The Deming Management Method

When I purchased this book in the late 80's I thoroughly enjoyed the story-telling approach of this book. It was a philosophical awakening. Oh, I'd heard of Deming, studied statistical process control, and even read portions of his famous "14 Points for Managers." I often wondered why these ideas never caught on in American. Later, while working for a Japanese company, Kao, I had what alcoholics called a moment of clairvoyance. An American manager and a Japanese manager were jointly leading a meeting to find the cause of a production problem. The American manager lunged into the old familiar blame game. The Japanese manager calmly turned to his colleague and said politely, "The purpose of our meeting is to find the cause of the problem and develop countermeasures (a Japanese management term)." This brought this book clearly in focus for me. The Japanese got Deming because they were focused on the process of making a better product. American managers, especially MBAs, are focused on the product: selling it. They don't understand the process and won't bother to learn it let the engineers do that. The Japanese and Germans strive to continually improve products beyond the control limits set by the customers; they understand the value of providing a product a customer can't live without. It is my opinion that the Japanese methods have gone well beyond Deming. I don't think recent attempts such as ISO-9000 and six-sigma can match these revolutionary, philosophical changes. Deming had it right in the beginning: statistical process control alone won't improve quality. That's all ISO-9000 and six-sigma are: tools for engineers, not managers. After the biographical information on Dr. Deming, Mary Walton sits through one of Deming's leadership courses. The red bead experiment was an enlightening, and humbling experience for managers who attended these seminars. It gave them an appreciation for how their people, working with poor equipment and inadequate instructions turn out their products. This situation is familiar to most engineers. The author's writing style is very personable with text that is chock full of quotes from Deming himself and others. From there, the book follows a logical pattern through all fourteen points and seven deadly sins. Then, it's on to numerous examples of how American companies such as Ford Motor Company and Campbell Soups have adopted, or attempted to adopt, Deming management method. This books is dog-eared now after 20-years for faithful service. It has been my guide through many management positions. After years of thought on the subject, I feel that Deming's methods are an ideal and that companies must strive to follow them or ignore at their peril. If this review was helpful, please add your vote.

Mary Walton presents a detailed biography of the Guru of Quality, Edward Deming, based on her lengthy involvement with Deming and his quality training programs. Also, this book features an introduction by Deming.The majority of this book is dedicated to Walton's interpretation of Deming's 14 points, which encourages organizations to: have a constancy of purpose, adopt a new philosophy, not rely on mass inspections, not to accept contracts based on price alone, constantly improve processes, train and retrain, institute solid leadership, drive out fear in the workplace, breakdown departmental barriers, eliminate slogans, eliminate quotas, remove barriers to pride in workmanship, and take action to transform the organization.Walton's book does a good job of presenting Deming's theories, which I highly recommend to newcomers to the quality movement. Those experienced in this area and familiar with Deming's 14 points may not benefit as much from this book, but may enjoy a different take on Deming's ideas and somewhat dated examples.

Anyone with an interest in QA, Quality improvement and TQM would have an interest in this book.It is a great introduction and overview of Demings methods of improvement of organizational quality. It chronicles a history of Deming and his work with the Japanese, basically, he gave them what we finally agreed we needed 40 years later.Deming left a legacy of quality. Walton, who worked closely with him all of those years reveals that legacy.A great addition to any business library. This book will make you think differently about everyday management and how you approach business. It is also a good primer for Demings works, Out of the Crisis and The New Economy.

What I really liked about Mary Walton's book is that it is ACCESSIBLE. While I certainly sympathize with Dr. Deming's eschewing simplistic slogans and posters to institute the notion of quality, I felt like Ms. Walton broke Deming's theories down into manageable chunks. Having survived reading Deming's "Out of the Crisis", I would have to say that Mary Walton's slim little volume is a much better way to glean the priceless gems of Dr. Deming's wisdom. This ranks right up there with "Liberation Management" as one of the best business books ever written.

The industrial miracle in Japan is a prime example of what can happen when a nation commits itself to quality and long-range vision instead of the latest illness: "Turning a Fast Buck-itis." Economically, Japan may be in hot water, but in less then 50 years, Japan went from making rubber dog-shit, to turning out some of the highest quality precision work in the world. When Dr. Deming first began speaking in America, America was still riding along on the post-war victory wave. No one would listen to him. The Japanese welcomed him, and even today, traces of his quality-control methods are still seen in the industrial workplace. I believe that proper application of Dr. Deming's priciples could put America back on top and keep it there