Thinking About Quality: Progress, Wisdom, and the Deming Philosophy

Authors Lloyd Dobyns and Clare Crawford-Mason distill their understanding of the Deming philosophy after nearly a decade of collaboration with Dr. Deming to produce the Deming Management Library videos. Thinking About Quality... is the companion volume to the PBS documentary on Dr. Deming's life and thought.

The book begins with a description of "the devils" of conventional management thinking, those assumptions and attitudes that most people take for granted, and matches them against the new management principles that are Dr. Deming's legacy. Following chapters discuss systems thinking, the other three elements of profound knowledge, Deming's 14 Points, the experiences of companies undergoing transformation, and finally the stories of the Baldrige National Quality Award, and quality issues in education, health care, and the federal government. The book contains appendices with examples of corporate mission and values statements, the Baldrige Award criteria, and a useful reading list.