Structuring the Six Sigma Function (Jobs and Titles/Team Structure)

The structure of the Six Sigma functions (Jobs and Titles/Team Structure) consists of the following individuals. All members of the team MUST buy into this methodology for the Six Sigma to be successful during the project or projects that you are associating it with. Buy in is crucial because Six Sigma can only work if the entire enterprise is on the same page, that includes Executives at the top to the Green Belts who do a lot of the heavy lifting.

The Executive Leadership is made up of the CEO and key top management team members. They are responsible for setting up a vision for implementing Six Sigma. They empower others with freedom of power and speech because they believe it will achieve splendid results.

The Quality Leader/Manager improves the operational effectiveness. He takes up the responsibility for representing the needs of the customer. To maintain impartiality, the quality function is different from the manufacturing or transactional processing functions.

The Master Black Belt acts as the in-house expert coach for the organization. They see that the overall Six Sigma initiatives are accountable to the executives and the operational business units. They are full-time agents to Six Sigma. They assist champions and guide Black Belts and Green Belts. Apart from the usual routine, they spend their time on ensuring integrated deployment of Six Sigma across various functions and departments.

Process Owner (PO) as the name suggests are the responsible individuals for a specific process. These managers own the profit and loss or the budget and productivity of the processes. Depending on the size of the business and core activities, one can have process owners at lower levels of the organizational structure.

Black Belt (BB) - Black Belts are the heart and soul of the Six Sigma quality initiative. Their main purpose is to lead quality projects and work full time. As team leaders, Black Belts use project tracking and management tools as well as process optimization.

"Black Belts can typically complete four to six projects per year with savings of approximately $230,000 per project. Black Belts also coach Green Belts on their project."

Green Belt (GB) - Green Belts are employees trained in Six Sigma who spend a portion of their time completing projects, but maintain their regular work routine and responsibilities. Depending on their workload, they may spend 10% to 50% of their time on their projects. They operate under the guidance of Black Belts and support them in achieving the overall results. Green Belts use similar tools as Black Belts with a lower level of analytical prowess.