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W. Edwards Deming did a great disservice. He left a prescription for what the United States should do to improve government, manufacturing, and service. The prescription is composed of his 14 Points and Seven Deadly Diseases (which later became his System of Profound Knowledge), and he learned from personal knowledge that these were the issues holding the country back.
The elimination of reward systems, making the worker relevant, breaking down barriers, etc., are all very relevant and are correct actions to take. However, Deming learned this by working with U.S. companies. The key point here is he learned… other executives did not come to the same conclusion (or at least very few did).
Deming could not coerce executives into believing him, so he tried a rational approach. But red-bead experiments and four-day seminars were not enough for management to make the connection between what they were being told and how they operated. A rational argument rarely convinces anyone to change their thinking.
This is why there is a need for systems thinking. How can we create the learning that Deming achieved that led him to his prescription? Using coercion or rationalization? No. The learning must be emergent—executives and workers must learn for themselves.
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Comments
Deming, Systems Thinking, and the Future
Tripp
This is a most thoughtful and thought-provoking post, which I will seek to encourage others to read.
My only issue with it is that you have limited your question regarding learning to America.
Sincerely
Glyn
Deming and USA
Glyn-
I didn't mean to slight other countries deficiencies. I do believe that Deming's 14 Points were aimed squarely at the US and same with SoPK. This doesn't mean that other countries don't have this thinking problems, just that the US (still the largest economy and shrinking) has more of it and unfortunately many copied some bad practices that were learned from the US. The US was lucky Europe was decimated after WWII and this doesn't always translate to good. Just ask the US auto industry.
Tripp
Deming and Changing People's Minds
There is a line in the article that says, a rational argument rarely convinces anyone to change their thinking. That sounds like something Dale Carnegie wrote in his book How to Win Friends and Influence People. I guess I need to go reread it (always a good thing to do) and see what he suggests in lieu of rational arguments. Dale Carnegie identified rock solid principles of how people work. If he hadn't his book would not still be one of the top selling titles at Amazon over 70 years after he wrote it.
Jack Dearing
Learning for yourself
Tripp, I agree completely and this is consistent with others who are thinking about this issue, namely Mike Rother, as this was also his conclusion about Toyota after studying the issue for about 6 years.
Likewise, I've tried to develop our software so that we could keep up with the learning process from our users. Some have caught on to this ability and are really making the most out of it, but most people believe they are pretty much stuck with their software choices and don't realize a needed change could be delivered the next day.
David Smithstein, Founder and CEO
Deming and Systems Thinking
Your article is spot on. Projects and tools to achieve limited objectives are not going to achieve the desired results. Command and Control (thinking and methods) is so ingrained that is not even questioned. It is just how business is done. To change the situation, systems thinking needs to become a core curriculum in Business and MBA programs along with the education efforts of consultants and facilitators within organizations. Systems thinking education in our schools would reach future decision makers early in their careers, with the possibility of replacing current assumptions and methods with more effective, scientific methods. Command and Control methods need to be directly challenged in curriculums and issues such as economies of scale versus economy of flow need to be directly compared and contrasted. I have read that it takes a generation to break paradigms such as this, so the earlier and more broad based the challenge to Command and Control, the sooner organizations and citizens will benefit from the elimination of Command and Control thinking and methods.
One last thought, probably the biggest challenge to replacing Command and Control is how easy it is to just order people around (and the ego boost it gives people when they control others), rather than doing business in a thoughtful manner.
Charles "Chuz" Shillingburg
Culture Change
Im am very fortunate to have a president who is open to new ways of doing business. We have started "lean" in our company. I understand its a tool but it offers an opportunity to begin discussions about Deming, Seddon, Systems Thinking and customer value. The numbers our management focuses on is far removed from the real work. Its simply a measure, something Deming warned about. I have been on the Systems Thinking wagon for over a year and now I find the tough part is getting management to see the real customer value in our work, not the numbers. I often find myself falling back into watching the numbers, charts, software packages. I stand up then and pace around in my office thinking about a better way to service our customers.
The best method for clear thinking is to get out of my nice comfy office and get to the customers! No charts, numbers, software packages needed. The customer will tell me what they want, and I need to find out how to give it to them before our competitor does. This is hard work!!! Something Deming and Ohno would be proud of.
'System Thinking' helps make the system
Glyn
I agree, the 14 points are directed only at USA.
Deming had the (last) two points written for Americans. He believed American's (read the western world) are not likely to implement the 12 points in the right perspective, and consequently consider the redundancy (because of poor implementation) a prevalent feature big enough to relegate the system of improvement.
The cause to such a conclusion is present in 'the system' itself. A system is a serious equation which incorporates all critical requirements in their right threshold- neither more not less. The lack of 'Plan' culture in general is a cause to the poor balancing of this equation, which eventually leads to poor (Quality) results. Revisiting the points as a rigor helps iron out the discrepancies by chance if not by choice. But when there is a Deming's Systems thinking, the job is well done. right first time.
Priyavrat Thareja
www.thareja.com
Deming
Great insights. I have followed Deming's work for years and would like to apply his thinking deeper. Where can I learn more?
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