Tag Archives: managing people

Incentivizing Behavior Doesn’t Improve Results

In the webcast Dan Pink’s shares research results exploring human motivation and ideas on how to manage organization given the scientific research on motivation. “once a task called for even rudimentary cognitive skill a larger reward led to poorer performance” … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Data, Deming, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Science | Tagged , , , , , , | 3 Comments

People Cannot Multitask

There is plenty of research showing that people can’t multitask. But this knowledge is missed by many people. Here is another study showing this: Why We Can’t Do 3 Things at Once That’s because, when faced with two tasks, a … Continue reading

Posted in Psychology, Quality tools | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Interruptions Can Severely Damage Performance

Interruptions can severely degrade your performance. The type of work you are doing impacts the cost greatly. I have spent some of my time programming web applications. When I am doing that interruptions are a huge drain on my performance … Continue reading

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, quote, Respect, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 7 Comments

The Toyota Way – Two Pillars

Toyota is receiving plenty of criticism now, much of it for good reason. There is also a large amount of psychology involved. From what I have seen, the insurance companies still see better claims history (fewer and lower cost claims) … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Lean thinking, Management, Manufacturing, Popular, Process improvement, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 18 Comments

Get Rid of the Performance Review

How Much Do You Hate Performance Reviews? by Bob Sutton Deming emphasized that forced rankings and other merit ratings that breed internal competition are bad management because they undermine motivation and breed contempt for management among people who, at least … Continue reading

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Performance Appraisal | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

More Reasons to Avoid Layoffs

Lay Off the Layoffs by Jeffrey Pfeffer As its former head of human resources once told me: “If people are your most important assets, why would you get rid of them?” … In fact, there is a growing body of … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Health care, Lean thinking, Management, Management Articles, Psychology, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Circle of Influence

In, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey discusses the circle of control, circle of influence and circle of concern. This provides a good framework from which to view issues as you look for improvement strategies. Within your … Continue reading

Posted in Career, Creativity, Deming, Management, Popular, Psychology, quote, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 9 Comments

The Trouble with Incentives: They Work

Gipsie B. Ranney has a great new article – The Trouble with Incentives: They Work I have wondered whether the escalation of pay, perks and parachutes for CEOs actually tends to attract individuals who are primarily extrinsically motivated, rather than … Continue reading

Posted in Competition, Deming, Management, Management Articles, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 8 Comments

Prophet Unheard: Dr. W. Edwards Deming – 1992

[embedded webcast links removed because they have been removed from YouTube. To see video with W. Edwards Deming see the Deming Institute YouTube channel.] This is an interesting video on Deming and American management (by the BBC in 1992): Prophet … Continue reading

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Manufacturing, Quality tools, Respect | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Habits

Some things about what people do also have their roots in psychology. Deming had an understanding of psychology as one of 4 areas in his system of management. A huge factor in what people do is based on what they … Continue reading

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 7 Comments