The News Economics for Industry, Government, Education

by W. Edwards Deming

Book Overview

In this book W. Edwards Deming details the system of transformation that underlies the 14 Points for Management presented in Out of the Crisis. The system of profound knowledge, as it is called, consists of four parts: appreciation for a system, knowledge about variation, theory of knowledge, and psychology. Describing prevailing management style as a prison, Deming shows how a style based on cooperation rather than competition can help people develop...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 091137907X
• ISBN13: 9780911379075
• Release Date: January 1994
• Publisher: Massachusetts Inst Technology
• Length: 247 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Deming vs. Conventional Management

"This book is for people who are living under the tyranny of the prevailing style of management," writes Deming in the preface. Deming has strong convictions, many of which are counter to conventional management thinking. Deming does not believe in ratings and grades. He says performance is mostly attributable to the system in which that person works. "The forces of destruction that come from the present style of reward ... squeeze out from an individual, over his lifetime, his innate intrinsic motivation.... They build into him fear, self-defense, extrinsic motivation. We have been destroying our people from toddlers on through university and on the job. We must preserve the power of intrinsic motivation, dignity, cooperation, curiosity, joy in learning, that people are born with." Nor does Deming think highly of goals. "Only the method is important, not the goal." "It is wrong to suppose that if you can't measure it, you can't manage it - a costly myth." "The customer is not in the pyramid. A pyramid, as an organization chart, thus destroys the system, if ever one was intended." Instead Deming uses flow diagrams. "With shared responsibility, no one is responsible. Joint responsibility is totally different from divided responsibility... Learning under a teacher is a joint effort between teacher and pupil." Deming makes the distinction between common causes of variation, and special causes. He quotes Brian Joiner who said, "One necessary qualification of anyone in management is to stop asking people to explain ups and downs ... that come from random variation." Deming is a legendary name in quality management, especially in Japan through his consulting work with Japanese industry from 1950 onward. He died at age 93 before the second edition of this book went to press.

Definitely a MUST READ!!!!

The New Economics by W. Edwards Deming, from start to finish, was quite an easy book to read. It never became so overly technical to the point that it makes the reader just want to give up and grab a different book. Great examples were used to help illustrate, as Dr. Deming put it, "the tyranny of the prevailing style of management". His 14 Points of Management are well defined and straight forward. Dr. Deming also gave a brief description of Shewhart control charts, tampering and variation, along with some excellent examples to aid in further understanding their uses and misuses. Overall, this is an excellent book to read, especially for those who are in a position of management. When I say management, however, I do not refer simply to individuals dealing with employees at the working floors of industry. Dr. Deming's 14 Points of Management can be used in schools, hospitals, business, industry and countless other disciplines, from teachers to CEOs. Upon reading this book, readers will open their eyes to present practices and hopefully, taking this newly found knowledge, apply it and make a better change for the future.

Highly Recommended!

Critique W. Edwards Deming's work at your peril. After all, he probably set whatever standard you're using. This volume - revised by the author before his death in 1993 and partially based on his 1950s work with the Japanese - may strike the contemporary reader as a curious mixture of seminal process thinking and idiosyncratic ruminations on education. Portions read like an artifact of the early 1990s, but in this regard, however, his volume offers a unique perspective on a turning point in American economic history: the shift to the knowledge-based economy. We [...] recommend Deming's volume to any serious student of management thought, and all human resources professionals should familiarize themselves with his work, which set the foundations for many of the transformations now underway in the corporate world.

Straightforward, Realistic & Practical

I have recommended this book in my previous review of "Out of the Crisis" to managers who are new to Deming's ideas, being a manual that will be easier and more effective to comprehend and follow. At the final stages of his life, Deming (1900-1993) wrote this epilogue of his career with an honest attitude and sincerity that I, along with many of my colleagues, admire. The frankness of his opinions regarding the (lack of) essentially fundamental leadership traits in today's modern global societies, in all vital areas at all organisational strata, are both valid and brave; the information voiced is made possible only through his previous experiences and status in the field.If all managerial leaders of this world were to listen, be able to understand and follow Deming's ideas and underlying philosophies, societies will be enhanced beyond recognition in many aspects.However, if you are a lone crusader in your organisation or even country, then you are in for hell... but do hang on tight, as the world generally hates challenges in any forms and situations... Implementing Deming's philosophies (as with any corporate strategy) involves innovation by the introduction of new ideas into an organisation, which includes rearrangements from jobs and roles to structures and systems; which people generally hate. Even within the book, Deming had already highlighted the various problems to that, and had always emphasised on EDUCATION of the organisation, rather than decreed training to extinguish corporate flames, for he had said: "Knowledge is theory. We should be thankful if action of management is based on theory. Knowledge has temporal spread. Information is not knowledge. The world is drowning in information but is slow in acquisition of knowledge. There is no substitute for knowledge."- W. Edwards Deming 12th September 1993This is my humble tribute to a great man.

An excellent book on systems and whole systems thinking.

This is the last book written by Dr. Deming before his death in 1993 at the age of 93. Dr. Deming is perhaps best known for the work he did in Japan at the end of World War II, and his famous 14 points. In this book Dr. Deming introduces his System of Profound Knowledge, which consists of: An understanding of Systems,A Theory of Knowledge, An understanding of Variation and Psychology Dr. Deming defines a system as: "A series of interdependent components that try to work together to achieve the aim of the system." The system must have an aim, without an aim there is not system. Dr. Deming explains variation as follows: All systems have some variation in them. The secret is to know what kind of variation is occuring and to respond accordingly. Common cause variation is the random variation tha occurs in any system. Special cause variation is a result of something outside the system acting on the system. An example would be that it normally takes you 25 minutes to drive to work, give or take a few minutes, but this morning, because of an accident the commute required 50 minutes. The normal drive time, with variation represents common cause variation, while the accident represents special cause variation. A theory of Knowledge is a way of doing experiments, or defining a mind set. According to Dr. Deming without theory no learning takes place. He give an example of a rooster that has a theory that he causes the sun to rise because he gets up early and crows. One morning he forgets to crow. The sun rises anyway. While the rooster's theory is blown out of the water he has learned that he is not responsible for causing the sun to rise and in the future he can sleep in. Dr. Deming's discussion on psychology has to do with the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. His basic theory is that people enter the world motivated to learn and do well and that the excessive use of extrinsic motivation kills the intrinsic motivation. In this book Dr. Deming also discusses in some detail his famous Red Beads Experiment which he uses to demonstrate the power of systems and how they victimize the people working in them.