The importance, and associated challenges, of faculty ownership and engagement in the Assurance of Learning (AoL) process are well documented in the literature. This paper demonstrates how schools can further their AoL objectives by encouraging and subsequently supporting organic, faculty led initiatives. Specifically, we present a case study of a faculty led initiative to explore and demonstrate, as a proof of concept, how Lean Six-Sigma (LSS) can be used to improve AoL practices.

This case can be team-taught to combine the different elements of business education taught by individual faculty within a course in Project Management, as a partial, half credit module within a business curriculum. This case study is written to address the feedback from prospective employers that the fresh recruits are reticent and need a long period of “internship / training/ mentoring” before they are ready to be a part of the company’s internal team. The case depicting a real company undergoing substantial changes provides the students with opportunities to gain the analytical skills developed in the study of various business disciplines, while providing the opportunity for discussion and illustration of real-life scenarios, constraints, and roadblocks. Moreover, students practice team development and process efficiencies. Instructors will teach how marketing, sales, and procurement functions impact the accounting and finance components of the project so the project scope is managed within the resources, schedule, and budget.

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