Deming's 14 Points

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  Programs like six sigma, lean and total quality management are effective ways to manage continuous improvement strategies and create quality in an organization.  Over the years these fundamental strategies have proven to be drivers of success.  With this in mind, every organization needs quality at all levels of a business.  In today's global economy quality is a common desire.  Everyone wants it.  So, where did this desire for quality come from?

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  Much of the Total Quality Movement began with an innovative thinker by the name of Dr. W. Edwards Deming.  Deming was a business consultant and statistician who frequently traveled to Japan sharing his principles just after World War 2.  This marked the beginning of a huge Quality movement with a simple message, “By improving quality, companies will decrease expenses as well as increase productivity and market share.”  Companies like Toyota, Ford, Sony and other great manufacturers applied Deming's ideas and techniques with great results.  In 1982 Dr. Deming Authored the book "Out of the Crisis”.  In this book Deming shared what would later become known as Deming’s 14 Point Management Philosophy.  Though Deming was not the creator of TQM his 14 points would become the standard reference for quality transformation.  Let’s look at Deming's 14 Points:

1. Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services.  Here a company resists the struggle of reacting to short term solutions and focuses instead on a long term plan for constant quality improvement.  In other words, a company should not just limit themselves to repeating the same standards day in and day out, rather they should improve on standards and find new innovative and better things to do.  This often requires a visionary mindset to predict what may happen in the future and always have the goal of getting better and better everyday in mind.
2. Adopt the new philosophy.  The word adopt is defined in one way as choosing to take up, follow, or use.  With this in mind, an entire organization needs to buy in to and embrace quality at every level of the organization.  A vision needs to be created and implemented and everyone must be ready for change.
3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality.  Inspection will not prevent defects, it will only catch them.  With that said, processes should be built with quality in mind.  Rather than checking when things go wrong, we should find the root causes and eliminate them altogether.  Also, while physical inspection can help prevent defects from leaving, statistical process control can reveal common causes and special causes that give insight to patterns.  As an aside, statistical process control and Zero Quality Control are massive improvements on traditional Inspection Methods.
4. End the practice of awarding business on price alone; instead, minimize total cost by working with a single supplier.  Suppliers should never be selected for pricing alone.  Use indicators that help measure quality and the standards that you set. Remember to look at the total cost of ownership vs. the simple cost of a purchase order.
5. Improve constantly and forever every process for planning, production and service.  Deming was an advocate of PDCA, which was a four step method used in lean, quality improvements and other continuous improvement strategies.  Training and education should be consistent for everyone.  As employees obtain knowledge they also need to be given opportunities to apply knowledge and practice regular daily kaizen.
6. Institute training on the job. Hands-on opportunities from the front line at the gemba are critical for an employee's development.  Organizations should seek to establish a knowledge center that everyone has access to all the time and every employee needs to understand how the big picture relates to them and the activities they perform daily.
7. Adopt and institute leadership.  Leadership is so much different than management.  Leaders look to accomplish the vision, not just meet quotas.  They teach others and grow more leaders.  When this occurs in an organization people are empowered and get what they need to perform their very best day in and day out.
8. Drive out and Eliminate fear.  Fear has no place in any organization, especially one trying to achieve a high functioning quality workplace.  People should be allowed to share and implement improvement ideas and to speak openly about problems.  When this happens, more opportunities to improve become known to everyone.  Finally, leaders should not just be approachable, they should listen when approached and act when it is in the best interest of everyone.
9. Break down barriers and silos between departments and staff areas.  When silos exist ideas are restricted.  Instead of departmentalizing an organization seek to establish internal supplier and customer relationships.  This helps everyone understand that flow occurs when we work together towards a common vision.  Instead of compromising and giving and taking, try to establish a company where consensus drives every decision.  Keep in mind that this can only occur when we break silos down and create a cross-functional team environment.
10. Eliminate unclear slogans, exhortations and targets for the workforce.  Slogans can sometimes inspire people.  But really, what does it mean to “always try your best”.  These slogans may be good reminders but effective leaders define what is expected of employees and even better, reward them when they meet expectations.
11. Eliminate numerical quotas for the workforce and numerical goals for management.  Dr. Deming was a strong advocate of looking at the process and not just the numbers that come from the process.  When a process is the one being analyzed and measured and not the people it can not only improve the morale of an organization but also reveal ways that frontline workers can strengthen the quality within their processes.
12. Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship, and eliminate the annual rating or merit system.  All workers should feel good about the work they do.  They should feel a sense of pride and responsibility.  Bonuses and rewards should not be given for comparative measures, they should be given because people meet goals and help one another.  As time goes on the improved quality will not only raise the excitement amongst teams but it will also lower costs in an organization, which can be repurposed to reward and continue building morale.
13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement for everyone.  Whether this is a college sponsorship, in house training or offsite opportunities, establishing programs that help educate and improve people will directly improve their skills.  When skills and knowledge are enhanced, quality will naturally get better as well.  Another benefit of the acquisition of new skills is that it can assist in addressing changes, expanding abilities and building resilience for a business.  This point is indeed one of the most powerful.
14. Put everybody in the company to work accomplishing the transformation.  There is no doubt that this step requires effective change management principles like the ones found in WECHANGE.  This helps to introduce the new philosophy and ideas in Deming's 14 points to everyone.  A good way to think of this step is, as each and every person takes a step, no matter how small toward quality it will add up to enormous change on a larger scale.

You’ve now learned about Deming's 14 Points.  Before you go though, we’d like to invite you to ponder the following question: Which of Deming's 14 points would benefit you the most and why?  You can write your answers down, start a discussion with the community or simply answer.  

References: 

• Deming, W. Edwards, Out of the Crisis, 14 Points.

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