Improving the Services at Beitunia Municipality Using Lean Six Sigma Methodology رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

This study contributes uniquely by elucidating the synergistic impact of implementing Lean Six Sigma Methodology in the public sector. It examined the use of the Lean Six Sigma methodology to help local governments become more efficient and simultaneously increase the quality of their services in order to increase citizen’s satisfaction, eliminate waste, and reduce variation and cost. The importance of this study lies in improving a core process at Beitunia Municipality, which includes some non-value-added steps that cause the process to take a long time to be completed. This results in receiving a large number of complaints from the locals. Moreover, no previous or similar studies have been identified in Palestine which confirms that there is a gap in both theory and practice. The main objective is to improve the process of Issuing Building Permits at Beitunia Municipality. To achieve this objective, the improvement team has applied a well-known international improvement methodology named “DMAIC” which is a method that starts with identifying and defining the problems, then measures the current performance of the process, then analyses the data collected in the previous section, then implement the improvement and analyses the findings, and finally control and maintain the achieved improvements, In every phase of the DMAIC approach, a different set of tools can be used. In the Define phase, tools such as SIPOC and project charter Moreover, Pareto analysis, Process flow chart, eight wastes and Quick wins are just a few of the useful tools that can be used in the Measure Phase. In the Analyze phase, useful tools that include cause and effect diagram, hypothesis testing, five whys, and pareto chart. In the Improve phase, PDSA is one of the improvements tools that has been used for testing different improvement theories along with the control, in the Control phase, IV the flowchart for the new process is created and used as a standard that should to be followed along with a control chart which is used to monitor the new process in order to maintain the new performance. In addition to the DMIAC improvement methodology, other research tools have been used such as conducting a survey, in which a questionnaire was prepared to obtain the opinions from the citizens who have applied for building permits from the municipality. Forty-eight questionnaires have been filled and collected, after that they were analyzed using SPSS software. Interviews were also held with municipal employees to obtain information about the current status of the process, define the current problem, and identify the project scope. At the end of this improvement work, the conclusions reached are as follow: the improvements have resulted in shortening the time needed to issue building permits from 22.5 days to 10 days, and has eliminated the non-value added steps; and tracking the applications in the Building Permit Application system has become easier through breaking down some steps into sub-steps to highlight where exactly the application is waiting to be processed, and adoption of a new procedure that sets a time period for each step in the process. The improvement team recommended the implementation of Lean Six Sigma methodology in order to improve all the services delivered to the locals in Beitunia City, and to train a selected group of employees at Beitunia Municipality on how to apply the Lean Six Sigma methodology to make improvements everywhere. This study contributes to the introduction of a methodology that has never been applied in Palestine in the governmental sector. The use of this methodology and the application of its tools and principles lead to the development, improvement, and upgrading of the quality of services provided to citizens in the government sector. V Acknowledgment: I would like to thank the faculty and the staff of the Department of Graduate Studies at the Arab American University for making my master study a memorable and valuable experience. I am grateful to my thesis supervisor Dr. Ashraf Almimi for his efforts, advice, and close corporation that helped me in achieving the objectives of this research. Also, I would like to show my appreciation to all the staff of the Municipality of Beitunia for their cooperation and assistance in the improvements project, especially the Mayor of Beitunia Mr.Ribhi Dola and improvement team: Mr.Mohammad Majdoba, Ms.Fidaa Aazem, Mr.Ibrahim Shalby, Mr.Mothnna Nasar, and Ms.Bodor Badran, and I would like to thank Mr. Ehab Badr for his efforts with me in accomplishing this work. This research is dedicated to my life partner Noor and my daughters Silen and Jood, who have provided continuous support and encouragement throughout my master's program. I also dedicate this research to my parents Kamel and Hanyea, who instilled in me the value of education and a lifelong love of learning.