WHAT DO WE MEAN BY QUALITY?
“Quality” means
Conventional thinking
expensive, luxurious, top of
the line
Quality improvement
conformance to customer
requirements – internal and
external
Performance standard
“close enough” or “almost”
meeting customer
requirements consistently
Meet customer
requirements by
finding and fixing mistakes,
“fix it in the field”
knowing the requirements
and preventing mistakes
from happening
Select improvement
opportunities by
picking at random, firefighting
looking for areas with the
greatest payback
Measurement of quality
opinions, guessing, “no
news is good news”
measuring our work against
customer requirements
Who is responsible for
quality improvement?
the quality department
every member of the
organization
Examples of Cultural Changes Required
CATEGORY
Mission
PREVIOUS STATE
Maximum return on
investment/management by
objectives (ROI/MBO)
NEW CULTURE
Ethical behavior and customer
satisfaction. Climate for continuous
improvement. ROI a performance
measure
Customer
Requirements
Incomplete or ambiguous
understanding of customer
requirements
Use of a systematic approach to seek
out, understand, and satisfy both
internal and external customer
requirements.
Suppliers
Unidirectional relationship
Partnership
Objectives
Orientation to short-term
objectives and actions with
limited long-term perspective
Deliberate balance of long-term
goals with successive short term
objectives
Improvement
Acceptance of process variability
and subsequent corrective action
as the norm
Understanding and continually
improving the process.
Problem-Solving
Unstructured individualistic
problem-solving and decisionmaking
Predominantly participative and
interdisciplinary problem-solving
and decision-making based on
substantive data.
Jobs and People
Functional, narrow scope
management-controlled
Management and employee
involvement; work teams; integrated
functions.
Management Style
Management style with uncertain
objectives that instills fear of
failure
Open style with clear and consistent
objectives, which encourages groupderived continuous improvement
Role of manager
Plan, organize assign, control, can
enforce
Communicate, consult, delegate,
coach, mentor, remove barriers, and
establish trust
Rewards and
recognition
Pay by job. Few team incentives
Individual and group recognition and
rewards, negotiated criteria.
Measurement
Orientation toward data gathering
for problem identification
Data used to understand and
continuously improve processes.
Stages of People Involvement
TRADITIONAL
ORGANIZATIONAL
STRUCTURE
TYPICAL
IMPROVEMENT
EFFORTS
DECISION
POWER
PARTICIPATION
HIERARCHICAL
HIERARCHICAL
AND AD HOC
TEAMS
SUGGESTION
PROGRAM
AD HOC TEAMS
WORK ON
PROBLEMS
WORK
MEASUREMENT
QUALITY
CIRCLES
TOP DOWN
RECOMMEND
CHANGES
LIMITED TEAMBASED DECISIONMAKING
GAINSHARING
MANAGEMENT
FOCUS
APPROVED
SUGGESTIONS
INDIVIDUAL
WORK
PERFORMANCE
SUPERVISING
SOME TEAM/UNIT
PARTICIPATION
AND
RECOGNITION
COACHING
INVOLVEMENT
CUSTOMERFOCUSED,
AUTONOMOUS
WORK TEAMS
TEAMS
CONSISTENTLY
ANALYZE AND
IMPROVE
PROCESSES
MAKE PROCESSRELATED
DECISIONS
INPUT INTO
STRATEGIC
DECISIONS
TEAM
RECOGNITION e.g.
GAINSHARING
CREATING
ENVIRONMENT FOR
TEAMWORK
W. Edward Deming: A Universally Applicable Philosophy?
Deming’s theories about quality management were accepted earlier and more
wholeheartedly in Japan than in the United States. Why? Does Deming’s philosophy
reflect some values and beliefs that are more acceptable to some cultures than others?
The chart below lists Deming’s fourteen points and suggests values and beliefs that these
points may reflect in the middle column. The column on the right suggest opposing
values and beliefs that may be held by some cultures.
Deming’s Points
Cultural Value or Belief
Cultural Counterpoint
1. Create constancy of
purpose for
improvement of
product and service.
One should constantly be
thinking about the future. Our
goal is constant progress.
One should work to make the
present moment as pleasant as
possible. The future will take care
of itself. (Or: Allah will take care
for he future.) (Or: We should seek
harmony with our past traditions.)
2. Adopt the new
philosophy.
Change is a good thing.
Change is threatening. We should
honor our traditions.
3. Cease dependence
on mass inspection.
Hierarchy is bad. Too much
structure stifles good work. If
given freedom, people will do
the right thing.
Hierarchy is good. Rules make
things work. Too much freedom
leads to chaos.
4. End the practice of
awarding business
on price tag alone.
Cooperation is the best way to
do business. One should be
close to one’s suppliers.
Competition destroys trust.
Competition is the best way to do
business. One should keep one’s
suppliers at arm’s length.
Competition brings out the best in
people.
5. Improve constantly
and forever the
system of
production and
service.
One should constantly be
thinking about the future. Our
goal is constant progress.
One should work to make the
present moment as pleasant as
possible. The future will take care
of itself. (Or: Allah will take care
for he future.) (Or: We should seek
harmony with our past traditions.)
6. Institute training.
Anyone can learn to be strong
contributor. Everyone should
have the opportunity for
education.
Everyone has his place in the
universe. It is wrong to educate
people beyond that which is
appropriate for their station in life.
7. Institute leadership.
Workers want to work hard and
achieve. Management needs to
get out of their way so that
workers can perform. If given
freedom, people will do the right
thing.
Workers are lazy and shiftless.
management needs to impose strict
controls to ensure that the job gets
done. Too much freedom leads to
chaos.
Deming’s Points
8. Drive out fear.
Cultural Value or Belief
Cultural Counterpoint
People should have freedom to
suggest new ideas and challenge
the status quo. Competition
among different ideas will
ultimately leads to a better way
of doing things.
People must respect the existing
order. Challenges to authority
ultimately destroy the organization.
9. Break down barriers Teamwork is the best way to get
between staff areas. things done. cooperation is the
best way to get things done.
Competition destroys trust.
Individuals should be encouraged
to excel. Competition is the best
way to do business. Competition
brings out the best in people.
10. Eliminate slogans,
exhortations, and
targets for the
workforce.
People naturally do the best they
can in the situations they find
themselves in. Slogans won’t
make any difference.
Workers are lazy and shiftless.
They need to be constantly
reminded of their responsibilities.
11. Eliminate numerical
quotas.
Employees who have goals
without a means to achieve them
loose motivation.
Employees who have challenging
goals may be inspired to new
heights.
12. Remove barriers to
pride of
workmanship.
Workers want to work hard and
achieve. Management needs to
get out of their way so that
workers can perform. If given
freedom, people will do the right
thing.
Workers are lazy and shiftless.
Management needs to impose strict
controls to ensure that the job gets
done. Too much freedom leads to
chaos.
13. Institute a vigorous
program of
education and
retraining.
Anyone can learn to be a strong
contributor. Everyone should
have the opportunity for
education.
Everyone has his place in the
universe. It is wrong to educate
people beyond that which is
appropriate for their station in life.
14. Take action to
accomplish the
transformation
Action is good. Don’t just stand
there; do something!
What we do is not nearly as
important as who we are.
Reflection is more important than
action.




Deming’s philosophy has a strong future time orientation. It suggests that we should
think in terms of constant progress, that we should strive to make tomorrow better
than today.
Deming’s philosophy is egalitarian. Anyone can learn how to improve quality.
Everyone can and should make contributions to quality.
Deming’s philosophy is optimistic. Workers will do the right thing if given a chance.
People want to work hard and achieve, if only management will let them.
Deming’s philosophy emphasizes collaboration over competition. People must work
together, not against each other.
Questions for discussion:
1. Do you think that the chart above accurately reflects Deming’s values and beliefs?
Why or why not?
2. Think of a culture that you are familiar with. In what ways is Deming’s philosophy
compatible with this culture? What aspects of Deming’s philosophy of management
might people from this culture have a hard time with?
Ability to
Do Job
Old employee leaves
with knowledge
Time
New employee
begins
Ability to Do Job
EYELASH LEARNING CURVE
New employee comes on;
picks up almost where
previous employee left off.
Time
RAPID LEARNING CURVE