My PhD Blog

SAC 2009, ACM Symposium on Applied Computing – March 8 – 12, 2009

Title: Lean Six Sigma and DEMO, a comparison of enterprise improvement strategies

Abstract : Lean Six Sigma’s primary theory is that focusing on ‘reduction of variation’ and ‘removing waste’ in business processes will lead to business improvement. The approach is operationalized with statistics methodologies to analyze the fluctuations of a business processes. This focus on behavior is in contrast with enterprise architecture. Believers of this approach apply a constructional perspective on the enterprise and improve from this point on. DEMO, an acronym for Design and Engineering Methodology for Organizations, is a methodology in this category. The goal of this paper is to compare Lean Six Sigma and DEMO from an enterprise improvement perspective. This is relevant because enterprise improvement requires a methodology with a balanced focus on the structure and behavior of the enterprise. Based upon the results of this compare, we position research questions for further research in the assimilation of Lean Six Sigma and DEMO.