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Adapting Six Sigma for Academia 

Adapting Six Sigma for Academia

For the higher education community, the public has focused on issues that include the number of students who complete their degrees and repay their loans. Typically, about half of the students who start a four-year degree program graduate within six years. Identifying ways to increase student retention and improve graduation rates are top priorities for academic institutions. Our team at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology wondered if quality improvement tools like Six Sigma could help turn things around.
By Timothy Chow and Craig Downing 

Big hospital improvements start small 

Big hospital improvements start small

As more hospitals and healthcare systems struggle to get sustainable and impactful results out of their lean Six Sigma programs, many are learning that creating a daily cadence for improvement at all levels of the organization engages more staffers and leaders to solve problems that prevent organizations from reaching their goals. Guadalupe Regional Medical Center's journey represents the same challenge that regional hospitals, large health systems and other healthcare organizations face across the nation, but this Texas medical center's approach is distinctly different than most documented examples in the United States.
By Jerry Berlanga and Brock Husby 

Employee voices and social sustainability 

Employee voices and social sustainability

Much has been written about the first two reasons for wanting to create systems that foster a “safe” climate for employee voice inside organizations. Therefore, this article focuses particular attention on the relationship between employee voice opportunities and employee well-being. Creating a culture that enables employee voice can, and should, be seen as an important component of an organization’s learning agenda, as well as of its social responsibility agenda.
By Cindy A. Schipani, Frances J. Milliken, Norman D. Bishara and Andrea M. Prado 

Rules for cybersecurity 

Rules for cybersecurity

According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, 90 percent of cyberattacks originate on the application layer. Therefore, practitioners must do a better job developing less vulnerable software. Here is one key rule to follow: Include cybersecurity thinking from the planning stage of software development all the way through launch. Your cybersecurity team will be an invaluable ally here. This article includes eight guidelines necessary to help your organization follow this rule.
By Anna Murray 

Manufacturing smarter 

Manufacturing smarter

Traditional manufacturing approaches no longer can keep pace with this dynamic new consumer-driven age. Meeting these demands will require a complete reinvention to how we approach manufacturing, and this reinvention will need to unfold on a scale that amounts to a new industrial revolution. Welcome to the era of digital manufacturing, which can be defined simply as the growing application and impact of digital connectivity linking automation, workers and decision-makers.
By Rush LaSelle 


 
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