Rath & Strong's Six Sigma Leadership Handbook

Rating:
Summary: A must for Six Sigma starter, and leader
Review: The name says it well - this is a book for leader who want to know what Six Sigma is, and in particular, all (and I mean ALL) the other management issues for starting Six Sigma.

Obviously this book will not cover the detail technical aspect of Six Sigma (like the statistics knowledge,etc), but this book cover all the useful information for Six Sigma - its history, what is Black/Green/Yellow Belts, what is DFSS,DMAIC,etc.. It also covers information not available in other Six Sigma books - change management, Belts selection, communication to the organization, etc... I will say this single book must be the very first book for all people who wants to know this popular management topics, before going into other academic or technical details.

Rating:
Summary: A must for Six Sigma starter, and leader
Review: The name says it well - this is a book for leader who want to know what Six Sigma is, and in particular, all (and I mean ALL) the other management issues for starting Six Sigma.

Obviously this book will not cover the detail technical aspect of Six Sigma (like the statistics knowledge,etc), but this book cover all the useful information for Six Sigma - its history, what is Black/Green/Yellow Belts, what is DFSS,DMAIC,etc.. It also covers information not available in other Six Sigma books - change management, Belts selection, communication to the organization, etc... I will say this single book must be the very first book for all people who wants to know this popular management topics, before going into other academic or technical details.

Rating:
Summary: Practical Guidance for Leaders
Review: This is the best practical guide out there. It is not a pocket guide like most of Rath & Strong's publications but it is no less practical. The book is written by a group of authors who work day-to-day actually implementing Six Sigma in a variety of organizations and clearly reflects their practical orientation. In addition, there are a number of indepth interviews with corporate CEOs and other senior leaders who have successfully used Six Sigma. One of the strengths of this book is that it not only covers the technical issues associated with Six Sigma implementation but also offers practical guidance in areas like change management and cultural impact. This handbook is a must read both for anyone thinking about implementing Six Sigam and for those already deeply involved.

Rating:
Summary: Practical Guidance for Leaders
Review: This is the best practical guide out there. It is not a pocket guide like most of Rath & Strong's publications but it is no less practical. The book is written by a group of authors who work day-to-day actually implementing Six Sigma in a variety of organizations and clearly reflects their practical orientation. In addition, there are a number of indepth interviews with corporate CEOs and other senior leaders who have successfully used Six Sigma. One of the strengths of this book is that it not only covers the technical issues associated with Six Sigma implementation but also offers practical guidance in areas like change management and cultural impact. This handbook is a must read both for anyone thinking about implementing Six Sigam and for those already deeply involved.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect Overview
Review: This is the most complete Six Sigma overview I have ever read. Not only does Rath & Strong write from a team of everyday Six Sigma trainers and consultants, but this book also includes high profile interviews by industry leaders such as Dr. Juran (Juran Institute), Dr. Mikel Harry (Six Sigma Academy) and Robert Galvin (Motorola). If you do not have this book, you are not serious about Six Sigma.

Rating:
Summary: No other single source offers more or better information
Review: Twenty-eight people contributed material to this book, including Thomas Bertels who also served as editor. What we have here in a single volume is a focus on "the critical factors that can make or break the implementation of Six Sigma in an organization." The contributors identify, explain, and then support these principles with real-world experiences and examples. "By placing Six Sigma in this context, this book will, in fact, be useful for any executive, manager, or employee who wants to understand how Six Sigma can help address the particular challenges of their organization." This book was written with empathy for non-technicians (such as I) as it responds to questions such as these:

• What is Six Sigma?
• Why Six Sigma?
• Why NOT Six Sigma?
• Where and how to begin?
• Whom to involve in Six Sigma initiatives?
• What is senior management's role?
• Major cultural barriers and how to overcome them?
• How and when to implement Six Sigma program?
• How to measure progress?
• How to sustain process improvement?

My own rather extensive experience suggests that all organizations can improve HOW they conduct business. Some processes may involve development of new products or services, others production and/or distribution, and still others order processing. Whatever. Not all organizations, however, need a full-blown Six Sigma program. In fact, a majority of such programs either fail or fall far short of expectations.

Among the many substantial benefits of this book is the guidance it provides to decision-makers when they struggle to determine the nature and extent of process improvement initiatives needed. You don't need a full-blown Six Sigma program inorder to, for example, reduce cycle time while improving first-pass yield. Among the most valuable chapters in this book are the last two. With appropriate modification, the principles, strategies, and tactics in both Chapter 24 ("Measuring and Auditing Results") and in Chapter 25 ("Developing Change Leadership Capacity") are relevant to any organization, regardless of size of nature. In my opinion, each of these two chapters (all by itself) is worth far more than the cost of the book but the value of both is even greater, of course, when their material is absorbed and digested at the conclusion of the sequence of chapters. I also want to commend the remarkably informative Foreword, Preface, and Introductions well as are three appendices: "Basic Six Sigma Concepts," "Case Study: Six Sigma in Small and Medium Enterprises," and "DFSS Case Study."

Previously, I have reviewed and praised the works of Forrest Breyfogle, Subir Chowdhury, George Eckes, and Peter Pande, each of whom has written brilliantly and eloquently on the subject of Six Sigma. I continue to recommend their works without hesitation or qualification, as I shall now do also with Rath & Strong's Six Sigma Leadership Handbook as well as the three Rath & Strong Pocket Guides and the Six Sigma Road Map. Given the importance of process improvement, and given how many hours and dollars can be saved by even one improvement, it makes sense to obtain resources such as these and then derive maximum ROI from each.