Tag Archives: commentary

Flaws in Understanding Psychology Lead to Flawed Management

Posted on October 21, 2008 by John Hunter

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 , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Six Sigma v. Common Sense

Posted on October 20, 2008 by John Hunter

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

Motivate or Eliminate De-Motivation

Posted on October 7, 2008 by John Hunter

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

Agile PDSA

Posted on September 16, 2008 by John Hunter

Dr. Deming encouraged the use of the Plan-Do-Study-Act cycle to improve. Agile Management encourages a similar mindset – to test out ideas in practice and adapt quickly. A key to both strategies is to quickly iterate over possible solutions. Tesco … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Deming, Management, Process improvement, quote | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on Agile PDSA

Our Failed Health-care System

Posted on September 10, 2008 by John Hunter

The bad idea behind our failed health-care system by Malcolm Gladwell One of the great mysteries of political life in the United States is why Americans are so devoted to their health-care system. … Americans spend $5,267 per capita on … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Economics, Health care | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

New Management Truths Sometimes Started as Heresies

Posted on September 7, 2008 by John Hunter

‘New’ management truths sometimes started as heresies by Cecil Johnson “The most effective management ideas follow a life cycle — from heresy to outlier (championed by a small group of people) to ingrained practice to conventional wisdom,” Kleiner writes. “In … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Management Articles, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Keeping Good Employees

Posted on July 24, 2008 by John Hunter

Understanding Why Good Workers Quit [the broken link was removed] “What do you need to want to stay?” Most managers, she acknowledges, are afraid to ask this question and that is a reason why their companies have to do plenty … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, IT, Management, quote, Respect | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

Businesses Tell the IRS They Are Not American but Executives Stay in USA

Posted on June 4, 2008 by John Hunter

I have previously written about the ethically challenged companies that claim they are not American to avoid paying the taxes that they owe. For some reason the executives, often seem to stay in the USA though? It is sad that … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics | Tagged , , , , | 3 Comments

Toyota Execution Not Close to Being Copied

Posted on May 7, 2008 by John Hunter

The Open Secret of Success Toyota’s innovations, by contrast, have [focused] on process rather than on product, on the factory floor rather than on the showroom. That has made those innovations hard to see. But it hasn’t made them any … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Innovation, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Popular, quote, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Post Number 1,000

Posted on April 29, 2008 by John Hunter

This is the 1,000th post to the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Here are some highlights: Post number 2: Dangers of Forgetting the Proxy Nature of Data – “We use data to act as a proxy for some results of … Continue reading →

Posted in curiouscat.com, Deming, Health care, Management, Manufacturing | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments