$"1.$ Geneva Construction and Risk $($GCR$)$

PN$20$

Geneva Construction and Risk $($GCR$)$ is an insurance company specializing in providing insurance for

with

Unfortunately, the company's track record with "quality initiatives" is not good. A few years ago, Wichita Mutual directed all of its group companies to adopt a total quality management $($TQM$)$ initiative. He had done this in a very binding way by issuing a manual with detailed instructions on how to implement TOM across the team. Although the TOM initiative was never officially labeled a failure, it had faded over the years without the overall impact it had once hoped for. This time, Tyko Mattson, the champion: Six Sigma at GCR$,$ is convinced that an improvement initiative based on Six Sigma principles will be more successful. The case describes the previous TOM initiative and why we hope that the Six Sigma initiative will prove more effective. Excerpts from a document authored by Tyko Mattson are included in the case. This describes his views on some of the advantages and disadvantages of Six Sigma as an improvement approach and makes recommendations on how it can be applied to GCR$.$

This is a rich and complex case that can be used in a number of ways in the classroom. How to use it will depend on whether TOM and Six Sigma topics have been taught before the case is run or not. If this case is used as an introduction to improvement and improvement initiatives, then the debriefing should provide an opportunity to present the key to both TOM and Six Sigma. If the case is used after these issues have been addressed in the classroom, then the case can be used to develop some of the issues surrounding the differences between the two approaches, the similarities between the two approaches, and the difficulty in implementing initiatives of this kind. type. It is recommended that when the class includes relatively inexperienced students with little knowledge of the realities of improvement initiatives such as these, the case is used to introduce some of the main features of TOM and Six Sigma. Where the majority of students will have experience of this type of initiative, it can be used to address some of the more organizational problems of implementing improvement initiatives.

QUESTIONS

$1\mathrm{.}1.$ How does the Six Sigma approach seem to differ from the TOM approach that the company adopted almost twenty years ago? This is an opportunity to discuss the main differences between TOM and Six Sigma, both abstractly and in terms of how CGR views each approach. $(20)$

$1\mathrm{.}2.$ Is Six Sigma a better approach for this type of company. $(7)$

$1\mathrm{.}3.$ Do you think Tyko can avoid the Six Sigma initiative from suffering the same fate as the TQM initiative? $(13)"$