Quality or Management —— Gains and Losses of Deming's Management Theory

The theory of "statistical control" is a set of management skills developed by Walter A. shewhart when he worked in Bell Telephone Laboratory, applying mathematical statistics theory to product quality control under assembly line production mode.

During the period of 1940s, Dr. Deming met Xiao Huade while working in the US Department of Agriculture, and "statistical control" eventually became an important part of Deming's theoretical system of quality management. Before crossing the ocean, Deming tried his best to popularize and apply his quality management theory in the United States. Although Deming's middle managers are enthusiastic, the top managers in American business circles are unhappy.

Before 1950' s, the quality and quality of Japanese consumer goods were strikingly similar to the market situation in China's modern economic development stage, and they were famous all over the world for their low price and good quality. In the post-Japanese economic era, in the early stage of the economic take-off of the four little dragons in Asia, and in the unfinished stage of their primitive accumulation of capital, the evaluation of their products with low price and low quality is still in our ears. It is hard to say that there are any specific laws in the development of macro-economy, but there are still traces to follow in the reform of local and regional economies.

In World War II, in order to meet the needs of war efficiency and benefit, Japanese military and political authorities divided scientists into several groups. After the war, a group led by Xiaoliu was renamed JUSE (Japan Federation of Science and Engineering) and continued to operate. During the period from 1948 to 1949, a group of Japanese engineers came into contact with Xiao Hua's method and became interested. On March, 1950, JUSE Executive Director Xiao Liu Xianyi invited Deming to give a lecture in Japan and train relevant personnel.

Reflecting on his failure in the United States, Deming clearly realized that quality management is an unshirkable responsibility of enterprise authorities and decision makers, and the success or failure of quality management and responsibility depend on enterprise managers.

I don't know whether it is out of respect for management technology or theory, or whether it is the victorious country or the occupation of the US military. 1in July, 950, Ichiro Ishikawa, leader of JUSE and chairman of the Federation of Economic Organizations, accepted Deming's point of view and arranged for him to meet and discuss with 2 1 important Japanese business leaders directly. Later, Deming kept in touch with him.

Many years later, some people told Deming that although they privately felt that Deming's prediction that "Japanese products will invade the world market in five years, and Japan will keep pace with the most prosperous countries in the world" was outrageous, the Japanese had lost everything at that time and there was nothing to lose, so they swallowed it for the time being.

With the support of industry, Japanese science and technology companies began to take large-scale actions, actively organizing managers, engineers and factory foremen of various enterprises to learn basic statistical methods to control and improve quality, and giving statisticians and engineers more advanced statistical theories.

In addition to "statistical control", the core of Deming's quality management theory is also reflected in his 14-point management:

1. Create eternal goals and improve products and services.

2. Adopt a new philosophy. We are in a new economic era created by Japan, and American management is plagued by various chronic diseases.

3. No longer rely on a large number of tests.

4. Price is no longer a single consideration in purchasing. We should no longer let price determine the quality, price and competitiveness of products or services. Japanese managers began to implement incoming inspection as early as 1950, and established a long-term loyal and mutual trust working relationship with each supplier. ..... They think that the way to improve feed quality is to become partners with each supplier and make joint efforts.

5. Continuously improve the production and service system. Quality must be established in the design stage. Once the plan is implemented, it will be too late. The design is carried out as a team, which is the most fundamental requirement. We should constantly improve the testing methods, and learn more about customers' needs, the way they use this product and the possible misuse.

6. Establish on-the-job training system: training must be deconstructed. From raw materials to customers, management must be trained and thoroughly understood. The central problem is to understand "variation".

America's waste lies in its inability to make good use of personal abilities. Although the education system in the United States has been criticized, in fact, after listening to me explain the frustration of production line workers and their desire to contribute their feelings, people are often surprised at how ingenious most production line workers are. Unless the obstacles to work are eliminated, the time and money spent on training will be wasted

7. Establish a leadership system: the job of managers is not to supervise, but to lead. Managers should be committed to improvement, that is, to establish the quality concept of products and services, and then turn this concept into design and actual products.

8. Eliminate employees' fears: Unless you are in a safe working environment, it is difficult to implement. Fear is multifaceted, and all forms of fear have one thing in common, that is, they feel lost because they can't compare with others' performance and false figures.

9. Eliminate departmental barriers: personnel engaged in R&D, design, material procurement, sales and incoming inspection must know all kinds of materials and specifications used in production and assembly.

Service personnel can often get a lot of information about products from customers, but many companies do not have a system to track and apply this information. A new product that is about to come out should have the participation of designers, salespeople and engineers from the beginning. Everyone in the company should work as a team.

10. Cancel activities such as slogans, instructions, employee goals, etc.: posters, slogans, vows, etc., which can improve quality and productivity, see the effect soon, and eliminate some obvious special problems. But with the passage of time, this improvement stopped-and even was finally regarded as a scam. In the future, managers must understand that it is their responsibility to improve the system.

1 1.(a) Cancel the number of work standards: the work standards, production quotas, bonus and piece-rate wage system clearly reflect the dilemma that the management does not understand and cannot provide proper supervision. This kind of loss is amazing. "Bonus" added fuel to the fire. (b) Eliminating numerical targets for managers.

12. Remove the obstacles that deprive people of their pride in technology.

If a person thinks his position is important, he will work hard. If he is proud of his work and participates in the improvement of the "system", he will feel that he is in an important position. In my experience, most people can face all kinds of problems-except "human problems". They can work long hours and face the sluggish business and career, but they can't face the "human problem". In addition, to give employees the opportunity to be proud of their work, a few people who don't care about their work will be affected by the pressure of their colleagues.

13. Encourage everyone to educate and improve themselves: institutions need not only good talents, but also people who can educate and improve themselves.

14. Take action to achieve transformation.

In addition to the "fourteen points", Deming also talked about the "seven evils" and many "obstacles" in American business management. Although it makes sense, it seems to be unexpected.

Deming obviously noticed many management problems such as long-term goals, process improvement, systematic thinking, management philosophy, people-oriented, system operation, team spirit, leaders' management responsibilities and obligations, but he still put the key to solving problems on "quality".

Quality is the result, not the method itself. Deriving a series of scientific and reasonable management theories and methods from the perspective of quality is definitely the right method, and it is obviously debatable to regard the result as the method itself.

Deming totally denied the concepts of competition, performance appraisal and management by objectives, which obviously deviated from the "golden mean" of management. He did put forward a people-oriented management philosophy, but did not regard it as the basis and focus of his theory. Under the premise of "people-oriented" and "the golden mean", it should be more beneficial than harmful to take competition, performance appraisal and target management as a management means instead of all management.

Did Deming achieve Japanese management culture, or did Japanese deep-rooted culture achieve Deming's quality management theory? I'm afraid this is a management problem that no one has ever raised or dared to raise.

Also obsessed with the improvement and improvement of production technology, with Frederick. Compared with Taylor, Deming is obviously far superior to Taylor in terms of actual achievements from Japan to the United States. In terms of the breadth of theoretical achievements, Deming is also superior to butler. However, as far as the depth of theoretical achievements is concerned, Taylor appreciated the possibility and function of human nature in his long-term frustration in his later life, which Deming may have neglected in his later successful achievements.

Deming's greatest contribution is that his theory and practice fully prove that high quality and low cost can have both. This may be the artistry of management.

Deming's book lists quite a few practical cases in the daily practice of enterprise management, and it is a good training and guiding textbook for managers who are interested in studying and improving the efficiency of enterprise operation. Of course, as Deming has emphasized countless times, management is an unshirkable obligation and responsibility of business leaders. Without the active participation and promotion of enterprise managers, no matter how good managers and excellent management methods are, nothing can be achieved.