BKDEMING.RVW 950106 "Four Days With Dr. Deming", Latzko/Saunders, 1995, 0-201-63366-3, U$27.95 %A William J. Latzko latzko@mary.fordham.edu %A David M. Saunders %C 1 Jacob Way, Reading, MA 01867-9984 %D 1995 %E John Wesner %G 0-201-63366-3 %I Addison-Wesley Publishing Company %O U$27.95 800-822-6339 617-944-3700 Fax: (617) 944-7273 %P 256 %S Engineering Process Improvement Series %T "Four Days With Dr. Deming" W.Edwards Deming was a student, and professor, of statistics. Prior to, and during, the Second World War he worked in statistical sampling methods for business. In 1950, and following, he advised Japanese engineering and industrial firms on statistical process control and management cycles. In 1981, and until his death in 1993, he presented four-day seminars on management and the pursuit of quality in the production of goods and services. Sponsored by George Washington University, these seminars, are said to have drawn 20,000 participants yearly. This book is an attempt, not so much to explain Dr. Deming' thinking (six of his own books are listed in the bibliography), but to give the flavour of the seminars. To this end, the authors interleaf snippets of Dr. Deming's own words, their explanations, the cogitations of a "composite" participant, and the tables and graphics which would be shown as overheads. The result is both entertaining and readable, but it is very easy to lose track of what is going on. This isn't necessarily a bad feature. Judging by the book, Deming was using examples from statistics to get across other ideas. Much of the material has nothing to do with statistics. The really common thread that runs through all of it is that of counter-intuition. Performance appraisals do not enhance performance; they inhibit it. "Incentive pay" reduces incentive and motivation. America did not learn anything about management in the post-war boom, it merely developed superstitions, akin to the "random reinforcement" experiments of B. F. Skinner in operant conditioning. Deming's seminars, and the book, should provide good food for thought, but they don't, in the end, provide answers. A repeated phrase throughout is the call for "Profound Knowledge". Profound knowledge is broadly based; profound knowledge is cognizant of all effects. Profound knowledge understands systems and processes (and all components) deeply. The four aspects of profound knowledge, as described, recall the four divisions of classical philosophy. Unfortunately neither Deming nor the authors indicate how to get profound knowledge, nor even how to define it operationally. I'm not really surprised. The ancients knew profound knowledge and despaired of being able to inculcate it in students. They called it "wisdom". copyright Robert M. Slade, 1995 BKDEMING.RVW 950106 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 Author "Robert Slade's Guide to Computer Viruses" 0-387-94311-0/3-540-94311-0 Postscriptum: from an email from William Latzko after reviewing the draft, in regard to the W. Edwards Deming Institute: "The WEDI mentioned above is an organization set up by Dr. Deming shortly before his death. His daughters and some people Deming called Masters are the Board of directors. ... "Anyone interested in Dr. Deming's work is welcome to work with the group. For more information contact the Institute at P.O. Box 59511, Potomac, Maryland 20859-9511, Telephone (301) 299-2419, Fax (301) 983-5132. There is currently no E-mail address although that is being worked on."