Deming’s 14 Points

After World War II Japan was in a process of reconstruction. Dr. W. Edwards Deming was working with the U.S. Army on a census of Japan when he was asked by the Japanese Union of Scientists and Engineers to train their engineers, managers, and scholars on statistical control and quality improvement. Many of his students applied his techniques and ideas with fantastic results boosting demand for Japanese products across the globe. His ideas were so influential in fact that Japan's Prime Minister awarded him a medal for his contributions to Japanese industry. Deming returned home to the United States to run a small consultancy firm. In the early 1980's America was losing it's competitive edge to Japanese products and Deming, being partially responsible for Japan's success, was increasingly called on by US businesses for advice on how to increase their profits and stay competitive. In 1982 Deming published his book Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, which contained his now famous 14 Points for Management. I've chosen to focus on point number 10.

"Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, since the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the workforce."

This point shows a new way for management to understand business more holistically, as a system instead of a collection of individual actors. Perhaps Deming's views were so well received in Japan because eastern thought, especially religious or philosophical thought, is intrinsically holistic and systemic in it's view of the world. However, western thought has traditionally been based on the individual, on seeing parts instead of wholes.

To view employees as so much cattle that needs to be poked and prodded into productivity is to ignore the underlying structure that governs the employees actions in the first place. Vision statements, goals, and inspirational posters may work temporarily to boost employee morale. However, if there are no structural changes made then the employees will eventually hit a wall where their harder work will not be rewarded or even make a difference. This "creates adversarial relationships" not just in the form of employees being spiteful towards management for having unrealistic expectations, but also in the form of management being spiteful towards employees for not being motivated enough or not working hard enough.

The systems view of business tries to find leverage. In other words, on what part of the internal structure of the business can you make changes that will provide the most response? This often means stepping back and looking at the business as a whole, with all it's interacting departments. A problem in the sales department might be being incited by the shipping department, unbeknownst to managers in either department. One of Deming's most influential pieces of advice to American Ford motor company was to make parts sizes more uniform. Ford's engines were being designed by entire teams of engineers, each