subject: Process Responsibility and Project Effectiveness [print this page] Within Six Sigma Projects, people are assigned a variety of roles and responsibilities. This division of labor and effort helps to keep people in check and provides a much more efficient and streamlined process in the end. The people on any given Six Sigma team will consist of Champions, Black Belts, Green Belts, and Process Owners. Perhaps the most important role in this situation is that of the process owner. This person is responsible for the processes and they also take over after improvement projects have been completed. Without a responsible and effective process owner, Six Sigma Projects could easily fail because of this missing link.
The goal of the process owner in a Six Sigma Process is to be expertly informed on all aspects of the process or processes that they are in charge of. They should be familiar with the culture and objectives of the organization since they are an inside resource. They should set their own goals in accordance with these objectives as well as the Six Sigma objectives to ensure that they keep the business and the Six
Sigma Projects intact and running properly. Process owners play the largest role in Six Sigma Projects, whether they realize it or not, because their absence or inadequacies can ruin the chance for success of the improvements and their position will stand to gain the most when successful projects have been completed.
In order to remain in good standing with the process owner, they need to be involved from the beginning. Not doing this will cause a rift in the team because the process owner will likely become defensive when the process is changed and analyzed without his or her input. After all, this relationship is probably the most important one in the entire project, because without the support of the process owner, the team will likely be unsuccessful in their Six Sigma Projects. Add to that the fact that it will require double the work, since the process owner won't be readily providing all of the information that the team needs, and a lack of responsibility or relationship with the process owner can be devastating to Six Sigma Projects.
The process owner cannot become defensive, resist change, or shirk on their responsibility within the team during Six Sigma Projects. The Black Belts are responsible for making sure this doesn't happen. Without a cooperative and involved process owner, all efforts could be wasted when the process is turned back over to the process owner in the end.
