Gene Taurman in Destroying through labelling LO19803 talked on Deming and
on mindful change. Interesting.
Gene was responding to John Taylor's post, where John said. in part,
>I have a feeling that in general the pursuit of 'formal'
>quality actively stops people being creative and innovative, but I will be
>pleased to stand corrected.
Deming used the "formal tools" of quality rigorously but he also was so
very much concerned with the PEOPLE in the system as he expounds in his
principles. And while his principles were most generally applied to
manufacturing groups, which Gene mentioned:
>I believe pursuit of quality as pursued by organization that understand
>Deming are the models for learning organizations that made Senge realize
>the importance of learning. Toyota, Honda, Ford, Motorola, Harley Davidson
>and many more have been influenced by Deming. They all changed and
>continue to changed by using the results of their process to learn more
>about how their system work and change them.
These tools and approaches have also been nicely applied in a wide variety
of what we call service industries. It is good stuff.
But as Deming also said, and one of my more useful quotes:
"All models are wrong. Some models are useful."
Gene also cautioned:
>Please do not confuse ISO and QS 9000 with quality.
>They are only patterns not management philosophies.
Worse than "patterns," many of these systems and processes for managing
quality actually INHIBIT quality improvement and change. They put
systems, processes and procedures in place which are detailed and
complicated as well as resistant to change. The ISO certification says
that you have consistent policies and practices in place to manage the
quality results - NOT to generate quality but to generate compliance with
established or agreed upon standards.
Thus, if your standards are low, you get certified if you have mechanisms
in place to maintain them.
It is a good idea gone "governmental" on a global scale.
The certification process has become a huge industry. (Wish I could find
my statistics on the number of people who certify - I looked in my "stats"
files and conclude that it ironically is probably in one of my "jokes"
files!!) The industry itself is now resistant to change. Neat new
bureaucracy.
John's initial question was about creativity and innovation. Gene's thinking
was about processes. Mine is about over-extension with good intention,
--For the FUN of It!
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