Profound knowledge (PK) is knowledge that is all around us human beings, right under our noses, is not easily discovered by our senses, and called profound because of its impact and power in the realm of human activity when it is uncovered. It can be discovered by trial and error, accidentally, intuitively or in a designed system of thought. Dr W. Edward Deming devised a System of Profound Knowledge (SoPK) that provides a constant flow of PK when it is implemented in an organization of people. It can also have a powerful affect when it is implemented by even one individual within an organization. I know this for certain.
When I post in the category of "PK without Deming", I want to acknowledge that PK can and is discovered outside Dr. Deming's SoPK. I find examples of PK actually confirm the truth of Dr Deming's SoPK, though it is my opinion the best way to discover PK is by Dr Deming's SoPK. This way discovery is repeatable, effects monitored and corrections made. When PK is discovered outside of Dr. Deming's SoPK many times it will not sustain itself, or have the impact it could have . Sometimes PK, such as a new invention, has a power all its own, but will not live up to its full potential.
And now to the subject matter of this post, Lola Gonzalez whether she realized it or not was walking in harmony with Dr Deming's Points 1, 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, & 14 in her profound action in keeping her company and employees prospering. Hats off to Lola!
How a boss saved jobs: She laid herself off
Saturday, December 18, 2010
Friday, December 17, 2010
Introduction
I will begin this blog with a short autobiographical sketch on how I was introduced to Dr. W. Edward Deming. I was employed with a medical equipment OEM (original equipment manufacturer) as a senior service engineer in the 1980's. A decision was made to support field service management by creating self-directed work teams. Each service region would be divided into two separate teams. Each team would have a team leader. This was my designation. I was then assigned to attend a CareerTrack course on "Self-directed Work Teams". During the course a statement was made by the instructor that got my attention and stuck with me. He used Toyota as an example of the effectiveness of self-directed work teams. Toyota averaged 14 implemented suggestions per worker per year compared to the US auto industry standard of 0.14 suggestions. This was 10 times the implemented feedback of the US auto industry. Living in Detroit, the Motor Capital of the World, it struck me about how could we continue to compete and succeed with this disparity between this Japanese car manufacturer and US companies was so great. Who would have believed at that time that Toyota by production volume would actually overtake GM for a time, two out of the Big 3 would go bankrupt and the other, Ford , would be on the brink? At that time, no one! This thought about US car manufacturers that I held in a question, would prove to be true beyond imagination.
I left the course with a question, what makes Toyota different from US auto manfacturers? I began to read various references about Toyota in an attempt to understand the reason for this disparity. One day by "accident" I was in a discount book store and stumbled across a book. Its cost was $4.99 plus tax. It remains on my desk to this day. It was Mary Walton's "The Deming Management Method." (DMM will be the acronym I will use for the Deming Management Method throughout my writings.) On the cover besides the title was also written these words, "W. Edwards Deming, the genius who revitalized Japanese industry, offers his unorthodox system to make "Made in America" a guarantee of quality-again." I instinctively knew I had the answer to my question in this book. I had never heard of Dr. Deming before this time despite living in Detroit where Ford Motor has its world headquarters.
I read the book voraciously in this order. First I read the Biographical Note in Chapters 1 & 2; then Chapter 3, The Four-day Seminar: and Chapters 4-18, Deming's 14 Points. I read each point one by one, seeing the clear cut simplicity in Dr Deming's thinking. When I came to the Point 8: Drive out fear, I found the answer to my question of why the disparity between Toyota and US auto manfacturers. There was no trust and respect between management and the willing worker here in the US. How could there be, when management blamed all their problems on the workers/union. How could there be, when every problem one after another, high wages, benefits, lazy, etc., were layed at every ones' feet, but the people responsible: managment/leadership. Did they not know that they hired the workers? Did they not know that the creation of unions was a response to the harsh actions of management toward the worker? For there to be respect and trust and a lack of fear the thoughts of the worker and management must be on the same level, not one superior to the other. If there is a high-mindedness with one party or the other, they will not hear the sounds of profound knowledge. There will not be cooperation. These workers spend day after day deeply involved in the product, subassembly or component they produce, and see a level of detail that a cursory look from the outside will not see. Management desparately needs the profound knowledge found among the willing worker. The knowledge that is right before their noses and they cannot see. This knowledge the worker might or might not be conscious of, needs to brought forth in an environment of mutual respect. Management needs to be walking in the shoes of the worker to get this perspective. When there is a attitude of "people first" with a SoPK and an environment of trust, respect and a constant focus on quality there will be a constant flow of profound knowledge i.e. 14 implemented suggestions per employee per year. There will be a tremendous synergy of innovation and invention and a striving for ever higher quality levels in DMM. Some of the manifestations you see when mental barriers begin to be taken down, are executive and employee cafeterias are made one, with managers eating with their team members. Parking places also are standardize. Those who get to work later no matter who you are, park in the back. First come, first serve. People treating people as equals. This is just the starting point. How about the ridiculous out of proportion executive salaries of publically traded companies. I would tell them if they, the management, want to make their millions of dollars go start their own companies, and see if there psychology will work. These publically traded companies are not the possession of upper management. Enron and the historic financial collaspe of 2008 should be proof enough that this disparity of salaries are unacceptable and the consequences catastrophic. As long is there is the unrealistic and huge disparity between the salaries of the willing worker and management there will be that which is contradictory to cooperation in the midst of the organization.
All said, I continued to read, Mary Walton's book, Chapter 19, The Seven Deadly Diseases and Some Obstacles, Chapter 20, Doing It with Data, Chapter 21, The Deming Prize, Chapters 22-30, practical examples of the implementation of the DMM, and finally the epilogue. I then knew enough to be dangerous. I was not only self-directed, but I was motivated in a way I had never been to pursue excellence in my occupation. I was enpowered with tools to discover Profound Knowledge. It effected my day to day work. It prompted a steady flow of feedback to marketing, service, engineering and quality departments with the beginnings statistical proofs. I put together my own data to give statistical proof. I had become the squeaky wheel. The oil that many companies want to use when a willing worker becomes enpowered is the oil of "be quiet". For the most part they did not want to hear the steady stream of profound knowledge, the simplicity that lies beneath our noses. Without the assistance of Dr Deming in these complex processes and systems to help make sense of this, there is not much else that can be done except put out the almost constant progression of the fires of errors and mistakes. New variations introduced into the process one after one with no idea it is happening. Suppliers making changes without the knowledge of the manufacturer is commonplace.
In conclusion Dr Deming approached companies from the top down. If he could not convince the upper management of his wisdom, the effort was not worth his time. Well, perhaps Dr. Deming did not forsee that a willing worker on the bottom could be convinced of his truth of his thoughts (Dr Deming's) and in his small way attempt to impact the companies he was employed. Well, this is my perspective through the eyes of DMM from the bottom up.
I left the course with a question, what makes Toyota different from US auto manfacturers? I began to read various references about Toyota in an attempt to understand the reason for this disparity. One day by "accident" I was in a discount book store and stumbled across a book. Its cost was $4.99 plus tax. It remains on my desk to this day. It was Mary Walton's "The Deming Management Method." (DMM will be the acronym I will use for the Deming Management Method throughout my writings.) On the cover besides the title was also written these words, "W. Edwards Deming, the genius who revitalized Japanese industry, offers his unorthodox system to make "Made in America" a guarantee of quality-again." I instinctively knew I had the answer to my question in this book. I had never heard of Dr. Deming before this time despite living in Detroit where Ford Motor has its world headquarters.
I read the book voraciously in this order. First I read the Biographical Note in Chapters 1 & 2; then Chapter 3, The Four-day Seminar: and Chapters 4-18, Deming's 14 Points. I read each point one by one, seeing the clear cut simplicity in Dr Deming's thinking. When I came to the Point 8: Drive out fear, I found the answer to my question of why the disparity between Toyota and US auto manfacturers. There was no trust and respect between management and the willing worker here in the US. How could there be, when management blamed all their problems on the workers/union. How could there be, when every problem one after another, high wages, benefits, lazy, etc., were layed at every ones' feet, but the people responsible: managment/leadership. Did they not know that they hired the workers? Did they not know that the creation of unions was a response to the harsh actions of management toward the worker? For there to be respect and trust and a lack of fear the thoughts of the worker and management must be on the same level, not one superior to the other. If there is a high-mindedness with one party or the other, they will not hear the sounds of profound knowledge. There will not be cooperation. These workers spend day after day deeply involved in the product, subassembly or component they produce, and see a level of detail that a cursory look from the outside will not see. Management desparately needs the profound knowledge found among the willing worker. The knowledge that is right before their noses and they cannot see. This knowledge the worker might or might not be conscious of, needs to brought forth in an environment of mutual respect. Management needs to be walking in the shoes of the worker to get this perspective. When there is a attitude of "people first" with a SoPK and an environment of trust, respect and a constant focus on quality there will be a constant flow of profound knowledge i.e. 14 implemented suggestions per employee per year. There will be a tremendous synergy of innovation and invention and a striving for ever higher quality levels in DMM. Some of the manifestations you see when mental barriers begin to be taken down, are executive and employee cafeterias are made one, with managers eating with their team members. Parking places also are standardize. Those who get to work later no matter who you are, park in the back. First come, first serve. People treating people as equals. This is just the starting point. How about the ridiculous out of proportion executive salaries of publically traded companies. I would tell them if they, the management, want to make their millions of dollars go start their own companies, and see if there psychology will work. These publically traded companies are not the possession of upper management. Enron and the historic financial collaspe of 2008 should be proof enough that this disparity of salaries are unacceptable and the consequences catastrophic. As long is there is the unrealistic and huge disparity between the salaries of the willing worker and management there will be that which is contradictory to cooperation in the midst of the organization.
All said, I continued to read, Mary Walton's book, Chapter 19, The Seven Deadly Diseases and Some Obstacles, Chapter 20, Doing It with Data, Chapter 21, The Deming Prize, Chapters 22-30, practical examples of the implementation of the DMM, and finally the epilogue. I then knew enough to be dangerous. I was not only self-directed, but I was motivated in a way I had never been to pursue excellence in my occupation. I was enpowered with tools to discover Profound Knowledge. It effected my day to day work. It prompted a steady flow of feedback to marketing, service, engineering and quality departments with the beginnings statistical proofs. I put together my own data to give statistical proof. I had become the squeaky wheel. The oil that many companies want to use when a willing worker becomes enpowered is the oil of "be quiet". For the most part they did not want to hear the steady stream of profound knowledge, the simplicity that lies beneath our noses. Without the assistance of Dr Deming in these complex processes and systems to help make sense of this, there is not much else that can be done except put out the almost constant progression of the fires of errors and mistakes. New variations introduced into the process one after one with no idea it is happening. Suppliers making changes without the knowledge of the manufacturer is commonplace.
In conclusion Dr Deming approached companies from the top down. If he could not convince the upper management of his wisdom, the effort was not worth his time. Well, perhaps Dr. Deming did not forsee that a willing worker on the bottom could be convinced of his truth of his thoughts (Dr Deming's) and in his small way attempt to impact the companies he was employed. Well, this is my perspective through the eyes of DMM from the bottom up.
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