Category Archives: Psychology

Eliminate Slogans

Posted on August 13, 2006 by John Hunter

This poster may do a better job, than my posts, of showing why posters and slogan are not an effective management strategy. Text from the poster: “If a pretty poster and a cute saying are all it takes to motivate … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Popular, Psychology, quote, Respect | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Competition

Posted on August 11, 2006 by John Hunter

Why I hate programming competitions [the broken link was removed] by Mike Vanier Most aspects of Deming’s thinking seemed natural to me from the start. Some ideas have taken longer (it took me awhile to be won over to the … Continue reading →

Posted in IT, Management, Psychology, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , | Comments Off on Competition

Dangers of Extrinsic Motivation

Posted on August 10, 2006 by John Hunter

The Econ 101 Management Method by Joel Spolsky. Once again Joel presents interesting ideas very well – past posts referencing Joel. But when you offer people money to do things that they wanted to do, anyway, they suffer from something … Continue reading →

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

Another Quota Failure Example

Posted on July 24, 2006 by John Hunter

Innocent People Placed On ‘Watch List’ To Meet Quota You could be on a secret government database or watch list for simply taking a picture on an airplane. Some federal air marshals say they’re reporting your actions to meet a … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Motivation

Posted on July 21, 2006 by John Hunter

From the Deming Electronic Network: Incentives [the broken link was removed]: I don’t think motivation deserves to be discarded to the archives of “Arbitrary Goals.” I have to pose this, though: was Deming explicit on best ways to handle motivation? … Continue reading →

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

Innovation at Google

Posted on May 7, 2006 by John Hunter

Turning Limitations into Innovation [the broken link was removed] by Marissa Ann Mayer: people working on it have spent so much time and are so personally invested that it’s too painful to walk away. They often know the project is … Continue reading →

Posted in Google, Innovation, Management Articles, Psychology | Tagged | 2 Comments

Find the Root Cause Instead of the Person to Blame

Posted on May 3, 2006 by John Hunter

When encountering a problem or defect the inclination of many is to find a person to blame. W. Edwards Deming believed that the system was responsible for 93% of the problems and over time he increased that number to at … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Popular, Process improvement, Psychology, Quality tools, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

Stop Demotivating Employees

Posted on April 20, 2006 by John Hunter

Why Your Employees Are Losing Motivation [broken link removed – Harvard is extremely bad about breaking links, which is an indication of how little they think about anything but the short term] by David Sirota, Louis A. Mischkind, and Michael … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, Popular, Psychology | Tagged , , , , | 18 Comments

Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity

Posted on April 10, 2006 by John Hunter

Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity [the broken link was removed] by Jamie Flinchbaugh: Three elements are needed to gain the benefits from using pull production to drive problems out into the open. First, you need strong problem-solving skills. Bringing a problem … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , | Comments Off on Leading Lean: Missed Opportunity

Problems with Bonuses

Posted on April 3, 2006 by John Hunter

What sort of bonuses should we pay? by Seth Godin: Money, it’s been shown time and time again, is a demotivator. I’m not talking about a fair or even generous salary. Being a cheapskate is no way to find a … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments