Overview

Management gets what management wants. Some may disagree with this statement, but we contend that when management does not get what they want, changes are implemented to produce actions toward progression in the direction they desired. Of management's many hopes and wishes, for some they seem unwilling to pay the price in terms of change, effort, personal involvement, time, money, people, or other resources. These hopes and wishes are likely to fall into the category of "nice to have as far as the management is concerned." Lip service is provided, but real involvement and commitment are missing. Unfortunately, some in management will allow the destruction of an organization or company before forging the changes needed to sustain a viable and vibrant enterprise. In these cases, we contend that management wants to avoid change more than they want to ensure the viability of the organization. Some managers may not know what kinds of changes are required. Nevertheless, if management is serious about ensuring the viability of the organization, Six Sigma deployment will provide data that specify the particulars of the required changes.

There is almost unanimous agreement that for any effort to succeed the single most important ingredient is management leadership. Leadership is much more than just support, delegation, or the assigning of resources. Personal direct involvement and personal time are probably two of the more consequential measures of any leadership initiative.

In our deployment flow chart we are at the Management Champion box (Figure 5.1). Within the Six Sigma...