Participatory Improvement at a Global Bank: The Diffusion of Quality Teams and the Demise of a Six Sigma Initiative

Abstract

This paper traces the diffusion of cross-functional process improvement teams in a multinational bank's Six Sigma program. Rates of team formation were high where clerical workers received low wages relative to managers and professionals, experienced weak wage growth, were less likely to rise into supervisory positions, and formed a shrinking proportion of bank employment; and where managerial and professional wage gains and employment growth were strong. These conditions did not provide a stable basis for participatory improvement, however, and team formation faltered in more stratified work-places over time. We argue that team projects are most useful to managers where recent or ongoing workplace restructuring has marginalized the position of clerical staff. In the long run, quality teams prove ephemeral due to tension between their participatory ethos and the technocratic project they embody.