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Six Sigma as a source of service delivery improvement methodology
for the Malaysian hotel sector
J. Lahap
Universiti Teknologi MARA, Penang, Malaysia
B. O'Mahony & J. Dalrymple
Swinburne University of Technology (SUT), Melbourne, Australia
ABSTRACT: This paper is presented as to examine the significance of Six Sigma methodology approach
in the Malaysian hotel industry. It was known that there are many strategies that had been developed over
the years to improve service delivery in the hospitality industry. The industry by norm is known to use
human to deliver services. Therefore, seeking the best method to increase employee job performance is
vital. From the review of the literature it was found that there are several hospitality establishments used
Six Sigma to enhance their service delivery efficiency. In Six Sigma, 6σ symbolizes a specific number,
which is 3.4 Defects Per Million Opportunities (DPMO), where opportunity is understood as any possible
source of error in product, process, or service. There are three principles that builds Six Sigma methodol-
ogy and they are: a) teamwork, b) Statistical Control Process (SPC) and c) shared vision. Despite of that,
however, this paper will only focus on a single element of the approach that is shared vision.
Keywords :
Six Sigma, teamwork, statistical process control shared vision, hospitality, job performance
1 INTRODUCTION
customers, hotels tend to concentrate on improv-
ing revenue through increased sales, generally by
lowering prices. The review of the literature found
that the Six Sigma methodology has been widely
used in manufacturing businesses (Gutiérrez,
Lloréns-Montes & Sánchez, 2009). However, there
are number of service organizations that have
embraced the product improvement methodol-
ogy (Pearlman & Chacko, 2012). Kivela and Kagi
(2009) stated that Six Sigma is a product improve-
ment approach that is also well accepted by service
oriented businesses. Although the methodology
is designed specifically to improve productivity,
the concept gained serious interest from service
organizations as a method to improve the quality
of services. This was due to the effectiveness of the
methodology in improving products and services as
well as work systems (Johns, Tyas, Ingold & Hop-
kinson, 1996; Kivelä & Chu, 2001; Oh & Jeong,
1996; Pearlman & Chacko, 2012; Qu, 1997).
Tourism is an important industry that contributes
at least 9 percent of the world's GDP, employs
over 255 million people worldwide and represents
8 percent of the global workforce (World Travel &
Tourism, 2012). The industry makes a significant
contribution to the economic development of many
countries, with some countries reliant on tourism
as a catalyst for growth and development. This is
the case in Malaysia where the tourism industry
has been hosting large numbers of tourists arriving
for business or vacation purposes as well as tran-
sient passengers' en-route to other destinations. In
2013, the hospitality and tourism sector contrib-
uted MYR 65.44 billion (US$ 20 billion) towards
Malaysia's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and it
was ranked second, after the manufacturing sector,
in terms of overall economic contribution (Tour-
ism Malaysia, 2012). Intense competition has been
a feature of the tourism industry for some time
and this has led to the development of sophisti-
cated business operation strategies. However, the
hotel sector has traditionally been slow to adopt
these innovations (Fyall & Spyriadis, 2003; Rena-
ghan, 1993). O'Mahony (2006) notes, for example,
that instead of improving service and developing
distinctive products that satisfy the needs of their
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Six Sigma was developed and named by Dr. Mikel
Harry a Senior Engineer from the Motorola Cor-
poration, in 1975. He designed the approach after
his search for ways to reduce defects and improve
 
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