Tag Archives: management

Bell Labs Designing a New Phone System Using Idealized Design

Posted on October 19, 2016 by John Hunter

I remember hearing this same story when Russ Ackoff spoke at the Hunter Conference on Quality (which was named in honor of my father) in Madison, Wisconsin. If you haven’t heard this story you are in for a treat. And … Continue reading →

Posted in Innovation, Management, Process improvement, Systems thinking | Tagged Ackoff, case study, change, engineering, Innovation, management, Systems thinking, transformation, webcast | 3 Comments

Giving Executives 40% of Revenue is Insane

Posted on March 21, 2016 by John Hunter

I have previous written on my belief that excessive executive compensation had reached the level of a deadly disease of western management (building on the W. Edwards Deming’s list of 7 deadly diseases). I named excessive executive pay and a … Continue reading →

Posted in Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged commentary, executive pay, leadership, management, overpaid executives, respect for people | Comments Off

20 Most Popular Posts on the Curious Cat Management Blog in 2015

Posted on January 5, 2016 by John Hunter

This is a list of the 20 most popular posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog last year (as measured by page views, as recorded by my analytics application). The Toyota Way – Two Pillars (2010) Stated Versus Revealed … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Management, Popular | Tagged blogs, management, Popular | 2 Comments

Lessons for Managers from Wisconsin and Duke Basketball

Posted on April 6, 2015 by John Hunter

What can managers learn from Duke and Wisconsin’s basketball teams? Duke and Wisconsin are in the college basketball championship game tonight. They reached this stage through a great deal of hard work, skill, training and coaching. Raw talent matters to … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Systems thinking | Tagged Madison, management, sports, system thinking, teams, Wisconsin | 2 Comments

Transforming a Management System – A Case Study From the Madison Wisconsin Police Department

Posted on March 10, 2015 by John Hunter

This post in an excerpt from The Quality Leadership Workbook for Police by Chief David Couper and Captain Sabine Lobitz (buy via Amazon). Transformational Steps A Case Study Madison, Wisconsin (1981-1993) Step 1: Educate and inform everyone in the organization … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Data, Deming, Management, Respect, Statistics | Tagged Books, case study, change, continual improvement, Customer focus, Data, Deming, leadership, Madison, management, organization as a system, Public Sector, respect for people, TQM, transformation | 6 Comments

Who Inspires Your Management Thinking and Action?

Posted on January 22, 2015 by John Hunter

This month Bill Troy, ASQ CEO, asked ASQ Influential Voices bloggers: “who influenced or inspired your management thinking and in what ways?” He discussed Paul O’Neill’s influence on his thinking [the broken link was removed – so many websites have … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged curiouscat, George Box, John Hunter, leadership, Madison, management, William Hunter | 6 Comments

10 Most Popular Posts on the Curious Cat Management Blog in 2014

Posted on January 6, 2015 by John Hunter

Here is a list of the 10 most popular posts on this blog last year (as measured by views counted by my analytics applications). The posts were published in 2010 (4 posts), 2013 (2), 2014 (2), 2005 (1) and 2012 … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Management | Tagged blogs, management | 4 Comments

Good Startup Ideas from Startup Weekend JB (Malaysia)

Posted on November 27, 2014 by John Hunter

I like all these startup ideas from Startup Weekend JB (Malaysia). I can’t figure out how to comment on their blog (I am guessing Tumbler just eliminates commenting?), so I started this post – and ended up adding much more … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Innovation, IT | Tagged Asia, business, Customer focus, customer service, Innovation, IT, management, Software Development, startup | 1 Comment

Out of Touch Executives Damage Companies: Go to the Gemba

Posted on August 20, 2014 by John Hunter

When your customer service organization is universally recognized as horrible adding sales requirements to customer service representatives jobs is a really bad practice. Sadly it isn’t at all surprising to learn of management doing just that at our largest companies. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Data, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged bad management, business, commentary, curiouscat, Customer focus, customer service, Economics, executives, gemba, Google, government, internet, leadership, management, Psychology, regulation, respect for people, sales, targets | Comments Off

George Box Articles Available for a Short Time

Posted on May 14, 2014 by John Hunter

A collection of George Box articles have been selected for a virtual George Box issue by David M. Steinberg and made available online. George E. P. Box died in March 2013. He was a remarkably creative scientist and his celebrated … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Psychology, Public Sector | Tagged Deming, George Box, management, Management Articles, management system, open access, Psychology, Public Sector, respect for people, Science, society, Statistics | Comments Off