Tag Archives: Psychology

Annual Performance Evaluations are a Poor Management Practice

Posted on December 6, 2022 by John Hunter

Sports provides visible examples of the futility of accurate performance appraisal. We have athletes who thousands of people devote a huge amount of time to dissecting their strengths and weaknesses and those evaluations are constantly shown to be wrong. Teams are constantly paying free agents tens of millions that completely flop. Others hire someone no-one else wanted for the league minimum and they become a big contributor. Yes, it isn’t hard to figure out Stephen Curry is a far better … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , ,

Profound Podcast with John Hunter, Part Two

Posted on March 10, 2022 by John Hunter

John Willis interviewed me for his Profound podcast series, this posts is about part two of the interview (listen to part two of the podcast, John Hunter – Curious Cat). See my post on part one of the interview. John Hunter presenting at Deming Institute management seminar in Hong Kong This post provides links to more information on what we discussed in the podcast. Hopefully these links allow you to explore ideas that were mentioned in the podcast that you … Continue reading →

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

Interview of Bill Hunter, Brian Joiner and Peter Scholtes on Better Management Practices

Posted on October 26, 2021 by John Hunter

Interview with Bill Hunter, Brian Joiner and Peter Scholtes (listen to the interview) on a Public Affair, National Public Radio about improving management practices in the USA. The interview is over 30 years old now but the better management ideas are as true today as they were then. Sadly we have not improved management practices based on these ideas very much. There have been improvements in how many organizations are managed but those improvements are so slow that fundamental problems … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Deming, Management, Process improvement, Public Sector, Statistics, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

How to Lead From Any Level In the Organization

Posted on June 22, 2021 by John Hunter

By successfully helping other people get better results, whether it is your manager, peers, or subordinates, you will grow trust and influence with those around you. “You grow your influence with them by showing them that allowing you to have influence is good for them.” The more you show positive outcomes from your input, the more influence you will have over time. Continue reading →

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Interview of Bill Hunter: Improving Quality and Productivity in Organizations

Posted on September 29, 2020 by John Hunter

Interview of William G. Hunter on Improving Quality and Productivity in Organizations by Peter Scholtes. Bill taught a course at the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Improving Quality and Productivity in Organizations, which was co-sponsored by the business school, statistics department and industrial engineering department. There were a few undergraduate students, more graduate students and even more students who were working full time (many of whom only took this course – they were not pursuing a degree at the university). … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Factfulness – The Importance of Critical Thinking

Posted on June 4, 2019 by John Hunter

Factfulness by Hans Roling (of TED talks and Gapminder charts fame) is an exceptionally good book. It provides great insight into how to think more effectively and how to understand the reality of the world we live in (versus the large distortions so common in most people’s view of the world). Today the people living in rich countries around the North Atlantic, who represent 11 percent of the world population, make up 60 percent of the Level 4* consumer market. … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Data, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Design the Management System with an Appreciation of Confirmation Bias

Posted on February 26, 2019 by John Hunter

To create strong organizations we must create management systems using an appreciation of psychology. We must understand that people have tendencies that must be addressed by designing a management system built to take advantage of the strength those people bring and mitigate the risks the weaknesses (such as confirmation bias) that those people also bring. One way to do this is to seek out voices in your organization that question and challenge accepted positions. Often organizations promote those that make … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

My Willing Worker Award

Posted on January 22, 2019 by John Hunter

Here is an image of the employee of the quarter award I received from Bill Scherkenbach. I have received other awards and I don’t think those awards were given with any more understanding of the contributions to results due to the management systems in those cases than was shown when giving me this award. Even knowing how little impact I could make on the results I was still happy to receive this award: psychology is not always (often? ever?) sensible. … Continue reading →

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Effective Change Management Strategies and Tactics

Posted on September 18, 2018 by John Hunter

ASQ has asked their Influential Voices to respond to the question: What are some recommended strategies or tactics to help achieve successful change management? See my past blog posts as part of the ASQ Influential Voices program (I have participated since 2012). I have explored the idea of how to create a culture that promotes effective change management in several previous posts on the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. Change Management: Create a Culture Seeking Continual Improvement or Use Band-Aids? … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Peter Scholtes on Teams and Viewing the Organization as a System

Posted on August 7, 2018 by John Hunter

In this presentation Peter Scholtes provides an explanation of teams within the context of understanding an organization of a system: We will not improve our ability to achieve our purpose by empowering people or holding people accountable. I know that those are fashionable words but what they have in common that I think is the wrong approach is that they still are focused on the people and not on the systems and processes. I’m sure that will trigger quite a … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Psychology, Respect, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Good Project Management Practices

Posted on May 2, 2018 by John Hunter

I find myself working as a project manager, or a program management consultant more frequently in the last few years. As would be expected by those reading the Curious Cat Management Improvement blog, my project management views are based on the management improvement principles I have discussed here for over 20 years. This post is in the style of my Good Process Improvement Practices and Practical Ways to Respect People posts. Good project management practices include Deliver a working solution … Continue reading →

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

Quality of the Entire Customer Experience

Posted on March 14, 2018 by John Hunter

There is a difference in the way many organizations are managed today and managing with an understanding of your organization as a system aligned toward customer focused continual improvement. The ability to create great customer experiences is much easier with a management system based on customer focused continual improvement principles than one without. Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Management, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , ,

The Importance of Critical Thinking and Challenging Assumptions

Posted on July 12, 2017 by John Hunter

There are many factors that are important to effectively practice the management improvement ideas that I have discussed in this blog for over a decade. One of the most important is a culture that encourages critical thinking as well as challenging claims, decisions and assumptions. I discussed this idea some in: Customers Are Often Irrational. There is a difference between saying people wish to have their desires met and people act in the manner to maximize the benefits they wish … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Process improvement, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Why Do People Fail to Adopt Better Management Methods?

Posted on February 2, 2017 by John Hunter

It is confusing to know that better methods exist but to see those better methods being ignored. It seems that if there were better ways to manage, people would adopt those methods. But this just isn’t the case; sometimes better methods will be adopted but often they won’t. People can be very attached to the way things have always been done. Or they can just be uncomfortable with the prospect of trying something new. In this post I will look … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Innovation, Management, Psychology | Tagged , , , , , | 5 Comments

Cater to Customers Desires to Achieve Customer Delight

Posted on January 10, 2017 by John Hunter

Customer delight requires understanding your customers needs and desires. Often even your customers don’t understand these well. Businesses that have a deep appreciation for what their customers, and potential customers, desire and that create systems to deliver solutions that delight those customers benefit greatly from that effort. To build a sustainable enterprise you must provide value customers will appreciate. Your customers do not have one unified set of desires. Some customers may want as good an experience as is possible … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Customer focus, Management, Psychology, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Unpacking the Components of Hard Work to Design Better Work Conditions

Posted on December 20, 2016 by John Hunter

Effort is grossly underrated by Jamie Flinchbaugh: There is a common phrase of “work smarter, not harder.” I get the appeal of that. Effort without clarity, efficiency, and effectiveness, has severe limits. Working smart is essential. But does that mean working hard has no value? No, effort is grossly underrated. I believe we should aspire to work smarter and harder. Neither is sufficient, both are required… My father used to convince himself working smarter should be the main focus and … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Respect, Systems thinking | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment