Rich Sharpe posted to his blog on his recent reading of Dr. Deming – The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality by Rafael Aguayo in Lean Programming and Dr. Deming. And he posted a response he received from Rafael Aguayo with some good points including:
But in your case you have a company that demands quotas or targets. Maybe there is a belief within management that this will help the stock. It will not, but that is a different matter that would require a much lengthier explanation.
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But the whole point of this is to bring back intrinsic motivation. People should be coming to work to because they love being there. They love the work, they love the respect and appreciation they get, they love the team environment, they love that the company is looking after them and it is a two way agreement. And in this environment people and teams perform miracles. The quotas and targets become meaningless, which is what they are anyway.
…
But the whole point of this is to bring back intrinsic motivation. People should be coming to work to because they love being there. They love the work, they love the respect and appreciation they get, they love the team environment, they love that the company is looking after them and it is a two way agreement. And in this environment people and teams perform miracles. The quotas and targets become meaningless, which is what they are anyway.
Related: Another Failure Due to Quotas – Targets Distort the System – Goodbye Quarterly Targets – Books on Deming’s management ideas – Making Changes and Taking Risks