I can't tell you the number of times that I have taken the 'executive' facility tour only to see something surprising offered as their "statistical process control"!
It's a control chart, demanding attention, loudly proclaiming that the process is 'out of control'. However, the machinery still turns and product continues to be packaged and shipped.
"Re-organization" and "teams" are the perennials in the Management improvement garden. Popping their heads up every weak financial quarter, hope springs eternal for these two old favorites. While these venerable strategies do occasionally work to rejuvenate an organization, it isn't magic; and understanding that fact is the key to more than an occasional success.
You may have never heard of, or thought about such a notion as "The Threshold of perception". In fact, for thousands of years this idea would have been inaccessible to all but a few people. In order to grasp the threshold, one must see it move!
There are things that are too small for the human eye to see, but they exist. When one has seen a magnifying glass 'push back' the threshold, the principle is established. It is then easy to imagine that increases in magnification will reveal still more unseen things.
"Six-sigma" anywhere in the title of a book, article or website is guaranteed to draw attention. Businesses are urgently asking "What's our sigma?", knowing only that "6" is supposedly "good", and unsure of what is "bad". If you don't know a +6 from a -12 "sigma" then read this now, and don't make a "six-sigma" mistake.
RISK
