“Six Sigma at 3M, Inc.”
Discussion Board Opens April 15
Discussion Board Closes April 24, 11:59pm
Please refer to the case study that is attached to this assignment sheet: “Six Sigma at 3M, Inc Download Six Sigma at 3M, Inc. Download .”
This case study discusses the issues involved in implementing Six Sigma in 3M, a large multinational corporation that is know for its innovative products and processes. The new 3M CEO and Board of Directors have already decided to implement Six Sigma, so it is just a question of how the program will be rolled out, what challenges will be faced, and what benefits will be achieved.
After the case are a number of questions that can be used to prime your discussion of the scenario that’s been presented:
What will be the benefits, costs, and risks of the Six Sigma program and how will they be tracked and reported?
How should the various functional areas in the organization be included in the Six Sigma initiative, and what role should senior and middle management play in this change initiative?
What role should Six Sigma play in corporate strategy?
What are the human resource implications for deploying Six Sigma (e.g., employee selection, roles, organization structure, reward systems)?
How will Six Sigma affect the innovative culture at 3M, and is Six Sigma enough?
Over the course of the discussion, you are to try to address these questions and to provide any other relevant points for consideration, as well. It is strongly recommended that you try to reference material from the text, of course, but you should also feel free to bring other information or personal experiences into the discussion, as well.
As always, your participation primarily will be evaluated on the quality of your comments: the degree of advanced thinking, the reference to accurate information, the quality of communication, and the level of collegial discourse displayed. A rubric Download rubricunder the Files tab, at left, provides more information on discussion grading.
Your instructor will monitor the discussion and will post comments directly from time to time.
Be advised that only discussion threads posted before April 24 at 11:59 pm will count for grading purposes.
