures (CTQ ;
to define criticalRtoRcost measures (CTX ;
to define criticalRtoRthroughput time measures (CTT ;
valuable to organization;
valuable to individual;
easy to understand and remember.
A cost of poor quality estimate was performed
‡ Analyze
All data were tested against the CHART data test i.e. no data could
enter the analysis stage unless they satisfied the CHART test.
Appropriate Six Sigma tools were deployed to monitor and analyse
performance of processes. Analysis was performed by process
owners, with facilitation of Six Sigma Black Belt
‡ Improve
¢evelopment and implementation of improvement solutions followed
identification of vital input parameters that affect selected process
measures of performance (—wPs . —onitoring of improvement
actions was realized through implemented HR database. Vital
process inputs and process results were monitored and correlation
verified.
‡ Control
The key control objective is to sustain and get a continuous
improvement process embedded into HR processes
Achieved Benefits
‡ wverall outcomes of improvement activities are better, faster
and more costReffective HR services to the business
‡ HR employees started enjoying greater customer satisfaction
and loyalty
‡ The future of the internal HR ¢epartment started to look
more secure. It was recognized that HR dared to measure
themselves, change and had been proactive.
‡ HR employees have originated a number of improvement
ideas
‡ Reduction in throughput time, defect and rework are among
many elements that contribute to sizeable tangible cost
savings from improved processes. Intangible costs of poor
quality have been recognized
‡ The implementation of the HR processes has supported
proactive behaviour and customer focus, and has aligned
personal, team and company goals around HR and business
strategy.