TITLE:
Prioritizing Critical Success Factors for Six Sigma Implementation Using Interpretive Structural Modeling
AUTHORS:
Hisham Alidrisi
KEYWORDS:
Critical Success Factors, Six Sigma, Interpretative Structural Modeling, Prioritization, Automotive Service Industry
JOURNAL NAME:
American Journal of Industrial and Business Management,
Vol.4 No.12,
December
9,
2014
ABSTRACT: The purpose of this paper is to provide a
practical approach for prioritizing the most practiced Critical Success Factors
(CSFs) for six sigma implementation. The most commonly accepted CSFs for six
sigma were identified from the literature. Then, the interactions among twelve
CSFs have been studied using one of the mathematical/soft-operational research
tools, that is, the Interpretative Structural Modeling (ISM). The developed
model was illustrated using a case study selected from an automotive service industry.
The findings implied that almost all of the CSFs are classified as linkage
variables. The developed model provides a road map that assists practitioners
to understand the process through which six sigma is practiced in a certain
enterprise. Although the studied case was selected from the automotive service
industry, the outcome of the proposed ISM model supported the results of the
previous empirical studies in a sense that all factors for six sigma
implementation were in fact critical (i.e. none of them was located within the
autonomous category).