Theoritical Background
About Dr. W. Edwards Deming
W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) changed our lives by developing better ways for people to work together. He derived the first philosophy and method that allows individuals and organizations—from families and schools to government agencies and large companies—to plan and continually improve themselves, their relationships, processes, products and services. His philosophy is one of cooperation and continual improvement; it eschews blame and redefines mistakes as opportunities for improvement.
Raised on the Wyoming frontier in a poor family, Deming experienced hardship and learned early about cooperation as a way of life. He saw the value of shared benefits in barn raisings, quilting bees and advice to sugar beet farmers from the Great Western Sugar Company.
Deming was educated in engineering and physics and became an early student of statistics, the theory of knowledge and systems thinking. He eventually integrated the disciplines of statistical thinking, how people learn, systems thinking and psychology into his theory of profound knowledge, which allows leaders and managers to see a dynamic, complex social system in new ways, predict its performance, and continually improve it in a rapidly changing world. Using his ideas to eliminate cross-purposes, teams and organizations can produce greater wholes—more than any of the individual parts or people added together can.
He developed his philosophy helping Japanese export industries to recover following World War II. He said he could teach them to produce quality goods more cheaply than quantity, a revolutionary idea in 1950. He told them to treat manufacturing as a system rather than “bits and pieces.” He said to include the supplier and the customer in the system and to use feedback from the customer to continually improve products, services and processes. He also said to continually improve both the people in the system and the communication between them. And he said that
W. Edwards Deming (1900-1993) changed our lives by developing better ways for people to work together. He derived the first philosophy and method that allows individuals and organizations—from families and schools to government agencies and large companies—to plan and continually improve themselves, their relationships, processes, products and services. His philosophy is one of cooperation and continual improvement; it eschews blame and redefines mistakes as opportunities for improvement.
Raised on the Wyoming frontier in a poor family, Deming experienced hardship and learned early about cooperation as a way of life. He saw the value of shared benefits in barn raisings, quilting bees and advice to sugar beet farmers from the Great Western Sugar Company.
Deming was educated in engineering and physics and became an early student of statistics, the theory of knowledge and systems thinking. He eventually integrated the disciplines of statistical thinking, how people learn, systems thinking and psychology into his theory of profound knowledge, which allows leaders and managers to see a dynamic, complex social system in new ways, predict its performance, and continually improve it in a rapidly changing world. Using his ideas to eliminate cross-purposes, teams and organizations can produce greater wholes—more than any of the individual parts or people added together can.
He developed his philosophy helping Japanese export industries to recover following World War II. He said he could teach them to produce quality goods more cheaply than quantity, a revolutionary idea in 1950. He told them to treat manufacturing as a system rather than “bits and pieces.” He said to include the supplier and the customer in the system and to use feedback from the customer to continually improve products, services and processes. He also said to continually improve both the people in the system and the communication between them. And he said that