Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal Six Sigma Practices in the Banking Sector in Qatar Salaheldin Ismail Salaheldin Management & Marketing Department, College of Business & Qatar University, Qatar, and Iman Shafee Abdelwahab Personal Banking Services, HSBC, Financial Tower Branch, Qatar iconomies Abstract Purpose - This paper aims to investigate the process of six sigma implementation by banks in Qatar in order to idemtify its perceived benefits and to explore the critical success factors, Design/methodology/approach — Data were collected with a mail survey of both local and foreign bank officers at different managerial levels in Qatar. Out ofa total of 150 questionnaires distributed, 73 useable responses were received resulting in a 48.7% response rate Findings — Our findings indicated that the belief among the respondents that in implementing quality control tools in general and six sigma in particular requires certain tools and techniques that are found to be msuitable or are difficult to be implemented in the banking industry of Qatar. Surprisingly. the findings of the survey confirm that there is hardly any difference among the different managerial levels in perceiving and evaluating the benefits and the successful factors of the quality control tools implementation in banking Research jons - The sample of local and foreign bank officers at different ‘managerial levels in the banking sector in Qatar means that the results cannot be ‘generalized too widely. However. this can be overcame by conducting other studies on those people who have the power to implement six sigma within their banks, Practical implications Managers in the banking sector in Qatar should consider Six Sigma as an innovative tool for improving bank’s performance in today’s dynamic environment. More importantly, in order to gain from the benefits six sigma can provide, banks should start by educating staff about six sigma and its benefits, get familiar with the tools and techniques, take an ownership of the initiative, educate and, ‘rain staff and keep monitoring and improving through proper feedback Originality/value - This study provides a fully developed Six Sigma and strategy map for banks, which can be used as a template for other banks in the Qatari banking industry sector since it provides an insight into the critical factors influencing a successful Six Sigma implementation Keywords: Six Sigma, Benefits, Critical success factors, Banking sector, Road map, Implementation, DMAIC methodology. Qatar Paper type: Research Paper Introduction Since its introduction in the quality management warld as a powerful quality management tool, six sigma has gained an increasing interest among many different manufacturing organizations where the benefits and improvements from its usage have been proven. However, implementation of six sigma in the service sector is still not as popular (Anthony, 2006). Implementing six sigma in the banking industry in particular is even a newer concept in the world in general not to mention in the Arab countries, specifically GBMR Received 17 January 2009 Reviewed 16 February 2009 Revised 8 Mareh 2009 “Accepted 8 March 2009 GBMR Vol. 1, No, 1, 2009 pp. 23-35, 23Vol. 1, No. 1 Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal An extensive review of the literature has revealed a lack of research in six sigma implementation in the service sector in general and in the banking sector in particular. There is hardly any research at all on six sigma implementation in the banking sector in the rapidly industrializing Middle Eastern country, 2, the State of Qatar, specifically in terms of the process of six sigma implementation, its benefits, and its critical success factors. Accordingly, this research aims at filling part of the above mentioned gaps by investigating the implementation of six sigma in the banking sector in Qatar, More importantly, the current study vill conclude with some managerial implications that will help managers and policy makers in the banking sector of Qatar to implement six sigma effectively and efficiently Literature Review Six Sigma was envisioned to be a quality improvement program that reduces process variation to the point where there are only 3.4 unacceptable defects per million process applications through the use of DMAIC and DMADV improvement strategies coupled with the deployment of a structured set of quality tools (Kumar ef ai, 2008). More importantly, Six Sigma as a powerful management strategy has evolved from being exclusively about the original goal of a target of less than four failures or defects or errors per million opportunities, to encompass a broad range of approaches for incorporating quality into products and services from the early design and development stages and throughout their life times” (Harry and Schroeder, 2000, Hensley & Dobie, 2005, and Cheng, 2008). As pointed out by authors such as Bank (2000), Banuelas & Antony (2002), Antony ef al (2007), Taner et al. (2007) and Antony (2008), there are a few expected benefits from implementing six sigma in the banking sector such as: reduce customers’ complaints, reduce internal call backs, reduce flaws in all customer ficing processes, significant reduction in the number of retumed renewal credit cards, identifying and eliminating defects and mistakes in business processes, reduction in administration cost, and reduction in costs associated with order corrections, In the same line, Anthony (2006) listed some of the benefits obtained by the financial institutions as a result of Six Sigma implementation such as such as those obtained by Citibank Group and J P Morgan Chase (Global Investment Banking). These are: reduced intemal call backs by 80 per cent, extemal call backs by 85 per cent and credit processing time by 50 per cent, reduced the cycle time from customers placing an order to service delivery and the credit decision cycle by 67 per cent (i. from three days to one day), reduced statement processing cycle time from 28 to 15 days and increased customer satisfaction and improved efficiency and cycle times by over 30 per cent Accordingly, Dinell (2003) indicated that Bank of America, Citibank and Chase Manhattan have extensive in-house six sigma training and implementation programs. In the same line. Tracy (2003) indicated that Six Sigma is a well -established approach that seeks to help bankers at Bank of America to identify invisible-problems and errors within the bank so that they can identify the gaps the bank has. More importantly, Chakrabarty and Tan (2007) have investigated lots of articles concerning six sigma in services and filtered their results on 40 articles on the same topic. They strongly believed that six sigma is a recent improvement initiative that is felt to be difficult to implement in services because services’ processes cannot be amended easily. Moreover, they highlighted the 4Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal emphasis on Critical Success Factors of Six Sigma implementation in both manufacturing. as ‘ell as in services sectors such as: top management commitment, education and training, cultural change, customer focus, clear performance metrics, attaching the success of financial benefits and organized understanding of work process. In contrast, Hensley and Dobie (2005) addressed in their study on “Assessing readiness for six sigma in service setting” the following difficulties in using six sigma in services: difficulties in gathering data, difficulties in measuring customer satisfaction, and difficulties in quantifying and measuring data of sub processes. Other difficulties include: data collection is not automated like in manufacturing, cultural change, organizational infrastructure, linking six sigma to business strategy and linking six sigma to customer. Those difficulties are in line with the limitations expressed by Coronado and Antony (2002), Rajamanoharan and Collier (2006), and Chakrabarty and Tan (2007). From the literature review, we noticed that six sigma can be implemented effectively and efficiently through two key methodologies, ie., DMAIC and DMADV. both of which were inspired by Deming's (Cheng, 2008). DMAIC is used to improve an existing business process and _it consists of the following five steps ie, Define-Measure-Analyze-Improve-Control, while DMADV is used to create new product or process designs and it consists of the following five steps i.e., Define-Measure- Analyze-Design-Verify. In the same vein, researchers such as Anthony (2006), Ladani et al. (2006), Antony et al. (2007), Chakrabarty & Tan (2007), and Antony (2008) are in favor of applying the DMAIC methodology as the best way to implement Six Sigma in both manufacturing and service sectors, and this includes the five phases as shown Figure 1 Figure 1. Six Sigma ProcessesVol. 1, No. 1 Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal Research Methodology Research Objectives ‘The purpose of this paper is to examine the implementation of Six Sigma in the banking sector in Qatar, Specifically, this paper attempts to ‘e Identify the expected benefits of Six Sigma implementation in the banking sector in Qatar. ‘Identify the critical success factors of Six Sigma implementation in the banking sector in Qatar. Importance of the Study ‘The contribution of this study is three-fold. First, the findings of this study contribute to operations management literature in general and to Six Sigma literature in particular, This may provide the opportunity for other researchers to execute more research in the field of the Six Sigma implementation Second, this study contributes to what is a very limited amount of empirical studies on Six Sigma implementation in developing nations in general and in Qatar in particular. Third, a very significant contribution of this study is providing a fully developed Six Sigma road map which can be used as a template for local and foreign banks in the Qatari banking sector since it provides an insight into the critical factors influencing a successful Six Sigma implementation in the bank Hypotheses In order to shed some lights on six sigma implementation in the banking industry in Qatar, four hypotheses have been developed to be tested HI. There is no significant difference among different levels of management in the Qatari banking sector conceming the expected benefits of'six sigma implementation H2. There is no significant difference among different levels of management in the Qatari banking sector conceming the critical success factors of Six Sigma implementation Sample ‘The mail survey questionnaire was sent to approximaely 150 managers at different managerial levels (first line, middle and top management) in different departments of the banks such as Customer Service, Support Department, Personal Banking, Corporate and Investment. The questionnaire focused on 4 major areas: demographics of respondents, data on the bank, the expected benefits of Six Sigma implementation and the critical success factors of six sigma implementation. Usable responses of 73 were obtained resulting in a response rate of 48.7 percent, This rate was found to be better than a similar study by Antony, ef al. (2007) where they obtained a response rate of 12.5%. ‘The Construction of the Questionnaire Since the research is dealing with a service industry, we felt that a questionnaire would be the best way fo measure banks’ professionals’ thoughts and feedback on Six Sigma implementation. ‘The mail survey questionnaire was constructed and modified based on a number of successful studies previously conducted in related fields of study, i.e. Al-Marriet al. (2007), Antony (2006; 2007; 2008), Antony ef al. (2007), and Pinto et al. (2008), The modifications made to these studies were determined by the researcher’s own knowledge of conditions of the Qatari banking sector and the theoretical issues discussed previously 26Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal ‘The questionnaire distributed contained 11 questions in three different categories as follows (see Appendix 1): (1) Questions 1-4 ~ data on. profile of the respondents, (2) Questions 5-9- data on the bank, (3) Question 10 data on the expected benefits of Six Sigma implementation, and, (4) Question 11 ~ data on the critical success factors of Six Sigma implementation. Statistical Analysis ‘The Kruskal Wallis (K-W) and One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) were employed to find out if significant differences exist among different levels of management in the Qatari banking sector conceming the expected benefits of six sigma implementation and the critical success Factors of implementation of Six Sigma Reliability of the questionnaire Cronbach's alpha scores were computed for each construct (expected benefits and the critical success factors of Six Sigma implementation) to measure the intemal consistency and to indicate how different items can reliably measure the construct, Kline (1998) pointed out that a reliability coefficient of around 0.90 can be considered ‘excellent’, values of around 0.80 as ‘very good, and values of around 0,70 as ‘adequate’, depending on the questions, In this research, all scales have reliability coefficients ranging from very good to excellent where their values were 0.97 and 0.92 as shown in Table I below Table 1, Measures of constructs' reliability and convergent validity Constructs Number of ‘Expected benefits™ 7 097, Critical success factors” 30 0.92. “Expected benefits Critical Suecess Factors e «= Cronbach alpha Data Analysis Profile of the respondents Table II shows that the majority of the respondents are in the age range of (30 -40) and it makes sense since we are talking about a majority of respondents in the middle management role (63 %) which is a role that needs a college degree usually, in addition to a built up experience either in the same bank or in banking in general which is gained over time and is unlikely to be gained before one reaches thirty. Male response percentage was higher than female, probably because males felt more comfortable about the subject itself ‘The only surprising observation in the sample is the fact that 50.7% have spent less than 5 years in their existing banks. This could be due to the high level of competition and the high rate of tumover in the banking industry in Qatar five years or less in their banks but not necessarily in the banking sector in general. Another explanation could be the relatively quicker progress of banking careers compared to other careers. 27Vol. 1, No. 1 Global Business and Management Research An Intemational Journal Table 2. Demographics of respondents of the survey Nunber of Percent oF respondents | _ respondents Age Less than 30 years 19 30-40 39 41-50 ir 51-60 4 More than 60 years oO Gender Male 2 Female 31 Role ‘Top management 3 178 Middle management 46 63 First line management 14 192 Working Experience Less than 5 years 37 507 5-10 19 26 More than 10 years 17 233 ‘The respondents were asked to provide some important information on their banks which provided a lot of information about the Qatari banking sector and quality control. Table Ill below indicates that majority of the respondents (60) believe that their banks have not planned for six sigma and even more (69) believe that their banks have not implemented six sigma as yet, This is consistent with the introduction of banks in Qatar which states that none of the banks has implemented six sigma and only few (2 banks) have planned for quality ‘The higher response rate came from multinational banks (75.3%) where they show a better understanding and a higher interest in the concept than local banks, 64.4% of the sample were from banks that have between 500 and 1000 employees indicating that they are well established organizations. Table 3. Demographics of banks of the survey Number of | Percent of respondents _| respondents Planning for Six Sigma implementation Yes B 178 No oo 822 Implementing Six Sigma Yes 4 No 69 ‘Nationality Qatari Is 247 Multinational 55 753 Other 0 0 ‘Number of employees [Less than 20 ° 0 2050 0 0 51-100 1 la 101-500 10 137 501-1000 a7 644 More than 1000 15 205 28Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal Years of establishment Less than S years 1 La ° 6 0 0 oO 0 More than 20 years n 986 Hypotheses Testing Hypothesis one We partially accept the hypothesis that there is no significant difference among different levels of management in the Qatari banking sector conceming the expected benefits of six sigma implementation. The results of ANOVA analysis in Table VI partially support our hypothesis, There is a consensus among the different managerial levels in Qatari banks in relation to their expectation of six sigma implementation benefits, Out of 17 benefits, only 4 vary among different managerial levels. Most of the sample are made up of middle management staff ( 63%) and first line managers (17% ). Both levels, though different, are exposed to a similar company philosophy. They are similarly but not equally involved in a company strategy and vision, Surprisingly. reduction of correction cost, retumed credit cards and customer waiting time are in general what most of the studies have identified as the benefits resulted from six sigma implementation in services. This highlights one more time that this belief is a result of lack of understanding of six sigma implementation and its results on the bank business. Table 4. Significant levels (P values) for the differences among different managerial levels in the Qatari banking sector concerning the expected benefits of Six Sigma implementation Benefit ‘ANOVA® | K-ws! T, Six sigma reduoes transection cost 361 385 2. Six sigma reduces administration cost 301 412 3. Six sigma reduces costs associated order corrections 050 | 030 4 Implementing six sigma belps in reducing retuned renewed credit | (042 | “048 ards seo | 932 5. Six sigma focuses on solving the problem not preventing it 74 | Sit 6. Six sigma implementation improves the decision making process. | (969 | 998 7. Six sigma is a tool to improve internal business processes. 02 | 891 8 Six sigma aims at reducing mistakes in general 203 | 311 9. Six siama is basically a prevention tool 770 | 843 10. Implementation of six sigma provides consistency in Service Level 448] 512 ‘Agreements (SLAs) 007 | 013 11. Six sigma reduces customers’ complaints, 765 | 778 12: Implementing six sigma reduces customer waiting time 617 | 701 15 Itimproves timing of answering customers’ cal. 630 | 689 14 Six sigma in banking speeds service delivery to customers. 000 | 001 15. Six sigma will result in a higher customer satéfaetion rate 16. Implementing six sigma in the bank will affect bank's image | 630 | 712 positively Pos quail organization tal seeks continuous improvemes 17. Implementing six sigma will result in higher eypectations of customers that_are difficult to meet. Based on a Likert scale: I= “Strongly disagree”, 5 = “Srongly agree *Using One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal Wallis (K-W) **Significant at lvel.05 29Vol. 1, No. 1 Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal Hypothesis two We partially accept the hypothesis that there is no significant difference among different levels of management in the Qatari banking sector concerning the critical success Factors of Six Sigma Implementation as there is consistency with only 6 out of the 30 variables. Those variables are mainly related to management role and quality management role in quality implementation Further studies are actually needed to identify who has a better understanding of the critical success factors. Our own belief is that high level management is the level at which managers put more weigh on tools and techniques and the emphasis becomes less as we go down the managerial levels. Table 5. Significant levels (P values) for the differences among different managerial levels in the Qatari banking sector conceming the critical success factor of Six Sigma implementation ‘Critical success factor ‘ANOVA® | K-We" FT, Management Support and commitment 1. Management supporting implementation of six sigma 298 implementation. 22 | Sil 2, Management builds @ control quality culture bo | 6 3. The task of quality control is assigned to a panicular| “$93 | 005 department ‘005 all 4, Business Heads promote quality control implementation, 307 5. Management are concemed about the quality of service 998 provided to customers 968 6. Quality control and continuous improvement are dear objectives in management strategy 999 F2, Measurement and feedback ogy | 544 1. Customer satisfaction levels are measured and monitored. woo | 367 2! Asystem to feedback customer concerns is established ip | 734 3. Intemal measures (such as quality costs, no. of rejects)| “635 collected to monitor quality improvement. 490 4 Employees views are listened to and acted upon 482 5. Critical processes are identified for improvement. 002 F3, Improvement tools and techniques oot 833 1. Statistical techniques used in design processes 50 | SLL 2 Statistical techniques used in production processes joo | 002 3. Training on tools and techniques provided. ‘o1 4. Non-produetion related fumetions such as marketing and sales o19 use quality tools for improvement activities. on 5. Appropriate techniques are implemented when necssSary 04s 4, Systems and process oss | 221 1. Systems and procedures for quality assurance areimplemented. | [15 2. Information and data collection system established to monitor on improvement activities. sos | 490 3. Relevant training system in place. ‘81 986 4 Key business processes identified, improved and monitored 930 5. Key business processes focused on meeting the nals of 994 customers, 858 FS, Resources 546 1. Sufficient financial resources provided to support improvement 652 activities, m1 2. Human resource availability considered in improvement activities, 411 3. Investment decisions based on sound resources consideration, 367 | 945 4. Technical resources (¢-g. software, equipment) are provided agi | G4 F6, Education and training 301 298 1. Employees are trained in job-specitic skills 276 | 002 2! Employees are trained in quality-specifie toolsand techniquesGlobal Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal 3, Employees are tainod on flal quality concep OT 4. Training time is provided for employees. 5. Regular training is provided by quality management team, -Based on a Likert scale: | = “hot important at all”; 5 = “very important” *Using One Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and Kruskal Wallis (K-W) #*Significant at level 05 Conclusion and Managerial Implications Analysis of the data and testing of the hypotheses provide some interesting results about six sigma benefits and critical success factors as expressed in the banking sector in Qatar. ‘The study demonstrates that there is no a big difference in understanding six sigma benefits and critical success factors as perceived and expressed by different levels of managers in the Qatari banking sector. ‘The results have emphasized the assumption that six sigma implementation requires complicated statistical tools that are difficult to apply in service sector. An interesting belief amongst bankers that their banks have taken some steps in the direction of six sigma implementation have been revealed by the study The study confirms that majority of the banks do not have a specific department for quality control. At the same time, employees believe that quality isthe responsibility ofall staff. One of the most desired benefits expected from implementing six sigma is the consistency in Service Level Agreements as well as increasing customer satisfaction levels. When studying successful factors. top management support and measurement and feedback have topped thelist while improvement tools and techniques have been identified as the least favorable factor. More importantly, in order to gain from the benefits six sigma can provide, banks should start by educating staff about six sigma and its benefits, get familiar with the tools and techniques, take an ownership of the initiative, educate and train staff and keep monitoring and improving through proper feedback. Finally, this study provides a fully developed Six Sigma and strategy map for banks, which can be used as a template for other banks in the Qatari banking industry sector since it provides an insight into the critical factors influencing a suacessful Six Sigma implementation (See Figure 2 in Appendix 1), Limitations and Future Research ‘The study has touched on the current stage of six sigma implementation in the banking sector in Qatar, Though the data showed a very low degree of six sigma implementation, more research is needed to exactly specify the degree of quality control tools application in general and six sigma in particular. ‘The study has revealed some of the most important benefits perceived by bankers as a result of using six sigma. Further studies are needed to identify reasons behind low scores of important benefits like cost reductions whether it is the lack of knowledge of six sigma or the lack of experience. Other studies can help in shedding more light on how much knowledge of six sigma is there especially among people who have the power to implement six sigma within their organizations and followed by a study on how much this knowledge or lack of it is actually affecting attitudes towards six sigma implementation.Vol. 1, No. 1 Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal References Al-Marri, K., Ahmed, A .and Zairi, M. (2007) “Excellence in service: an empirical study of the UAE banking sector”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability management, Vol 24 No. 2, pp. 164-176. Antony, J. (2006), “Six Sigma for service processes”, Business Process Management Journal, Vol. 12 No. 2, pp. 234-248. Antony, J. (2007) “Is six sigma a management fad or fact?”, Journal of Assembly Automation, Vol. 27No 1, pp. 17-19. Antony, J. (2008), “What is the role of academic institutions for the future development of Six Sigma?”, International Journal of Productivity & Performance Management, Vol. 57 No. 1, pp. 107-110. Antony, J., Downey-Ennis, K., Antony, F. and Seow, C. (2007), “Can Six Sigma be the cure four our ailing NHS?”, Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 242-253 Antony, J. (2008), “Can Six Sigma be effectively implemented in SMEs”, /nternational Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol.57 No. 5. pp. 420-423. Antony, J., Antony. F., Kumar, K. and Cho, B. (2007) , “Six Sigma in service organizations benefits, challenges and difficulties, common myths, empirical observations and success factors”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability management, Vol. 24 No. 3. pp. 294-311 Bank, J. (2000), The Essence of Total Quality Management, Prentice-Hall Europe, pp208 Banuelas, R. and Antony, J (2002), “Critical Success Factors for the successful implementation of six sigma projects in organizations”, The TOM magazine, Vol. 14 No.2, pp92-99. Chakrabarty, A” and Tan, K. (2007), “The current State of Six Sigma Application in Services”, Journal of Managing Service Quality, Vol. 17 No. 2, pp. 194-208. Cheng, J. (2008), “Implementing Six Sigma via TQM improvement: an empirical study in swan”, The TOM Journal, Vol. 20 No. 3, pp. 182-195. Coronado, R. and Antony, J. (2002), “Crit s factors for the successful implementation of Six Sigma projects in organizations”, M Magazine, Vol. 14 No. 2, pp. 92-99. Dinell, D. (2003), “Banking goes Six Sigma”, Wichita Business Journal, November 21 Foster, J. (2008), A Future vision of the Qatari Beonomy, A/-Sharg Newspaper, Vol 7140, pp 3. Hensley, L. and Dobie, K. (2005), “Assessing readiness for six sigma in service setting”. Journal of Managing Service Quality, Vol. 15 No. 1, pp. 82-101 Kline, R, (1998), Principles and practice of structural equation modeling, Guilford Press, New York, USA Kumar, M., Antony, J., Madu, C., Montgomery, D. and Park, S. (2008), “Common mythes of Six Sigma demystified”, International Journal of Quality & Reliability management, Vol. 25 No. 8, pp. 878-895 Ladani, L., Das, D., Cartwright, J., Yenkner., R. and Ramzy. J. (2006), “Implementation of Six ‘Sigma quality system in Celestica with practical examples”, International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 69-88. Rajamanoharan, I. and Collier, P. (2006), “Six Sigma implementation, organizational change and the impact on performance measured systems”, International Journal of Six Sigma and Competitive Advantage, Vol. 2 No. 1, pp. 48-68 Taner, M., Sezen, B. and Antony, J. (2007), “An overview of Six Sigma applications in healthcare industry", Jnternational Journal of health Care Quality Assurance, Vol. 25 No. 3, pp. 276-291 Tracy, L. (2003), “Bankers steal page from industry to boost quality”, Charlotte Business Journal, December 19.Global Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal Corresponding author Salaheldin Ismail Salaheldin can be contacted a: salchialy@qu.edu.qa Appe Sot Six Siena etn Se Daslop Unarnd be ifocoe as Line Invata pase FA] BeSbeStateey FF] afesereners and FP] sues wanes, [>] "Tom Bains os Nini oat anced Ne or Simtey Aeon issn) ‘Scorecard) Improvement ‘of Continuous Ingres Asst Per AP tai Rous J] PesenteReainon ponte [7] overmnce ortmance ‘ee for Six Sigma Proves "5 slo corte ions Ses sel enor Trane epiment Depioent ix atormance Aasoss Business Ls} restonmance related to Sit Sigma Froese (Exhance the QNIS Process) ents Projects for improvements stall Quai Circle Develop six Lo Siena Trine Program Figure 2, Six Sigma Road Map For a Bank Appendix 2. Questionnaire on Six Sigma Implementation BACKGROUND INFORMATION About You 1 Age Category Under 3005 Laos [41-30 yes S1-40ys [More dan GO ys 2.Gender:LMale — LiFemale ‘3. What is vour role in the Bank? Top management [Middle management iFirst Tine management 4. How long have you been working in your Bank ? (Gitander 5 yrs ago [5-10 vrs ago [More than 10 vrs ago ] 33Vol. 1, No.1 Global Business and Management Research: An International Journal About your Bank 5 Has your Bank planned for six sigma system? 6, Has your Bank implemented six sigma system’. Yes 7. Your Bank nationality atari [Multinational [other 8, Number of employees Tess thn 20 [112050 —[US-100 Tors) [S100 9. Years of Establishment [Morethan 007 —] Tess than 5 yrs DAIS ys 162055 More than 20975 10, The following statements relate to your perceptions of Six Sigma bene Agree). Six Sigma system offers the benefit of is Please indicate the box that you feel is the most appropriate to each statement (= Strongly Disagree, 2 ~ Disagree, 3=Neutrak 4~Agree, S~Strongly T, Sik sigma reduces Wansaction cost 2. Six sigma reduces administration cost 3, Six sigma reduces cosls associated onder corrootons = Tmplementing six sigma helps in reducing retuned renewed ered cards 3, Six sigma focuses on solving the problem not preventing it 6, Six sigma implementation improves the decision making proces. Six sigma is a tool to improve internal business processes. 8. Six sigma aims at reducing mistakes in general 9. Six sigma is basically a prevention tool TO. Implementation of six sigma provides consisieng) th Service Level Agreements (SLAs). 1. Six sigma reduow customers complains 12, Implementing six sigma reduces customer waiting me. 13. IL improves tming of answering customers cals 14, Six sigma in banking speeds service delivery tocustomers TS. Six sigma will result ina higher customer satisfaction rate T6. Implementing Six sigma in the bank will affect bank's image posively as @ quality ‘organization that seeks continuous improvement. T7. Implementing six si difficult to meet a will result in higher expectations of customers that are I, The following statements relate to your perceptions of factors influencing the success of Six Sigma implementation, Please ind alt, 2 ~ Not important, Moderate. 4~Important, 5Very importan ate the box that you feel is the most appropriate to each statement (J—Not important atGlobal Business and Management Research: An Intemational Journal ‘The success of an Six Sigma implementation depends on: FACTORS, Importance Fl, Management Support and commitment 1. Management supporting implementation of six sigma, 12345 2; Management builds a control quality culture 12345 3. The task of quality contro is assigned toa particular department 12345 4. Business Heads promote quality control implementation 12345 5, Management are eoncermed about the quality of savice provided to customers 12345 6. Quality control and continuous improvement are clear objectives in management 12345 strategy F2, Measurement and feedback 1. Customer stisfaction levels are messured and monitored 12345 2A system to feedhack customer concems i estahished 12345 3, Internal measures (such as quality costs, n0, of rejects) collected to monitor ‘quality improvement 12345 4. Employees views are listened to and acted upon. 12345 5. Critical processes are identified for improvernent. 12345 F3. Improvement tools and techniques I, Statistical techniques used in design proce 12345 tistical techniques use in production processes 12345 3. Training on tools and techniques provided 12345 4. Non-production related functions such as marketing and sales se quality tools for improvement activities 12345 5, Appropriate techniques are implemented when necessary 12345 A, Systems and processes 1. Systems and procedures for quality assurance areimplemented 12345 2. Information and data collection system establishxl to monitor improvement activities, 12345 3, Relevant training system in place. 12345 4. Key business processes identified, improved and monitored 12345 5. Key business processes focused on meeting the ness of customers, 12345 FS. Resources 1. Sulicient financial resources provided to suppert improvement activites 12345 2. Human resource availability considered in improvement activities. 12345 3. Investment decisions based on sound resources ecsideration 12345 4, Technical resources (e.g software, equipmient) ae provided 12345 6, Education and training 1. Employees are trained in job-specifc skill 12345 2 Employees are trained in quality-speciietoolsand techniques 12345 Employees are trained on total quality concep. 12345 4 Tramning time is provided for employees 12345 5. Regular training is provided by quality management team. 12345 “Any additional comments