William Edwards Deming

(1900-1993)

Life and work

William Edwards Deming was born in 1900 with Sioux City, a small town of the center of the United States. With the college, its mathematics professor incites it to prolong his studies in spite of the scanty means of his parents. It is in this way that it obtains in 1928 the diploma of Ph.D. at the University of Yale. Its speciality is the theoretical physics.

Among employment which is proposed to him with leaving the University, Deming chooses that of researcher in a laboratory of the ministry for Agriculture. It works there during ten years with the development of the nitrate fertilizers. At that time the agricultural outputs make progress fulgurating thanks to the statistics, a new science. The American ministry for Agriculture having founded an institute to train agricultural engineers, Deming gives to it courses of statistics while continuing its research tasks.

In 1939, Deming joined the Office off the Census in Washington (an organization comparable with INSEE). It uses its theoretical knowledge there to develop the first investigations by sampling, with techniques which will make school in the whole world. It leaves this station in 1946 to become consulting in statistical studies and professor of statistics at the University of New York.

During the war, Deming remains in Washington to put its knowledge at the service of industries of armament. With his friend Walter Shewhart, a statistician member of the technical direction of the Beautiful Laboratories Telephone, it organizes at the University of Stanford a seminar of management intended to improve the productivity and quality of the weaponry. It is the result of one study to which they work together since 1938. Their conclusions differ radically from the principles of Taylor. Several thousands of engineers and frameworks of industries of armament are dispatched in Stanford to follow this course, but the goal is not reached: the American directors do not imply themselves; the productivity does not improve; quality does not improve. Nevertheless Japan is overcome.

In 1947, Deming is sent to Tokyo like advising Staff of the allied forces to apply its techniques of sampling. It at the time of meeting some Japanese frameworks which are close to Keidanren, the great employers' federation. They are interested in its theories on the management, about which they intended to speak before the war. They invite it to give courses and conferences to Japan. Informed by the experiment of Stanford, it accepts, but in the only condition of having the participation of the managing directors. The first conference takes place in July 1950. Japanese industry adopts at once the theories of Deming on management and ten years later the Japanese products start to break in America. The American public is not mistaken there: they are better and less expensive. It is an historical turning point.

Until 1980 the theories of Deming were banished American companies, because their leaders remained unconditional followers of the principles of the division of the labor preached by Taylor. It is a journalist American, Clare Crawford-Mason, which made known Deming with the general public in a television program entitled: " If Japan can do it, why not us? ". The American owners could not any more be unaware of it. Solicited by many chairmen, Deming started to give four days public seminars when he explained his ideas in front of several hundreds of participants. From 1981 to 1993, it directed 250 seminars. It was calculated that the number of participants rises with the figure impressing of 120.000. It also gave many conferences in American companies which adopted its philosophy. Under its influence, the style of management was deeply transformed into a few years in the United States, although progress remains to be made.

the teaching of Deming has as an aim management . Contrary to an generally accepted idea, its goal was not to improve current management by adding a component quality to him, but to transform it basic into roof. With the direction first, management consists in putting order in a house and making live its inhabitants in good intelligence. In a company, management consists in controlling the processes, coordinating the operations and preparing the future. Deming said that management does not relate to only the production companies and of service, but also public administration and teaching. Since its first seminars in Japan, a great number of universities started to teach management like a science. the Price Deming (see hereafter) is the highest reward decreed with a company for its excellence in management.

Deming affirms that the style of management which currently prevails led the worldwide economy in a dead end because by privileging the competition and the capacity of the money it causes immense losses, causes of misery and unemployment. The alternative which he proposes privileges the knowledge, which he regards as the most important resource. Consequently the policy of the company must be to develop knowledge in a spirit of co-operation; it is the goal of the famous 14 Points of Deming (see hereafter).

Finally it should well be seen that the style of management of Deming is eminently favorable to social cohesion. Violence symbolic system belongs to the style of traditional management. However all the psychologists know that the violence undergone in the professional life - was symbolic system - generates behavioral problems in the private life. By attenuating the climate of violence and fear which prevails in the companies, the style of management of Deming thus contributes to improve the human relations in the city.

In July 1950, Deming declared in its historical conference with the 24 leaders of Keidanren: " one could say that method it is the democracy in the industrie". Thousands of testimonys show today that this new approach of management supports the dialog and the achievement of the common goals.

The fatal diseases of the organizations

according to William Edwards Deming

Lack of constancy of course to envisage the products and services which will have a market and will perennialize the activity of the company, and will offer employment.
Accent on the short-term profits: orientation short term (precisely opposite of a constancy of course to perennialize the activity), supplied with the fear of an unfriendly takeover, and by the push of bankers and avid owners of dividends.
Evaluation of performance, evaluation to the merit, or talks annual.
Mobility of management: zapping employers.
Management by the exclusive use of visible figures, with little or not consideration for the figures which are unknown or unknowable.
excessive medical Costs.
excessive Expenditure of insurances, inflated by the lawyer fees.

" 14 points" of William Edwards Deming

for the transformation of the management of an organization

To firmly keep the course of the mission of the company by constantly improving the products and the services.
To adopt the “new philosophy” of management and to lead the change of a sure hand.
Faire so that the quality of the products asks for only one minimum of inspection. To integrate quality as of the design of the product.
To put an end to the practice purchases at low the price. To rather seek to reduce the total costs. To the minimum to reduce the number of suppliers per article, by establishing long-term relations of honesty and confidence.
Améliorer constantly all production processs and of service, which will involve a reduction of the costs.
To institute a continuing education for all the executives and all the members of the company.
To institute the leadership, new form of direction having for goal to help the people with better fulfilling their mission.
Faire to disappear fear, so that each one can work effectively for its company.
To reverse the barriers between the departments. The team work of all the company must expect the problems which can appear during the realization and of the use of the products.
To eliminate the exhortations, the slogans and the objectives which require of the workmen to reach the zero-defect and to increase the level of productivity.
To eliminate the production quotas, management by objectives and any form of direction by the figures.
To remove the obstacles which deprive the workmen, supervisors, engineers and frameworks of their labor law to the pride.
To institute an energetic program of education and personal improvement.
To put all the personnel at work to achieve the transformation.

Method of thorough knowledge

of William Edwards Deming

(in construction)

The Deming price

{in contruction)

Works of William Edwards Deming translated into French:

W. Edwards Deming Of new in economy Economica 1996

W. Edwards Deming Out of the crisis (3rd ED.) Economica 2002

Work in English

W. Edwards Deming Out off Crisis MIT CAES {2nd ED.) 1986

W. Edwards Deming The new Economics for Industry, Government, Education MIT CAES (2nd ED.) 1993

W.A. Shewhart Economic control off quality off manufactured product New York: D. Van Nostrand Company 1931

W.A. Shewhart W.Edwards Deming Statistical method from the viewpoint off quality control Mineola, New York The USA: Dover Publications, Inc. ; 1939,1986

See too

the site of French Association Edwards Deming (AFED)

Wheel of Deming

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