Some thoughts from W. Edwards Deming's "The New Economics for
Industry, Government, Education"
 
"A look at some of the usual suggestions for improvement of
quality. There is widespread interest in quality. Suppose that we
were to conduct next Tuesday a national referendum with the
question:
 
Are you in favor of improvement of quality?
     Yes _____     No _____
 
The results would show, I believe, an avalanche in favor of
quality. moreover, unfortunately, almost everybody has the answer
on how to achieve it. Just read letters to the editor, speeches,
books. It seems so simple. here are some of the answers offered,
all insufficient, some even negative in results:
 
Automation
New Machinery
More computers
Gadgets
Hard work
Best efforts
Merit system: annual appraisal
Make everybody accountable
M.B.O. (management by objective, as practiced)
M.B.R. (management by results)
Rank people, rank teams, rank divisions, rank salesmen; reward
them at the top, punish them at the bottom.
More SQC (statistical quality control)
More inspection
Establish an office of quality
Appoint someone as Vice President in Charge of Quality
Incentive pay
Work standards (quotas, time standards)
Zero defects
Meet specifications
Motivate people
 
What is wrong with these suggestions? The fallacies of the
suggestions listed above will be obvious from subsequent pages of
the text. Every one of them ducks the responsibility of
management." pgs 14-15
--- Maximus 2.02
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