What CIOs And CTOs Need To Know About Lean Six Sigma

by: tjacowski
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The problem is that today's CIOs (Chief Information Officer) and CTOs (Chief Technical Officer), who are mostly delegated the task of managing the implementations, fail to understand the importance and benefits of Lean Six Sigma. Thinking that the implementations will be an unnecessary drag on the organization, they often try their best to convince the top management to postpone or forego the implementations altogether. They do not even realize that such a conservative approach can easily jeopardize the company's growth plans and allow competitors to gain an upper hand in the market.

All businesses will certainly try to avoid such major problems and this is why it has become quite necessary for today's CIOs and CTOs to know and understand a bit more about Lean 6 Sigma. Explained below are some of the common misconceptions that today's CIOs and CTOs have regarding implementations.

Lean Six Sigma Implementations Will Require Lots of Money

One of the most common misconceptions about is that its implementation requires the organization to invest huge amounts of money in making available the resources such as manpower and materials. No doubt, the organization will have to expand its budgetary allocations, but it is also certain that the additional funds required would never exceed a level that the organization cannot manage on its own, something that most CIOs and CTOs fail to understand. They claim that such implementations will lead to a resource crunch situation, which in turn can have a negative impact on the company's production targets and also on the overall quality.

They, however, fail to understand that Lean implementations are carried out according to a detailed plan that is devised in close consultations with the production department. As such, it is highly unlikely that the implementations will have a negative impact on the company's production, something that today's CIOs and CTOs should be made aware of.

Lean Six Sigma Will Require Professional Expertise

Another common misconception is that implementations will require the company to hire professionals such as Green Belts, Black Belts from outside. Today's CIOs and CTOs often claim that the organization is already running short of funds, and as such does not have enough for paying the high fees demanded by these professionals.

While this may be true to some extent, what CIOs and CTOs often fail to understand is that there are better alternatives available. For example, they overlook the possibility that existing employees can be trained as Green Belts and Black Belts, who can then carry out the implementations. Additionally, since professional Six Sigma training is available at reasonable rates, it hardly makes any sense not to use an in-house training method for achieving the main objective (i.e., successful implementations).

Lean Six Sigma has helped many companies, even those with limited resources to achieve the desired results. As such, it is quite unnecessary to contest the effectiveness or benefits of Lean Six Sigma. Today's CIOs and CTOs need to concentrate more on achieving the long-term goals and objectives of the organization rather than waste their precious time and energy in contesting Lean Six Sigma implementations.

About the Author

Tony Jacowski is a quality analyst for The MBA Journal. Aveta Solution's Six Sigma Online offers online six sigma training and certification classes for lean six sigma, black belts, green belts, and yellow belts.  

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