What happened since
the announcement that ASQ had done a market survey and found interest in lean certification lacking, I wonder.
As regular readers know, I was a charter member of the AMIG. I've argued (unsuccessfully) against adopting the buzzword "Lean" for the group name - as you see, I wasn't persuasive!
Personally, I feel ASQ folks who are in favor of adding more certifications tend to cheapen ALL the certifications by "diluting the Franchise."
Ask the common worker (one NOT holding an ASQ certification) in any company to describe the Body of Knowledge attached to the certification and, further, how that provides value to the organization and you are likely to get a blank stare.
There are fewer than 90,000 ASQ members world-wide. Only a small proportion of those members hold certifications which are current. Most CEOs are so far removed from the nitty gritty of their Quality program, they couldn't even guess whether their quality department members are ASQ members, let alone holders of certifications. Many Quality practitioners who hold certs provide excellent value to their organizations. My contention, though, is those same folks would be providing value even without a cert. Similarly, there are thousands of excellent Quality practitioners who are not ASQ members and who have never held a certification who are ALSO providing excellent value to their organizations.
The debate about certs has been going on a long time. In some organizations, ASQ membership and current certification is the entry pass to get into the organization. In other organizations, the membership and certification are ignored. I have never seen a valid statistical survey which shows an organization which requires ASQ certified quality folks provides better quality products and services than organizations which do not have that requirement.
Bottom line:
We folks who are in the Lean Enterprise Division have been unable to agree on a BOK. That may be a clue there is not enough consensus to develop a certification. That may also be a clue why the ISO Standards are so bland and generic - everyone "dumbing down" to avoid conflict.
The problem may be there is no glory-driven advocate for Lean in the same manner Mikel Harry carried the banner for his brand of Six Sigma.
