Seven deadly sins according to Deming

Seven deadly sins according to Deming Seven deadly sins of management according to Deming 1. Lack of constancy of purpose 2. Emphasis on short term profits (Overreaction to short term variation is harmful to long term success. With such focus on relatively unimportant short term results focus on constancy of purpose is next to impossible.) 3. Evaluation of performance, merit rating or annual review (see: Performance Without Appraisal: What to do Instead of Performance Appraisals by Peter Scholtes). To many this will come as a shock. Reward, incentive, motivational and merit programs are sincere, well-intentioned efforts to recognize the good that people do. How could they be the wrong thing to do? How could they be ineffective and even harmful! To read more about this from a valuable resource, with a wealth of rigorous documentation, read Punished by Rewards by Alfie Kohn. I am indebted to Alfie for much of what I write here. What's wrong with reward, recognition, and incentive systems? First, they don't work There are no credible data to show that any long-term benefit results from such programs. There are data, however, that show that they do harm. They often set up a form of internal competition in which people strive to look good and look better than their fellow employees. Sometimes looking good becomes more important than doing well. , People pass problems on to others elsewhere and later in the system. "Don't let the problem appear to happen on my watch." , People will circumvent the system for personal gain, causing havoc to the system. , People will strive to look good even when it may hurt the customers. Sears auto-service personnel -- in order to meet their monthly profit quotas -- provided unnecessary repairs and replaced perfectly good parts. The customers paid dearly so that the repair shops could look good. The reward programs undermine teamwork and cooperation Employees -- or groups of employees -- competing for a prize (merit pay, contests, rewards, etc.) will regard each other as adversaries. They will act as though they are not part of the same organization, working for common goals, serving the customers together. Instead, they may try to subvert each others' efforts. Recognition and merit programs often reward those who are lucky and pass by those who are unlucky Far and away the biggest single factor that determines output is the system and its capability. The systems capability is independent of the people doing the work. But not independent of those who design and approve the system. If everyone in your company did his or her best, day in and day out, you would affect only a negligible proportion of your current quality or productivity problems. Most of your problems are built right into the system. Those who get rewards are those who are lucky enough to work in a system with fewer inherent problems. (The machines work well, the materials are appropriate, the training is good, the policies promote a good work environment, the methods of work are well tested and perfected, etc.) Those who don't get the rewards are -- by and large -- those unlucky enough to work in dysfunctional systems. Merit and reward systems create cynics and losers In one Milwaukee company, which had an annual "Employee-of-the-Year" award ceremony, I had an opportunity to meet with the year's winner. I was surprised to learn that she was not proud of her award. She was embarrassed by it. She saw the whole ceremony, with all its hoopla and pizzazz, as an occasion invented by managers, so that they could pose as "employee-sensitive." She had two reasons for her cynicism: , There were plenty of employees whom she felt deserved recognition as much as or more than she did. She was convinced that the honor was bestowed on her because her boss was the CEO's favorite. The selection process oozed of internal politics. , Secondly, she said, "If we were treated with respect and decency on a daily basis, I would not be so skeptical of the sincerity behind this event. On one day a year, management honors its employees. On all the other days, we are treated like objects of utility." he greatest management conceit is that we can "motivate" people. We can't. Motivation is there, T inside people. Our people were motivated when we hired them and everyday, when they come to work, they arrive with the intention of doing a good job. Managers cannot motivate. They can, however, de-motivate. Herzberg established this over 30 years ago (Herzberg, Frederick "One More Time: How Do You Motivate Employees?" Harvard Business Review, September-October 1987, pp. 109-120. This is a reprint with commentary, of an earlier classic paper.) The greatest managerial cynicism is that workers are withholding a certain amount of effort that must be bribed from them by means of various incentives, rewards, contests, or merit pay programs. Most managers are not conscious of such a pessimistic belief, but many of their "motivational programs" are conducted as though this cynical premise were true. The greatest waste of managerial time is time spent trying to manipulate people's minds and infuse motivation into them. Managers' time would be better spent doing the following: , Remove the demotivators. Ask people what gets in the way of their doing work they are proud of. Remove those obstacles to pride in work. , Focus on improving the processes. You and everyone in your company need to become more aware of what systems and processes are, and how to study them, and improve them. , Focus on customers. Something that provides a lot of gratification and satisfaction to employees is to know that customers are excited about the products and services. Bring awareness of customers into your organization on a daily basis. This takes hard work and true leadership. Don't waste any more time or energy on perpetuating myths and pretense. Get on with it! 4. Mobility of top management (too much turnover causes numerous problems) 5. Running a company on visible figures alone (many important factors are “unknown and unknowable.” This is an obvious statement that runs counter to what some incorrectly claim Deming taught – that you can only manage what you measure. Deming did not believe this and in fact saw it as a deadly disease of management) 6. Excessive medical costs 7. Excessive legal damage awards swelled by lawyers working on contingency fees Obstacles to success Belief that automation computers and new machinery will solve problems Trying to copy existing solutions without understanding why they work “our problems are different” Obsolete business schools that do not teach how to manage Teaching tools without a framework for using them Reliance on inspection Reliance on QC department Blaming work force for problems when it is really the system False starts or teaching the latest without a plan of how to use them or their impact or what it will take to get there Zero defects means nothing unless someone wants to buy it Inadequate testing of prototypes Consultants know more than us (they do not, they may have some places for you to go, but they do not know why you are where you are) Out of control action plan OCAP Action limits (+/- 3 SD) warning limits (+/- 2 SD) Phase I and Phase II Phase I use Shewhart, Phase II use cumulative sum and EWMA Cusum and EWMA charts for Phase II chapter 5 section 8 and 9 for when detection of small moves in SD are required. Should you use attribute or variables charts?? Variables tell you when you are moving off of desired, attributes are less likely to do so, it is usually easier to find what the problem is from variables data SPC is a passive statistical method for process management, DOE and using distributions to make decisions about causal agent is proactive , find the cause of variation ;id=78388 The Seven Deadly Sins of Management by Lonnie Pacelli Pride. Envy. Gluttony. Lust. Anger. Greed. Sloth. You either recognize these as the seven deadly sins or as themes for prime-time television. Nonetheless, you were probably taught as a child that these are bad and you shouldn't do them. For purposes of this article, do as you were taught and think bad when you commit these similar sins in the workplace. As leaders, we are continually being introduced to new techniques and theories. Hammer & Champy's Business Process Re-engineering Model, McKinsey's 7-S Framework, and Kenichi Ohmae's 3C's Strategic Triangle are all examples of strategic models designed to help leaders think about their business in different and innovative ways. What sits on top of all of the models and frameworks, though, are a series of foundational attributes that every leader should possess if he or she is going to have demonstrated, sustained success as a leader. In my career as a leader, I've been fortunate enough to experience a broad array of leadership situations where sometimes I enjoyed fantastic success, and at other times experienced dismal failure. In looking back at my failures, many of them had nothing to do with a theory, framework, or technology that was utilized. The failures had to do with cracks in my own foundational attributes which left me vulnerable as a leader. I've boiled these down to seven key sins which this article will focus on to help you become a more effective leader. Sin #1 - Arrogance Ever known a manager that consistently claimed to know more than the rest of the team? How about one that was unwilling to listen to opposing views? Isn't this just a sign of confidence? What's wrong with that? Confidence as a manager is crucial as people will look to you, particularly when things get tough. When it runs amok and turns to arrogance, the manager disrespects the team. Show respect and have confidence and you'll do fine. Subtract out respect and you're just an arrogant doofus. Sin #2 - Indecisiveness So you have a meeting on Monday and the management agrees on a course of action. On Tuesday, the manager decides to take a completely different course of action. Thursday the manager goes back to Monday's course of action. The following Monday you're back re-hashing through the same problem from last Monday. Blech. Decisiveness means the manager listens to those around him or her and then makes the best decision for the project that the rest of the team can understand, and sticks to it. While team members may not agree with the decision, they should be able to see the rationale. Decisions without rationale or without listening will ultimately frustrate the team and put a target on your back. Sin #3 - Disorganization We've all known the manager that asks for the same information multiple times, keeps the plan in their head versus writing things down, or is so frantic that they're on the verge of spontaneously combusting. Their disorganization creates unneeded stress and frustration for the project team. The manager needs to have a clear pathway paved for the staff to get from start to completion, and make sure the ball moves forward every day of the project. Disorganization leads to frustration, which leads to either empathy or anarchy. Sin #4 - Stubbornness On one of my early project management jobs I was a month behind schedule on a three-month project. I refused to alter the project schedule insisting that I could "make up schedule" by cutting corners and eliminating tasks. Despite the entire project team telling me we were in deep yogurt, I stubbornly forged ahead. I ended up never seeing the end of the project because my stubbornness got me removed as the project manager. Talk about your 2x4 across the head. The manager may believe his or her view of reality is the right way to go, but it's imperative that he or she balances their own perspective with that of the rest of the project team. Decisiveness without listening to the team leads to stubbornness. Sin #5 - Negativism Years back, one of my peer managers, in their zeal to "manage expectations" would consistently discuss the project in a negative light. Either the focus was on what work didn't get done, what the new issue of the week was, who wasn't doing their job. Their negative attitude about the work, people, and purpose of the project sapped the energy, enthusiasm, and passion out of the work. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy; the project failed because the project manager willed it to fail. This one's simple; a glass-is-half-empty project manager is going to be a horrible motivator and will sap the energy from a team. This doesn't mean that you have to be a shiny-happy person all the time; but that the project manager has to truly believe in what he or she is doing and needs to positively motivate the team to get there. Sin #6 - Cowardice Imagine this: the manager who, when pressed on a budget or schedule over-run, will blame team members, stakeholders, or anyone else that could possibly have contributed to their non-performance. Much easier to play the blame game and implicate others because everything didn't go perfectly as planned. What a weenie. It's perfectly OK to be self-critical and aware of your own weaknesses and mistakes. For a leader to truly continue to grow in their leadership capabilities they need to be the first to admit their mistakes and learn from them as opposed to being the last one to admit their mistakes. Sin #7 - Untrustworthiness Simply put, managers that don't display necessary skills, show wisdom in their decisions, or demonstrate integrity aren't going to be trusted. For the team to truly have trust in their leader, they need to believe that the manager has the skills to manage the project, the wisdom to make sound business decisions, and the integrity to put the team's interests ahead of their own. Take any one of these attributes away, and it's just a matter of time before the manager gets voted off the island. Lonnie Pacelli has over 20 years' experience with Accenture and Microsoft and is currently president of Leading on the Edge? International. Lonnie's books include "The Project Management Advisor: 18 Major Project Screw-Ups and How to Cut Them Off at the Pass" and "The Truth About Getting Your Point Across". Get the books, leadership products, other articles, MP3 seminars and a free email mini seminar at