Perceptions of Lean Six Sigma: A Multiple Case Study in the Financial Services Industry

Abstract

From 2001 onward, books and papers about the application of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in service industries describe typical LSS deployment characteristics, such as the human element. The objective of this paper is to identify which LSS attributes affect employee and management attitudes and how the contextual frame affects this relation during the LSS change initiative. This study was conducted in the financial services industry. The research examines how the attributes of LSS affect attitude in terms of acceptance, contribution, or rejection of the LSS change initiative by managers and employees. A thorough qualitative multiple case study comprising five companies and 25 interviewees is seeking to answer how the attitudes toward the LSS change initiative differ per case. After exhaustive within-and cross-case analysis, theoretical and practitioner conclusions are drawn and the three main findings are discussed: 1) of all aspects of LSS, cost saving is the likely candidate to receive long-lasting attention; 2) the tendency to simplify the accounts of the LSS change initiative forms a fertile basis for misconceptions and extreme interpretations; and 3) the drive required to keep the LSS initiative going comes from a gradual and incremental implementation of LSS. The implications for LSS practitioners and managers implementing a LSS change initiative are discussed.