Article

Trainers’ Perceptions of the Relative Importance of the Ten Topics Included in the American Society for Quality’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certification

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Abstract

The Six Sigma Black Belt (SSBB) certification is granted by many organizations including industry, academia, consultants and professional quality organizations. Each of these organizations has independently developed their own unique body of knowledge (BOK) by which their SSBB certification is granted. This inconsistency in the fundamentals of what a Black Belt (BB) should know, regardless of where he or she attained certification and works, has eroded the credibility of the training, certification, and ultimately the profession. Many Six Sigma leaders have made a call for action to establish a “common core” BOK that all certifying entities will adopt and may add to for their particular needs. This article seeks to determine trainers’ perceptions of the relative importance of the ten major topic areas defined in the American Society for Quality’s Six Sigma Black Belt Body of Knowledge through survey research of independent Black Belt trainers. The quantitative results identified the rank order of importance of the American Society for Quality’s (ASQ) SSBB BOK major topics. The qualitative results suggest that the top seven major topics of Measure Stage, Define Stage, Analyze Stage, Control Stage, Business Process Management, Project Management, and Improve Stage, be classified as problem solvers and the remaining three, Enterprise-wide Deployment, Lean Enterprise, and Design for Six Sigma be classified as problem preventers. The top seven major topics should be considered for every certifying organization’s common core and the hierarchy importance should receive appropriate amount of emphasis in BB training.

Keywords: certification|curriculum|lean manufacturing/Six Sigma|project management quality|research

How to Cite:

DeRuntz, B. & Meier, R., (2009) “Trainers’ Perceptions of the Relative Importance of the Ten Topics Included in the American Society for Quality’s Six Sigma Black Belt Certification”, Journal of Industrial Technology 25(3).