Lesson Activities

Lesson 2 Discussion: Resources to Share

Overview

The discussion helps students expand the resources on Lean Sigma.

Instructions

Your instructor provided you with a list of resources at the beginning of the course. The availability of Lean Sigma resources expands every year as practitioners achieve success when applying the processes and tools within their organizations and as additional industries embrace the practices to eliminate waste and practice continuous improvement. Post any resources that you find online and would like to share with your classmates pertaining to Lean Sigma. For example, provide the links and briefly describe articles in the University Libraries databases, free Internet resources on Lean Sigma, books available for free from Bookboon.com, or other resources that you think would help your classmates' understanding of Lean Sigma.

Posting Timelines

Day	Task
Monday–Thursday	Post initial reply.
Friday–Sunday	Review fellow learners' posts and respond to at least two.

Article Critique Paper

Article Critique

Overview

This critique provides an opportunity to critically read a journal article.

Reading a Journal Article Critically

To critically read a journal article, the reader must first understand the purpose of each of the sections of the article.

The first aspect of the journal article to review carefully is the title. The title communicates the major ideas of the paper, the participants in the study, and the organization in which the study took place. The second aspect of the article is the abstract. The abstract should provide the theoretical motivation for the paper, the major results, and a brief discussion. The introduction of the paper states the rationale for the study or implementation and includes a review of literature to give the reader an overview of what is known about the topic. The method section describes the research or implementation techniques. The evidence for the support of the research or implementation hypothesis is presented in the results section. The discussion section and conclusion section should be two separate sections. The discussion section is a summary of the main findings of the paper, how they are interpreted, and their implications. The conclusion of the paper should summarize the most important findings and highlight their significance. The conclusion should set the stage for future research based upon the outcomes of the study or implementation.

Instructions

Select an article that discusses how an organization used Lean Sigma, continuous improvement, or process improvement principles in their organization and write a 3-page critique paper.

Be sure that the article you select is something that identifies the merits or drawbacks of using Lean Sigma in an organization.

Deliverable

The 3-page critique paper should include the following information:

• Begin the paper with a complete bibliographic citation (using the current edition of the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association).
• Summarize the article, including the major of ideas of the article what the author(s) did to improve a process, why they improved the process, how they improved the process, and what the results of the improvement were.
• Identify how this applies to your organization.

Lesson 2 Personal Journal Blog Post

Overview

As indicated in the syllabus, the blog reflection assignments may require you to reflect on how the readings and assignments can be applied to your personal professional development. Please see How to Write a Blog Entry under the Student Resources module for your reference.

Instructions

In your personal journal blog, write and post a reflection of two paragraphs in length on the following prompt.

• Describe your experience related to a service that could be improved. Describe the service in terms of whether it was intangible, inseparable, perishable, or variable, if any of these apply to the situation.

Your blog posts will be evaluated on quantity, quality, and how well they relate to the materials for the lesson.

Deliverable

Once you post, please submit your blog URL to inform the instructor that your Lesson 2 blog post is available.

Lean Sigma Improvement Project Discussion

Overview

In this course, you will need to complete a Lean Sigma process improvement project that may be completed by you individually or in partnership with another class member of your choice. This discussion will get you started to explore and to share your choice with your peers, to get feedback from your peers, and then to determine your choice.

Instructions

Look around your work area, in an organization where you worked or where you do volunteer work, in your place of worship, or in your house, and so on. Think about the followings questions for the improvement opportunities:

• Where does inefficiency, redundancy, or waste exist?
• Where are your experiencing processes or the flow of activities that you find frustrating?
• Where are there errors, mistakes, reworks, and so on?
• Where have you of others accumulated "things" that get in the way of being efficient and orderly?
• What stuff hasn't moved or been used for years? Where trip hazards or unsafe conditions?

Based on your observations and thinking, select a project with enough scope that you can test-drive the tools we will learn about and apply in this course. But, don't select a project that you become overwhelmed or frustrated.

Your initial post should include:

• a description of your selected context for your project, (e.g., the work area/organization/place of worship/your house), and
• one or two paragraphs on how Lean Sigma could help improve services and processes in your selected project.
• If you want to apply the course tools to the organization which you currently work for, please post a description of your organization.

In this discussion, please post your initial reply no later than the end of Lesson 2, and respond to at least two posts from your peers in Lesson 3.

With this continuous discussions with your peer, you are expected to make your final decision and start to apply the Lean Sigma tools to your selected project in Lesson 4.

Posting Timelines

Day	Task
Weeks of Lessons 1 and 2	Post initial reply.
Week of Lesson 3	Review fellow learners' posts and respond to at least two.