DAY 1 (morning): THE OVERTURE
~ 3 min reading · ~ 10 min at Neave’s pace
Why an “Overture” rather than an “Introduction”? Simply because this half-day contains much more than you would expect in a mere introduction to this structured active-learning course on the approach to management developed by Dr W Edwards Deming—pictured above left (aged 88) with me in 19891 (Such superscript letters as a refer to the “Approvals, Acknowledgements and Information” at the end of the file.)
Continuing the musical analogy, let’s suppose you’ve arranged an evening out at a theatre to enjoy some kind of musical production. Perhaps it’s a light modern musical or musical comedy; at the other extreme, maybe it’s grand opera! In past centuries, overtures were often regarded as no more than background music while the audience ambled in. These days, the overture is usually treated with greater respect, and rightly so. It sets the scene by including several of the main themes from the show, and gives some tasters of the moods and style of what is to follow. Now, it might just happen that you take such an instant dislike to those snippets that you decide to leave the theatre straightaway and spend the evening some other way —which, seeing the price of theatre tickets nowadays, could be a rather expensive decision! Hopefully though, you will instead like what you are hearing, and settle down to enjoy the show and have a very pleasant evening. But at least you will have had some prior warning in case the show is just not “your thing”.
This Overture performs a similar function. It does indeed expose you to an initial “feel” of what is to follow, of both the nature and some of the content of the Deming approach itself and of the style of this course in the way it can help you to learn about it. And that is both sensible and necessary. One section of this Overture is headed “Deming is different”. Yes indeed, very different compared with other approaches to management, to quality, to people—so different that it honestly might not be to your taste. If that is the case then I don’t want to waste your time—that won’t be of any benefit to either you or me. So if, having “heard” the Overture, you really feel this is not for you then you can indeed decide to leave the theatre straightaway and, in this case, you will only have wasted a little time, not a lot of money! Otherwise, please stay and enjoy. Maybe, before long, you’ll find yourself climbing out of the audience to join those on the stage!
Photo by courtesy of SPC Press Inc.↩︎