This research critically evaluated the application of Six Sigma within Lonmin in the South African context. A probability sample was used; sixty-five (65) Six Sigma candidates were drawn from Lonmin with a Six Sigma population size of one hundred and twenty (120) employees listed in the Six Sigma database.
I NTRODUCTION
M OTIVATION FOR THE S TUDY
Maximize return on investment by effectively integrating people, processes and knowledge as described by the Six Sigma methodology.
F OCUS OF THE S TUDY
P ROBLEM S TATEMENT
R ESEARCH Q UESTIONS
O BJECTIVES
Culture an adoption in this study with a focus on change management, knowledge management and sustainability. Objective 2a: To determine the benefits of the Six Sigma program at Lonmin Objective 2b: To determine the Six Sigma performance at Lonmin.
L IMITATIONS OF THE S TUDY
The response rate was slow due to survey completion and the commitment to survey delivery. The result was a good response rate; of the one hundred and twenty (120) individuals who received the survey via e-mail, only sixty-five (65) responded, which is equal to fifty-four percent (54%) of the population.
S TRUCTURE OF THE R ESEARCH
The medium of communication was another limitation. Due to the dispersed business locations and availability of respondents, this study was completely dependent on electronic communications (e-mail) and only employees were configured on the e-mail system. The recommendations made are based on the analysis and findings from Chapter Five.
C ONCLUSION
Chapter five discusses the findings and relates them to other similar studies in the field.
I NTRODUCTION
As a BPC initiative, Six Sigma focused on business processes to achieve significant performance improvements (Kettinger and Grover, 1995). Feigenbaum (1991) and Kaoru Ishikawa (1985) who contributed their propositions that form the basis for understanding the concept of Six Sigma.
T HE Q UALITY L EADERS
Feigenbaum (1991) defined Six Sigma as an effective system for integrating quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of various groups in an organization in order to enable marketing, engineering, production and service at the most economical levels. . which enable complete customer satisfaction. Ishikawa (1985) argued that Six Sigma extends beyond the product and includes after-sales service, management quality, the quality of individuals and the organization itself.
S IX S IGMA B USINESS F RAMEWORK P ERFORMANCE M ODEL
The BPC Management Model suggested by Kettinger et al. 1995) considered environmental conditions and the organization's ability to manage change as important components for successful implementation. Process and change management practiced together with a change management environment contribute to the improvement of business processes and help ensure improved work quality, ultimately leading to improved customer satisfaction and organizational performance gains (Kettinger et et al. 1995).
S IX S IGMA M ETHODOLOGY
- Goals of Six Sigma
- Six Sigma Implementation Approaches
- Six Sigma Structure
- Themes of Six Sigma
- Myths of Six Sigma
- Six Sigma Critical Success Factors
- Global Six Sigma Awards
- Balanced Scorecard
This definition makes it clear that Six Sigma focuses on business processes and performance change. The benefits and savings of implementing the project-driven Six Sigma method have been widely reported.
S IX S IGMA B USINESS P ERFORMANCE
- Six Sigma as a Culture Transformation
- Six Sigma as a Business Improvement
- Six Sigma as a Learning Organisation
- Feedback Process, Sustainability, control
The differences between a traditional and a Six Sigma culture can be characterized as shown in Table 2.6. Thus, the competencies that an organization built by using Six Sigma in it were sources of sustainable competitive advantage (Teece, D.J., Pisano, G. & Shuen, A., 1997).
F UTURE OF THE S IX S IGMA M ETHOD
Six Sigma tools and structure help organizations balance the drive for productivity with the need to innovate. To ensure the long-term prosperity and sustainability of the Six Sigma method, organizations must analyze and accept the strengths and weaknesses of the approach and use the Six Sigma concepts and tools appropriately (Pyzdek, 2004) .
C ONCLUSION
The review quantified the combination of Six Sigma and an economic framework to deliver transformational results (organizational culture, knowledge and business improvement). This gives rise to an empirical study of the adaptation of Six Sigma as a transformational tool at Lonmin in the context of the South African economy.
I NTRODUCTION
S TATEMENT OF THE R ESEARCH P ROBLEM
A IM AND O BJECTIVES OF THE S TUDY
R ESEARCH S TRATEGIES
S AMPLING
The sampling technique chosen for this study was purposive non-probability sampling where the sampling units were based on personal judgment rather than where the sampling unit had a known, non-zero probability of selection ie. after selecting a purposive sampling technique for this study The next part of the research design was to determine the sample size.
S AMPLE S IZE
A disadvantage of this method was that the sample cannot claim to be representative, which limits the research results (Hair et al. 2005). The sample was drawn from management, process owners, six sigma personnel such as Black Belts and Green Belts, consultants who actively participated in the implementation of Six Sigma at Lonmin Platinum.
D ATA C OLLECTION A PPROACH
The population for this study included all Lonmin employees who were directly involved in Six Sigma projects, management staff, Six Sigma consultants, Six Sigma personnel such as black belts, green belts and process owners, the population size was one hundred and twenty (120 ) as extracted from the Lonmin Six Sigma database. These disadvantages did not apply in this study as the identified population was set up in the Lonmin email system and had access to computers.
D ATA C OLLECTION I NSTRUMENTS
The disadvantages of electronic questionnaire according to Bhaskaran (2008) are that not all your customers may have access to the email and employees may be wary of disclosing information online.
T HE Q UESTIONNAIRE AS A R ESEARCH T OOL
Q UESTIONNAIRE D ESIGN
The survey questionnaires were sent to a senior Six Sigma manager for quality and construct checking. Participants need to know that their privacy and sensitivity will be protected and what will happen to the data after the recording.
Q UESTIONNAIRE P RETESTING , R ELIABILITY AND V ALIDATION
The reliability of an individual measure determines the stability and consistency with which a research instrument quantifies a concept and helps determine the integrity of the measure (Sekaran, 1992). The content validity of a measurement instrument is the degree to which it provides sufficient exposure to the questions guiding the study.
D ATA C APTURING M ETHODS
To assess construct validity, both the theory used and the measurement instrument are considered. LISREL can provide the most appropriate and efficient estimation technique for a number of separate multiple regression equations estimated simultaneously (Hair et al., 1992).
D ATA A NALYSIS M ETHODS
Combining these variables into targets simplified the analysis and understanding of the data. Thus, the data analysis will initially use the tools available in Microsoft Excel for the final presentation.
C ONCLUSION
Simple tabulation, cross-tabulation and summarization of the relevant details of the responses were used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics dealt with the presentation of data using frequency and central tendency statistical techniques.
I NTRODUCTION
D ESCRIPTION OF S AMPLE
There was more sharp response from the Six Sigma role participants compared to other roles. Sixty percent (60%) of the participants were within the employment category >1 & < 5 years, 0 thirty two percent (32%) within the employment category > 5 years and eight percent (8%) within the employment category <1 year.
Six Sigma as Change Management at Lonmin
In a large corporation with outstanding results, the formal structure of Six Sigma played a key role, establishing rules and procedures that certainly fostered a culture of continuous improvement. These factors fostered the sustainability of Six Sigma and the ongoing effort to insert projects into a body of knowledge that was slowly increasing in scope and quality [online].
Six Sigma Knowledge Management at Lonmin
Research conducted by PRTM found that companies need to select the right people from within their organization to provide both the subject matter expertise and the political influence needed to get things done. The study of how Six Sigma practices can lead to organizational knowledge creation capability and how this capability can lead to improved organizational performance showed that [Online].
Sustainability of Six Sigma Programme at Lonmin
Forty-eight percent (48%) of projects were initially "poorly designed," and thirty-five percent (35%) of Black Belts surveyed said they started their Six Sigma efforts by receiving project assignments that had "little chance" of success from beginning. Voice of the customer/Voice of the business/Voice of the process Clear link to organizational goals.
Benefits of Six Sigma Programme at Lonmin
A white paper on total quality management presented the benefits of Six Sigma realized when Six Sigma processes were applied in a systematic manner [online].
Six Sigma Performance at Lonmin
Thirty-five percent (35%) of the participants agreed that Six Sigma projects have the right focus and will contribute to the transformation of Lonmin and facilitate the achievement of its goals, twenty-eight percent (28%) were undecided, 20 percent (20%) disagree, twelve percent (12%) strongly agree and five percent (5%) strongly disagree. Fifty-five percent (55%) of the participants agreed that the Six Sigma process has a positive impact on business performance, seventeen percent (17%) strongly agreed, fourteen percent (14%) disagreed, twelve percent (12%) were undecided, and two percent (2%) do not agree at all.
PEST Evaluation on Lonmin’s Transformation Programmes
Forty-six percent (46%) of participants agreed that social aspects had an impact on the transformation process, twenty-eight percent (28%) disagreed, twenty-three percent (23%) were undecided, and three percent (3%) strongly agreed. Forty-six percent (46%) of participants agreed that technology aspects affected the success of the transformation process, twenty-eight percent (28%) were undecided, fourteen percent (14%) disagreed, eleven percent (11%) strongly agreed, and two percent (2 %) strongly disagreed.
I NFERENTIAL S TATISTICS
It consists of the responses of twenty-three percent (23%) were not in the Six Sigma role and eight percent (8%) were less than one year of service to the organization. It consists of the responses of twenty-three percent (23%) were not in Six Sigma role and eight percent (8%) were less than one year of service to the organization.
C ONCLUSION
I NTRODUCTION
S AMPLE S TUDY
Objective 1b: Determining the value of Six Sigma Knowledge Management at Lonmin The results are presented in Chapter 4, Section 4.3.2 on Six Sigma as Knowledge Management at Lonmin. The results showed that Six Sigma knowledge was not of great value to the organization, although a large proportion of respondents were still unsure.
The [online] survey, available at www.sixsigmacompamies.com (accessed July 1, 2010), found that employees trained in Six Sigma used their change management skills much more often than commonly thought. The results positively indicated that Six Sigma had the right focus and contributed positively to transformation and business performance.
C ONCLUSION
I NTRODUCTION
A TTAINMENT OF R ESEARCH O BJECTIVES
The research report found that Six Sigma was a transformational tool that drove business improvement at Lonmin. The result showed that the implementation of Six Sigma had a positive effect on culture transformation and business improvement at Lonmin.
R ECOMMENDATIONS
Managers must be the architects of an organizational culture and climate that is conducive to continuous business improvement. Six Sigma methodology should be mandatory for any project approval and process deviation analysis.
F UTURE R ESEARCH
Project knowledge should be transferred through presentation to key stakeholders, and reports should be stored in a database. MBBs and BBs should be redirected to new business areas to gain experience in new areas and improve their leadership and team building skills.
C ONCLUSION
Evaluation of the application of Six Sigma as a Business Transformation Methodology at Lonmin South African Operations.” The purpose of this research is to determine the impact of Six Sigma. A Critical Evaluation of the Application of Six Sigma as a Business Transformation Methodology at Lonmin South African Operations.”.
Deming‟s PDCA Cycle
Quality Trilogy
SIPOC Process
Business Process Change Management Model
DMAIC Process
Six Sigma Change Agents
Balanced Scorecard Process
Role in Organisation
Service period with Lonmin
Lonmi n‟ s top management have a clear transformation plan
Lonmi n‟ s top management have communicated the transformation plan within the
The Six Sigma team has a clear and visible vision and strategy that drives
The Six Sigma programme is linked to Lonmi n‟ s transformational plan
Lonmin has assigned dedicated people to transformation plan within the
Six Sigma skills have been deployed effectively
Six Sigma team were used as subject matter experts in Six Sigma tools and
Six Sigma knowledge and skills are the desires requirements for business
Six Sigma is Lonmi n‟ s long term business improvement methodology
The Six Sigma approach has been integrated in the way you do business
The Six Sigma team has showed visible leadership in terms of the Lonmin
Six Sigma Benefits
Six Sigma drives transformation
Roles of Six Sigma Change Agents
Themes of Six Sigma
Myths of Six Sigma
Six Sigma Critical Success Factors
Reported Benefits and Savings from Six Sigma in the Manufacturing Sector
Differences Between Traditional and Six Sigma Cultures
Cost of Poor Quality for the Industry
Six Sigma Benefits Matrix
Cross tabulation - Role and Service period
Cross tabulation - Role & Service Sensitivity to Transformation Plan
Cross tabulation - Role & Service Sensitivity to Communication Process
Cross tabulation - Role & Service Sensitivity to Transformation People
Cross tabulation - Role & Service Sensitivity to Six Sigma Strategy Alignment
