The Whig Standard – Ontario, CA
I’m always curious when I see an article like this in the news about the late Dr. W. Edwards Deming. The article, from Kingston Ontario, Canada, doesn’t reference any local companies. What prompted the reporter to write about this? Not that I’m complaining… it speaks to the relevance of Deming’s message, some 15 years after his passing.
Deming saw a different way for auto businesses to operate. He saw the “assembly-line” mentality of low-income workers being forced into repetitive jobs, while the rich few controlled things from above, as a mentality of the past.
“People are entitled to self-esteem,” he once said. “Our system crushes it out.”
That message still isn’t getting through. People’s spirits get “crushed” in all sorts of settings, be it an auto assembly line or a hospital. When I hear comments like, “I’ve been a nurse here for 6 years and this is the first time anyone has asked me what I think about anything,” it’s sad. As we help hospitals adopt a Lean philosophy and a Lean management system (not just implementing tools), we can start turning that around. It does wonders for the self esteem of employees AND it benefits patients and the hospital, finally getting more employee input.
Since they can’t be repeated enough, the writer cites Deming’s 14 points and I’ll republish them here:
DEMING’S GOLDEN RULES
W. Edwards Deming’s theory centered on 14 key principles for management for transforming business effectiveness in the auto industry. They are:
1. Create constancy of purpose.
2. Take the lead in adopting the new philosophy.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of cheapest cost.
5. Improve constantly.
6. Institute training on the job.
7. Institute leadership.
8. Drive out fear.
9. Break down barriers between departments.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets.
11. Eliminate management by numbers, and management by objective. Substitute leadership.
12. Remove barriers to pride in workmanship.
13. Institute education and self-improvement.
14. Put everybody to work to accomplish the transformation.
Does your company use even a few of these ideas?
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{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Great post. It has been a while since I looked at Deming’s 14 Principles. Too long. Thank you.
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….great post:-) Thanks for the summary in such a nice way.
It is always good to see that good management (and the outcome we all want to see) could be so easily achieved – what are the barriers, obstacles, constraints, mental models that hinder us to make the change?
Curious to get deeper into action (research).
Cheers,
Ralf
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I found # 10 counfounding: “Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets.”
Slogans are sometimes used to communicate change. While they are just a tiny ingredient in a large recipie for communicating change, they can be effective.
We use targets in our Lean improvement workshops so the team can measure their success at the end of the week.
Is Deming really for eliminating these or am I not understanding his intent? Are some of our Lean practices in opposition to his priciples?
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I wrote a post to answer your question:
LINK
Hope it helps.
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