The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/1741-0401.htm

IJPPM
61,8

940

REFLECTIVE PRACTICE

Lean Six Sigma for higher

education institutions (HEIs)
Challenges, barriers, success factors,
tools/techniques
Jiju Antony and Netasha Krishan
Department of DMEM, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

Donna Cullen
Department of Information Services, University of Strathclyde,
Glasgow, UK, and

Maneesh Kumar
Cardiff Business School, University of Cardiff, Cardiff, UK
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to critically evaluate whether Lean Six Sigma (LSS) can be a
powerful business improvement methodology for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of higher
education institutions (HEIs). The paper will also explore the fundamental challenges, barriers and
critical success factors for the introduction and development of LSS in the HE context. The last part of
the paper is to understand the role of tools and techniques for the sustainability of this initiative for
making the HEIs more efficient and effective.
Design/methodology/approach The paper discusses whether LSS can be a useful and systematic
approach to tackle operational and strategic issues within the HE industry. The authors use secondary
data from literature to justify the need for this powerful approach and the benefits of adopting this
business process improvement strategy within the HEIs.
Findings The paper presents the challenges and barriers to be encountered during the
introduction of LSS in the higher education sector, most useful tools and techniques for process
improvement problems, success factors which are essential for the implementation and sustainability
of LSS.
Research limitations/implications This is a very theoretical paper based on the existing
literature and authors experiences in the HE sector. The next stage of the research is to carry out
empirical studies in a number of HEIs and develop a practical and useful roadmap for the
implementation and sustainability of LSS as a business process improvement methodology.
Originality/value This paper makes an attempt to remove the myth that LSS is confined to
manufacturing. It also demonstrates, through relevant existing literature and authors experiences,
that LSS is equally applicable to public sector organisations and in particular HEIs. Although lean has
been adopted by a few HEIs in the UK and abroad, very few HEIs have adopted the integrated LSS
approach for waste reduction and variability reduction, which leads to superior performance and
enhanced student satisfaction.
Keywords Six sigma, Higher education, Public sector, Business improvement,
Higher education institutions, Quality, Lean
Paper type Viewpoint
International Journal of Productivity
and Performance Management
Vol. 61 No. 8, 2012
pp. 940-948
r Emerald Group Publishing Limited
1741-0401
DOI 10.1108/17410401211277165

Introduction
Lean is a powerful business process improvement methodology to minimise or
even eliminate different forms of waste or non-value added activities or steps
whereas Six Sigma has been proved to be an effective methodology to reduce

variation within a business process and thereby achieve process robustness. While
Lean production system has been around for few decades, it did not get integrated
with Six Sigma until the early 2000s. We have witnessed a number of organisations
in Europe embarked initially on Lean management practices to tackle the so-called
low-hanging fruits and then move on to more complex problems using the
principles of Six Sigma, especially when variation has been an issue in their
business processes. On the other hand, we have seen a number of organisations
in the USA embarked initially on Six Sigma and then realised at a later stage that
they need to set up standard operating procedures at the workplace and reduce
total lead-times of their end-to-end business processes using the principles of Lean
thinking. The integration of Lean and Six Sigma methodologies provides organisations
with the methods, tools and techniques for superior improvements (Snee, 2010). Lean
Six Sigma (LSS) is a powerful methodology for achieving process efficiency and
effectiveness resulting in enhanced customer satisfaction and improved bottom
line results.
Although a number of manufacturing and service organisations are utilising the
power of this integrated methodology, it has been clear through the authors research
that the higher education institutions (HEIs) are far behind in the introduction and
development of this process excellence methodology. A number of HEIs have
embarked on the Lean initiative for the past six to seven years but not so keen in
integrating Six Sigma principles for understanding and analysing variation within the
university business processes. In authors opinion, HEIs can use both methodologies
simultaneously depending upon the nature of the problem at hand. Moreover we firmly
believe Six Sigma methodology (define-measure-analyse-improve-control) can be very
effective in solving various business problems in university processes where the
solutions are unknown or root causes are never determined in a true sense. The
purpose of the paper is to address the challenges, understand the critical success
factors (CSFs) and assess the role of relevant tools and techniques for the successful
introduction and deployment of LSS in a higher education setting. The opinions or
viewpoints expressed in this paper are based on authors experience in the use of LSS
as a business improvement methodology for fixing inefficiency and ineffectiveness in
university business processes.
Challenges and barriers in the use of LSS in the higher education context
Although LSS has been widely adopted by a number of manufacturing and service
organisations, its applications in HEIs have been a great challenge to those who are
involved in the implementation. The following are some of the fundamental challenges
in the use of LSS in the higher education environment:
(1)

There has been a problem with the terminologies taken from manufacturing
industry to higher education sector and many people are uncomfortable in
using a number of tools and techniques which were proved to be effective in
manufacturing and service sectors.

(2)

Quite often we try to improve a process in isolation when problems occur. In

fact this approach can sub-optimise the overall performance of our end-to-end
process (or system) unless we have a good understanding of the impact of
adjusting or improving a sub-process within a process. In other words,
processes must be designed from a systems perspective instead of designed
in isolation.

Lean six sigma

for HEIs

941

IJPPM
61,8

(3)

The strategy of achieving leanness is not clear to many senior executives

(Mathaisel and Comm, 2000). This is primarily due to the lack of awareness of
the benefits of Lean in non-manufacturing industry.

(4)

It is absolutely crucial to have uncompromising management commitment

and buy-in from the outset of the Lean initiative and without their support and
commitment the effort will be absolutely futile. A lack of commitment and
support from senior executive team might promote a flavour-of-the-month
attitude across the business and makes it difficult to foster a culture of
continuous improvement mindset.

(5)

Lean initiative should not be viewed as something quick-fix as such attempts

will be doomed to fail and eventually will be labelled as another passing
management fad. Womack and Jones (2005) cautions that if Lean is seen as a
means of quickly cutting costs to meet budget deficits, organisations fail to
achieve the real benefits.

(6)

Lack of process thinking and process ownership. Everything is treated as an

activity or task or procedure but not processes. Process thinking is not at all
prevalent in many HEIs and establishing processes at the workplace requires
a change of mindset.

(7)

Lack of visionary leadership has been widely reported as a fundamental

barrier in the successful introduction and deployment of LSS initiative
in any industrial setting irrespective of the size and nature of the industry.
The range of leadership responsibilities include (Antony and Snee, 2010):

942

.
.

setting a clear vision for establishing the desired culture;

communication the vision to all employees at various levels to gain
organisational commitment; and
empowering employees and giving them a sense of ownership.

(8)

The culture of the higher education sector can be a big challenge in the
introduction of LSS. In order for the staff to feel that they are part of the
organisation and openly talk about their improvement suggestions, there
needs to be culture of openness, trust and acceptance.

(9)

Lack of understanding about the different types of customers. The challenge

is to understand the true voice of different customers and develop strategies to
meet customers requirements.

(10)

Lack of communication at various levels across the HEI. This leads to the
development of silo culture across various departments in a higher
education or university sector. Staff may perceive their involvement to be a
waste of time and effort. It is absolutely critical to have an effective
communication at all levels and making employees aware of the need for the
LSS journey and what is their role in achieving the vision set by the senior
management team.

(11)

Lack of resources (time, budget, etc.) is an immense challenge in many public

sector organisations including the HEI. Employees quite often do not get
enough time to execute continuous improvement projects which result in
improved process performance or increased customer satisfaction. In our

experience this is primarily due to lack of strategic and visionary leadership

in the organisation.
(12)

Weak link between the continuous improvement projects and the strategic
objectives of the HEIs. It is important to select those projects which
are directly aligned with strategic goals of the organisation and this can
be achieved by utilising a Hoshin Kanri exercise with key people involved in
the organisation with the right skills, knowledge and expertise.

CSFs for the implementation of LSS in the HEI

The idea of identifying the CSFs as a basis for determining the information needs of
managers was popularised by Rockart (1979). CSFs in this context represent the
essential ingredients without which any continuous improvement initiative stands
little chance of success. Each one must receive constant and careful attention from
management as these are the areas that must go right for the organisation to flourish.
If results in these areas are not adequate then the efforts of the organisation will be less
than desired. We have identified the following CSFs for the implementation of LSS in
any HEI.
Uncompromising top management support and commitment
Without senior management on board from the outset of the journey, it is absolutely a
waste of energy and time for launching the LSS initiative. The authors believe that the
senior management team should attend a half-day or one day broad overview of LSS
strategy and methodology, ensuring buy-in and commitment for the implementation.
LSS project champions must be identified across the higher education sector
responsible for identifying, prioritising and overseeing projects. In order to buy-in
senior management support and commitment, it is also essential to select projects
which are tied to strategic goals of the HEI. A failure to commit results in lack of
attendance at executive meetings and events, partial engagement in the whole change
process and a visible reluctance to implement the ideas put forward by staff members
after the completion of projects. Staff members should be given adequate time to
complete their LSS projects further to training and a committed facilitator with good
technical knowledge on the topic must be in place if there are any problems
encountered by staff members during the project execution phase.
Effective communication at all levels vertically and horizontally
One of the problems identified by the authors is that there is no shared understanding
for the purpose of continuous improvement journey across many HEIs. Poor or
lack of communication has been cited as an implementation failure for continuous
improvement initiatives across a number of public sector organisations. Only through
effective communication, employees will be more engaged and work as a team for
various problem-solving scenarios. Through effective communication, organisations
can establish a common language for change and improvement.
Strategic and visionary leadership
Dewhurst et al. (1999) corroborate, leaders have the role of creating a challenging
vision of the future and motivating their employees to its accomplishment. Together,
the mission and vision give direction to an organisation, and they function as a
compass and a road map, leading to better performance. Leadership needs to enable

Lean six sigma

for HEIs

943

IJPPM
61,8

944

employees at all levels to shift from their current culture to a new culture. No leadership
development will succeed unless it is recognised and supported wholeheartedly by
senior executives of the business (Douglas and Conger, 2007). Leaders must provide the
direction, communicating the purpose, value and progress of the new direction and
finally recognising and reinforcing successful improvements. The following issues
may be considered for measuring leadership commitment within a LSS initiative:
.

commitment of both financial and personnel resources for the initiative;

a clear strategic deployment plan showing the tangible objectives and goals of
the initiative;

development of a communication plan (i.e. need for the initiative, the benefits of
implementation, roles and responsibilities of everyone in the new way of
thinking, etc.);

clear direction and guidance on deploying Six Sigma; and

reward and recognition system, etc.

Developing organisational readiness

It is important to first understand the preparedness of a HEI to implement continuous
improvement initiatives such as LSS. If a HEI is ready to embark on LSS journey, then
a customised roadmap can be proposed to guide the organisation through the
implementation and deployment process. Continuous improvement maturity models
provided a roadmap for many organisations to assess their weaknesses, highlight the
issues which need urgent attention and aspire to advance to the next higher level in the
maturity model (Bessant et al., 2001; Dale and Smith, 1997). A good understanding of
the characteristics underpinning different stages of maturity models can help HEIs to
evaluate their own positioning in the LSS journey. Understanding the characteristics of
LSS organisations together with the characteristics of each level of maturity models
may help us in evaluating the readiness of HEI to embark on LSS. The lack of
sustainable, relevant and related quantifiable results will indicate whether or not an
organisation is in a position to embrace the LSS business process improvement
strategy.
Resources and skills to facilitate implementation
One of the most important requirements is to build human capital by providing
education and training to employees. The employees should be equipped with project
management tools, process improvement toolset and change management tools. Staff
members should be given adequate time to select and execute a project which results in
improved customer satisfaction, improved employee morale and enhanced customer
experience.
Project selection and prioritisation
Project selection is not only the most essential but also the most challenging aspect
experienced during a LSS initiative (Pande et al., 2001). Project selection methodology
enables organisations to deal with large volumes of proposed projects, enables
comparison to be made between different types of projects and allows one to forecast
which project will give the best return (Harry et al., 2010). If LSS initiative has to be
successful and achieve long-term acceptance within a HEI, then the right projects have
to be selected (Antony, 2004). Moreover selection of the right projects will create

confidence in management and employees towards the LSS initiative. This in turn will
promote future efforts and investment into the initiative (Kumar et al., 2009). If wrong
projects are selected, then:
.

The wrong processes will be improved.

It will cause frustration and demotivate the employees involved in the execution
of the project.

Delayed results and frustration is experienced.

The following tips may be useful while selecting potential LSS projects in the context
of HE sector:
(1)

Projects must be aligned with critical business and customer issues. This may
be referred to as the voice of the business and the voice of the customer.

(2)

Projects must be feasible to execute from a resource and data standpoint.

(3)

Project objectives must be clear to everyone involved in the project.

(4)

Ensure that projects can be completed within four to six months.

(5)

Ensure that a tollgate review must be performed at every stage of the Six
Sigma methodology by the LSS deployment champion for ensuring a smooth
running of the projects.

(6)

Select those projects which have the ability to show measurable improvements
in the delivery of quality associated with education, operational costs and
timeliness parameters.

Organisational culture
Experience demonstrates that changing the way work is organised has a more
profound and lasting impact on organisational culture than just educating employees
in problem-solving methods. Culture shows the behaviours of employees in an
organisation and strategies that can be managed in support of organisational
goals. The power of LSS to create a culture of continuous improvement lies in the
combination of changing the way work gets done by changing processes, plus
educating people in new ways of understanding processes and solving problems
.Nothing affects the culture of an organisation more than the outlook and behaviour of
its leaders. When leaders start differentiating noise from signals, ask for what is
critical to quality, and want to see the data that proves or disproves a hypothesis
then the culture of a business starts to change (Crom, 2010). In the HEI, the
organisational culture is all about changing the way we take care of our customers
(i.e. students, parents, local companies, faculties, alumni, etc.) and providing them with
a world-class experience.
Tools and techniques of LSS
Dale et al. (2007) describe a tool to be a device that has a clearly defined application, it is
often narrow in focus and is often, but not always, used on its own. On the other hand,
a technique is something with much wider application than a tool. A technique
usually requires more skills, training and conceptual thought to be used effectively.
A technique can even be viewed as a collection of tools (Dale et al., 2007).
Many organisations use some kind of systematic approach when deciding which
tool or technique to apply under certain situations, when to apply tools or techniques

Lean six sigma

for HEIs

945

IJPPM
61,8

946

and how to apply them. This yields significant benefits in the long run. The selection of
LSS tools and techniques depends on the needs of the organisation. Our research has
shown that the following tools and techniques are most relevant to the HEI.
Process mapping/value stream mapping
A value stream map allows everyone in an organisation to understand and agree on
how value is produced in the eyes of customers and where waste occurs. It is a process
map with data such as cycle time of processes, work in progress, idle time, etc.
Cause and effect analysis
This is a very powerful tool which allows a team to identify and explore the possible
potential causes related to a problem to discover its root causes. Cause and effect
analysis is generally used in conjunction with brainstorming. The potential causes
may fall under any of the following categories: manpower; machines; methods;
materials; mother nature or environment; and measurements.
Visual management
Visual management is a powerful tool to understand what is going on in a process and
see what is under control and what is not. Visual management helps one:
.

to understand and indicate work priorities;

to show what standards of work should be;

to identify the flow of work and what is being done; and

to communicate to everyone what performance measures are in place, etc.

Pareto analysis
The Pareto analysis is used to separate out the vital few causes from the trivial many.
In other words, 80 per cent of the problems are due to 20 per cent of the vital causes of
factors and hence called the 80/20 rule. By graphically separating the aspects of a
problem, a team will know where to direct its improvement efforts.
Project charter
Project charter is a tool of LSS which provides an overview of the project and serves as
an agreement between management and the LSS team regarding the expected project
outcome. A project charter consists of several parts, all vital to identifying
project expectations and gaining approvals and commitments from project champion
(and or sponsor) in support of the goals of the project. This tool is generally used in the
define phase of the LSS methodology.
Supplier-input-process-output-customer (SIPOC)
SIPOC is primarily used to document a process at high level and visually show
the process from suppliers inputs to the products or services received by customers.
The key benefits of utilising a SIPOC diagram are:
(1)

identify the key outputs and customers of those outputs;

(2)

identify the process boundaries and key activities;

(3)

identify suppliers and the key inputs to your processes; and

(4)

identify all the CTQ requirements for the inputs, processes and outputs.

Rapid improvement workshops (RIW)

The term RIW is synonymous with rapid improvement event and Kaizen Blitz. The
workshops are focused on local processes (usually departmental) with a view to tackle
some of the obvious problems or issues in processes within the timeframe of the
workshop (generally three to five days). The advantages of the workshops are:
.

Participants are engaged in the change process.

Decisions can be made rapidly given the representative stakeholders are present.

Ability to develop a cross-functional team of managers and employees working

together to tackle a problem.

Focus is on the practical, implementable solutions.

Conclusion and agenda for future work

Although LSS as a powerful business process improvement strategy has been around
for over ten years, its applications in the context of HEIs are still in their embryonic
stages. The authors have found that there is a clear misconception across many public
sector organisations that LSS is only applied to manufacturing companies and it
cannot be transferred to HE sector. In our experience, this is not the case as we firmly
believe that both Lean and Six Sigma have a role to play in university processes for
improving the efficiency and effectiveness. This paper presents the challenges and
barriers, success factors and the most appropriate tools and techniques for the
successful introduction and deployment of LSS in the context of HE sector. The next
phase of the research will be looking into the development of a Lean Readiness Index
Model based on the CSFs for the successful implementation of LSS within an HEI.
The authors will also develop a toolkit for LSS for tackling business process problems
in HEIs. A number of semi-structured interviews with most relevant people will be
carried out across a number of UK universities to understand the current status of Lean
and Six Sigma methodologies within such institutions.

References
Antony, J. (2004), Six sigma in the UK service organisations: results from a pilot survey,
Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 19 No. 8, pp. 1006-13.
Antony, J. and Snee, R. (2010), Leading role, Six Sigma Forum, ASQ, May, pp. 6-12.
Bessant, J., Caffyn, S. and Glallagher, M. (2001), An evolutionary model of continuous
improvement behaviour, Technovation, Vol. 21 No. 2, pp. 67-77.
Crom, S. (2010), Six sigma culture: better process and problem-solving, February, available at:
www.isixsigma.com (accessed June 10, 2012).
Dale, B.G. and Smith, M. (1997), Spectrum of quality management grid: development and use,
Managing Service Quality, Vol. 7 No. 6, pp. 307-11.
Dale, B.G., van der Wiele, T. and Iwaarden, J.V. (2007), Managing Quality, 5th ed., Blackwell
Publishing, Oxford.
Dewhurst, F., Lorente, A.R.M. and Dale, B.G. (1999), Total quality management and information
technologies: an exploration of the issues, International Journal of Quality & Reliability
Management, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 392-405.
Douglas, A.R. and Conger, J. (2007), Make your company a talented company, Harvard Business
Review, Vol. 85 No. 6, pp. 68-77.

Lean six sigma

for HEIs

947

IJPPM
61,8

948

Harry, M.J., Mann, P.S. and De Hodgins, O.C. (2010), Practitioners Guide to Statistics and Lean Six
Sigma for Process Improvements, John Wiley and Sons, Hoboken, NJ.
Kumar, M., Antony, J. and Cho, B.R. (2009), Project selection and its impact on the
successful deployment of six sigma, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 15 No. 5,
pp. 669-86.
Mathaisel, D. and Comm, C.L. (2000), Developing, implementing and transferring lean quality
initiatives from the aerospace industry to all industries, Managing Service Quality, Vol. 10
No. 4, pp. 248-56.
Pande, P.S., Neuman, R.P. and Cavanagh, R.R. (2001), The Six Sigma Way How GE, Motorola
and Other Top Companies are Honing their Performance, McGraw-Hill, New York, NY.
Rockart, J.F. (1979), Chief executives define their own data needs, Harvard Business Review,
Vol. 57 No. 2, pp. 81-93.
Snee, R.D. (2010), Lean Six Sigma getting better all the time, International Journal of Lean Six
Sigma, Vol. 1 No. 1, pp. 9-29.
Womack, J. and Jones, D. (2005), Lean Solutions: How Companies and Customers can Create Value
and Wealth Together, Free Press, New York, NY.
Corresponding author
Jiju Antony can be contacted at: jiju.antony@strath.ac.uk

To purchase reprints of this article please e-mail: reprints@emeraldinsight.com

Or visit our web site for further details: www.emeraldinsight.com/reprints

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.