Management, values and Dr Deming

Page 1

The 2nd Management Theory at Work Conference Lancaster University from 14-16 April 2003.

This version also to be discussed at the Deming Group open day at the IQA on April 10

th

.

Management, Values and Dr. Deming

Will Pollard Exetreme.com

5 Park PlaceHomefield RoadExeterEX1 2RD01392 660639will@exetreme.com

This paper is available inline at www.learn9.net

Page 2

Management, Values and Dr. Deming

Introduction

This paper is intended as background for a workshop or discussion so will probably stayin a draft kind of format, at least in places. It starts by looking at some issues fororganisations and on studies of ‘learning organisations’. Various ways of looking at DrDemings’ views are explored. There are implications that may contribute some solutions.‘Management’ is used in the title, as this is the term most often used when describingquality systems. This paper follows a previous one for the first ‘Theory at Work’conference. This looked at the 2000 version of ISO 9000. Some of the themes arerepeated but issues around leadership development will be covered in the later sectionlooking at the implications. It will be shown that leaders can develop by recognising theirrole within a quality system and their own knowledge of quality theory, something that isalso under development.

Current issues for organisations

In a keynote for the previous conference John Burgoyne spoke about the ‘virtual,knowledge-managing, learning’ organisation as a general description of many situations.This remains widely relevant. As one of the papers in this workshop is about eLearning Iwill only expand on this to explain some examples I am directly concerned with.‘Disruptive technology’ from the computer industry has been impacting print for at leasttwenty years. A recent

Printweek

editorial argued that UK print is not ‘falling off the edgeof a cliff’ though clearly there are some problems that raise the question. Technicalchanges can create similar problems for computer companies. There are two sections atthe end looking at Network Publishing and the use of PDF with e-learning. Disruptivetechnology could have an effect on university bookshops or on archives so some of theissues are fairly general.

Current issues for theory about ‘Learning Organisations’

In the UK ‘Learning Organisations’ have had reduced attention recently, compared to‘Organisational Learning’ and ‘Critique’. However, most writing on quality continues toemphasise organisation and effectiveness. Connections between the two can be seenthrough some of the history.Figure A is based on others in ‘The Learning Company’, published in 1991. It is toosketchy to be serious but the Word file could be adapted if more information was madeavailable. What seems to have happened is that UK research has given up on the idea of a‘learning company’ as something that can be offered expecting clear benefits. ChrisGrey’s ideas in ‘Re-imaging Relevance’, another keynote from the last conference, havesince appeared in print. For the ‘Connecting Learning and Critique’ conference last yearhe wrote that “Management Education does not offer a useful ‘technical’ education andnor could it.” In the British Journal of Management he wrote that universities could becompared with management consultancies if they did no more than produce commerciallyuseful knowledge. They would do better to see themselves as working with thecomplexities of knowledge, free from all the demands of relevance.Figure B has some elements that need re-arranging. Instead of a historical sequence itcould show how people move between positions depending on circumstances. One aspectof a workshop is an invitation for people to take from it what makes sense for them.

LearningOrganisationOrganisationalLearningCritique NOTActionLearningManagerialismEthicsCo-opsSocial EconomyProblemsfor practitioner Solutionsstudied byacademics80sPersonalDevelopmentFailingOrganisations because of non-learningEarly 90sTheories aboutLearningOrganisationsDifficulties inapplication of theory.Very few examples of learninmg organisations.Late 90sCritique of “LearningOrganisations” as anideaBased on ‘the problem solving process’ figures 2.6 to 2.9 in ‘The Learning Company’Mike Pedlar, John Burgoyne, Tom BoydellMcGraw Hill 1991

AB

Figures A and B are there to be changed. Available as Word files as well as PDF

.