Personality characteristics and Six Sigma: a review

Abstract

Purpose From two bodies of literature, the purpose of this paper is to generate theory for an updated conceptual model of drivers of Six Sigma project success by integrating extant psychology theory and empirical general team project results with a history of eight recent Six Sigma projects and extant Six Sigma literature. The new theory emphasizes the need for project leads to process information simultaneously, as well as develop prioritization abilities. Also, the new theory reverses the relations of three existing theories from general team composition theory. The new theory suggests that Six Sigma belt trainers should focus more on soft skill development. Design/methodology/approach A literature review of the two bodies of literature previously mentioned. Findings Eight new propositions related to the success of Six Sigma projects are developed. Further, two new constructs, “project leader simultaneity of thought” and “prioritization ability” are suggested for further investigation. Originality/value The authors suggest a few practical implications: first a greater emphasis on soft skill training would be beneficial in Six Sigma belt training. A second new point of emphasis in belt training is developing greater internal locus of control in belt candidates. Third, the authors suggest that during the team member selection process a diversity of backgrounds would be beneficial to Six Sigma project success.

Ten commandments for successful implementation of Design for Six Sigma

“…Moreover, care should be taken to select proper belts (GB/BB/MBB) during team formation (Witt and Baker, 2018). In addition, the employees' skill sets must be the selection criteria rather than their availability for the DFSS project.…”

Soft Skills, Attitudes, and Personality Traits: How Does the Human Factor Matter? A Systematic Review and Taxonomy Proposal through ProKnow-C Methodology

“…The research confirms that the BeOps field is still relatively new and that its structure and topics are still entirely in development. Several possible research directions could contribute to expanding this content-based analysis of the PB [7,37,40]:…”

“…Alarcon [14], in his work on assessing how personality factors relate to burnout, he points out that: "Much of the recent research on personality has been based on the Five-Factor Model, which organises personality traits under five broad dimensions: emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness". Personality traits represent the different authors of the distinctive characteristics of PB of individuals that, in most cases, are assessed as challenging to change or influence [40]. This type of evaluation is linked to the difficulty of appreciably modifying distinctive character traits of individuals.…”

“…Several works support these considerations. Hence, Witt and Baker [40] provide the five main characteristics of a certified Six Sigma black belt: good leadership, a change agent, an effective communicator, a team builder, and results-driven-and all these are soft skills. The same arguments can be found in the recent work by Stek and Schiele [7], which analyses the main features of supply and purchasing managers and the evidence that soft skills are "essential antecedents to hard skills" [7].…”

“…Organisational commitment [40] Personality Traits: Emotional stability, extraversion, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and openness [41] Attitudes: Dimension of the human aspect describing how an individual relates positively or negatively with a specific context Similar to how the analysis was carried out for the taxonomy proposed in the PB, Table 6 shows the classification offered. The suggested classification, most of which, as we can note, reflects most of the categories proposed in the different works, summarises the different classification intentions in the other works analysed.…”