Blog posts on awards

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

• Using Outdated Management Practices Can Be Very Costly

  The dangers of strict sales targets are well understood by those that study management and human behavior. Sadly our management practices often fail to advance even as those that do seek to understand how to better manage our organizations make great strides in advancing our knowledge.

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• Why Extrinsic Motivation Fails

  Lean thinkers understand this idea as respect for people. Dr. Deming talked about joy in work.Douglas McGregor talked about theory x and theory y thinking. All of these perspectives incorporate an understanding of workplace systems and human psychology. Extrinsic motivation is easy but not effective. It is really just abdicating management and using extrinsic motivation in place of management. The alternative requires managers to actually manage. This is challenging but the correct choice to make.

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• T.N. Goh received ASQ Statistics Division’s William G. Hunter Award

  I first met Bill 38 year ago, when he was in Singapore helping us set up the first school of engineering in the country. He persuaded me to go to the graduate school at UW-Madison and I daresay that’s the best advice I ever got in my whole career. Now when I come to think of it, what Bill stood for in his lifetime has not been, and never will be, out of date. He had advocated the use of statistical thinking and the systems approach, which if anything is even more critical today in handling issues such as global warming and government effectiveness...

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• 2023 William G. Hunter Award to Dr. James Cochran

  ...It is also meaningful because of the distinguished, accomplished, highly regarded recipients who previously received this award. Dr. Hunter continues to have profound impact on our discipline and on my career - in service, in teaching, and in research. Dr. Hunter has influenced me by example, primarily through his vision and efforts to improve the lives of others by applying our discipline to complex and consequential problems.

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• “Pay for Performance” is a Bad Idea

  The idea of a merit rating is alluring. The sound of the words captivates the imagination: pay for what you get; get what you pay for; motivate people to do their best, for their own good. The effect is exactly the opposite of what the words promise.

  W. Edwards Deming

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• Individual Bonuses Are Bad Management

  The idea that bonuses are bad management is one of the more difficult management improvement ideas for people to accept. See related post links for much more on the problems with them and what to do instead...

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