W Edwards Deming, the Total Quality Management thinker

  Dr. Deming has a philosophical saying: quality does not have to be surprising. 

William Edwards Deming

  http://www.economist.com/node/13805735

  The foundation of Dr. Deming's advice:

  All business processes are vulnerable to a loss of quality through statistical variation. Management was responsible for 85% of that variation. Reduce the variation; increase the quality, was 

  The most surprising thing is that Dr. Deming did not do this first in his native America, but in Japan.

  After the second world war, in 1947, Deming was involved in early planning for the 1951 Japanese Census. The Allied powers were occupying Japan, and he was asked by the United States Department of the Army to assist with the census.  

  He stayed on to advise Japanese businessmen how to inject quality into their manufacturing industry. At the time Japan was notorious in the western world for the shabby goods that it produced. By the late 1970s the roles had been reversed: Japan was producing the quality stuff while America's car industry was in crisis.

  It gave Americans some solace at the time to discover that behind the Japanese quality miracle had been two Americans that few of them had heard of: Joseph Moses Juran and W. Edwards Deming. Juran, an electrical engineer, had also gone to Japan after the second world war and begun to teach middle managers about quality. Juran focused more on the human-relations aspects of quality, while Deming's approach involved demonstrating that all business processes are vulnerable to a loss of quality through statistical variation. Management, he argued, was responsible for 85% of that variation. Reduce the variation; increase the quality, was the foundation of his advice.

The W. Edwards Deming Institute

W Edwards Deming: Total Quality Management thinker

https://www.bl.uk/people/w-edwards-deming

             

William Edwards Deming (1900-1993) is widely acknowledged as the leading management thinker in the field of quality. He was a statistician and business consultant whose methods helped hasten Japan’s recovery after the Second World War and beyond. He derived the first philosophy and method that allowed individuals and organisations to plan and continually improve themselves, their relationships, processes, products and services. His philosophy is one of cooperation and continual improvement; it avoids blame and redefines mistakes as opportunities for improvement.

Life and career

Born in Iowa in 1900, Deming’s modest upbringing in an early settler community was to instil habits of thriftiness and a dislike of waste which was to influence his later thinking. His University career started at the University of Wyoming where he achieved an engineering degree in 1921, followed by a Masters in mathematics and physics from the University of Colorado. He completed his studies at Yale University in 1928, where he was awarded a doctorate in mathematical physics. Deming then concentrated on lecturing and writing in mathematics, physics and statistics for the next 10 years.

In the late 1920s Deming became familiar with the work of Walter Shewhart, who was experimenting with the application of statistical techniques to manufacturing processes. Deming became interested in applying Shewhart's techniques to non-manufacturing processes, particularly clerical, administrative and management activities. After joining the US Census Bureau in 1939 he applied statistical process control to their techniques, which contributed to a six-fold improvement in productivity. Around this time, Deming started to run courses for engineers and designers on his - and Shewhart's - evolving methods of statistical process control. At Stanford, Deming taught the Stanford statistic training program to nearly 2,000 people in a couple of years, using the Shewhart Cycle for Learning and Improvement and the PDCA Cycle.

Deming's expertise as a statistician was instrumental in his posting to Japan after the Second World War as an adviser to the Japanese Census. At this time, the USA was the leading economic power, with products much envied by the rest of the world; it saw no need for Deming's new ideas. The Japanese, on the other hand, recognised that their own goods were shoddy by international comparison. Moreover, after the war, they could not afford the wastage of raw materials that post-production inspection processes brought about and were consequently looking for techniques to help them address these problems. Whilst in Japan, Deming became involved with the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) and his career of lecturing to the Japanese on statistical methods and company-wide quality: a combination of techniques now known as Total Quality Management (TQM) had begun.

It was only in the late 1970s that the USA became aware of his achievements in Japan. The 1980s saw a spate of publications explaining his work and influence. In his American seminars during 1980, Deming talked of the need for the total transformation of the Western style of management. In 1986 he published Out of the crisis which documented the thinking and practice that had led to the transformation of Japanese manufacturing industry. Just before he died in 1993 he founded the W. Edwards Deming Institute.

Key theories

Summary

Deming's work and writing constitute not so much a technique, as a philosophy of management, Total Quality Management, that focuses on quality and continuous improvement but which has had - justifiably - a much wider influence.

Here we will consider Deming's interest in variation and his approach to systematic problem solving which led on to his development of the 14 points which have gained widespread recognition and which are central to the quality movement and his philosophy of transformational management. Deming’s seven deadly diseases of management and his use and promotion of the PDCA cycle, known to many as the Deming Wheel, are described below:

Variation and problem solving

The key to Deming's ideas on quality lies in his recognition of the importance of variation. In Out of the crisis he states:

'The central problem in management and in leadership...is failure to understand the information in variation'.

Deming was preoccupied with why things do not behave as predicted. All systems (be they the equipment, the process or the people) have variation, but he argued that it is essential for managers to be able to distinguish between special and common causes of variation. He developed a theory of variation - that special causes of variation are usually easily attributable to quickly recognisable factors such as changes of procedure, change of shift or operator etc, but that common causes will remain when special causes have been eliminated (normally due to design, process or system). These common causes are often recognised by workers, but only managers have the authority to change them to avoid repeated occurrence of the problem. Deming estimated that management was responsible for more than 85% of the causes of variation. This formed his central message to the Japanese.

Deming's 14 points for management

Deming created 14 points which provide a framework to developing knowledge in the workplace and can be used to guide long term business plans and aims. The points constitute not so much an action plan as a philosophical code for management. They have been extensively interpreted by as many commentators on quality, as on other management disciplines.

Deming's 14 points

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with the aim of becoming competitive, staying in business and providing jobs.
2. Adopt the new philosophy. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities and take on leadership for change.
3. Cease dependence on mass inspection. Build quality into the product from the start.
4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag alone. Instead, minimise total cost. Move towards a single supplier for any item, based on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.
5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service to improve quality and reduce waste.
6. Institute training and retraining.
7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to lead and help people to do a better job.
8. Drive out fear so that everyone may work effectively for the company.
9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales and production must work as a team, to foresee and solve problems of production.
10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and targets for the workforce as they do not necessarily achieve their aims.
11. Eliminate numerical quotas in order to take account of quality and methods, rather than just numbers.
12. Remove barriers to pride of workmanship.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and re-training for both the management and the workforce.
14. Take action to accomplish the transformation. Management and workforce must work together.

Deming's seven deadly diseases of management  

Here, Deming describes the main barriers faced by management to improving effectiveness and continual improvement. He was referring here to US industry and their management practices.

1. Lack of constancy of purpose to plan products and services that will have a market and keep the company afloat.
2. An emphasis on short term profits and short term thinking (just the opposite from constancy of purpose to stay in business), fed by fear of unfriendly takeover, and by demand from bankers and owners for dividends.
3. Evaluation of performance and annual reviews.
4. Mobility of managers and job hopping.
5. Management by use only of available data.
6. High medical costs.
7. High costs of liability.

Deming said that effective management and a commitment to quality were needed to combat these seven deadly diseases. He emphasised the importance of communicating quality messages to all staff and building a belief in total quality management.

The relevance of these principles to a wider general management application has contributed to Deming's status as a founder of the Quality Management movement, not just quality and process control. This is why he interests an audience that is much wider than the quality lobby.

PDCA Cycle (The Deming Wheel)

Walter Shewhart originated the concept of the PDCA cycle and introduced it to Deming. Deming promoted the idea widely in the 1950s and it became known as the Deming Wheel or the Deming cycle. 

The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle consists of four steps or stages which must be gone through to get from `problem-faced' to `problem solved.’ Repetition of these steps forms a cycle of continual improvement:

Plan for changes to bring about improvement.
Do changes on a small scale first to trial them.
Check to see if changes are working and to investigate selected processes.
Act to get the greatest benefit from change.

In perspective

Naturally enough, no one as universally acclaimed as Deming will escape without criticism. Some have criticised his approach as being good for improvement, but uninspiring for creativity and innovation. Others say his approach is not effective for generating new products or penetrating new markets.

Others, particularly Joseph Juran, another quality guru, comment on an over-reliance on statistical methods. Deming's US lectures in the 1980s, however, point time and time again to a mistaken preoccupation with the wrong type of statistics. He argued against figures focusing purely on productivity and control and argued for more evidence of quality, a message which Tom Peters adopted in the 1980s and 1990s.

Deming has stirred up wide interest with his denial of Management by Objectives and performance appraisals. Similarly, his attitude towards integrating the workforce has led TQM to be perceived as a caring philosophy. Paradoxically, his focus on cost-reduction has been pointed to as a cause of downsizing.

Although in the 1980s the US paid tribute to Deming - not only for what he did in Japan, but also for his thinking and approach to quality management - few American companies used his methods. One reason for this is perhaps that by the 1980s Deming was selling a system that worked, that he implied that he had discovered the only way to achieve quality, and that he was no longer alert to changes in the problems. In Japan, in the beginning, he had listened to Japanese needs and requirements, showed them respect and developed his thinking with them. With the USA in the early 1980s, he appeared to try to dispense his philosophy rather than adapt it to a different culture.

In 1951, in early recognition of their debt to Deming, the JUSE awarded the Deming prize to Japanese organisations excelling in company-wide quality. It was not until the late 1980s that the US recognised Deming's achievements in Japan and elevated him rapidly to guru status. The 1990s showed Deming's legacy is likely to have both a lasting and significant impact on management theory. Why is this?

The first reason must lie in the nature of his achievement. Deming has been universally acclaimed as one of the Founding Fathers of Total Quality Management, if not the Founding Father. The revolution in Japanese manufacturing management that led to the economic miracle of the 1970s and 1980s has been attributed largely to Deming.

Secondly, if the 14 points make less of an impact today than they did just after the Second World War in Japan, it is probably because many aspects of those points have now been adopted, assimilated and integrated into management practice in the 1990s as well as continuously debated and taught in Business Schools around the world.

The third reason is more complex, and lies in the scope of his legacy. Deming's 14 points add up to a code of management philosophy which spans the two major schools of management thought which have dominated since the early 20th century: scientific (hard) management on the one hand, and human relations (soft) management on the other. Deming succeeds - despite criticisms of overuse of statistical techniques - in marrying them together. Over half of his 14 points focus on people as opposed to systems. Many management thinkers veer towards one school or the other. Deming, like Drucker, melds them together.

The originality and freshness of Deming is that he took his philosophy, not from the world of management, but from the world of mathematics, and wedded it with a human relations approach which did not come from management theory but from observation, and from seeing what people needed from their working environment in order to contribute of their best.

Further reading

Key works by Deming

Books

Out of the crisis: quality, productivity and competitive position.Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1986

The new economics for industry, government and education.(2nd ed.) Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2000

愛德華茲·戴明_互動百科http://www.baike.com/wiki/%E7%88%E6%98%8E

愛德華茲·戴明（1900~1993）是世界著名的質量管理專家，他因對世界質量管理發展做出的卓越貢獻而享譽全球。

人物經曆/愛德華茲·戴明 編輯

愛德華茲·戴明圖冊

戴明博士於1900年10月4日生於美國艾奧瓦州(SiouxCity,IA)，戴明父親經營農場但

收入不多，少時的戴明家算是貧窮，因此他在少年時代可說是一直在打工，有時候在外麵點亮街燈、除雪，賺起每天一塊兩毛的工資或在飯店內打雜、洗床每小時工資美金兩毛伍等以補家計。

戴明頗負正義感，曾經參加墨西哥邊境一個小戰爭的誌願兵且已搭車趕赴戰場，但是後來被發現隻有十四歲，因不符規定才被遣返。幸虧是這樣，否則若在戰場犧牲，世界上就少了一位偉大的質量管理大師了。戴明博士不但有正義感且深具愛心，在日本指導期間因憤慨一位未善待精神病患的醫院院長，而利用他對當時駐日美軍的影響力而將此人解聘。
戴明博士於1921年從懷俄明大學(Univ.ofWyoming)畢業後繼續前往科羅拉多大學進修，並於1925年修得數學與物理碩士，最後於1928年取得耶魯大學的物理博士學位。戴明博士在學期間曾經於芝加哥的西電公司霍桑工廠工作時得知當時在貝爾研究所的W．A．休哈特博士，並於1927年見麵後就成為亦師亦友的莫逆之交。

戴明博士畢業後婉拒西電公司的工作機會而應聘到華盛頓的美國農業部的固氮研究所工作。

他也曾經利用一年的休假到倫敦大學與R.A.Fisher做有關統計方麵的研究。

戴明博士1950年應聘去日本講學，並將其報酬捐出，而後幾乎每年都赴日繼續指導，奠定了日本企業界良好的質量管理基礎。

重要貢獻/愛德華茲·戴明 

戴明博士的貢獻可分為幾個階段：

《戴明管理四日談》圖冊

第一個階段─對美國初期SQC推行的貢獻

戴明博士在美國政府服務期間，為了國勢人口調查而開發新的抽樣法，並證明統計方法不但可應用於工業而商業方麵亦有用。

到了第二世界大戰期間，他建議軍事有關單位的技術者及檢驗人員等都必須接受統計的質量管理方法，並實際給予教育訓練。另外在GE公司開班講授統計質量管理並與其它專家聯合起來在美國各地繼續開課計共訓練了包括政府機構在內有三萬一千多人，可說對美國SQC的基礎及推廣有莫大的貢獻（當時戴明博士已將統計的質量管理應用到工業以外的住宅、營養、農業、水產、員工的雇用方麵，其涉及麵極為廣泛）

第二階段─對日本的質量管理貢獻

戴明博士從1950年到日本指導質量管理後就一直繼續長達近四十年，且前二三十年幾乎每年都去，可以說日本的質量管理是由戴明博士帶動起來都不為過。

戴明博士在日本雖然也教統計方法，但他很快就發覺光教統計質量管理可能會犯了以前美國企業界所犯的錯誤，因此他修正計劃而改向企業的經營著灌輸品質經營的理念及重要性，而使日本的早期的經營者幾乎都見過戴明博士而受教於他，並實踐戴明博士的品質經營理念，奠定了日本TQC或CWQC的基礎。戴明博士早期輔導日本企業的質量管理時曾經預言，日本在五年內其產品必將雄霸世界市場，而果然不出其所料，其預言被證明正確，且提早來到，難怪日本企業界對戴明博士懷有最崇高的敬佩而稱其為日本質量管理之父了。

第三階段─對美國及全世界推行TQM的貢獻

由於戴明博士對日本指導質量管理的成功，讓美國人驚醒原來日本工商經營成功的背後竟然有一位美國人居功最大，故開始對戴明博士另眼看待。而於1980年6月24日全國廣播公司(NBC)在電視播放舉世聞名的“日本能為什麽我們不能”(IfJapanCan,WhyCan'tWe?)，使戴明博士一夜成名。從此以後由於美國企業家重新研究戴明的質量管理經營理念，加上戴明博士繼續在美國及各國積極舉行講授他的品質經營經典為期四天的14個管理原則(Deming's14Points)與及實際為美國各大公司如福特或AT&T公司提供品質經營的顧問工作而收到了實質上的效果。事實上戴明博士的品質14點管理原則就是美國在1980年代開始盛行迄今的TQM的基礎，所有全麵品質經營所包涵的重點，幾乎都可以在戴明博士的14點裏麵找到類似或相同的詮釋。目前在美國及英國都已成立有DemingInstitute，其所宣稱的基本精神也都是TQM的精神。也就是說戴明博士對TQM的影響是直接的。

由以上可知戴明博士不但具有學問上的成就，對世界各國品質經營的推動更有功不可沒的偉大貢獻，也稱得上質量管理的一代宗師了。

管理思想/愛德華茲·戴明 

1、現代管理的七項惡疾（1）缺乏長遠的目標（2）目光短淺和隻重短期利潤（3）存在諸多弊端的考績製度

《戴明—管理與企業實踐》圖冊

（4）不安分的管理層（5）數字化的誤區（6）沉重的醫療支出（7）產生巨額的法務費用

2、質量管理十四法（1）確立長遠目標（2）轉換管理階層的觀念（3）以一次做好代替大量檢驗（4）持續不斷地進行改善（5）廢除“價低者得”的做法（6）實施長期連續的崗位培訓（7）現代督導方式（8）排除恐懼心理，加強員工溝通（9）擺脫數字配額的限製（10）打破部門間的障礙（11）避免對員工說教（12）讓員工以工作為榮（13）培訓、與自我改進計劃（14）采取行動，完成轉型

3.樹立改進產品和服務的長久使命和願景
最高管理層不能僅僅看到短期目標，眼光要轉回到長遠建設的方向去，也就是把改進產品和服務作為恒久的目的，不斷向這個目標努力。?

“我們很容易埋首於解決今日錯綜複雜的問題中，麵對這些挑戰，讓自己的效率越來越高”，戴明博士說。但是他強調，如果沒有長期的發展戰略，公司不可能成為這個行業的長勝者。企業必須克服短期行為，以長遠利益為重，這需要在所有領域加以改革和創新。他奉勸那些認真考慮未來的公司，一定要製定出一套長久的計劃和實施方案，以使自己在業內站住腳跟。?

4.接受新的理念
現代社會是一個急劇變化的社會，人們的思想和觀念都在發生變化，這勢必影響到消費習慣。?人的觀念對產品和服務的質量有很大的影響，有什麽樣的觀念，就有什麽樣的產品和服務。因此說，一定要有新的質量觀念，時刻對外界的變化做出積極地反映，不能容忍粗劣的原料，有瑕疵的產品和鬆散的服務，要積極地傾聽和了解客戶的不滿，客戶們不會抱怨，隻會流失，如果企業能做好這一點，一定會帶來很大的經濟效益。這對企業來說是生死存亡的關鍵因素。?

5.質量不能僅依賴於產品的檢驗
檢驗不能創造價值，隻能將次品挑出來，這是一種事後彌補的辦法，浪費已經發生，不能有什麽挽回。?

那麽，為什麽不一開始就製造出高品質的產品來代替大量的檢驗呢？戴明博士指出：“質量不是來源於檢驗，而是來源於改進生產過程。”要采用事前預防的方法，從一開始就將質量融入到產品中，以降低次品的發生率。當然，這也不是說就要消除檢驗，進行一定程度的檢驗是必要的，他會讓我們了解到目前的工作的進展程度，可以及時發現生產中出現的問題，取得控製圖表上所需要的數據。但是不能將產品的質量依賴於檢驗，產品的質量是生產出來的，不是檢驗出來的。?

6.采購時不能僅依賴於價格
價格本身並無意義，隻是相對於質量才有意義。如果質量非常低劣，價格即使便宜點也是不劃算的，要立足於總成本的最低。?

低價會導致供應商粗製濫造，買主也會因為質量太差而經常更換供應商，這會增加生產中的不確定性，尋找新供應商的費用加上以後的修理費用，總的成本還是很高的。因此，隻有管理當局重新界定原則，采購工作才會改變。公司一定要與供應商建立長遠的互動的關係並減少供應商的數目，雙向合作，使雙方的公產相接，這對企業和供應商來講都是有好處的。?

7.持續不斷地改進產品和服務?
戴明博士說：滅火不等於改進，當發現某些地方失控，采取一定的方法將誤差消除，這並不是改進，隻不過是將秤砣回到原來的狀態。?

改進不是一勞永逸的事情，要持續不斷地進行，否則的話就會落後，就會在競爭中被淘汰。在企業生產和服務的每一個過程，公司中的每一個部門、每一個成員、每一活動、都必須降低浪費和提高質量，必須不斷地改進，在原有的基礎上取得進一步的提高。一個企業應該時刻思考自己是否比前兩年有進步了，顧客是否滿意，銷售的方法是否有成效等，隻有這樣，才能不斷地改進公司的狀況。?

8.建立現代的崗位培訓方法?

我們經常聽說，員工很多都是從其他同事身上學習或者是從工作手冊上研究的，這是不對的。?工作人員的技能直接影響著產品的質量，如技能不好，產品的質量就得不到很好的保障。因此，作為管理者，要對員工進行崗位培訓。培訓必須是有計劃的，且必須是建立於可接受的工作標準上，必須使用統計方法來衡量培訓工作是否奏效。戴明認為，隻要成效的表現尚未進入統計控製的範圍內，就有進步的空間，就應該繼續培訓。?
9.改善領導方式?
領導是管理階層的工作。工人工作做得不好時，很多領導都抱怨說員工的素質低，其實很多時候應該找領導自己的原因。?

很多領導不但不能幫助下屬把事情做好，反而還阻礙他們做事。這樣不但提高不了質量，還會把事情弄得更糟糕。戴明博士認為，員工做不好工作，大多都是由於領導安排不好，管理不好的原因。領導人的職責就是幫助員工做好工作，他要為員工的未來的成敗負責。領導者要把下屬的成功看作是自己的成功，積極為下屬的工作創造良好的條件。當員工沒有做好事情時，不是他們才識不夠，而是被放錯了位置。?

10.驅走恐懼心理
這一點的宗旨是使得每一位員工都能夠在有安全感的環境中更有效率地工作。?

恐懼所造成的損失是很驚人的。許多員工害怕拿主意或者提問，即使在他們不清楚自己的職責或不明白對錯的時候。他們害怕的原因，一方麵是因為公司的利益，另一方麵是因為自己的前途。員工們不應該害怕設備受損，請求進一步的指示，或者是提醒上司注意各種幹擾質量的問題。所有同事必須有膽量去發問，提出問題，或表達意見。當管理層不斷改進自己的工作，建立解決問題的機製時，員工對管理層建立了信心，這個問題就解決了。?

11.打破部門之間的壁壘?
不論是研發、銷售、生產，各個部門都應該通力合作，共同思考產品在使用中可能發生的問題，並防患於未然。當各個部門都很好時，並不代表整體最優。設計人員常常設計出令工程人員頭疼的產品，而工程人員往往被生產線上視為不受歡迎的人。銷售部為了提高銷售量，不斷的簽訂訂單，而這些訂單，生產部未必能夠很好地生產。很多人都在自己的部門表現得很好，但如果部門目標不合，就會有損整個公司的利益。整體的最優需要各個部門的合作，每一部門都不應隻顧獨善其身，而需要發揮團隊精神，以解決在生產和服務中遇到的問題，跨部門的質量圈活動有助於改善設計，服務，質量及成本。?

12.取消對員工發出口號和目標?
有的公司口號很有想象力，如“零缺陷”、“第一次就把工作做對”等，這些口號聽起來很好，但是並不一定就能達到。?

這並不是員工自己的原因，他們也願意做好工作，但是原材料不好，生產設備不合適等原因無法讓他們做好，這隻會降低他們的士氣。因此說激發員工提高生產率的指標、口號必須廢除，這隻會帶來員工的反感，對於提高生產率卻沒多大的用處。許多品質的不好是製度或者是設備造成的，員工並無法左右。應該為員工多提供實現目標的方法和手段，有時候很多的問題都在於係統，一般員工是解決不了這個問題的，但公司本身卻要有這樣的目標：永不間歇地改進。?

13.取消工作標準及數量化的定額?

定額把焦點放在數量上，而非質量上，人們為了完成定額指標，可能會不顧質量地進行粗製濫造，這樣定額的目標雖然實現了，但對公司確實沒有一點好處。?

按件計酬的工作就很不好，因此說，定額不可能從根本上改進工作。在有些公司，員工因為生產的產品有瑕疵常會被扣錢。但是這怎能完全責怪員工呢？企業的規章製度也是造成這種現象的一個很大的原因。理想的工作標準應該是什麽樣的質量可以被接受，什麽樣的質量不可以被接受。取消定額後員工可以自願地積極地工作，管理者的能力也要不斷地提高，這才更有利於組織的發展。?

14.消除影響員工工作暢順的因素?
大多數人都希望把工作做好，都為做好工作感到光榮，管理者不應該剝奪他們的這種權力。有的員工抱怨，工作標準經常改變讓他們無法適從，生產工具不方便而沒有人對他們理會。在工作中，很多管理人員從來不給基層的員工任何權限，不依據他們的建議行事，這是不對的。這些有礙於員工順暢工作的障礙都應該消除。管理者要充分地尊重員工的意見，提高他們的積極性。任何導致員工失去工作積極性的因素都必須消除。?

15.建立嚴謹的教育及培訓計劃?
把人才招聘到企業裏來是第一步，這些人才還要不斷地吸收新的知識和技術，不斷地進行自我改善。隨著社會的發展，質量和生產力的改善，會導致部分工作崗位數目的改變，工作所需要的人數會減少，例如，檢驗員可能會減少。因此所有員工都要不斷接受再培訓，以使他們獲得新的知識和技能，讓他們承擔新的工作。管理者要讓員工明白，沒有人會因為生產力的提高而失去工作。一切訓練都應包括基本統計技巧的運用。這個同第6點的區別在於，這一點是對員工的綜合知識和素質的培訓。這樣員工的工作才會更加安心。?

16.動起來，不斷地改進
公司的所有成員，無論是總經理還是普通員工，都應該參與到質量改進中。管理階層應該形成一個團隊，不斷地推進前麵的13點的實施。

戴明的質量管理法概述

http://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E6%88%B4%E6%9895

  戴明（William Edwards Deming）博士是世界著名的質量管理專家，他對世界質量管理發展做出的卓越貢獻享譽全球。以戴明命名的“戴明品質獎”，至今仍是日本品質管理的最高榮譽。作為質量管理的先驅者，戴明學說對國際質量管理理論和方法始終產生著異常重要的影響。

　　戴明學說簡潔易明，其主要觀點“十四要點”成為本世紀全麵質量管理（TQM）的重要理論基礎。

      戴明的“十四要點（Deming’s 14 Points）”[1]

　　1．創造產品與服務改善的恒久目的

　　最高管理層必須從短期目標的迷途中歸返，轉回到長遠建設的正確方向。也就是把改進產品和服務作為恒久的目的，堅持經營，這需要在所有領域加以改革和創新。

　　2．采納新的哲學

　　必須絕對不容忍粗劣的原料，不良的操作，有瑕疵的產品和鬆散的服務。

　　3．停止依靠大批量的檢驗來達到質量標準

　　檢驗其實是等於準備有次品，檢驗出來已經是太遲，且成本高而效益低。正確的做法，是改良生產過程。

　　4．廢除“價低者得”的做法

　　價格本身並無意義，隻是相對於質量才有意義。因此，隻有管理當局重新界定原則，采購工作才會改變。公司一定要與供應商建立長遠的關係，並減少供應商的數目。采購部門必須采用統計工具來判斷供應商及其產品的質量。

　　5．不斷地及永不間斷地改進生產及服務係統

　　在每一活動中，必須降低浪費和提高質量，無論是采購、運輸、工程、方法、維修、銷售、分銷、會計、人事、顧客服務及生產製造。

　　6．建立現代的崗位培訓方法

　　培訓必須是有計劃的，且必須是建立於可接受的工作標準上。必須使用統計方法來衡量培訓工作是否奏效。

　　7．建立現代的督導方法

　　督導人員必須要讓高層管理知道需要改善的地方。當知道之後，管理當局必須采取行動。

　　8．驅走恐懼心理

　　所有同事必須有膽量去發問，提出問題，或表達意見。

　　9．打破部門之間的圍牆

　　每一部門都不應隻顧獨善其身，而需要發揮團隊精神。跨部門的質量圈活動有助於改善設計，服務，質量及成本。

　　10．取消對員工發出計量化的目標

　　激發員工提高生產率的指標、口號、圖像、海報都必須廢除。很多配合的改變往往是在一般員工控製範圍之外，因此這些宣傳品隻會導致反感。雖然無須為員工訂下可計量的目標，但公司本身卻要有這樣的一個目標：永不間歇地改進。

　　11．取消工作標準及數量化的定額

　　定額把焦點放在數量，而非質量。計件工作製更不好，因為它鼓勵製造次品。

　　12．消除妨礙基員工工作暢順的因素

　　任何導致員工失去工作尊嚴的因素必須消除，包括不明何為好的工作表現。

　　13．建立嚴謹的教育及培訓計劃

　　由於質量和生產力的改善會導致部分工作崗位數目的改變，因此所有員工都要不斷接受訓練及再培訓。一切訓練都應包括基本統計技巧的運用。

　　14．創造一個每天都推動以上13項的高層管理結構

PDCA循環

　　戴明博土最早提出了PDCA循環的概念，所以又稱其為“戴明環”。PDCA循環是能使任何一項活動有效進行的一種合乎邏輯的工作程序，特別是在質量管理中得到了廣泛的應用。P、D、C、A四個英文字母所代表的意義如下：

　　① P（Plan）——計劃。包括方針和目標的確定以及活動計劃的製定；

　　② D（DO）——執行。執行就是具體運作，實現計劃中的內容；

　　③ C（Check）——檢查。就是要總結執行計劃的結果，分清哪些對了，哪些錯了，明確效果，找出問題；

　　④A（Action）——行動（或處理）。對總結檢查的結果進行處理，成功的經驗加以肯定，並予以標準化，或製定作業指導書，便於以後工作時遵循；對於失敗的教訓也要總結，以免重現。對於沒有解決的問題，應提給下一個PDCA循環中去解決。

　　PDCA循環有以下四個明顯特點：

　　1．周而複始

　　PDCA循環的四個過程不是運行一次就完結，而是周而複始地進行。一個循環結束了，解決了一部分問題，可能還有問題沒有解決，或者又出現了新的問題，再進行下一個PDCA循環，依此類推。

　　2．大環帶小環

　　類似行星輪係，一個公司或組織的整體運行體係與其內部各子體係的關係，是大環帶動小環的有機邏輯組合體。

　　3．階梯式上升PDCA循環不是停留在一個水平上的循環，不斷解決問題的過程就是水平逐步上升的過程。

　　4．統計的工具

　　PDCA循環應用了科學的統計觀念和處理方法。作為推動工作、發現問題和解決問題的有效工具，典型的模式被稱為“四個階段”、“八個步驟”和“七種工具”。四個階段就是P、D、C、A ，八個步驟是：

　　①分析現狀，發現問題；

　　②分析質量問題中各種影響因素；

　　③分析影響質量問題的主要原因；

　　④針對主要原因，采取解決的措施；

　　———為什麽要製定這個措施？

　　———達到什麽目標？

　　———在何處執行？

　　———由誰負責完成？

　　———什麽時間完成？

　　———怎樣執行？

　　⑤執行，按措施計劃的要求去做；

　　⑥檢查，把執行結果與要求達到的目標進行對比；

　　⑦標準化，把成功的經驗總結出來，製定相應的標準；

　　⑧把沒有解決或新出現的問題轉入下一個PDCA循環中去解決。

　　通常，七種工具是指在質量管理中廣泛應用的直方圖、控製圖、因果圖、排列圖、相關圖、分層法和統計分析表等。

　　戴明學說反映了全麵質量管理的全麵性，說明了質量管理與改善並不是個別部門的事，而是需要由最高管理層領導和推動才可奏效。戴明學說的核心可以概括為：

　　1.高層管理的決心及參與； 2.群策群力的團隊精神； 3.通過教育來提高質量意識； 4.質量改良的技術訓練; 5.製定衡量質量的尺度標準; 6.對質量成本的分析及認識; 7.不斷改進活動; 8.各級員工的參與。

　　戴明博士有一句頗富哲理的名言：“質量無須驚人之舉。”他平實的見解和驕人的成就之所以受到企業界的重視和尊重，是因為若能有係統地、持久地將這些觀念付諸行動，幾乎可以肯定在全麵質量管理上就能夠取得突破。