Deming Redux

Attending a meeting this week with a local Quality Association, I am reminded of the power of the teachings of W. Edwards Deming. The presentation was given by Dr. Joyce Orsini, Director of the Deming Scholars MBA Program at Fordham University, and President of the W. Edwards Deming Institute.

Some of her remarks focused on looking at our organizations as whole systems. You can't change a single part without understanding the impact of the change on the other parts. We were reminded that the power of rewards, recognition, salary, and bonuses to make employees happy or to infuriate them cannot be overemphasized. Employers, daily, make big mistakes when they think they are doing something nice for the people they employ.

Dr. Orsini told a funny story about an employer who gave turkeys to employees for Thanksgiving. Around March, employees started inquiring if they were to receive turkeys again the next year. Because, they said, if you are going to give us turkeys again, some employees would prefer ham. The next year, the employees who had received hams, at their request, thought it wasn't fair that the turkeys were bigger than the hams. Do you get the drift? See: Recognition Success Tips.

Finally, she discussed how most organizations prepare a budget with all of the games of padding the budget, competing with other departments for money, and making sure you spend every dime you received so your next year's budget won't be cut.

She suggested, instead, that the department heads sit together at a table and agree on what each department needs. Rather than each department doing the budgeting process on their own, this approach - which one manager called the hardest thing he had ever done - promotes one company, one team, and exhibits whole systems thinking. And, Dr. Orsini guaranteed that it gets easier each year.