Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality

Submitted by WorkCreatively on Thu, 04/23/2009 - 07:05

Printer-friendly version

Title	Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality
Publication Type	Book
Pub Year	1991
Authors	Aguayo, R.
Publisher	Fireside
Keywords	accountability, appraisal, motivation, productivity, quality, rank
Notes	accountability"Some writers call for greater accountability. The computer is seen as the sure way out of our problems by providing management with intricate details about each person's performance. All these views are wrong!" (p. 93) appraisal"Executives and business students often feel lost after hearing Deming rail against merit plans and the annual performance review. It seems to some that he is asking them to give up control of the work force. Questions like the following are often asked: 'But how does one motivate people without plans that distinguish and rank performance?' 'How does one keep the workers honest?' The answer is to tap intrinsic motivation." (p. 101) motivation"People do a good job because of pride in their work, a sense of professionalism, love for their work, self-respect. The list of names used to describe intrinsic motivation could be quite long. Modern management literature since the end of World War II has laid heavy stress on questions such as these: 'How does management motivate its people to produce at maximum?' 'How does management control its people so that they work hard and don't sluff off or make mistakes?' The answers that have emerged over the last forty years reflect each writer's underlying assumptions about the causes of productivity and the causes of defects. As long as writers of books on management are ignorant of the interactive nature of common causes--in fact even ignorant of the existence of common causes--they will lay all blame at the feet of the hourly worker and middle management." (p. 101)

»