Six Sigma implementation: a qualitative case study using grounded theory

Many organisations have implemented Six Sigma, but successful Six Sigma implementation has not been fully investigated. The purpose of this study is to explore the process of implementing Six Sigma in a manufacturing plant using qualitative case study methodology. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and analysed using grounded theory to identify the main factors that emerged from the interview data and the relationships between them. Consistent with previous studies, the findings emphasise the role of executive commitment, Six Sigma Champions, and training in successful implementation of Six Sigma projects. Furthermore, the study underlines the role of effective project selection and the coexistence of other management initiatives (e.g. lean manufacturing and continuous improvement) on successful implementations of Six Sigma projects. Our findings also suggest that Six Sigma implementation leads to higher levels of customer focus. The study contributes to the existing body of knowledge in effective implementation of Six Sigma. The results include a coding paradigm for the implementation process and implications for managers and practitioners.     

Acoustic Packaging of Action Sequences by Infants

This study investigated whether acoustic input, in the form of infant‐directed speech, influenced infants' segmenting of action sequences. Thirty‐two 7.5‐ to 11.5‐month‐old infants were familiarized with video sequences made up of short action clips. Narration coincided with portions of the action stream to package certain pairs of clips together. At test, packaged and nonpackaged pairs of actions were presented side by side in silence. Narration heard during familiarization influenced how infants viewed the action units, such that at test, infants older than 9.5 months (but not younger) looked longer at the nonpackaged than the packaged action sequences. The role of infant‐directed speech as well as other types of acoustic input in assisting infants' processing of action is discussed.     

Demographic,personality, cognitive and behavioral correlates of off-course betting involvement

A large (n=381) exploratory survey of off-course bettors was conducted as a step towards rectifying deficits in current gambling literature. Information collected by interviews and questionnaires from off-course betting agency customers showed the level of betting involvement to be largely unrelated to demographic and cognitive variables and sensation seeking, but related to a variety of betting behaviors. A factor analysis produced three independent factors accounting for 30% of the variance. Loadings on these suggested an independence of items involved in the process of betting and those related to the control of betting behaviors, implying that non-pathological gambling involvement may be a reasonable goal for treatment programs.     

career story: The importance of being ERNIE

ERNIE is the Electronic Random Number Indicator Equipment that caused huge interest in 1957 when it began selecting prize-winners for the new Premium Bonds, the first government-sponsored gamble in Britain in modern times. Stephanie Shirley was a young statistician working on ERNIE. Today, as Steve Shirley or Dame Stephanie , she is one of the wealthiest women in Britain—not through winning on Premium Bonds herself, but through the pioneering software company she formed which, for the first time, gave female-friendly employment to women programmers (and statisticians) who had children and dependants at home to care for. She is now a major philanthropist and a driving force for research into the social effects of the Internet and into autism. She has given more than £50 million to charities in those fields. Julian Champkin interviews her.     

Regulation, market power, and labor earnings: Evidence from the cable television industry

Labor economists have suggested that employee earnings may be relatively higher in firms possessing market power, such as that which may stem from government regula-tion of prices or entry of firms. We test this hypothesis, which previously has been inves-tigated in the context of industries such as trucking and air transportation, using earnings data for the cable television industry. Our empirical findings suggest that cable TV employees capture some of the benefits producers receive from regulations restricting competition.     

Courting LULUs: Characteristics of Suitor and Objector Communities*

Abstract This research examines nonmetropolitan places most likely to support or oppose proposals for locally undesirable land uses (LULUs) involving waste management facilities. Two hypotheses are tested: (1) that relatively remote communities of lower socioeconomic status will be less likely to oppose such proposals; and (2) that support for such proposals is widespread among nonmetropolitan communities because of growth machine activities. Using key informants and secondary data for 166 non‐metropolitan Pennsylvania places, we find that local growth promotion, especially efforts to promote business and industry, is related positively to community experience with plant closings and to proposals for these LULUs. Where these proposals are made, community opposition tends to be present as well, particularly in larger communities and, surprisingly, in those of lower socioeconomic status. The significance of these findings is discussed in terms of the growth machine and the opposition they can provoke to protect the use value of land in a single nonmetropolitan region.     

Art work or money: Conflicts in the construction of a creative identity

The identity projects of novice creative practitioners must take account of the economy of art work. It has been suggested ( McRobbie, 2002a ) that in the contemporary cultural industries in the UK, a new understanding of the connection between creative work and money has replaced past ‘anti‐commercial’ notions. This claim is investigated through a narrative‐discursive analysis of interviews from a longitudinal study with current and recent Art and Design postgraduates. Their ongoing identity projects are shaped by established understandings of creative work and the prospects it offers for earning and employment, and also by more local discursive resources given by personal life contexts. An analysis of two interviews with a single speaker shows how these resources are taken up within her ongoing and distinctive identity project. Both old and new repertoires of art and money are in play in her talk. She must negotiate dilemmas and potentially troubled positionings in order to reconcile a creative identity with relationships and responsibilities towards others. Coherence is only achieved momentarily and is disrupted by new life circumstances. By investigating an identity project at the level of talk, the analysis shows the complexity of the speaker's work to construct and claim a creative identity.