Thinking about quality

W. Edwards Deming's revolutionary management ideas brought about a complete turnaround at companies like Ford, Xerox and General Motors. His name is legendary in Japan for the role he played in reinvigorating their industries after World War II. But American managers, many of them looking for a quick-fix recipe for success, undertook the Deming method as if it were a simple management plan. What they failed to recognize was that the Deming method is a philosophy - and calls for radical changes in how we think about everything we do. It represents a holistic worldview and not the fragmented,…