Re: LO & TQM LO2306

Eric Bohlman (ebohlman@netcom.com)
Tue, 1 Aug 1995 23:32:42 -0700 (PDT)

Replying to LO2292 --

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk) wrote:

> To take offense at such implies that the idea belong to the thinker
> rather than live of their own power. The same is true of the label
> that we happen to be using - such as TQM or LO. Some of these cover
> larger domains and thus can easily be seen as inclusive of other
> approaches. I offer the idea, in contrast, of being empowered or
> enabled by other approaches rather than inclusive.

Well said.

> Something lacking in most TQM practitioners who have converted great
> teaching into truth. The sources of our thinking are usually just
> the sources that we have happened to discover and which have become
> explicit. Deming did not invent from nowhere. He too had
> predecessors and was part of one or more traditions.

Yes, Deming especially acknowledged the influences of Walter Shewhart (he
often wrote "as stated by the master, Walter Shewhart"), C. I. Lewis and
Percy Bridgman, as well as many others. Whole sections of _Out of the
Crisis_ and _The New Economics_ were written by contributors. One of his
"quality horror stories" from _Out of the Crisis_ began "A friend, a
consultant far abler than I...." One of his students (I think it was
Joyce Orsini, but I'm not sure) led him to modify his belief in strict
single-sourcing.

He was certainly someone who believed that it was worthwhile to learn from
others, which renders his opponents' characterization of him as a "cult
leader" completely ludicrous (someone once wrote up an interesting
comparison of his principles with L. Ron Hubbard's "management tech,"
which is based largely on the principle of "reward the top performers
unfailingly, even if their performance is the result of unethical actions,
and punish the bottom performers unfailingly, even if their performance is
the result of factors beyond their control" i.e. the exact opposite of
what Deming taught). (For that matter, Deming always emphasized the
importance of making decisions based on verifiable facts, whereas Hubbard
excelled at writing detailed "descriptions" of matters he knew absolutely
nothing about. OK, I promise not bring the War of Scientology vs. the
Internet onto this list.)

--
Eric Bohlman (ebohlman@netcom.com)