Replying to LO29877 --
Dear Organlearners,
Douglas Merchant <dougm@eclipse.net> writes:
>Maybe "Six Sigma" and Statistical Process Control has
>undergone a similar conversion. Some now embrace "Quality
>Management" as a business religion/magical belief system.
>And, in the process, a few may have lost understanding of the
>initial science and technology?
>
>I wonder if Organizational Learning will share a similiar fate?
Greetings dear Douglas,
I think so -- when it lost sight or memory of its origin. Here is an
example.
There are many dozens of F&V (Fruit and Vegetable) shops in Pretoria --
those that you get around the corner. Some years ago a few F&V hypers have
also seen the light, moving many tons of F&V per day. I have often
contemplated how impossible it is for a F&V shop or even a F&V hyper to
manage its quality with the Six Sigma methodology. Yet quality makes a
huge difference.
The first manager of perhaps the oldest F&V hyper in Pretoria was very
commited to quality. The business grew from strength to strength. Others
began to copy him. Then the ownership changed and a new manager took over.
The place became slowly a pig style. I think that its doors will soon
close permanently.
The owner and manager of perhaps the youngest F&V hyper is very commited
to quality. The business is growing from strength to strength. I have
talked several times with him, commenting on his continuous commitment to
quality. He won't allow any product on the floor if he has the slightest
doubt. The last time we talked, he made me promise that when i see that
when the quality begins to deteriorate in general, i must warn him. His
reason? "When you make money by selling quality, you usually forget
selling quality." (This the fate of any business which begins to haul in
profits rather than to focus on that which ensures profit.)
Our talk was on lettuce leaves. I need the green outer leaves for my
suckermouth catfishes as a substitute for algae. But when the sun burns
down as it did the last four weeks, the quality of lettuce drops rapidly
and the price rises sharply. Fortunately the owner has the sense to sell
the lettuce at a loss to keep his customers satisfied so that they will
buy the other items which they also intended to buy.
Evaluating the quality of fruit and vegetables is to some extent a
subjective process. Freshness, smell, taste, texture, appearance and age
are some of the factors which have to be taken into account. Measuring
these factors and drawing up specifications for each would be a nightmare.
Yet the owner has to make a decision within minutes at the fresh produce
market. I asked him how. He tells me that doubt influence his decision
primarily. If he has the slightest doubt on the quality, he just won't buy
a lot.
It is incredible how fast the trained human mind can make a decision on
otherness ("quality-variety"), one of the 7Es (seven essentialities of
creativity. Several taxonimists in botany and zoology told me that it
takes them a few minutes to decide when a specimen encountered is actually
a new species. Afterwards it takes them many months to establish by
critical observations and careful measurements that it is indeed a new
species. Again they all say that the first thing which comes to their mind
is the doubt that the specimen is an existing species. Doubt, skepticism,
strangeness or whatever we may call it seems to play a key role in
deciding on otherness.
With care and best wishes
--At de Lange <amdelange@postino.up.ac.za> Snailmail: A M de Lange Gold Fields Computer Centre Faculty of Science - University of Pretoria Pretoria 0001 - Rep of South Africa
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