Tag Archives: theory of knowledge

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Career, Deming, Performance Appraisal, Systems thinking | Tagged Career, Deming, Performance Appraisal, Psychology, theory of knowledge | Comments Off

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Data, Management, Process improvement, Psychology | Tagged change, critical thinking, culture, curiouscat, Data, decision making, evidence based management, problem solving, Psychology, theory of knowledge | 4 Comments

Acting Without Theory Often Results in Wasted Effort

Posted on May 25, 2016 by John Hunter

When you act without theory you can find yourself beating your head against the wall, in ways similar to this woodpecker bangs its head against this sign. This bird may have copied the pecking behavior without understanding the theory. Pecking … Continue reading →

Posted in Management | Tagged Psychology, theory of knowledge | 1 Comment

The Road Not Taken

Posted on September 2, 2015 by John Hunter

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I– I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Wonderful advice and so poignant. But actually, if you read the whole poem, what we take from the … Continue reading →

Posted in Creativity, Psychology | Tagged coaching, Creativity, Psychology, quote, theory of knowledge, thinking, travel | 1 Comment

Cognition: How Your Mind Can Amaze and Betray You

Posted on May 27, 2014 by John Hunter

The webcast above is from the excellent folks at Crash Course. This webcast provides another view into the area of Deming’s management system on the theory of knowledge (the one most people forget), how we know what we know and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Psychology | Tagged Deming, Psychology, Science, theory of knowledge, webcast | Comments Off

Stated Versus Revealed Preference

Posted on July 9, 2013 by John Hunter

My father provided me a good example of the flawed thinking of relying on stated preference when I was growing up. Stated preference is, as you might deduce, the preferences voiced by customers when you ask. This is certainly useful … Continue reading →

Posted in Customer focus, Popular, Psychology | Tagged Bill Hunter, Customer focus, food, Popular, Psychology, Quality tools, Statistics, theory of knowledge | 8 Comments

Experience Teaches Nothing Without Theory

Posted on June 11, 2013 by John Hunter

Experience teaches nothing. In fact there is no experience to record without theory… Without theory there is no learning… And that is their downfall. People copy examples and then they wonder what is the trouble. They look at examples and … Continue reading →

Posted in Deming, Psychology, quote | Tagged curiouscat, Deming, learning, Psychology, quote, theory of knowledge | 9 Comments

Your Brain Can Jump to Incorrect Conclusions

Posted on February 27, 2013 by John Hunter

How our brain works without us realizing it often is hugely beneficial, but it also creates some faulty conclusions at times. The video gives a good synopsis of the quick intuitive leaps our brains make all the time. These are … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Psychology | Tagged learning, Psychology, system thinking, theory of knowledge | 2 Comments

Double Loop Learning Presentation by Benjamin Mitchell

Posted on October 8, 2012 by John Hunter

Benjamin Mitchell – Using the Mutual Learning Model to achieve Double Loop Learning [the original video is not online anymore, I replaced it with another presentation by Benjamin on the same topic at a different conference at close to the … Continue reading →

Posted in Management, Process improvement, Psychology, Software Development | Tagged change, communication, Deming, management, management webcast, Process improvement, Psychology, theory of knowledge | Comments Off

Ackoff: Corporations Are Not Led By Those Seeking to Maximize Shareholder Value

Posted on August 23, 2012 by John Hunter

If I had to limit myself to a handful of management experts, Russel Ackoff would definitely be in that group. Thankfully there is no such limit. Ackoff once again provides great insight, with great wit, in the above clip. A … Continue reading →

Posted in Fun, Management, Systems thinking, webcast | Tagged Ackoff, aim, culture, evidence based management, leadership, management webcast, purpose, quote, theory of knowledge | 8 Comments