Six sigma, absorptive capacity and organisational learning orientation

The importance of the six sigma methodology in industry is growing constantly. However, there are few empirical studies that analyse the advantages of this methodology and its positive effects on organisational performance. The purpose of this paper is to extend understanding of the success of six sigma quality management initiatives by investigating the effects of six sigma teamwork and process management on absorptive capacity. It also seeks to understand the relation between absorptive capacity and organisational learning as two sources of sustainable competitive advantage. The information used comes from a larger study, the data for which was collected from a random sample of 237 European firms. Of these 237 organisations, 58 are six sigma organisations. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The main findings show that six sigma teamwork and process management positively affect the development of absorptive capacity. A positive and significant relationship is also observed between absorptive capacity and organisational learning orientation. The findings of this study justify six sigma implementation in firms. This study provides us with an in-depth understanding of some structural elements that characterise the six sigma methodology, enabling us to provide an explanation for its success.

[1]  J. van Iwaarden,et al.  The Six Sigma improvement approach: a transnational comparison , 2008 .

[2]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  Six sigma: The role of goals in improvement teams , 2006 .

[3]  Forrest B. Green,et al.  Six-Sigma and the Revival of TQM , 2006 .

[4]  Martha M. Gardner.  Implementing Six Sigma: Smarter Solutions Using Statistical Methods , 2000, Technometrics.

[5]  B. Byrne.  Structural Equation Modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic Concepts, Applications, and Programming , 1998 .

[6]  Daniel A. Levinthal,et al.  ABSORPTIVE CAPACITY: A NEW PERSPECTIVE ON LEARNING AND INNOVATION , 1990 .

[7]  Sunil Thawani,et al.  Six Sigma—Strategy for Organizational Excellence , 2004 .

[8]  David M. Levine,et al.  Six Sigma for Green Belts and Champions: Foundations, DMAIC, Tools, Cases, and Certification , 2004 .

[9]  Jayant V. Saraph,et al.  An Instrument for Measuring the Critical Factors of Quality Management , 1989 .

[10]  C. R. Gowen III,et al.  Simultaneous implementation of Six Sigma and knowledge management in hospitals , 2008 .

[11]  Celestine A. Ntuen,et al.  A new paradigm of Six Sigma: Knowledge-based Digital Six Sigma , 2009 .

[12]  George P. Huber.  Organizational learning: a guide for executives in technology–critical organizations , 2014 .

[13]  E. V. Gijo,et al.  Six Sigma implementation – Hurdles and more hurdles , 2005 .

[14]  Wenpin Tsai.  Knowledge Transfer in Intraorganizational Networks: Effects of Network Position and Absorptive Capacity on Business Unit Innovation and Performance , 2001 .

[15]  Xingxing Zu,et al.  The evolving theory of quality management: The role of Six Sigma , 2008 .

[16]  H. Barkema,et al.  International Expansion Through Start-Up or Acquisition: A Learning Perspective , 1998 .

[17]  J. Ravichandran.  Six-Sigma Milestone: An Overall Sigma Level of an Organization , 2006 .

[18]  M. E. Tubbs,et al.  Goal setting: A meta-analytic examination of the empirical evidence. , 1986 .

[19]  Henk W. Volberda,et al.  Co-evolution of Firm Absorptive Capacity and Knowledge Environment: Organizational Forms and Combinative Capabilities , 1999 .

[20]  Peter S. Pande,et al.  Las claves de Seis Sigma: la implantación con éxito de una cultura que revoluciona el mundo empresarial , 2002 .

[21]  Omar El Sawy,et al.  Absorptive Capacity Configurations in Supply Chains: Gearing for Partner-Enabled Market Knowledge Creation , 2005, MIS Q..

[22]  John S. Oakland,et al.  Total Quality Management: The Route to Improving Performance , 1993 .

[23]  Richard L. Daft,et al.  Organizational information requirements, media richness and structural design , 1986 .

[24]  E. Rogers,et al.  Diffusion of innovations , 1964, Encyclopedia of Sport Management.

[25]  John Hulland,et al.  Use of partial least squares (PLS) in strategic management research: a review of four recent studies , 1999 .

[26]  Jianwen Liao,et al.  Organizational Absorptive Capacity and Responsiveness: An Empirical Investigation of Growth–Oriented SMEs , 2003 .

[27]  D. Khanduja,et al.  Application of Six Sigma DMAIC methodology in thermal power plants: A case study , 2009 .

[28]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  SOCIAL AND METHOD EFFECTS ON LEARNING BEHAVIORS AND KNOWLEDGE CREATION IN SIX SIGMA PROJECTS. , 2004 .

[29]  Balaji R. Koka,et al.  The Reification of Absorptive Capacity: A Critical Review and Rejuvenation of the Construct , 2006 .

[30]  Kun-Chang Lee,et al.  Six sigma management activities and their influence on corporate competitiveness , 2006 .

[31]  J. Antony,et al.  Six sigma in small‐ and medium‐sized UK manufacturing enterprises: Some empirical observations , 2005 .

[32]  Michael D. Ensley,et al.  A reciprocal and longitudinal investigation of the innovation process: the central role of shared vision in product and process innovation teams (PPITs) , 2004 .

[33]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Absorptive capacity, learning, and performance in international joint ventures , 2001 .

[34]  John C. Anderson,et al.  Conceptualizing organizational implementation and practice of statistical process control (SPC) , 1996 .

[35]  Thomas Y. Choi,et al.  Theorizing TQM: An Austrian and Evolutionary Economics Interpretation , 2000 .

[36]  F. Javier Lloréns-Montes,et al.  Six Sigma and management theory: Processes, content and effectiveness , 2006 .

[37]  John C. Anderson,et al.  A Path Analytic Model of a Theory of Quality Management Underlying the Deming Management Method: Preliminary Empirical Findings* , 1995 .

[38]  Gopal K. Kanji,et al.  Reality check of Six Sigma for Business Excellence , 2008 .

[39]  Su Mi Dahlgaard-Park,et al.  Lean Production, Six Sigma Quality, TQM and Company Culture , 2006 .

[40]  W. J. Hill,et al.  The Impact of Six Sigma Improvement—A Glimpse into the Future of Statistics , 1999 .

[41]  O. C. Ferrell,et al.  A GLOBAL LEARNING ORGANIZATION STRUCTURE AND MARKET INFORMATION PROCESSING , 1997 .

[42]  Eric L. Lesser,et al.  Nurturing interpersonal trust in knowledge-sharing networks , 2003 .

[43]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  Six sigma: A goal-theoretic perspective , 2003 .

[44]  Qiang Tu,et al.  Absorptive capacity: Enhancing the assimilation of time-based manufacturing practices , 2006 .

[45]  Andrew A. King,et al.  Prospects for Developing Absorptive Capacity Through Internal Information Provision , 2004 .

[46]  Andrew H. Van de Ven,et al.  Special Issue: Frontiers of Organization Science, Part 1 of 2: Designing Work Within and Between Organizations , 2005, Organ. Sci..

[47]  Pam Carter,et al.  Six Sigma , 2010, AAOHN journal : official journal of the American Association of Occupational Health Nurses.

[48]  Jeroen de Mast,et al.  Six Sigma and competitive advantage , 2006 .

[49]  Luk N. Van Wassenhove,et al.  Behind the Learning Curve: Linking Learning Activities to Waste Reduction , 2000 .

[50]  Boris Durisin,et al.  Absorptive capacity: Valuing a reconceptualization , 2007 .

[51]  Håkan Wiklund,et al.  Widening the Six Sigma concept: An approach to improve organizational learning , 2002 .

[52]  E. Autio,et al.  Effects of Age at Entry, Knowledge Intensity, and Imitability on International Growth , 2000 .

[53]  J. Darroch,et al.  Beyond Market Orientation: The Adoption of Knowledge Management Practices and the Innovativeness of New Zealand Firms , 2003 .

[54]  Marjorie A. Lyles,et al.  Knowledge acquisition from foreign parents in international joint ventures: an empirical examination in the Hungarian context , 1996 .

[55]  K. Lai,et al.  Organizational learning, innovativeness, and organizational performance: a qualitative investigation , 2007 .

[56]  Jiju Antony,et al.  Going from six sigma to design for six sigma: an exploratory study using analytic hierarchy process , 2003 .

[57]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  Relationship Between JIT and TQM: Practices and Performance , 1995 .

[58]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  Six Sigma: Definition and underlying theory , 2008 .

[59]  Jenny Darroch,et al.  Knowledge management, innovation and firm performance , 2005, J. Knowl. Manag..

[60]  B. Kogut,et al.  Exploring internal stickiness : Impediments to the transfer of best practice within the firm , 2007 .

[61]  Justin J. P. Jansen,et al.  Managing Potential and Realized Absorptive Capacity: How Do Organizational Antecedents Matter? , 2005 .

[62]  Andrea Fosfuri,et al.  Exploring the Antecedents of Potential Absorptive Capacity and Its Impact on Innovation Performance , 2008 .

[63]  G. Huber.  Organizational Learning: The Contributing Processes and the Literatures , 1991 .

[64]  Jung-Lang Cheng,et al.  Six Sigma and TQM in Taiwan: An empirical study of discriminate analysis , 2009 .

[65]  U. Lichtenthaler.  Absorptive Capacity, Environmental Turbulence, and the Complementarity of Organizational Learning Processes , 2009 .

[66]  Tien-Shang Lee,et al.  The effects of business operation mode on market orientation, learning orientation and innovativeness , 2005, Ind. Manag. Data Syst..

[67]  R. Calantone,et al.  Learning orientation, firm innovation capability, and firm performance , 2002 .

[68]  Navin Shamji Dedhia,et al.  Six sigma basics , 2005 .

[69]  James M. Sinkula,et al.  A framework for market-based organizational learning: Linking values, knowledge, and behavior , 1997 .

[70]  Hsu-Hua Lee,et al.  Reducing exposed copper on annular rings in a PCB factory through implementation of a Six Sigma project , 2009 .

[71]  S. Albers,et al.  Crisis Construction and Organizational Learning: Capability Building in Catching-Up at Hyundai Motor , 1998 .

[72]  Peter J. Lane,et al.  Relative absorptive capacity and interorganizational learning , 1998 .

[73]  Oscar F. Bustinza,et al.  Six Sigma: From a Goal-Theoretic Perspective to Shared-Vision Development , 2009 .

[74]  Roger G. Schroeder,et al.  Method and context perspectives on learning and knowledge creation in quality management , 2007 .

[75]  I. Nonaka.  A Dynamic Theory of Organizational Knowledge Creation , 1994 .

[76]  Charles J. Fombrun,et al.  Constructing competitive advantage: The role of firm-constituent interactions , 1999 .

[77]  C. Voss,et al.  Quality management re-visited: a reflective review and agenda for future research , 2002 .

[78]  Anil K. Gupta,et al.  Knowledge flows within multinational corporations , 2000 .

[79]  Henry L. Tosi.  A Theory of Goal Setting and Task Performance , 1991 .

[80]  Nancy Page Cooper,et al.  Do teams and Six Sigma go together , 2003 .

[81]  Robert E. Cole,et al.  Quality, Participation, and Competitiveness , 1993 .

[82]  Maneesh Kumar,et al.  Six sigma in service organisations: Benefits, challenges and difficulties, common myths, empirical observations and success factors , 2007 .

[83]  K. Tsui,et al.  Impact of Six Sigma implementation on stock price performance , 2003 .

[84]  M. Hitt,et al.  International expansion by new venture firms: International diversity, mode of market entry, technological learning, and performance. , 2000 .

[85]  S. Zahra,et al.  Absorptive Capacity: A Review, Reconceptualization, and Extension , 2002 .

[86]  Melissa A. Schilling.  Technology Success and Failure in Winner-Take-All Markets: The Impact of Learning Orientation, Timing, and Network Externalities , 2002 .