Description
First: Topic 9-14 Response to : Grant
The first quote that popped out was Demming stating, “The source of innovation is freedom.” It rings true that a man will only discover pure innovation if he is not bogged down with rules and restricted to certain areas. According to the Center for Creative Leadership, “innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas” (“3 Factors That Create a Culture of Innovation”). To achieve this, businesses must not micro-manage their employees but give them a feeling of freedom; as Demming put it, “Give people a chance to use their diverse abilities, capabilities, family life, education, hopes.” In addition, they should make upper management accessible to workers because most of the creative ideas come from the hourly workers, and top management maintains most of the freedom and capability to implement the ideas; therefore, a clear path should be defined on how workers can get their ideas seen.
Secondly, Demming supports the concept of no performance evaluations. Because bad performance is a result of the worker not fitting in with a poor system. Also, performance reviews demoralize. According to a study by Gallup, around 10% of U.S. workers felt engaged after getting negative feedback, and “nearly 30% were so put off by a negative review that they began actively looking for a new job” (O’Connell). Instead of blaming the employee for poor performance and dampening their joy, businesses ought to create a constant process of feedback, where managers check in with their employees daily and analyze how they can improve the system.
Lastly, Demming touches on what American business schools should be teaching: “I think the teaching ought to be on how to improve. Improvement, understanding of people, understanding of product.” I agree fully. Psychology, one of the four elements in Demming’s system of profound knowledge, should be included in business majors. Admirable managers do not just know how to run a business well but also know how to work with people and make every employee feel valued in the business. So, business classes should incorporate psychology classes in their required classes for business degrees, to give future managers a better understanding of how people work and help them understand their future employees.
Works Cited
“3 Factors That Create a Culture of Innovation.” CCL, 23 Nov. 2020, https://www.ccl.org/articles/leading-effectively-articles/3-factors-that-drive-or-suppress-innovation/.
O’Connell, Brian. “Performance Management Evolves.” SHRM, SHRM, 13 June 2020, https://www.shrm.org/hr-today/news/all-things-work/pages/performance-management-evolves.aspx.
Second :Topic 9-15 Also response to : Grant
I chose to do a home example because I find it enjoyable to try and apply concepts normally used in business to everyday personal life. Problem: The coffee in my house is not made in the morning.
Joining with the other 66% of Americans who drink coffee, I favor having a cup of coffee in the morning to accompany me during my busy schedule, whether it be class, homework, or working out (“Coffee Consumption Hits Two-Decade High”). However, some of the times, the coffee is not brewed in the morning, so I decided to break down the problem using the fishbone technique.
Living with my parents and little sister, my mom usually preps the coffee maker and sets the timer for it to start brewing around 15 minutes before she wakes up, but I sometimes wake up earlier than her; therefore, regarding the people aspect of the problem, we don’t have a clear schedule on what time the coffee needs to be brewed. In addition, my mom sometimes is not available and someone else has to make it, but since my dad and I are used to her brewing it, we forget to. Another cause of why the coffee is not brewed is malfunction of the machine, at times, the coffee maker does not brew because the power flashed on and off during the night which deletes any programming which was done the previous night. This cause is rare, and I can not control whether this happens or not. Furthermore, lack of materials (coffee beans) leads to a lack of coffee. When I, or other members in the family, do not realize how low we are on coffee beans and do not add it to the shopping list, we run out of beans and have to wait until the next shopping trip for coffee.
To sum it up, here are the main three causes of coffee not being brewed in the morning:
People — The person brewing coffee set it for the wrong time, or people assume that someone else is going to do it, so it does not get done.
Machine — The power goes out, which resets the coffee maker and causes malfunction.
Materials — Failing to restock coffee beans in the house, leading to a shortage.
Now that I know what can cause the problem, I suggest that my family and I create a schedule for who brews the coffee, including also what time it should be brewed at; additionally, the person brewing the coffee should check the coffee bean level to see how much we have and add it to the shopping list if we have less than a quarter of a bag left.
Works Cited
“Coffee Consumption Hits Two-Decade High.” Vending Market Watch, 18 Mar. 2022, https://www.vendingmarketwatch.com/coffee-service/news/21260922/coffee-consumption-hits-twodecade-high-according-to-national-coffee-association-report.
Third : Topic 9-16 Post
Here’s a link to the Deming Institute video library (below)
Please share in your opinion, why annual performance reviews were poor management according to Deming (and maybe yourself!)
The Red Bead Experiment is an excellent example of randomness and how intelligent people sometimes do connect randomness to performance.
Any comments, approaches, or theory (by your, Deming, or others) are welcome.
Thanks in advance!
