Six Sigma Management Of The Hotel Industry

The Theory of Six Sigma management was born in Motorola in 1980's.GE is the best representative which come to the top by using Six Sigma Management.There are more and more companies following GE's way to build up their perfect quailty.But nobody know it clearly about what is Six Sigma ,what is Six Sigma Management,and how to access Six Sigma way,ect. Six Sigma Management is famous for the enormous improvement of quality in Manufacturing which companies using Six Sigma Management initially.Then,Service Industry began to use this effective method to improve the service quality.The Starwood Corporation launch the Six Sigma Management in Hospitality Industry at 2001.It is the First company which launching the Six Sigma Management in Hotel.But hotel can not copy the method which has been convinced correctly in Manufacturing. Because Hospitality Industry is different with the Manufacturing. There is clearly product process in Manufacturing. It is easier to find the process defects in the clear process. But in Hospitality Industry, there is not clear service process. And more, the service process is flexible and floating. It is hard to find the process defects in the floating process. Especially, Individuation Service is popular now. But floating process is the main characteristic of Individuation Service .It seems that the Six Sigma Management do not fit for the Hospitality Industry. At the beginning time, The Six Sigma Management is just used in the service field in Manufacturing Industry, hospital and financial companies. Because its service (product) process is similar as the product process in Manufacturing Industry----clear and settled. It's easy to find the improvement opportunities in its service process. But there are working processes in Hospitality also. And the Six Sigma Management focus on the working process and try to optimize the working process regardless that it is settled or not. So, to run Six Sigma Project in hotel is doable. But the most difficult thing is ----It's hard to evaluate the service quality. The service quality could not be expressed by specific data but described by character intangibly. So it is where isthe shoe pinches .This article begin with the characteristics of Six Sigma Management. Then it analyzes the difference between the other quality theories and the Six Sigma Management. And then, the article set the Starwood Corp. as the model to introduce the status quo which Six Sigma Management was use in Hospitality Industry. Afterward, the author give a real case to study and draw conclusion about how to run Six Sigma Improve Project in hotel effectively and efficiently.