Could this Management Concept Bring Efficiency to Government?
There’s nothing like an election year to bring some otherwise esoteric business terms to the attention of the mainstream media.
First was “insourcing,” used by President Barack Obama to describe the trend of bringing offshored jobs back to the United States.
Now Republican presidential hopeful Newt Gingrich is popularizing “Lean Six Sigma,” a business management concept used to eliminate inefficiencies and improve quality. Gingrich believes Lean Six Sigma principles applied to the federal government’s processes would save $500 billion a year, or $5 trillion over a ten-year period, according to his Web site.
Business Week magazine recently pointed out that Gingrich has “name-dropped” Lean Six Sigma at least 28 times in campaign appearances, debates and interviews. Although many companies and organizations (including DATAMARK) have used Lean Six Sigma with great success, Gingrich has been criticized for endorsing the management concept. This is because one of the Gingrich campaigns’ major financial supporters is business consultant Michael George, who has written several books on Lean Six Sigma.
But if you can filter out the election-year motives and take a matter-of-fact look at Lean Six Sigma as applied to government, you’ll spot some intriguing success stories.
For example, Irving, Texas City Manager Tommy Gonzalez was recently interviewed for an American City & County podcast about how Lean Six Sigma methods have saved the city $30 million since being implemented in 2006.
Gonzalez said the Six Sigma improvement process known as DMAIC (Define, Measure, Analyze Improve, Control) has helped remove wasted steps from a number of city processes, saving 37,000 hours. The team approach required to implement Lean Six Sigma has also brought down the protected “silos” of information between city departments and has improved employee morale, Gonzalez said.
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