Exploring employee perceptions of Six Sigma as a change management program in higher education

ABSTRACT

Change initiatives in higher education are frequently guided by an institutional change management program which provides employees with a framework and set of skills to better understand problems and facilitate change at the organisational level. In this paper, we explore employee perceptions of Six Sigma as a tool for facilitating change at one public institution of higher education in the southeast United States. Unlike previous research studies that focused on specific results of change initiatives using Six Sigma, our research team considered how individuals, trained in the implementation of Six Sigma techniques and strategies, viewed the potential of the Six Sigma model to enact and sustain change initiatives in a higher education setting. In this case study, we describe Six Sigma as a change management program in higher education based on Lewin’s Three-Phase Model of Change.

KEYWORDS:

• Six Sigma
• change management program
• change initiatives
• higher education
• Lewin’s Three-Phase Model of Change
• case study

Epilogue

During the course of this study, the Six Sigma program in the College of Continuing Studies at The University of Alabama was discontinued. This decision was made prior to and independent from this investigation. Reasons cited by the university for program discontinuation included poor project success and lack of employee interest.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.