William Edwards

Deming
October 1, 2016
William Edwards Deming (October 14,
1900 – December 20, 1993) was an
American engineer, statistician, professor,
author, lecturer, and management
consultant. Educated initially as
an electrical engineer and later specializing
in mathematical physics, he helped
develop the sampling techniques still used
by the U.S. Department of the Census and
the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
William Edwards Deming (1900-1993) is widely
acknowledged as the leading management thinker
in the field of quality. He was a statistician and
business consultant whose methods helped hasten
Japan’s recovery after the Second World War and
beyond.
He derived the first philosophy and method that
allowed individuals and organisations to plan
and continually improve themselves, their
relationships, processes, products and services.
His philosophy is one of cooperation and
continual improvement; it avoids blame and
redefines mistakes as opportunities for
improvement.
 Deming's 14 POINTS
FOR MANAGEMENT
- Deming created 14 points which provide
a framework to developing knowledge in
the workplace and can be used to guide
long term business plans and aims. The
points constitute not so much an action
plan as a philosophical code for
management. They have been extensively
interpreted by as many commentators on
quality, as on other management
disciplines.
1. Create constancy of purpose

FO
toward improvement of
product and service, with the

S
NT
aim of becoming competitive,

T I
staying in business and

EN PO
providing jobs.

EM 14
2. Adopt the new philosophy.

AG G’S
Western management must
awaken to the challenge, must

A N IN
learn their responsibilities and

M M
take on leadership for change. DE
3. Cease dependence on mass
inspection. Build quality into
the product from the start.
4. End the practice of awarding

R
FO
business on the basis of price
tag alone. Instead, minimise

S
NT
total cost. Move towards a
single supplier for any item,

T I
EN PO
based on a long-term

EM 14
relationship of loyalty and
trust.

AG G’S
5. Improve constantly and

AN IN
forever the system of

M M
production and service to DE
improve quality and reduce
waste.
6. Institute training and
retraining.
7. Institute leadership. The

R
aim of supervision should

FO
be to lead and help people

S
to do a better job.

NT
8. Drive out fear so that

T I
EN PO
everyone may work

EM 14
effectively for the
company.

AG G’S
9. Break down barriers

AN IN
between departments.
People in research, design,
M M
DE
sales and production must
work as a team, to foresee
and solve problems of
production.
 R
10. Eliminate slogans,

FO
exhortations and targets

S
for the workforce as they

NT
do not necessarily

T I
EN PO
achieve their aims.

EM 14
11. Eliminate numerical

AG G’S
quotas in order to take
account of quality and

AN IN
methods, rather than just
M M
DE
numbers.
12. Remove barriers to
pride of workmanship.
 R
FO
13. Institute a vigorous
program of education

S
NT
and re-training for both

T I
EN PO
the management and the
workforce.

EM 14
14. Take action to

AG G’S
accomplish the

AN IN
transformation.
Management and
M M
DE
workforce must work
together.
 Here, Deming describes the main barriers faced
by management to improving effectiveness and
continual improvement. He was referring here to US
industry and their management practices.

DEMING’S 7 DEADLY
DISEASES OF
MANAGEMENT
 DE
DI M
M SE ING
AN AS ’S
AG ES 7 D
1.Lack of constancy of purpose to EM Oplan
F EA
E DL
products and services that will haveNT a
market and keep the company afloat.
2.An emphasis on short term profits and
short term thinking (just the opposite
from constancy of purpose to stay in
business), fed by fear of unfriendly
takeover, and by demand from bankers and
owners for dividends.
 DE
DI M
M SE ING
AN AS ’S
AG ES 7 D
EM OF EA
EN DL
T
3.Evaluation of performance and annual
reviews.
4.Mobility of managers and job hopping.
5.Management by use only of available data.
6.High medical costs.
7.High costs of liability.
 Deming said that effective management and a
commitment to quality were needed to combat these
seven deadly diseases. He emphasised the importance
of communicating quality messages to all staff and
building a belief in total quality management.

DEMING’S 7 DEADLY
DISEASES OF
MANAGEMENT
 PDCA Cycle
(The Deming
Wheel)
Walter Shewhart originated the concept
of the PDCA cycle and introduced it to
Deming. Deming promoted the idea widely in
the 1950s and it became known as the
Deming Wheel or the Deming cycle. 
The PDCA (Plan-Do-Check-Act) cycle consists
of four steps or stages which must be gone
through to get from `problem-faced' to
`problem solved.’ Repetition of these steps
forms a cycle of continual improvement:
 
Plan for changes to bring about improvement.
Do changes on a small scale first to trial
them.
Check to see if changes are working and to
investigate selected processes.
Act to get the greatest benefit from change.
THE DEMING SYSTEM OF PROFOUND
KNOWLEDGE
"The prevailing style of management must
undergo transformation. A system cannot
understand itself. The transformation
requires a view from outside. The aim of
this chapter is to provide an outside view—
a lens—that I call a system of profound
knowledge. It provides a map of theory by
which to understand the organizations that
we work in.
THE DEMING SYSTEM OF PROFOUND
KNOWLEDGE
"The first step is transformation of the individual.
This transformation is discontinuous. It comes from
understanding of the system of profound knowledge. The
individual, transformed, will perceive new meaning to
his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions
between people.

"Once the individual understands the system of profound

knowledge, he will apply its principles in every kind
of relationship with other people. He will have a basis
for judgment of his own decisions and for
transformation of the organizations that he belongs to.
"
THE DEMING SYSTEM OF PROFOUND
KNOWLEDGE
Deming advocated that all managers need to have what he
called a System of Profound Knowledge, consisting of
four parts:
1. Appreciation of a system: understanding the overall
processes involving suppliers, producers, and
customers (or recipients) of goods and services
(explained below);
2. Knowledge of variation: the range and causes of
variation in quality, and use of statistical
sampling in measurements;
3. Theory of knowledge: the concepts explaining
knowledge and the limits of what can be known.
4. Knowledge of psychology: concepts of human nature.
THE END