59 Copyright © 2014, IGI Global. Copying or distributing in print or electronic forms without written permission of IGI Global is prohibited. Chapter 4 DOI: 10.4018/978-1-4666-5958-2.ch004 Successful Implementation of Six Sigma Considering Management Styles ABSTRACT Why is management style so important to Six Sigma implementation? Many writers have attempted to defne managers as efective quality leaders. Particularly following the 1920s, a great deal of research focused on worker motivation. Prior to the 1920s most employees were looked at as machines and their needs and wants were ignored. Employees were viewed as a disposable resource, driving the belief that motivating employees and sharing organizational development ideas were not integral to business practice. This style of management discouraged employees from feeling as a part of the organization and taking a stake in development eforts. McGregor identifed two distinct managerial approaches, label- ing them Theory X and Y; theory X was the more prevalent behavioral style identifed among managers in the frst half of the twentieth century. A statistical approach to quality control was also beginning to emerge during this period, with origins in the well-known so-called Hawthorne experiments. At this time, while Japanese companies were developing quality methods, western manufacturers were focusing their eforts on marketing, production quantity, and fnancial performance. An awakening to quality in western frms did not occur until the 1980s, with Six Sigma as one of the ofspring of this movement. Six Sigma is a set of strategies, techniques, and tools for process improvement. One of the outcome of Six Sigma implementation is an infrastructure of people within the organization who are experts in this method. Six Sigma not only emphasizes setting rigorous objectives, collecting data, and analyzing re- sults to a fne degree as a way to reduce defects in products and services, but it can also be an efective Kouroush Jenab Society of Reliability Engineering – Ottawa, Canada Selva Staub Haliç University, Turkey