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Topic: Management Improvement
Management Advice: Which 90% is Crap? by Bob Sutton, Stanford University:
I share this frustration with declaring old ideas new: Management Improvement, Better and Different, Quality, SPC and Your Career, Deming and Six Sigma, Management Lessons from Terry Ryan, Everybody Wants It, Toyota’s Got It, Fashion-Incubator on Deming’s Ideas and on and on.
Why does this matter? Two reasons, most importantly to me is that when we fail to value the best ideas, instead valuing the new ideas, we are not as effective as we could be. We often accept pale copies of good old ideas instead of going to the good old ideas – which will often lead to a much richer source of knowledge. When I compare copyrighted versions of management thinking to ideas from people like Ackoff, Deming, Ohno, Scholtes, McGreggor the depth and richness of those I admire is much greater than the packaged solutions, as I see it (and they are often more concerned with furthering the practice of management than further their brand). Second, it is often dishonest, or at least sloppy thinkers, that don’t acknowledge the history of management ideas.
Sloppy (or dishonest) thinking feeds this condition. Either people fail to learn (PDSA is a great way to encourage learning – predict the results of the improvement strategy, then measure the results and then study the results) or they just want to accept some easy fix today that they know won’t work (which puts off trying to find a real fix until later). It is amazing to me how often we accept non-solutions. If someone objects that we have tried that “solution” and it didn’t work they are often shut down with a version of: “don’t be negative” or “I don’t want to hear we tried that before and it didn’t work” (we are different now) or “we need team players” or “if you are not part of the solution you are part of the problem”…
Great point. Dr. Deming was constantly citing the sources of ideas he discussed. Maintaining academic and scientific integrity is not just a sign of honesty but I believe leads to better performance. When one markets that they are the source of new wisdom they have to try and separate themselves from the past and others. Over time they will do so not just in marketing but in their own thoughts. When one is trying to bring together great ideas they can continually learn from the past and present.
via: Required Reading For The Weekend
Some of my thoughts on good sources for management ideas: Management Improvement Leaders,
Management Improvement Thought Leaders
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July 14th, 2006 at 11:01 am
Fortune recently published an article talking about the “new rules” for management using Jack Welch (GE six sigma) as the focus of the old rules. It seems to me there is nothing new here (once again)…
August 17th, 2006 at 10:33 am
[...] The desire to act as if we have new watersheds every year is misguided and is an ineffective view for managers. Managers should understand that the “new ideas” presented in magazines and books are very rarely new [...]
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:41 pm
Bob Sutton’s writing includes the excellent article “Management Advice: Which 90% is Crap?” (which we discussed in: Management Advice Failures) and the Knowing Doing Gap. I just discovered his blog today which is quite good: Work Matters. A recent post – Hand Washing and Evidence-based Management, includes some good advice on data and process improvement…
October 8th, 2006 at 11:18 pm
[...] I agree. There is too little understanding of what is important and too much focus on what amounts to tampering. [...]
November 11th, 2006 at 11:18 am
Russ Ackoff once again does a great job of providing insight into management. I highly recommend A Little Book of f-Laws where Ackoff, with Herbert Addison and Sally Bibb, present 13 common sins of management…
November 23rd, 2006 at 7:32 pm
So often we seem to focus on proprietary solutions. Instead it seems to me, most often what is needed is to do a good job of applying the ideas that have been known for decades. Deming ideas, design of experiments, lean thinking, experimentation, etc. are not secrets…
January 2nd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
[...] Bob Sutton wrote the excellent: Management Advice: Which 90% is Crap?. What percentage of books fit that bill – over 90% I would say. And I have a guess where the interviewees book fits. [...]
January 9th, 2007 at 6:27 pm
Very worthwhile read. And if you like it try the book – The Elegant Solution: Toyota’s Formula for Mastering Innovation by Matthew E. May and Kevin Roberts…
May 4th, 2007 at 11:10 am
[...] Deming called them “hacks” in the 1980’s. Bob Sutton’s excellent article calls 90% of management advice crap. Care must be taken to manage effectively. It is very easy to implement management ideas poorly. [...]
June 16th, 2007 at 8:47 am
In my opinion Clayton Christensen offers truly insightful ideas on innovation and management. He presents the rare management advice that is not only good but also new – an incredibly rare combination…
February 8th, 2008 at 11:16 am
so many things are packaged as amazing new breakthroughs when really they are nice enhancements. Even management ideas are sold this way. And, for management ideas, I think they are most often actually degradations of what Deming, Ohno, Shewhart, Ishikawa, Ackoff… said – not enhancements…
November 2nd, 2008 at 10:53 pm
[...] the article is 10 years old by as I have stated numerous times I don’t believe only things written in the last week have value. Going back to the great stuff (even if you have read it before) is often much better than reading [...]
January 15th, 2009 at 10:47 am
[...] do not exist. This self-delusional pattern is very common in the practice of management and a significant reason why the practice of management has not improved more rapidly over time. To achieve success you need to determine why the problem still exists and exploring the very [...]
March 11th, 2009 at 10:21 am
“Time after time, and scandal after scandal, it seems that a school that graduates just 900 students a year finds itself in the thick of it. Yet there is remarkably little contrition…”