(Student’s name)
Abstract
The current paper makes an attempt to study the biography of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and his 14 point philosophy that helped Japan recover from the substantial loss post World War II. The study throws light on the achievements and the accolades won by Dr. W. Edwards Deming as a result of his immense hard work. It also gives a bird’s eye view of the 14 points and the relevance of their application.
Various books were studied to gather help in making this paper instrumental enough to achieve its purpose. The paper concludes by identifying a few very critical points among the 14 points for the successful functioning of the organization.
Introduction – A short history of Dr. W. Edwards Deming and his 14 points: Dr. W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) an American scholar was celebrated for his realistic teachings that imparted understanding on the very essential requisite of triumph – cooperation. It was Dr. W. Edwards Deming who first set forth his philosophy that focused on the necessity of “constant improvement” as a steady endeavor to become successful in any business or relationship. It was believed that Dr. Deming belonged to a poor family and the hardships that he experienced in his personal life educated him the relevance and implication of cooperation. Also regarded as the undisputed quality expert in the United States, Dr. W. Edwards Deming served the country in a multi-faceted position while performing in the roles of mathematical physicist, statistical advisor and professor of statistics.
The philosophy advocated by Dr. W. Edwards Deming was reflected in the 14 points that were propounded by him. He first put his philosophy to practical application while helping the Japanese to recover from the massive destruction that resulted from the Second World War. His teachings and innovative methods taught the Japanese to produce quality products at much cheaper rates. Eventually the Japanese could view manufacturing as a complete system, contrary to their earlier practice of treating it as a combination of multiple petite processes.
The 14 points philosophy promoted by Dr. W. Edwards Deming was at the outset presented in one of his books “Out Of the Crisis”. It was this philosophy of Dr. W. Edwards Deming that earned him the award of Second Order of the Sacred Treasure. The famous Deming Prize that was meant to recognize organizations that practice rigorous quality techniques to attain high performance was also named after Dr. W. Edwards Deming by the Japanese scientists.
The significant of Deming’s 14 points: The 14 points as advocated by Dr. W. Edwards Deming are Constancy of purpose, adopting the new philosophy, eliminating the requirement of mass inspection, avoiding giving sole significance to pricing, improving all the processes involved, implementation of modern training methods at all levels, establishing leadership practices that extend help for further improvement of people and processes, establish effective communication, encouraging cooperation by eliminating barriers among different levels, eradicating exhortations at work place, avoiding numerical targets, encouraging pride of workmanship, encouraging further education for improvement of people involved, exercising clear definition of commitment and action on the part of top management. A careful observation of the 14 points listed above suggests obvious interdependence among them. The common factors focused upon in almost all the points are workers, work place, end products and the top management.
For a smooth and flourishing performance of any organization, a basic understanding of respective responsibilities and authorities becomes inevitable. In my view, all the 14 points more or less deal with providing appropriate definition of authorities and responsibilities of each factor involved. While it would be unjust to opine that only a few among the 14 points would be critical for a business, a priority order of the 14 points would definitely preserve the significance of Dr. W. Edwards Deming’s philosophy. Conserving the worth of all the 14 points, I would like to highlight a few of them which I believe, have the potential of resulting in the efficient application of all the 14 points towards the success of any organization. The points and the reasons attributed are as follows:
1. Constancy of purpose ensures continuous improvement of products and services that reaches to the end customer thus justifying the existence of the organization.
2. Adapting to the new philosophy results in the required transformation of the organization which in turn would make the organization much sought after by its customers, workers and the society as well.
3. Instituting effective leadership is another critical point that has the potential of creating a long lasting and mutually beneficial bond between the management and the work force therefore resulting in a profitable existence of the organization. As effective management can not only improve the work quality but also automatically increase the quantity.
4. Eliminating fear among workforce by encouraging effective two way communication does not only provide job satisfaction but also enhances the quality of the products and services delivered.
5. Encouraging the workforce to equip themselves with relevant further education not only ensures job promotion and high self-esteem but also would eventually result in an organization armed with highly competitive workforce.
6. A clear definition of the role of the top management proves to be very critical in the effective execution of all the above said points. After all a goal clearly set is a goal half achieved.
Conclusion: In my opinion the 14 point methodology does surely hold the potential to be effective provided its adaption is closely scrutinized right from its latent stages of execution for the timely corrections required. Every point has its own importance and relevance that needs to be timely identified and judiciously applied to the relevant fields in the organization. A devoted approach towards this methodology helped Japanese to turn their mistakes into opportunities in a time span of just 4 years as opposed to the time span of 5 years as anticipated by the profounder of this methodology himself. This methodology equips the top management with tools and techniques that guide them in involving their workforce to identify new opportunities while working towards improving their current performance.
References
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4. Dale, B. G. (2003). Managing Quality (4th ed.). Hertfordshire: Prentice Hall.
