Although world-class firms like GE and Motorola have relied on Six Sigma to build their performance cultures, these processes are all too often left out of human resources (HR) functions. This lack of Six Sigma principles is even more surprising because preventing errors and improving productivity are so critical to the people management processes of hiring, retention, appraisal, and development.
From the history and evolution of the Total Quality movement to initiatives for introducing a Six Sigma continuous process improvement strategy in your HR department, Achieving HR Excellence through Six Sigma introduces a new way to envision your role within the organization. It explains how this powerful methodology works and supplies a roadmap to help you find and eliminate waste in your HR processes.
Describing exactly what HR excellence means, the book outlines dozens of proven approaches as well as a hierarchy of the exact steps required to achieve it. It illustrates the Six Sigma methodology from the creation of a project to its successful completion. At each stage, it describes the specific tools currently available and provides examples of organizations that have used Six Sigma within HR to improve their organizations.
The text presents proven approaches that can help you solve and even eliminate people management problems altogether. Filled with real-world examples, it demonstrates how to implement six sigma into the transformational side of your organization. It also includes a listing of additional resources to help you along your Six Sigma journey.
Explaining how to build a new business model for your HR organization, the book supplies the new perspective and broad view you will need to discover and recommend game-changing alternatives to traditional HR approaches in your organization.
What Do We Mean by HR Excellence?
Introduction
Excellence Is the Acquisition and Integration of Passionate and Culturally Aligned Employees who Are Engaged and Aligned with the Organization’s Goals
Using Tools and Processes to Advance the Business Mission
Focus on Elements That Are Strategic, Transactional, and Compliance Issues
Focus on Gaining and Maintaining a Seat at the Table
Securing, Training, and Retaining Talent to Meet Corporate Business Strategies
Do We Know What to Work on Next?
Where Is HR Excellence Going to Take Us?
Endnotes
Where Did Six Sigma Come From?
Introduction
Deming’s 14 Points of Quality
Create Consistency of Purpose for Improvement of Products and Services
Adapt the New Philosophy
Cease Dependence on Mass Inspections
End the Practice of Awarding Business on Price Tag Only
Improve Constantly and Forever the System of Production and Service
Institute Training
Institute Leadership
Drive Out Fear
Break Down Barriers between Staff Areas
Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations, and Targets for the Workforce
Eliminate Numerical Quotas
Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship
Institute a Vigorous Program of Education and Retraining
Take Action to Accomplish the Transformation
Evolution of the Total Quality Management System
Quality Circles
Total Quality Management
GE Workout
Toyota Production System
Six Sigma Process
Lean Six Sigma Framework
Modern-Day Evolution of Six Sigma
Ultimate Improvement Cycle
Rapid Workout
Endnotes
What Is Six Sigma?
Objection: It Is a Manufacturing Thing
Objection: We Tried That, and It Did Not Work in Our Organization
Objection: It Is Too Complex to Be Used in Most Organizations
Six Sigma Roles
Senior Executive
Executive Committee
Champion (Project)
Process Owner
Master Black Belt
Black Belt
Green Belt
Yellow Belt
White Belt
Six Sigma Methodology Themes
Endnotes
Six Sigma Tool Box
Introduction
Define Stage
Measure Stage
Question 1: How Do We Measure the VOC Issues?
Question 2: What Is the Source for the Process Data?
Question 3: Do the Data Tell Us about the Real Current State?
Question 4: What Does the Existing Process Tell Us?
Question 5: How Does the Current Process Operate?
Question 6: How Does the Current State of the Process Match the VOC?
Analyze Stage
Question 1: How Does the Process Perform?
Question 2: What Areas Are Causing the Problem?
Question 3: What Does the Current State Show Us?.
Question 4: What Do the Data Indicate?
Question 5: Does the Root Cause Affect the VOC Issues?
Improve Stage
Control Stage
Summary
Endnotes
In Plain Sight: Sources of Wastes
Introduction
Waste Type 1: Overproduction
Waste Type 2: Waiting
Waste Type 3: Unnecessary Transport
Waste Type 4: Overprocessing
Waste Type 5: Excess Inventory
Waste Type 6: Unnecessary Movement
Waste Type 7: Defects
Waste Type 8: Unused Employee Potential
Waste Type 9: Material Underutilization
Endnotes
Applied Six Sigma and Human Capital Management
Introduction
Functional Area 1: Human Resources Business Management and Strategy
Mergers and Acquisitions
Human Resource Audits
Functional Area 2: Workforce Planning and Employment
Accurate Tracking of Family Medical Leave
Frequently Asked Questions in the Employee Handbook
Job Posting Rates
Increased Retention
Application Response Time
Removal of Unnecessary Steps in the Process
Functional Area 3: Human Resource Development
The Measure Stage: How Bad Is the Problem, and What Might Be Causing It?
The Analyze Phase: What Are the Vital Few Causes of the Problem?
The Improve Phase: What Changes Should We Make to the Process to Eliminate or Reduce the Impact of the Cause?
Pilot and Acceptance Testing
The Control Phase: What Process Monitoring Should Be Put in Place to Ensure the Process Changes Are Sustained?
Conclusion
Functional Area 4: Compensation and Benefits
Functional Area 5: Employee and Labor Relations
Complaint Procedures
Incident Reports
Control Charts to Show What Benefits Are Most Effective for the Employees
Control Charts or Pareto Charts to Show the Variation between Work Time and Leisure Time
Tracking Complaints that Most Likely Will Lead to Employee Assistance Programs
Functional Area 6: Risk Management
Data Analysis Regarding Accident Incidents
Creating a Kanban System in the Workplace
Kaizen Events to Correct Workplace Issues
Endnotes
Business Model Canvas and HR Management
Introduction
Business Canvas Segment 1: Value Proposition
Business Canvas Segment 2: Customer Segments
Business Canvas Segment 3: Customer Relationships
Business Canvas Segment 4: Channels
Business Canvas Segment 5: Revenue Streams
Business Canvas Segment 6: Key Partners
Business Canvas Segment 7: Key Resources
Business Canvas Segment 8: Key Activities
Business Canvas Segment 9: Cost Structure
Endnotes
Bringing It All Together
Introduction
Long-Term Planning to Optimize Service Delivery
Corporate Culture
Value of the Human Capital Assets to the Organization
Corporate Management Style
Corporate Decision Process
Future State of the Corporation
Continuous Improvement (There Is Always a Better Way)
Transformational Leaders
Poka Yoke (Mistake Proof)
Educate and Train
Change Managers into Leaders
Drive Out Fear (Employees Empowered to Express Ideas and Ask Questions)
Break Down Silos (Create Teams That Reach across Units) Focus on Process, Not People (Avoid the Blame Game)
Avoid Numerical Quotas for People in Management
Go and See
Gain Knowledge
Do It Now
Coach
Endnotes
Achieving HR Excellence through Six Sigma
Introduction
Customer Centric
Customer-Centric Strategic Initiative
Organizational Alignment
Organizational Alignment Initiatives
Quality Management
ISO 9001 Section 6.2.2a: The Necessary Competence for Personnel Performing Work Affecting Conformity to Product Requirements
ISO 9001 Section 6.2.2b: Where Applicable, Provide Training or Take Other Actions to Achieve the Necessary Competence
ISO 9001 Section 6.2.2c: Evaluate the Effectiveness of the Actions Taken
ISO 9001 Section 6.2.2d: Ensure that its Personnel are Aware of the Relevance and Importance of their Activities and How they Contribute to the Achievement of the Quality Objectives
ISO 9001 is Section 6.2.2e: Maintain Appropriate Records of Education, Training, Skills, and Experience
Endnotes
Bibliography
Further Reading
Index
Biography
Daniel Bloom
Six Sigma tools give discipline to the HR practices so that they can be designed and delivered efficiently. This book offers an excellent review of Six Sigma principles and a wonderful application of those principles to streamline and improve HR practices. Application of these ideas will mitigate the risks of HR by reducing variance and increasing certainty of HR work. These are the foundation principles which ensure that HR will deliver sustainable value.
—Dave Ulrich, Professor, Ross School of Business, University of MichiganIn Achieving HR Excellence through Six Sigma, Dan Bloom faithfully captures the history and practice of Lean Six Sigma. He then proceeds to lay out a vision of high performance and excellence for any HR organization. Finally, through his own experiences and those of other practitioners, he provides numerous valuable examples of what implementation really looks like. A must read for HR professionals that are interested in pursuing excellence.
—Jeffrey Summers, Operations Manager, Amcor Flexibles and Former Director of Quality and Six Sigma Learning, Motorola University
If HR is ever to become a critical part of any organization, its leaders MUST learn and properly apply the language of business. Achieving HR Excellence through Six Sigma lays out a clear, sequential, yet easy to understand roadmap that any HR professional can follow that will take their teams to a higher level of business impact. Combining his experience as an expert in both HR and Six Sigma, Dan Bloom is the right expert with the right RX for what ails most HR teams - how to transform themselves from paper-pushing bureaucrats into vital strategic partners.
—Dr. Jim Harris, Founder of To a Higher Level LLC, former Fortune 500 corporate HR executive, and author of ten business books including The Impacter: A Parable on Transformational Leadership.
If you think your employees deserve the dependable and quality services that your customers require (and that you demand as a customer of business you patronize) then this book is for you. Dan knows the functional side of HR and with the quality lens and lean sigma tools explained in the book, can help you forge a path to a vastly improved and significantly more effective HR function.
—Kent Linder, Consultant to Organizations
It may be that the greatest area for improvement in our organizations today is in the functions – the enabling processes of human resources, finance, and information services. Dan Bloom has written a very helpful book that directly applies lean and Six Sigma thinking to the HR function. Every HR professional will benefit by reading this book, but more importantly applying its wisdom.
—Lawrence M. Miller, Author of Getting to Lean – Transformational Change Management
Corporate departments from IT to HR try to avoid Six Sigma by saying: ‘Oh that works for manufacturing, but it won’t work in HR because we don’t manufacture anything.’ Daniel Bloom lays bare the silliness of that statement. Six Sigma can be applied to any business process and Dan shows how easy it can be to apply Six Sigma to HR. If you want to get the ‘right people on the bus’, Six Sigma is the way to do it.
—Jay Arthur, Author of Lean Six Sigma Demystified and The QI Macros for Excel
