I'm sorry I missed John, Constantine's post but I need to comment on
Jeff's comments.
Organizations are about people and feelings and serving customers. But we
do need better measures. As you point out mangers have been using measures
for control the wring reason. Deming wanted us to measure to find out what
is wrong with the systems we use . He wanted us to use them to improve
communication between people so we could stop torturing people by
requiring them to work in systems that do not work right.
American ,managers have historically required workers to work in systems
that are akin to Chinese water torture - a constant drip drip drip with no
ability to turn off the drip. Every day come to work and put up with a
process that does not work and then asks them to cooperate.
Measuring has purpose far more important than control. It should be used
to find what is wring so we can turn off the drip.
Even more important . Employees determine what is important to the
business by watching managers actions. Mangers take action based on
management values which are reflected in the measurements used. If we
measure the wrong things for the wrong reasons we cause the wrong
attitudes and priorities.
That makes management's choice of what to measure the most important
decision the make. And we need more of the right measures for the right
reasons. Actions, in the broadest context, are the only way in which
management can communicate with workers. These actions are guided by the
choice of measures.
The better choice of measures is one of the reason that Deming influenced
organizations are better places to work. SPC requires more consideration
of what to measure before measuring.
Respectfully,
Gene
At 11:12 AM 10/16/97 +0200, you wrote:
>Reply to John Constantine LO15277
>
>What you say rings truth for me. I couldn't agree more.
>Management-by-numbers still prevails in most organisations. The notion
>that what you measure is what you manage; or you get what you measure, is
>humorous at best but misses the point entirely. I'm sure managers don't
>want defects because they went ahead and measured them. Besides, the most
>important "measures" are impossible to measure anyway. You simply can't
>measure the warmth of a smile with a thermometer; but it's often that
>smile that warms the customer and closes the sale.
[Quote of prev msg trimmed by your host...]
Eugene Taurman
interLinx ilx@execpc.com http://www.execpc.com/~ilx
What you are is determined by the thoughts that dominate your mind.
Paraphrase of Proverbs 23 Ch7
--Eugene Taurman <ilx@execpc.com>
Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>