Chapter 7: Roles and Responsibilities

Overview

In any project, philosophy or program, decisions must be made along the way. However, these decisions, more often than not, are diffused because of the project's, philosophy's, or program's complexity. Therefore, the implication is that control and coordination must be critical items of concern. Given that assumption then, three axioms are required for successful implementation. They are:

• People are the project's, philosophy's and/or program's most important asset.

• The focus should be more on people than on techniques.

• The project manager (black belt) is not the boss in the traditional sense-but rather a facilitator and a coach.

To facilitate and optimize these axioms every organization defines the specific roles and responsibilities for the specific project, philosophy or program implementation. For the six sigma methodology, this definition of roles and responsibilities is also important. There are several levels of roles in the methodology. However, none of them are mandatory and some of them may be called by a different name in some organizations. (There is a difference between functions and titles. The functions and responsibilities are always important, whereas the titles may or may not be important.) Table 7.1 shows the variation in names.

Table 7.1: Different role names used in the six sigma methodology

Generic name	Other name
Process owner	Sponsor or champion
Team member	Team member or green belt
Team leader	Black belt or green belt or project manager
Coach	Master black belt or shogun or black belt
Implementation leader	Six sigma director, quality leader, master black belt
Sponsor	Champion or process owner
Executive management	Six sigma steering committee, quality council, leadership council

In the six sigma methodology, all the roles and responsibilities for all levels presuppose several prerequisites. The specific prerequisites, of course, depend on the level. However, there are some prerequisites that are common to all levels and they are:

• Having process or product knowledge.

• Being willing and able to learn mathematical concepts.

• Knowing the organization.

• Having communication skills.

• Being a self-starter and being self-motivated.

• Being open-minded.

• Being eager to learn new ideas.

• Having a desire to drive change.

• Possessing project leadership skills.

• Being a team player.

• Being respected by others.

• Having a track record on results.

In conjunction with these prerequisites, there is also an implied responsibility that is of paramount importance on the part of the executives. After all, it is the executives who are in charge of the change. Therefore, it is important for them to accelerate the change process by being a visible advocate of the six sigma methodology. Specifically, the executives must get involved. That means that they have to work closely with the champions and the shoguns to mobilize commitment and make change last. The commitment must be translated into the following actions:

• Identify and remove the barriers and roadblocks to achieving high performance with six sigma.

• Ensure that only the best are nominated to be black belts.

• Ask the black belts many questions to ensure that they are focused appropriately.

• Demand follow-up and monitoring activities.

• Establish the six sigma scorecard. Make six sigma reviews a regular part of your management process.

• Align six sigma results and business strategic objectives.

• Drive functional ownership and accountability.

• Manage your attention. Be proactive to ensure that the change is documented and verified.

• Develop and demonstrate personal competence with the breakthrough strategy.

• Celebrate successes and recognize accomplishments.

Now let us look at some traditional roles and their specific contribution to the six sigma methodology.