System dynamics structure for management support: An analogy with a capacitated delay structure

Manufacturing operations may use quality improvement programs such as six sigma to improve quality and reduce cost. One of the steps in the design and analyse phase in the process is to use simulation and design of experiments (DoE) to find the transfer function between the voice of the customer (VOC) and the voice of the process (VOP). During the simulations the influence of the different factors are simulated, but the influence of the soft issues like stakeholder involvement, policies, training, management support and other related issues are not simulated. Typical causality is studied using one of the six sigma tools, fish bone diagram. This tool does not allow the user to study and understand feedback from other factors in the improvement process system, typically referred to as feedback causality. It is in these cases that system dynamics can serve a useful role in six sigma practise. Management support is identified as one of the elements to ensure sustainability of quality improvement programs. The purpose with this research is to model the management support from a system dynamics perspective. An analogy is drawn between the capacitated delay structure and the management support structure. The analogy is grounded in theory through theory building from data gathered in interviews during the case studies.