Other topics
The following email discussion occurred in July 2005
Richard Zultner: How can you tell if management (or even a single manager) is applying the System of Profound Knowledge, or not?
For example, you are talking with a manager (or worker) and have only a few minutes to determine if Dr. Deming's teachings are being applied in practice. What do you ask about? What are the most distinctive practices indicative of SoPK application? [And no, you cannot just ask, "do you know, and apply, Dr. Deming's System of Profound Knowledge?"]
Ivan Webb: I think the question you are looking for is this one:
"How does the management of this organization make it easier for everyone to do a better job?"
From the answer you receive I think you will be able recognize the use (or non-use) of the SoPK in the management of the organization.
Richard: Interesting. I've never seen this question before. Unless the organization is formed for the purpose of serving the members, why would the goal of the organization be furthered by making things easier for the people in the organization?
Ivan: This is not the goal but the core strategy
Richard: Wouldn't the easiest way of making things easier be to lower standards?
Ivan: Certainly but this would not be managing the system towards achieving its goal
Richard: Is management the primary constraint on people doing a better job?
Ivan: Almost always! Until the system is working perfectly it is possible to improve it. And improvement of the system is a management responsibility - after all it is the system that the managers are there to manage
Richard: On a sports team, wouldn't a demanding coach, who also produces winning teams, be better?
Ivan: Managers achieve genuine authority to make demands on staff by making it easier for people to do a better job. They can be more demanding on the basis that they will contribute by helping to make it easier for the team to succeed, that is,: achieve of the system's goal
Richard: What if to do better, we have to work harder?
Ivan: This is often the case (more input). However more timely inputs and improved processes are often far more productive than what can be achieved simply by an increase in effort. By what percentage can a person's effort's be increased (most people I know are already working long and hard)? By what percentage might a system be made more effective? Who knows what is the limit to continuous improvement? I don't! I have never seen any limit to improvement - initially I thought I would but I was wrong.
Richard: Don't people work harder willingly for a good leader?
Ivan: Absolutely, can you think of a person you deem to be a good leader who didn't make it easier for everyone to do well in the long term? Good leaders are committed. Making it easier to do better is one of the most sincere ways for a leader to demonstrate his/her commitment: the leader is attending to both success and well-being (the two key outcomes) of the people being led.
Ivan: If the SoPK is only being implemented by a single manager in a section or department of an organization he/she will talk about "What we do in our section/department...' (notice the pronouns: 'we' and 'our'). See easier first and the rest of the website: it expands on this issues involved.
Richard: Ah, a school system!
Ivan: Interesting response? - I don't think a school system is fundamentally different from any other system. The things we gained from our involvement in the quality movement were derived from its basic (industrial/commercial) literature. Almost none of the literature was school specific.
Richard: If we look at the rationale: We improve processes to ensure that tasks are easier (more efficient), and, outputs/outcomes are better (more effective), then,
Is "easier" more efficient?
Ivan: Yes! Things that are made easier are made more efficient (same or better result for less effort). Efficiency is about cost effectiveness - easier is less costly in terms of effort
Richard: Wouldn't more efficient be if you can teach more students with the same number of teachers?
Ivan: Yes, and this is one of the most important reasons for making things easier - to release resources that were being consumed unnecessarily elsewhere so that they could be used to make better provision for the students.
Richard: Or if the students got higher test scores, or got into better schools?
Ivan: Yes again but these are some goals of being efficient and effective and worth investing in because they are important. Making things easier is about releasing resources to re-invest in important activities that would otherwise not occur.
Richard: Or if the school budget could be held to increase less than the level of inflation?
Ivan: This is the very reason we 'discovered' the quality movement in the first place - the school suffered massive cutbacks in resources (almost a 20% reduction in number the teaching staff) with no change in enrolments. We wanted to preserve the good things we had been doing. After a couple of years of continuous improvement based on SoPK we achieved this goal and then went even further.
Richard: If you have to work harder to produce better outcomes, what's the problem?
Ivan: This is only a problem if there is waste involved - using more effort than is actually required is waste. Rework is a classic example of using more effort than is actually required. Interestingly, one of the comments that was often made about the school was that 'This is an easy place to work because everyone works so hard!' And they worked hard on the system to make it easier to do well. The payoff was usually achieved by making the small everyday things easier - this freed up people to attend to the big, difficult and higher order challenges
Richard: Does this "easier first" approach also apply to the students?
Ivan: Absolutely!!!! And to their families and to visitors to the school... See our job and working together
Ivan: Thanks for this discussion Richard - your challenging questions have helped me clarify my thinking considerably. All the best!!
[Additional note: In many ways this is what Myron Tribus is referring to when he reminds us that
'Managers should work ON the system WITH the help of the people who work in the system' - Ivan]