Provided by James R. Martin, Ph.D., CMA
Professor Emeritus, University of South Florida
Deming's Theory Main Page | TOC Main Page
| Link to the North River Press
The purpose of this book is to describe a method for managing a system effectively within the context of continuous improvement. To begin, one must recognize that the assumptions underlying our traditional management approach are not consistent with this purpose. These assumptions include:
That management should view and structure the organization as hierarchical rather than systemic.
That management should emphasize local optimization rather than global or system optimization.
That management should focus on cost reduction rather than increasing the performance of the system.
That management should emphasize competition rather than cooperation.
Lepore and Cohen provide a 10 step process for improving any organization that combines the management concepts associated with Deming and Goldratt.
1. Establishing the goal of the system, the units of measurement and the operation measurements.
2. Seeing the system.
3. Making the system stable.
4. Identifying the constraint and carry out the Five Focusing Steps.
5. Implementing buffer management.
6. Reducing the variability of the constraint and the main processes.
7. Creating a suitable management structure.
8. Eliminating the external constraint: selling the excess capacity.
9. Bringing the constraint inside the organization when possible.
10. Setting up a continuous learning program.
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Related summaries:
Deming, W. E. 1993. The New Economics For Industry, Government & Education. Cambridge: Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Advanced Engineering Study. (Summary).
Goldratt, E. M. 1990. The Haystack Syndrome: Sifting Information Out of the Data Ocean. New York: North River Press. (Summary).
Goldratt, E. M. 1990. What is this thing called Theory of Constraints. New York: North River Press. (Summary).
Goldratt, E. M. and J. Cox. 1986. The Goal: A Process of Ongoing Improvement. New York: North River Press. (Summary).
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Deming's Theory of Profound Knowledge. Management And Accounting Web. DemingExhibit
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Goldratt's dice game or match bowl experiment. Management And Accounting Web. MatchBowlExperiment
Martin, J. R. Not dated. Russell Ackoff: What is a system? Videos. Management And Accounting Web. RussellAckoffVideos
Martin, J. R. Not dated. What is the red bead experiment? Management And Accounting Web. DemingsRedbeads