Managers' Perception of Six Sigma Focused on Hotels in the U.S.

The purpose of this study was to examine managers' perception regarding the importance and application of Six Sigma principles in the U.S. hotel industry. A total of 22 Six Sigma elements were abstracted from previous quality improvement programs and Six Sigma research, and participants were asked to respond to level of importance and applications on each Six Sigma element's. The most important Six Sigma element was management commitment,followed by teamwork, communication, customer satisfaction, and creativity. Whereas, the highest application attribute was customer satisfaction, followed by productivity, bottom line, cost reduction, and management commitment. In contrast, the lowest application attribute was rewards and recognition, which mean value was still above the neutral scale of four. As major findings, significant differences between perceived importance and application of Six Sigma elements were found by managers' employment position level and years worked. The practical implication of this study is that Six Sigma not only is very much applicable in the hotel industry, but also contributes to the process of reaching the goal of exceeding customer’s satisfaction. Therefore, Six Sigma is a management philosophy that could be implemented in the hotel industry that intends to increase productivity and customer’s satisfaction.