Edwards Deming's Fourteen Points - Essay Example

Fourteen Point Plan: Edward Deming is an American statistician, and he is credited with helping Japan evolve into a manufacturing nation. He is also the one who came up with the concept of Total Quality Management. Deming traveled to Japan, after the Second World War, for purposes of helping the country to conduct a census. In this country, Deming taught Japanese engineers on statistical process control. This is a set of techniques that made it possible for Japanese engineers to produce high quality goods, without using expensive machines. His efforts caught the attention of the Japanese emperor, who gave him an award for his role in the country’s industrialization (Anderson, 12). Upon returning in United States of America, Deming wrote a book by the title Out of a crisis. This book was published in 1982, and it outlines 14 points which if used in the United States manufacturing sector, then there will be an industrial boom in the country. The 14 points advocated by Deming may seem to be a bunch of radical ideas; however, to effectively understand these ideas, it is important to understand Deming’s explanations of the concept of variance. According to Deming, variation was the problem that presented a great threat to the manufacturing industry of United States of America. Deming reasoned that if there was a variation in prices, times of delivery, work ethics, then companies were wasting their resources (By, 23). On this basis, Deming identified 14 points of management that people and companies ought to follow. These points are (Deming, 7); 1. Creating a purpose of constancy in order to improve the operations of the business organization. It is therefore important to replace the short term objectives of an organization, with long term goals. 2. Adoption of the management’s new policy. Under this principle, it is the responsibility of the management to adopt their own philosophies, instead of expecting the work force to adopt the management philosophy. 3. To stop depending on inspections. This is because if there is a reduction in variance, there it is not necessary to inspect manufactured products for defects. Because of a reduction in variance, there won’t be any defects on the manufactured products. 4. The industry should identify a single supplier for one product. This is because many suppliers’ will always produce different quality of products, and this leads to a variation of the product under consideration, and this results to a variation of the products supplied. 5. There must always be a need of improvement, and this is in regard to reducing variation. 6. On job training is a necessity if the organization wants to achieve efficiency in its work force. Inadequate training will make people inefficient, leading to an increase in variation of the products produced. 7. Deming advocates for institutional leadership. In his opinion, there is a difference between leadership and supervision. He denotes that supervision involves setting up of targets, and it is quota based. 8. The eighth principles that Deming develops, relates to fear. Deming denotes that developing business policies out of fear is counter-productive. As such, managers ought to drive out fear for them to achieve success in their endeavors. Fear also prevents workers from effectively serving the interests of the organization. 9. The ninth principle is in regard to breaking down the barriers that exist between the various departments of an organization. Under this principle, the idea of the internal customer emerges. This idea denotes that the various departments within an organization serve each other. They do not serve the management. This is a very central idea in TQM. 10. Deming also proposes the concept of eliminating slogans within an organization. Under this idea, the mistakes that people make, does not arise because of their faults, but because of the various processes within the organization that they are working for. On this basis therefore, it is not wise to harass employees without improving the working systems/ processes within an organization. Doing this is counter-productive, and the organization will not meet its objectives. 11. The greatest factor that leads to the production of poor quality goods is the setting of targets. Demining refers this principle as management by objectives. On this note, Deming is of the opinion that it is necessary to eliminate it. 12. It is necessary for the organization to take away any barrier that will negatively affect the pride of workmanship. This is because these barriers will lower the satisfaction of workers. 13. Advocation for self-improvement and institutional education. 14. Embracing transformation/ change within an organization. The principle that resonates with my personality is the idea of embracing transformation/ change. Change within an organization is inevitable. Organizations are just like people, and as they move on with their business affairs, so do they experience change (Robbins and Mary, 31). Organizations can either change because of the existence of a new management, investors, or even a new competitor in the market. Understanding and embracing change within an organization is therefore an important element that can either make an individual succeed or fail. For instance Johnson Spencer has written a book that specifically deals with this aspect of change. Spencer gives a fictitious story about two mice, and two individuals. In this story, the two mice and the two individuals are out to look for happiness (Johnson, 35). Happiness is symbolized by the presence of cheese. The two mices are called Sniff and Scurry, while the two individuals are called Haw and Hem. These characters managed to find happiness that is a cheese station, however, Haw and Hem refused to embrace change when they realized that the supply of cheese had diminished. On the other hand, Sniff and Scurry embraced this change, and decided to move on, for purposes of finding another cheese. The consequences are devastating on the two fictitious characters of Haw and Hem. Hem dies because of hunger, whereas Haw leaves and decides to embrace change, however it was late. Sniff and Scurry on the other hand managed to succeed by finding a new source of cheese supply, symbolizing happiness. Change is a very important aspect that defines the success or failure of an individual. Fear to embrace change, denotes that an individual is afraid of risking. Without taking risks, there is no way a business organization or an individual can succeed. Spencer denotes that embracing change is the element that can either destroy a business or make it to succeed (Johnson, 28). An organization is always in a process of transition. To manage these changes effectively, everybody within an organization must be ready to accept them (Shani, 51). For instance, there might be a growth in the market share of the business organization. This will result to an increase in its profitability; as a result, the management must initiate measures which will ensure that the organization maintains its market share. These measures might be changes in its marketing policies. However, the organization might experience some resistance when trying to initiate these changes. The organization can either sack the employees, or replace them with a new set of employees, or it can create awareness on the importance of individual embracing this aspect of change (By, 29). In conclusion therefore, this paper manages to identify the fourteen management points advocated for by Edward Deming. This paper manages to give the background of Edward Deming, and the reasons as to why he developed the fourteen points plan for management. That is to help the American manufacturing sector achieve dominance in the world. This paper also manages to identify a point that resonates with its author The point in question is on the importance of embracing transformation/ change within an organization. It is under points number fourteen of Edward Deming. This paper explains why change is important in an organization, and how it can be applied in management. In explaining the importance of change in an organization, this paper uses the examples of John Spencer. It is important to denote that John Spencer is a very famous management expert, and his book on change is widely read, both by managers, and students of management. Works Cited: Anderson, Donald L.. Organization development: the process of leading organizational change. 2nd ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications, 2012. Print. By, Rune Todnem. Organizational change, leadership and ethics leading organizations toward sustainability. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge, 2012. Print. By, Rune Todnem. Organizational change, leadership and ethics: leading organizations toward sustainability. London: Routledge, 2013. Print. Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the crisis. Cambridge, Mass.: Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Advanced Engineering Study, 1986. Print. Johnson, Spencer. Who moved my cheese?: an a-mazing way to deal with change in your work and in your life. New York: Putnam, 1998. Print. Robbins, Stephen P., and Mary K. Coulter. Management. 11th ed. Boston: Prentice Hall, 2012. Print. Shani, Abraham B.. Research in organizational change and development. Bingley: Emerald, 2012. Print. Top of Form Bottom of Form Read More