Questions:
1. How do the elements of the HPWP system at SEM reinforce one another and contribute to the company’s success? What benefits do these elements add?
2. What value does a HPWP system add to your organization? Students working at companies with a similar high-performance workplace design should be ready to comment on their experiences and the value-added possibilities.
3. What advice do you have regarding the two basic options for building a more centralized process-improvement management system?
– Do you favor deploying selected employees for Lean or Six Sigma certification training outside of SEM and then growing SEM capabilities and applications internally? Why?
– Do you favor selecting and integrating a Lean/Six Sigma consultant group to work for six to twelve months with the senior leaders, managers, and employees to guide the development of process improvement capabilities and applications? Why?
4. If selecting and integrating a Lean/Six Sigma consultant group is the route chosen, what criteria for selecting a consultant should guide the process-improvement team? If deploying selected employees for Lean or Six Sigma certification training is chosen, how should it be structured and managed?
5. Prepare a written description for either the eighth element (similar to the descriptions on page 2 and page 3 of the case) or a set of points arguing against an eighth element.
