Tracey,
I tend to agree with Stan on his point of views, but not necessarily that your question was stupid. What you are asking is “is six sigma just hype, and if not, how can I integrate it with systems thinking (if at all).” I find it funny that you would come to a discussion forum for the answers to these questions, since forums are typically about people’s opinions on subjects. Some may say yes, others may say no, all probably have data to back up their opinions. The only data that matters is your data — go get some.
Training you in six sigma will cost your company a few thousand dollars and a few weeks of your time. If that is too much investment to determine if six sigma is hype or not (which it isn’t), and how it integrates with your systems thinking process, then you’ve got bigger fish to fry then trying to get your question answered.
You’re helping your organization make decisions about how it will run for years to come. Get trained, do a project so you see how the tools work, figure out if and how it integrates with whatever you’re currently doing, get the data to prove it, and move forward. It’s pretty plain and simple. Nothing worth having is handed to you on a silver platter.
Ren
