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Posts selected fromManagement Blog - Engineering Blog - Investing Blog and other blogs

• Effective Communication is Explicit

  Making communication explicit creates a process that is less likely to result in problems that stem from communication failures...

  Writing on a flip chart what was decided in a meeting along with all the action items (including who is responsible) is another example of a practice to make communication explicit.

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• Examining the Scientific Basis Around Exercise and Diet Claims

  As I have said before, scientific literacy is critical to allow us to make those judgements about what is credible evidence and what are outright lies, foolish claims or highly suspicious claims tainted by conflicts of interest.

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• Distorting the System, Distorting the Data or Improving the System

  In Fourth Generation Management (I highly recommend this book, by the way), Brian Joiner provided an excellent summary of the options to get better “results” (as measured by the data used).

  The options are to:

  • distort the system
  • distort the data
  • improve the system

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• But, That Won't Work Here

  George Box, a good friend (and a close colleague to my father), put the problem of getting new ideas adopted this way (from Management Matters by John Hunter):

  1. It won’t work
  2. It won’t work here
  3. I thought of it first

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• The Wonderful Coconut

  One of the treats of living in a tropical climate is drinking coconut water. I love drinking the water from fresh coconuts. This video provides insight into the many uses of all parts of the coconut tree.

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• 94% Belongs to the System

  I should estimate that in my experience most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to the proportions something like this: 94% belongs to the system (responsibility of management), 6% special.

  Page 315 of Out of the Crisis by Dr. W. Edwards Deming.

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• The Art of Discovery with George Box

  Great video of George Box on the process improvement process.

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• Good Journalism Aids Society by Shining the Light on Corruption

  That police departments cover up abuse by their own to the public is pitiful. So many good police officers serve these systems that are failing to stop criminal behavior against the public. It shouldn't fall to journalist to protect the public, but when the police perpetrate such bad practices journalists are a potential protection to the public. If we don't support real journalism we risk great damage to our society.

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• Asian Civilizations Museum in Singapore

  The image shows: Uma Parameshwari, bronze statue, India

  The Asian Civilisations Museum’s flagship at Empress Place opened in 2003. Occupying over 14,000 square metres at the newly-restored Empress Place Building, it houses 11 galleries which showcase over 1300 artefacts from the Museum’s growing collections on the civilisations of China, Southeast Asia, South Asia and West Asia/ Islamic.

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• Knowing How to Manage People Is the Single Most Important Part of Management

  The challenge with managing people is not that good sources on what is important don’t exist it is that far too often we make superficial application of management ideas and then give up and superficially try another management idea.

  Learning from the gemba is important. But superficially visiting the gemba and doesn’t work. Without an understanding of how the components of a management system fit together and a long term commitment to create a management system that focuses on respect for people the organization fails to capture most of the gains possible with better management of people.

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• Business 901 Podcast with John Hunter: Two New Deadly Diseases for Business

  I recorded a series of podcasts when promoting my new book – Management Matters: Building Enterprise Capability.

  In this podcast I discuss the 2 new deadly diseases facing companies: excessive executive pay and systemic "intellectual property" related problems.

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• Using Incentives to Guide Social System Improvements

  ... In Stockholm people were against congestion pricing (70% to 30%). This isn’t surprising they see a new tax that only is a cost. They don’t understand that the system performance is going to improve – the cost will provide a benefit. Leadership is required to push forward when the benefits are not obvious to everyone. Once people saw that congestion was greatly decreased 70% supported congestion pricing.

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• Business 901 Podcast with Me: Deming’s Management Ideas Today

  Here are some links related to items I mention in the podcast:

  • The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog
  • William Hunter, my father. Link to paper with Easaw Chacko on Building a Quality Movement within a developing nation, 1972. Developing Children’s Numeracy Using Dice
  • Shoichiro Toyoda, Honorary Chairman and director of Toyota: “There is not a day I don’t think about what Dr. Deming meant to us. Deming is the core of our management.”
  • Statistics for Experimenters by George Box, Bill Hunter and Stu Hunter.
  • City of Madison applying Deming’s management ideas...

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• Psychology – Managing Human Systems

  People are not cogs in a machine. Everyone brings extraordinary talents and abilities to the organization. Dr. Deming sought to maximize the value people bring to the organization. This requires giving them pride in their work, freedom to use their brain, tools to be effective and systems that allow people to practice continual improvement.

  Creating an environment where people flourish is key to Deming’s thinking. Deming understood what John McGregor put forth in the Human Side of Enterprise (1960) that people have an innate desire to take pride in what they do. Management’s job was to allow people to fulfill this need, not to attempt to manipulate behavior through external motivation.

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• Theory of Knowledge in the Deming Management System

  The System Of Profound Knowledge® (SoPK) is the culmination of W. Edwards Deming’s work on management. The four areas of the system are: appreciation for a system, knowledge of variation, theory of knowledge and psychology. This post explores the theory of knowledge in the context of Dr. Deming’s management philosophy.

  “The greatest obstacle to discovery is not ignorance – it is the illusion of knowledge.” – Daniel J. Boorstin

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