The Lived Experience of Lean Six Sigma Improvement Project Facilitators

Abstract

Organisational improvement under the guise of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) has developed into the most popular improvement methodology employed around the world. Since the 1970s, the increasingly widespread application of Total Quality Management and the Excellence Models has led to a focus on continuous improvement capability out of which the LSS methodology became de rigueur. To date, the dominant interests in the extant LSS literature have been to define LSS, report on results achieved, and discover the critical factors behind the successful organisational implementation of LSS. The rationalist orientation implies the simplistic notion that LSS is a recipe for successful outcomes. LSS research has focused on the organisational (macro) level and has not explored improvements at the project (micro) level. Little research has focused on the significant role of the facilitator, and no qualitative inquiry suited to observing the lived experience of teams engaged in improvement has been pursued with the same degree of vigour as the more rationalist topics of interest.

To respond to these gaps, this research aims to deepen the discovery of the subjective reality of improvement from the perspective of the facilitator through an inductive, reflective, and deep descriptive approach. The chosen study methodology is phenomenological inquiry, noting that phenomenological approaches can lack fidelity to the philosophy. Consequently, considerable care has been taken in the design of all aspects of this study to increase the validity of the research outcomes. Following the phenomenological tradition, the core research question is: ‘What is the essence of the lived experience of improvement facilitators during the improvement journey?’ The intent here is to illuminate the prereflective experience around three dimensions of the facilitator experience (personal, surrounding, and relational) with a focus on their relational experiences during improvement. 

The design of the whole thesis as a phenomenological study is novel and unique in the LSS field. To explore prereflective experiences, interviews with facilitators were focused on the qualia of the experiences before interpretive reflections were discussed. Thirty-five facilitators who had completed training and projects and gained certification from UTS were invited to participate in the study. Thirteen (four women and nine men) agreed to participate in semi-structured interviews of approximately two hours each. Discussions were primarily organised around three key experiences from a completed project nominated by each facilitator. In addition, a personality inventory and project diary kept by each facilitator supplemented the phenomenological interview and analysis. Edited interview transcripts were created and approved by participants, and the collected data was thematically analysed to understand how facilitators were attracted to improvement (personal world) and the nature of their organisational contexts (surrounding world). Thirty-nine evocative accounts of facilitators’ relational experiences, developed from the bulk of the raw transcripts, formed the basis for the thematic analysis of the relational world.

Four themes emerged from the descriptions of the facilitators’ lived experiences, revealing deeply relational and affective phenomena underlying stakeholders’ Define, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control journey: i) relational experiences with senior stakeholders and their tendency to jump to solutions, which was the most dominant theme; ii) the process of improvement was characterised by conflict often driven by differing opinions, beliefs, or feelings of fear, blame or anxiety during interactions at different project stages; iii) experiences that drew stakeholders into forms of collaboration when undertaking measurement or developing ideas, which generated feelings of enjoyment, contribution, engagement, and achievement; and iv) experiences that engaged stakeholders in measurement, which provided them with opportunities for learning and collaboration. The range and qualia of experiences surfaced a deeper social reality that is more comprehensive and representative of improvement at the project level. 

The personal, surrounding, and relational dimensions of the facilitators’ experiences revealed new knowledge about their behaviours, interventions, thoughts, and feelings. These included: i) Agency and Communion traits in facilitators engender affinity for improvement activities, empathic attitudes, and strong intentionality towards project success; ii) the maturity and type of organisational contexts are not associated with different facilitator experiences; iii) the formal allocation of the facilitator role and access to training are highly supportive structural influences; iv) the use of LSS techniques promotes facilitator efforts for relational and collective agency; v) facilitator interventions show a strong pathic orientation, engendering prosocial behaviour; and lastly vi) confronting organisational pathologies creates a therapeutic identity for facilitators. These findings are presented as a framework of interrelated social constructs that surface the system of influences on improvement facilitators and projects. Overall, these findings advance our understanding of the significance of the facilitator role. 

The dynamic portrayed in lived experience is also reframed theoretically in a model based on the various lenses of agency theory. The perspective created is a dance of agentic forces that may inhibit or support the activity of an improvement project. Central within the interplay of agentic forces are facilitator stewardship and relational agency, which enable the collective agency of stakeholders to sustain improvement capability. Within this core dynamic, facilitators constantly balance intentional and relational agency as they seek to develop and sustain improvement capabilities. Paying attention to the different sources of influence and how they interact provides a more holistic, complete, and new understanding of improvement phenomena.

The research is limited by its focus on the role of the facilitator only and its focus on complex projects. Research on other roles, an intact team, or different project types can extend the findings from this study. Also, the propositions inherent in the models presented here prompt further theoretical development and suggest possible areas of research. The phenomenological approach used can be explored in research in other fields. Recommendations for curriculum inclusions in facilitator and sponsor training and coaching in improvement projects suggest a practice that strengthens forms of agency during improvement activity.