Tag Archives: Psychology

Restaurant Eliminates Tipping to Improve System Performance

Posted on October 13, 2008 by John Hunter

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 bonus, commissions, extrinsic motivation, Joy in Work, Psychology | 1 Comment

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 commentary, curiouscat, demotivate, John Hunter, motivation, Psychology, respect for people, Software Development | 5 Comments

How to Develop Thinking People

Posted on August 6, 2008 by John Hunter

Toyota’s Top Engineer on How to Develop Thinking People [broken link was removed] Hayashi says, “Developing people requires physical endurance.” Frequent follow up is necessary, in person. It is not acceptable to give an assignment and follow up or scold … Continue reading →

Posted in Lean thinking, Management, quote, Respect, Toyota Production System (TPS) | Tagged Psychology, quote, respect for people, Systems thinking, tips, Toyota | Comments Off

Multitasking Decreases Productivity

Posted on August 1, 2008 by John Hunter

The problems with multitasking are becoming more and more well know, thankfully. Here is another article on the lower productivity multitasking produces – Multitasking Madness Decreases Productivity [the broken link was removed] by Barbara Bartlein: In a recent study by … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Science | Tagged management research, Psychology, theory of knowledge | 2 Comments

Better Meetings

Posted on July 7, 2008 by John Hunter

Meetings are perennial problems. People sit through meetings and then complain about how big a waste of time it was. Here are a couple very simple tips to try and actually improve (instead of just agreeing that meetings are wasteful, … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Management, Process improvement, Psychology, quote, Systems thinking | Tagged curiouscat, management, meetings, Process improvement, Psychology | 4 Comments

Fairness Matters

Posted on June 9, 2008 by John Hunter

Sense of Fairness Affects Outlook, Decisions Burnout has been long associated with being overworked and underpaid, but psychologists Christina Maslach and Michael Leiter found that these were not the crucial factors. The single biggest difference between employees who suffered burnout … Continue reading →

Posted in Management Articles, Psychology, Respect, Science | Tagged Psychology, respect for people, Science | 1 Comment

Packaging Improvement

Posted on April 9, 2008 by John Hunter

McDonald’s Branding Makes Food Tastier for Tots Researchers at Stanford University have found that children tend to rate food that is wrapped up in McDonald’s-branded paper as tasting better than the same food wrapped in plain paper — a finding … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Customer focus, Management, Psychology, Science | Tagged marketing, Psychology | 4 Comments

Pleasing Customers

Posted on March 10, 2008 by John Hunter

Why is 37signals so arrogant? by Don Norman The Brash Boys at 37signals Will Tell You: Keep it Simple, Stupid. Brash is an understatement. I was quoted in the article because of my article arguing that simplicity is highly overrated: … Continue reading →

Posted in Competition, Creativity, Customer focus, Management, Psychology, quote, Software Development, Systems thinking | Tagged complexity, Customer focus, Psychology, Software Development, usability | 2 Comments

Quotas are Not the Answer

Posted on March 5, 2008 by John Hunter

Rich Sharpe posted to his blog on his recent reading of Dr. Deming – The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality by Rafael Aguayo in Lean Programming and Dr. Deming. And he posted a response he received from Rafael … Continue reading →

Posted in Books, Deming, Management, Systems thinking | Tagged Deming. targets, Psychology, Systems thinking | Comments Off

Customers Get Dissed and Tell

Posted on February 28, 2008 by John Hunter

There are those rare companies where interacting with them is not a dreaded experience: Trader Joe’s, Southwest Airlines, Ritz Carlton, Crutchfield, Cannon, Groovix. There are not many. And even just providing something that just works is seen as a treat. … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Deming, Management, Psychology | Tagged bad service, blogs, Customer focus, Deming, inspection, internet, overpaid executives, Psychology, Systems thinking | 7 Comments