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Quality
Management Reloaded
According to Dr. W. Edwards Deming
Gregory P. Smith
 I have read, studied, and observed
hundreds of management fads, management philosophies, and gurus during my
lifetime. I am old enough to remember the 70's and 80's when this country
faced a worse economic condition than today. All at the same time, America
was reeling from the competitive onslaught of less expensive, but better
made products coming from Japanese companies. This crisis triggered a
reaction forcing a revolutionary change in how this country conducts
business.
(Note: It seems to me that we are
returning to the difficult times experienced in the 70's.)
Few management philosophies have more influenced the business world as
widely than quality management. It had one goal--to tap the potential,
abilities, skills, and knowledge of the workforce. Furthermore, its goal
was to systemize every aspect of the organization forcing a laser like
focus on exceptional customer satisfaction. The quality revolution claimed
many names such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and Continuous Quality
Improvement (CQI).
The most widely known quality expert at the time was Dr. W. Edwards
Deming. At the end of WW II, Deming worked for the U.S. government and
traveled to Japan to help rebuild their economy with his unique style of
management. For years, Dr. Deming was more widely known in Japan than his
own country. His rise to iconic status in 1980 was attributed to Claire
Crawford-Mason, a veteran news reporter and TV producer, who produced a
documentary on the decline of American competitiveness for NBC called "If
Japan Can.Why Can't We?" The rest is history.
The key characteristics forming the foundation of the quality management
philosophy are listed as follows:
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Customer Driven Focus - Place the customer as the center of the
universe. Businesses strive to meet and exceed the customer's needs and
expectations.
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Continuous Improvement - Demands continual improvement in all areas.
William Perry, past Executive Director, Quality Assurance Institute, said,
"If quality is not improving, it's deteriorating." Quality management is a
long-term, never ending process.
-
Prevention Orientation - Eliminate inspection and substitute prevention.
By eliminating problematic root causes, prevention lowers costs by
avoiding rework, unsatisfied customers, recalls, and defective products
and services.
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Team Approach - Everyone, including suppliers, management, workers, and
customers become equal partners in the improvement process.
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Process Management - Follows a structured problem-solving approach
versus typical "knee-jerk" decision making.
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Employee Empowerment - Quality management requires a unified effort from
everyone in the organization. Productivity comes through harnessing the
ideas and energy of all people at all levels. Management provides the
resources, training, and support to get the job done.
In summary, Deming's primal message to Japan and this country was "that
they--management--were the problem, and that nothing would get better
until they took personal responsibility for change." His message still
rings true today.
Dr. Deming's Fourteen Points For Management
1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product or service.
By being innovative, continuously improving everything, and providing the
right equipment, businesses become competitive, stay in business, and
provide more jobs.
2. Adopt the new philosophy. We are in a new economic age where western
management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their
responsibilities, and take on a new attitude for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve Quality. Eliminate the need
for inspection on a mass basis by building and designing quality into the
product at the very beginning.
4. End the practice of awarding business based on price tag alone. Move
toward single suppliers for any one item. Build long term relationships
with suppliers based on loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service. No
longer be satisfied with just, "good enough." All aspects of the business
must improve constantly. By improving quality, costs decrease and morale
and customer satisfaction increases.
6. Institute training on the job. Training enhances job performance. All
workers and managers should receive training on the job.
7. Institute leadership. "Leadership is the job of management." The aim of
management is to help people and machines do a better job with less
effort. American management is in need of a major overhaul.
8. Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the
organization. Management must create a secure environment and build pride
of workmanship.
9. Break down barriers between staff areas. People must work together as
teams. Invisible barriers between departments cause delays and
frustration.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force.
Slogans and posters do not motivate or improve productivity. Management
must seek the root causes to the problems that inhibit worker
productivity.
11 a. Eliminate work standards (quotas). Substitute leadership.
11 b. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers,
numerical goals. Substitute leadership.
12a. Remove barriers that rob hourly workers of their right to pride in
workmanship. Management must be involved in the day-to-day struggles
workers face. Most managers are too detached to what really is happening
on the job.
12b. Remove barriers that rob people in management and staff of their
right to pride in workmanship. Management should abolish the annual merit
rating system and management by objectives. The majority of all formal
evaluation systems are unfair and invalid.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.
14. Put everyone to work to accomplish the transformation. Transformation
is everyone's job.
Excerpted from OUT OF THE CRISIS, copyright (c) 1986 by the W. Edwards
Deming Institute.
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please fax us your letterhead to 770-760-0581 or E-mail us the word
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Greg Smith is a nationally recognized speaker, author, and business
performance consultant. He has written numerous books and featured on
television programs such as Bloomberg News, PBS television, and in
publications including Business Week, Kiplingers, President and CEO, and
the Christian Science Monitor. He is the President and "Captain of the
Ship" of a management-consulting firm, Chart Your Course International,
located in Atlanta, Georgia. Phone him at 770-860-9464. More articles
available: http://www.chartcourse.com
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