The Fall 2005 issue of the Deming Institute newsletter (I removed the broken link) includes a copy of a letter Dr. Deming sent to Time magazine in 1981.
Your article about Japan in TIME for 30 March 1981 is excellent, but the paragraph concerning my work is ridiculous and can do a lot of harm to American industry at the very time when they need guidance. Dr. Deming did not just give a lecture in 1950. He gave 35 lectures in the summer of 1950 to engineers and to top management. Six months later he was there again, and six months after that yet again. He has made 19 trips to Japan. One trouble with American industry today is that top management supposes that one lecture or one day will do it. “Come, spend a day with us, and do for us what you did for Japan, that we too may be saved.”
It is not so simple. Few people in top management in America understand their responsibilities and know that they must serve a life term on quality and productivity from now on, under competent leadership.
W. Edwards Deming
Many still search for simple quick answers. Management improvement most often requires a great deal of thought, study, experimentation and effort.
Pingback: Curious Cat Science and Engineering Blog » Blog Archive » Primary Science Education in China and the USA
Pingback: Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » I Don’t Know
Pingback: Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » No True Lean Thinking or Agile Software Development
Pingback: Why Use Lean if So Many Fail To Do So Effectively » Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog
Pingback: People are Part of the Management System « The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog
Pingback: Do We Need to Find Management Ideas from Our Industry? « The W. Edwards Deming Institute Blog
Pingback: Selling Quality Improvement » Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog