Dr. Deming’s included the the theory of knowledge (how do we know that what we “know” is so) as one of the four inter-related components of his management system. How to apply an understanding of the theory of knowledge within the management system for their organization often gives people trouble. Lets look at how to [...]
Incomplete communication often creates problems. You often don’t have to ask why 5 times to figure out the weakness in communication that lead to trouble. Over and over again most organization would find the problem was created, or grew, because someone that could have helped didn’t know what others knew. Making communication explicit and obvious, [...]
The quotes of Dan Pink from the webcast are backed by decades of research and support W. Edwards Deming’s views on managing people. “We are not as endlessly manipulatable and predictable as you would think.” “Once a task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill a larger reward led to poorer performance.” “The best use of [...]
From The Practice of Management by Peter Drucker, The Demands of the Enterprise on the Worker (page 268): The enterprise must expect of the worker not the passive acceptance of a physical chore, but the active assumption of responsibility for the enterprise’s results. This attitude not only is necessary for organizations to prosper today, it [...]
The Essential Deming, includes material from Dr. Deming’s letters, speeches and articles. Several are from his lectures at Fordham University, including: Tyranny of the Prevailing Style of Management (page 184-5): We’re living in prison. Under the tyranny of the prevailing style of management. A style of interaction between people, between teams, between divisions, between competitors. [...]
One of the most talked about presentations at this years annual conference for The W. Edwards Deming Institute was JW Wilson’s: The Neuroscience of Deming. The talk included a great deal of detail on neuroscience which was quite interesting. While some content may have been a bit of a challenge to understand quickly, if you [...]
The Essential Deming includes (from an interview with Dr. Deming): Knowing How to Manage People Is the Single Most Important Part of Management (page 170) If factory workers are unemployed —or anyone, for that matter— it is because of bad management, and not because unemployment is inevitable. Page 171: Of course, when you talk about [...]
Mark Graban interviewed Clare Crawford-Mason for his Lean Blog podcast. Clare produced If Japan Can… Why Can’t We?, Deming Library video series and Good News… How Hospitals Heal Themselves. She discussed quite a few important ideas including: The value of cooperation (that is often obscured by a focus on competition) Appreciation for systems Looking beyond [...]
Fear invites wrong figures. Bearers of bad news fare badly. To keep his job, anyone may present to his boss only good news. W. Edwards Deming, page 94, The New Economics Using data to make decisions is important to effective management. But using data goes far beyond math. To make judgements we need to understand [...]
Martin Fowler offers insightful details on the problems with using sales commissions (click on the right arrow button at the very top middle to see the next slide). Some quotes from his presentation: there are serious problems with the sales commission model, problems that led ThoughtWorks to get rid of all sales commissions in 2013 [...]