Deming's Fourteen Points of Management

Total Quality Management. Explanation of Fourteen Points of Management by Edward Deming.

Short biography of W. Edwards Deming

W Edwards Deming was an American statistician who is associated with the rise of Japan as a manufacturing nation, and with the invention of Total Quality Management (TQM). Deming went to Japan just after the War to help set up a census of the Japanese population. While he was there, he taught 'statistical process control' to Japanese engineers - a set of techniques which allowed them to manufacture high-quality goods without expensive machinery. In 1960 he was awarded a medal by the Japanese Emperor for his services to that country's industry.

Deming returned to the US and was unknown for years until the publication of his book "Out of the crisis" in 1982. In this book, Deming set out 14 points which, if applied to US manufacturing industry, would he believed, save the US from industrial doom by the Japanese.

The Fourteen Points of Management of Dr. W. Edward Deming represent for many people the essence of Total Quality Management (TQM).

Deming's Fourteen Points of Management

Create constancy of purpose for improvement of product and service. Compare: Hoshin Kanri - Policy Deployment. (Organizations must allocate resources for long-term planning, research, and education, and for the constant improvement of the design of their products and services)
Adopt the new philosophy. (Government regulations representing obstacles must be removed, transformation of companies is needed)
End the dependence on mass inspections. (Quality must be designed and built into the processes. Prevent defects, rather than attempting to detect and fix them, after they have occurred)
End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tags alone. (Organizations should establish long-term relationships with [single] suppliers)
Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service. (Management and employees must search continuously for ways to improve quality and productivity)
Institute training. (Training at all levels is a necessity, not optional)
Adopt and institute leadership. (Managers should lead, not supervise)
Drive out fear. (Make employees feel secure enough to express ideas and ask questions)
Break down barriers between staff areas. (Working in teams will solve many problems and will improve quality and productivity)
Eliminate slogans, warnings, and targets for the workforce. (Problems with quality and productivity are caused by the system, not by individuals. Posters and slogans generate frustration and resentment)
Eliminate numerical quotas for the work force and numerical goals for people in management. (To achieve their quotas, people will create defective products and false reports)
Remove barriers that rob people of pride of workmanship. (Individual performance reviews are a great barrier to pride of achievement)
Encourage education and self-improvement for everyone. (Continuous learning for everyone)
Take action to accomplish the transformation. (Commitment on the part of both top management and employees is required).

Fourteen Points of Management (Deming) Forum (19)

Changes Caused by TQM for the Roles of Employees and Managers
"What changes in roles and behavior are required for workers and managers in Total Quality Management?"

Continuous Quality Improvement Methods in Higher Education
"As I have been working on quality management in sciences and higher education I would appreciate if you could suggest on any new theoretical approaches or methods that can be implemented to possess permanent improvement of services."

The Second Principle of Deming: Quality Philosophy
"I would like to emphasize the second principle of Deming, being a quality PHILOSOPHY, which I think is the most important one to reach quality parameters.
Take for example the Japanese economic growth, that was based on their own beliefs or philosophy... Wasn't it amazing? The achieved high quality in production or services is the best evidence for a good organization and for the right attitude of the people involved in the process."

How to Implement Total Quality Management? Implementation Approach for TQM
"Actually there's no generic perfect TQM implementation approach in a certain company. I believe it depends on the company to have a specific orientation of TQM.
A generic successful implementation approach for total quality management has not been discovered yet."

Do Fayol's Principles Apply in All Cultures?
"Have you tried to incorporate culture into Fayol's principles? In other words, do the principles apply in all contexts, for example in Africa?"

Total Quality Management and ISO
"What is the appreciation of TQM practitioners, who have been applying TQM models such as EFQM, Malcolm Baldrige or CAF, of the latest version of the ISO standard 9004:2009 managing for the sustained success of an organisation? Has it changed your views on the further development of TQM?"

How to Maintain High Quality: 4 Entities
"Four entities should be maintained to have high quality:
1. Service - Maintain high quality services and always look for chances of improvement.
2. Employees - Continuous education, motivation, empowered and space for innovation and new ideas. Recognize and reward excellence.
3. Management - Do customer satisfaction studies and remove the barriers in the work environment to improve the communication.
4. Production - Always maintain the production capability to have high quality of production.
"

Limitations of Total Quality Management
"Does TQM have any limitations or disadvantages?"

Total Quality Management has to Include Employee Participation
"The essence of quality is lost in approach by management if the idea does not engage employees and ensure their participation. In deciding the value of quality for the organization, we must understand and ensure that those down who are in constant and direct contact with the customers will feel involved and committed to their organization's level of standard."

Total Quality Management vs Taylorism
"Some reviews suggest that TQM is a further development of Taylor's Scientific Management Theory. Is that the right explanation or did TQM evolve as a totally new concept (originating from Deming)?"

Why Eliminate Quality Inspection?
"I think everyone has their own different interpretation of Deming's 14 principles. I believe the only nation who really master and truly understand these principle was Japan. Throughout time, the Japanese developed these principles as today world's most admired management tools - Lean Manufacturing. The ideology behind the 14 principles is having a positive impact on Quality, Cost, & Delivery.
Some people challenge why Dr.Deming suggested to eliminate quality inspection? Because data collection or additional inspection of quality is what end customer want? Why didn't companies build their product with quality in mind in the first place?
Think deeper: Inspection incurs additional touch; every touch incurs additional cost and risk. This is what exactly Lean Manufacturing quotes as "muda" (waste in Japanese)."

No Quality Improvement Without Measurements
"Elimination of measuring the quality, productivity & performance (system + individual) at each and every stage of production or development do not help any business survive long in the market, for sure. Deming's principles are overly people dependent and blame the system when something goes wrong, which might not be true most of the time. This would have probably increased waste, inventory, production/labour costs while significantly lowering the productivity. It probably worked in the 40's and 70's just because nothing else existed.
In modern business environments, TQM/TPS principles might be used as a mere reference while embracing the concepts of Six Sigma and LEAN which are more process/data oriented and proven beyond doubt."

Dr. Deming's TQM Beliefs
"Has anyone thought of mentioning Dr. Demings contributions to the USA during the AIG fiasco? Had AIG and Wallstreet implemented his 14 goals I don't think that we would be in this financial crisis. Someone in the know please speak up about his contributions."

Significance of Business Partners in Total Quality Management
"Business partners are important for TQM. When suppliers are providing raw materials of a poor quality or defective semimanufactured products, the end product will probably be inadequate, poor or defective as well. The same is valid if distribution partners are working with methods or resources of poor quality.
This is why Total Quality Management is conducive to Supply Chain Cooperation and vice versa."

Measuring Performance without Numerical Quotas
"How can performance truly and accurately be measured without numerical quotas?"

Quotes on Total Quality Management
"Quality has been of such prime importance even thousands of years ago (384-322 BC) during Aristotle's era and I would quote from Aristotle "Quality is not an act, it is a habit". Aristotle believed that men acquire quality by constantly acting in a particular way and goes on to say "You become just by performing just actions, temperate by performing temperate actions, brave by performing brave actions". --"

What is Total Quality Management? Definitions
"I need the ultimate definition of TQM. Here is my best shot:
Total Quality Management is a management philosophy and methodology that aims to meet and exceed the customer's expectations of products and services through the continuous incremental improvement of processes and a quality-driven culture, vision and leadership style. Please advise."

Reward Mechanisms and Total Quality Management
"Consider that there can be a significant influence of reward systems on the employee involvement in Total Quality Management, both positive and negative... To establish the right culture for quality, and to motivate your employees to take ownership for quality, you should make quality improvements worthwhile for them. Besides these tangible, financial rewards, you should also offer soft rewards, such as when you publicise successes with the people behind it. Both of these reward types will help to maintain the necessary change impetus."

Quality Management Stages
"The following stages of quality management are typically distinguished: I) Ad hoc. II) Product oriented. III) Process oriented. IV) Systematic. V) Chain oriented. VI) Total Qualty Management."

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