Our Aims - HOW TODAY'S WORLD CAN WORK BETTER

To help people:
• Understand the power of Dr. Deming’s unique systems theory;
• Learn to manage and improve complex social systems we can’t control;
• Accept the related uncertainty and discomfort;
• Lead continual improvement of businesses, hospitals, schools, nations, families—all complex social systems.

About Social Systems Thinking
 

The simplest definition of a system is “two or more parts that work together to accomplish a shared aim.” What reveals the presence of a system is interaction, parts working together.

We live with systems every day.

Social Systems Thinking Defined

Some systems are mechanical, like cars, computers, garage doors, appliances, and toys.
Other systems are biological, like plants, trees, birds, fish, animals and human bodies.
Still other systems are mental and theoretical, like mathematics, physics, music theory and philosophy. The most complex systems are social, such as families, sports teams, organizations and nations.

Social systems are the most complex because they usually contain and must integrate many mechanical, biological and mental subsystems, where managers may have to involve members who have individual personal goals as well as the organizational vision

Dr. Deming’s focus is on complex social systems. He taught us:

• to look at a social system as a whole;
• to realize that a system is an interdependent, long-term whole with a life of its own;
• to become aware of a system’s hidden connections and interactions;
• to understand the complex interactions that may go on between cause and effect;
• to see a system in its wider social environment;
• to focus not on problem-solving of individual people or parts but on their interactions;
• to establish a cooperative environment in which people are rewarded for pursuing continual improvement of processes, the larger system, and themselves;
• to use data to get a system to talk to you.

Dr. Deming’s approach is fundamentally different from traditional management, which served us so well in the past.
 

Dr. Deming’s approach is fundamentally different from traditional management, which served us so well in the past.

This requires seeing the world, organizations, even our families and ourselves—all social systems—with new eyes. It is seeing more widely the social system in its environment as an interdependent, long-term whole, rather than focusing momentarily on individual people, problems or parts. It is becoming aware of the hidden connections and interactions and delays between cause and effect.

Cultivating new eyes to see the larger system and environment is more important than ever in our increasingly complex and dangerous world, as evidenced by the current global economic crisis, the spread of hospital infections and other once rare diseases, or sorting out facts on the internet.

Deming’s systems theory demands great emotional and mental changes in seeing the world as a system made up of other systems and everyone as part of a system.

The change from traditional management to systems thinking has been compared to Copernicus’ declaration that the earth was not the center of the universe, but a planet orbiting the sun in an incredibly larger universe. That new world view took centuries for people to absorb. Like the systems view, other discoveries have challenged conventional wisdom, e.g., Darwin’s theory that humans evolved from animals and Freud’s proposition that we do not know much of what or why we think and feel and act. All have required decades or more for debate and understanding.

That the Deming philosophy solves so many urgent problems is the first obstacle to accepting and learning systems thinking. It is difficult to believe that there is one answer for so many apparently different problems. There is.

It’s American.

Dr. Deming began to develop his management ideas as a boy on the Wyoming frontier in the early 1900s. There he observed the benefits of continual improvement of farming practices taught to his neighbors by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's extension service. This government-sponsored education in best farming practices allowed America to become the world's leading producer of food and fiber and was the basis of our successful economy. Deming would later remind audiences that the West was settled by cooperating townspeople at barn-raisings and quilting bees, not by loner cowboys shooting each other and Indians as Hollywood movies would have it.

Deming liked to tell how the Great Western Sugar Co. would take newspaper ads to advise the farmers when to plant, thin and harvest their sugar beets so they would get the best crop. This led him to advise Toyota to work with their suppliers and customers rather than go for the lowest price or highest profit.

Deming’s principles are the foundation of the success of world-renowned organizations such as Toyota, Proctor & Gamble, Harley-Davidson, Hillerich & Bradsby, Ritz Carlton, and other leading corporations. 

 Deming’s 14 Points, his System of Profound Knowledge, and practice of continual improvement comprise a revolutionary management philosophy, which is essential in the 21st century. Without knowledge of this philosophy and theory, no organization (or system) will compete successfully over the long term—regardless of its investment in Six Sigma, Lean Manufacturing or other quality improvement tools.

ManagementWisdom.com offers the 32-volume Deming Library, in DVD format with comprehensive teaching guides. Dr. Deming said, “The Deming Library is the best representation of my thoughts.”

Peabody Award-winning producer Clare Crawford-Mason, NBC News writer/narrator Lloyd Dobyns, and Dr. Deming collaborated to create the Library. It distills Dr. Deming’s teaching into easy-to-understand principles and practices for success in your organization. They brought Dr. Deming to world attention with the 1980 NBC White Paper, If Japan Can…Why Can’t We?

Dr. Deming and Dr. Russell Ackoff (represented here in the Better Management for a Changing World series of conversations about systems and Volume 21 of The Deming Library) led the development of the practice of systems management. It is not an easy change. Dr. Deming often reminded people “No one has to change. Survival is optional.”