Category Archives: Management

Flaws in Understanding Psychology Lead to Flawed Management

I people are self interested and somewhat rational. However, self interest, is complex. People want to be liked, people want to be part of something good, people want to feel they are appreciated… Continue reading

Posted in Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Six Sigma v. Common Sense

Response to LinkedIn question [the broken link was removed]: “Whether Six Sigma as a quality tool really delivers the benefits ? How does it makes difference from a common sense approach ? (Where the process wastes and the required solution … Continue reading

Posted in Management, Quality tools, quote, Six sigma | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

National Medal of Technology and Innovation

Armand V. Feigenbaum received the 2007 National Medal of and Technology and Innovation for his leadership in the development of the economic relationship of quality costs, productivity improvement, and profitability, and for his pioneering application of economics, general systems theory … Continue reading

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Management Improvement Carnival #45

Read the previous management carnivals. Also see the management Reddit for popular new blog posts to include in future carnivals. Hire them, fire them, do what you want with them by Jay Padinjaredath – “A quote from Deming: “In Japan … Continue reading

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Restaurant Eliminates Tipping to Improve System Performance

Why Tip? by Paul Wachter When he opened the Linkery [the broken link was removed], Porter said, he hoped his employees would become as emotionally invested in the venture as he was, sharing a sense of purpose and joy in … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Economics, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Idle Workers Busy at Toyota

Idle Workers Busy at Toyota Instead of sending the workers home, as the Detroit makers often do, Toyota is keeping them at the plants, though. The employees spend their days in training sessions designed to sharpen their job skills and … Continue reading

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Manufacturing, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments

Financial Market Meltdown

The financial market meltdown has grown to the point where it has profound ramifications for everyone. The common wisdom for financial market variation, for most of us, is just to focus on the long term and don’t worry about short … Continue reading

Posted in Economics, Management, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , | 9 Comments

2008 Deming Prize: Tata Steel

Tata Steel, India, has been awarded the 2008 Deming Prize. They were the only organization to receive the prize this year. Mr. B. Muthuraman, Managing Director, Tata Steel, while expressing satisfaction over this accomplishment said, “No other activity made us … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, India, Management, Manufacturing, Process improvement | Tagged , , | 5 Comments

Motivate or Eliminate De-Motivation

A huge failure I still see is managers thinking in a theory x way, 50 years after McGregor’s The Human Side of Enterprise. Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Performance Appraisal Problems

More and more people are willing to state the frustration with the performance appraisal process. Some have been willing to take the logical step of eliminating that which causes problems but many still don’t think elimination of performance appraisals is … Continue reading

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