Workplaces in the private sector and the public sector have many similarities. After all, objectives need to be met and daily work needs to get accomplished. Through our experience with business process management we have identified five major differences between sectors:
- The Election Cycle
- Term Limits
- Legislative Controls
- Human Resources Structures
- Revenue is usually not tied to employee performance
Although these and other differences do exist between sectors, lean six sigma techniques can still be applied to show impressive results in government agencies. All workplaces, government and private sector alike have business process and workflow systems that need to be followed. To learn more about how these tools and methods can address challenges in public sector offices read the full article, Squeeze Maximum Value Out of ARRA Funds, Step One: Process Improvement published in The Federal Manager.
Business management consultants help to apply Lean Six Sigma and Business Process Improvement techniques to government agencies to improve performance. Implementing these techniques can help the agency improve communication and streamline decision making processes in order to improve service time and increase accountability.
By Ron Wince, CEO of Guidon Performance Solutions
Post taken from The Ascent Blog: http://www.guidonps.com/blog
Interesting ideas but the issue with Six Sigma is that it can only improve existing processes. And these processes have to be predictable and linear so that you can apply the DMAIC methodology to them. And it is true that the private sector and public sector share some similarities but the major difference is what makes Six Sigma so difficult to apply in the public sector: Businesses exist to make money and government has more diverse goals.
Also, I believe that Gov 2.0 has demonstrated that we cannot do business as usual in government. Making an unnecessary process as efficient as possible still provides no value despite how well we apply Six Sigma. What we need in the agencies is a culture of innovation and Six Sigma stifles creativity (3M’s struggles with Six Sigma is a good example).
Six Sigma has its place but I think that it is one tool in the Process Intelligence toolbox.