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How can we drive real change at UCT?

The #rhodesmustfall campaign and resulting debates around white privilege, institutional racism and lack of transformation has transformed me into an irritable, judgmental and disillusioned individual. Despite my positive intentions, friends have noted that I’m in danger of saying things that will result in me being perceived as a racist.

Others have reminded me that dialogue is incredibly difficult in South Africa, given our history and current challenges. Should I really be expecting a black person to take my views seriously, given that I disagree with what some of them are saying? Certainly not. I wouldn’t either.

The reality is that when someone tells me that I should think and feel in a certain way about a topic that they cannot possibly relate to, then I immediately tell them to “back off”. This is a wakeup call for me and a reminder that my passion and desire for change doesn’t necessarily translate into value. That being said, I want to add value, but perhaps I should try and offer something else. This is an attempt.

My career has provided opportunities to learn about “problem solving” in the corporate world. Problem solving methodologies help guide efforts and can be used in all areas of life. One such method is called “Lean Six Sigma”, which is a merging of 2 competing problem solving methodologies. Lean was pioneered by Toyota Production Systems and aims to optimize & streamline business processes by removing anything that doesn’t add value to the process (referred to as “waste”).

Six Sigma was pioneered by Motorola and focuses on improving quality and reducing variation in processes. It does so by focussing on “root cause issues”. If this is new to you, then all you need to know is that Lean Six Sigma (LSS) is a structured approach to problem solving and contains many proven methods and tools that are considered “best practise”. It makes use of a roadmap called “DMAIC” (Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, and Control) to drive efforts. At the heart of LSS is the formula Y=f(x) which refers to “cause and effect”. This simply illustrates the idea that the important or desired outcomes (Ys) are a result of certain factors or drivers (x‘s). So how do we apply this to #rhodesmustfall?

Many improvement initiatives start out with an unspecific or undefined problem. It is quite obvious to all that a problem exists, e.g. lack of transformation at UCT after 21 years of democracy. We all know and agree that something needs to be done, but we’re not sure where to begin.

Furthermore, with so many stakeholders and opinions, the problem is not clearly defined, which makes it difficult to gain consensus. In addition, we’re so passionate about wanting to solve the problem that we will almost always jump into “Solution Mode”, before gaining a thorough understanding of what the problem is and what we are aiming to achieve.

Some believe we need to eradicate “white supremacy” and the resulting “Institutional Racism”. Others believe that implementing an “African Curriculum” is necessary, as it will help change the way that blacks think about South Africa and/or Africa as a whole.

Others believe that we need to focus on “African Feminism”, since black females are being excluded from leadership positions at UCT.

Suddenly, we have an enormous and highly complex problem statement, which is very difficult to deal with.  So let’s take a step back and use a structured approach to drive efforts.

The DEFINE phase is where we start:

During DEFINE phase, it is absolutely critical to build a concise problem statement that everyone (or most) agree on. There has to be consensus as to the problem at hand. We have to understand the problem “Y” and how to measure it, so that we can quantify this problem. Being able to quantify the problem is critical, as we need something tangible to work with and we also want to be able to prove whether an improvement has been made (when we get there). So how do we reach this clear and concise definition of the problem (Y)? There are various methods and tools in LSS, one being the “voice of the customer” (VOC) method.

So we take all the information we have (e.g. using inputs from survey data, complaints, actual demographical stats, cues from people, etc.) and we break it down into “high level requirements” and then on to “critical to quality requirements” (CTQs). CTQs become the measurable requirements that we will focus on later. Note that we may amend these numbers later on as more data becomes available throughout the improvement lifecycle.

Here’s an example of VOC analysis (please don’t get hung up on the content as they are examples only – it’s the method that’s important here).


What are people saying (cues)

Actual Requirement

Critical to quality requirement (measurable)

I’ve noticed that we still don’t have a lot of black people attending UCT after 21 years of democracy? Why is this the case? I know so many people that would benefit from being here.

Student attendance at UCT should be demographically representative.

By 2020, at least 75% of students at UCT should be black.

Why don’t we have any black female professors at UCT? Surely something is wrong!

We want the same number of black female professors compared with white ones.

By 2020, at least 50% of all female professors should be black.

I’m so sick and tired of walking past the Rhodes statue. It reminds me of apartheid. It’s also a slap in the face, considering how some white students still look down on me. They don’t realize that my parents still live in townships and use poo buckets.

1. We want a study environment that emphasizes African culture as opposed to colonial culture.

At least 80% of black students feel that UCT is meeting the needs of transformation.

2. We want UCT to take the plight of the poor more seriously.

By 2020, at least 50% of UCT fund-raising initiatives should be focussed on improving the lives of people still living in poverty in the Cape.

At this stage, we may want to scope the improvement initiative as well, to make sure that we don’t get caught up in attempting solve all problems at once. Scoping makes sure that we set boundaries and that we don’t get distracted by things that will not add value to our cause. We will move on from the Define phase when we have developed a measurable, clearly defined “Y” that enables us to distinguish between desired and not desired outcomes.

Next – Measure phase:

The primary purpose of the MEASURE phase is to identify all the potential causes (x’s) that impact on the effects or outcomes (Y). During brainstorming sessions, we can use a fishbone (cause & effect) diagram to begin identifying all potential x’s that require focus. We can also list some things that we would like to measure, in order to help us quantify the potential causes listed.

During the identification of potential causes (x’s), we need to use “root cause analysis” techniques to make sure that we’re focussing on root causes and not the “symptoms” of the problems. The “5 Whys” technique is very helpful here. We simply ask “WHY” enough times to get to the root cause of a particular problem or cause. Once again, the below diagram is simply an example to illustrate the method.

So we now have a huge list of potential causes (x’s), but we cannot possibly focus on everything. As the next step, the team sets up a data collection plan that allows for measuring both the x‘s and Y in such a way that the data collected can later be used to identify cause-and-effect (i.e., x-Y) relationships (Analyze phase).

We collect available data (quantitative or qualitative) and start looking for any noticeable trends. We also remove any “special causes” or “exceptions” from the data, since we don’t want to focus on isolated incidents. As an example, let’s assume that 3000 black students were rejected admission to UCT in 2013, compared with an average of 500 rejections per year over the past 15 years. This seems to be isolated compared with the general trend. We should ask why this happened in 2013 by investigate the root causes. We need to make sure that we don’t include “exceptions” or “outliers” in our analysis without understanding why they occurred and whether this can be avoided in the future. If we can’t explain why it happened, then it should be included.

At this point, are also seeking ways to prioritize the potential x’s and to reduce them to the most important ones. E.g. we could use a “cause & effect matrix” to rank the outcomes (Y) and the impact that our potential Xs have on the outcome based on people’s knowledge and expertise. We may observe that out of 100 potential Xs, there are 10 key ones that seem to contribute towards 80% of the problem being focused on, so we’ll focus on them for now. This is an excellent position to be in, because it would take too long to address all factors identified, so focusing on the vital few allows us to implement solutions faster.

At the end of Measure, we will have comprehensive picture of all potential x‘s, which may have been reduced down to a manageable and measurable few. We’re starting to understand what requires focus and we now need to prove that by fixing those x’s, we will in fact be addressing the actual problem(s).

The Analysis phase is next:

Analysis phase simply aims to verify and quantify the cause and effect (x-Y) relationships to make sure we’re focussing on the most significant factors that influence the desired outcomes. Helpful tools include statistical analysis (hypothesis tests, regression analysis, design of experiments, etc.) and we may also need to rely on qualitative analysis techniques.

We use graphical analysis to illustrate findings. E.g. bar charts, pareto analysis, etc. At the end of the Analyze phase, the critical few x‘s that contribute most to the problem Y are known. We are now ready to start If we could not verify the critical Xs, then we may go back to measure and to revisit some of the potential xs that were previously excluded.

Now comes the fun part. Improve phase.

We now have a picture of all critical x’s that need to be focussed on. We have proved statistically that these X’s have a significant effect on the outcome (Y). We can now use brainstorming techniques to help us identify potential solutions that – by addressing the critical few x‘s identified – can help improve the Y (outcome). Brainstorming and creativity techniques help to generate potential solutions and we can also use other tools to rate or rank the solution against specific criteria that we have specified.

We may use risk mitigation techniques to make sure that our solutions are sustainable. I.e. we should identify ways in which the desired outcome Y could fail and what may result in that failure. We build in the required controls to prevent this from happening.

Finally, the control phase

The control is all about making sure that our solution and the improvements are sustainable long term. All changes to processes or policies or systems are clearly documented and given clear ownership and accountability. We implement metrics to help us measure performance on a regular basis so that we are in control of what is happening. These metrics are in place to make sure that we continue achieving the goals set and that we can continuously seek new opportunities for improvement.

I hope that the above "problem solving" approach adds value to someone. In fact, I will gladly offer my services for free to assist #rhodesmustfall campaigners where possible, by teaching people the concepts of Lean Six Sigma and empowering them to use these problem solving skills for the greater good. Find me on Facebook if this appeals to you.

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