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Organizational Change Of A Lean Six Sigma

Good Essays

In this session of Leading and Managing Change, the class is tasked with writing about an organizational change that we are or have been involved with and its outcome. For my example, I am writing about a failed organizational change that I was part of that occurred in 2007 and involved a Lean Six Sigma initiative. I work in Fort Wayne, Indiana and from 2000 to 2008 our Mayor at the time had been a big advocate of Lean Six Sigma. He spearheaded the idea of improving city services through increasing efficiency and effectiveness with a system that originated in the private sector. Fort Wayne became one of the first cities in the nation to become a Lean Six Sigma government and over 100 projects were completed with a …show more content…

A project by the city street department reduced the cycle time of filling a pot hole from 48 hours to 3 hours by utilizing the Lean Six Sigma process. While this may not seem like a large issue to some, it mattered to the citizens and added value to their lives by limiting damage to vehicles and reducing commuting time. This project went on to be used by the State of Indiana Department of Transportation and other cities around the country in reducing their own responses to filling pot holes. When it came to the police department and Lean Six Sigma, I was one of the officers selected by our Chief to participate in the program and develop projects to improve the quality of life for our citizens. The city spent several thousands of dollars for me to attain a “black belt” level certification and to implement change within the police department. However, this proved to be an uphill battle that ultimately failed for several reasons. My Chief at the time was only supportive of the initiatives because he was told to be by the Mayor. He had little understanding of Lean Six Sigma principles, nor did he care to learn about the processes involved. Many of the projects that were selected internally were akin to using a battleship to kill a fly and could easily be solved without utilizing the time consuming Six Sigma process. Out of 460 officers, only 5 of us had completed the training and

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