THE OBSTACLES TO THE TRANSFORMATION

~ 11 min reading + activities

INTRODUCTION TO THE MAJOR ACTIVITY: THE OBSTACLES TO THE TRANSFORMATION

So, finally, on to Deming’s “parade of obstacles”: there are no less than 16 of them. Although you are now already very familiar with the 13th of these (regarding conformance to specifications), the topics are mostly ones that have not been mentioned previously. The Obstacles are generally more tightly focused than the issues in the 14 Points and the Deadly Diseases, and so it may well be quicker and easier for you to “get your teeth into” some of them: they should usually not demand as much breadth and depth of thought as often needed with those larger issues. Be relaxed about timings this afternoon: feel free to concentrate on the ones that strike you as being of greatest interest.

Some of the Obstacles are versed in terms most relevant to manufacturing. However, as we have seen previously, there are likely to be analogies with other areas that could be worth investigating: what Deming writes in such terms is often found to be just as relevant elsewhere if expressed slightly differently. But, remembering when Out of the Crisis was written (the mid-1980s), I rather suspect that Dr Deming was particularly keen to help manufacturing companies in America, realising the danger that, unless they changed, much of their business would soon be lost to companies on the other side of the world. Sadly, I fear that many did not listen.

So, even if you are not involved in manufacturing, devote some thought as to whether such analogies may exist in your own line of business. For example, Deming often uses the term “production workers”, but obviously that can be generally interpreted simply as those who do the work compared with those whose job is to manage it. However if, after some thought, you feel sure that a particular Obstacle cannot be relevant in your area of activity then feel free to move on and spend extra time on those that are.

For years, in my seminar “Understanding the Deming Philosophy”, I asked delegates to recount stories from their own experience which illustrated why Dr Deming regarded all that follow as being “Obstacles” to the progress he wanted us to make. Invariably those stories came so thick and fast that I would be surprised if you do not also quickly think of some while being introduced to the Obstacles. While they are fresh in mind, write down brief accounts in the spaces provided. Also try to expand on the problems that these Obstacles pose and then consider the situation in “your organisation” (interpreted if necessary as on Day 6 page 3). Does some form of that Obstacle exist there and, if so, what might be done about it?

Since my coverage of most of these Obstacles in DemDim is very brief, I’ll expand a little more on them in the following pages. In each case, read both my sentence or two in DemDim (pages 52–55) followed by my comments on the coming pages. It isn’t necessary for me to provide any more than this since Dr Deming’s discussions of the Obstacles in Out of the Crisis are particularly clear and helpful. However, if you do not have a copy of Out of the Crisis then I would therefore be putting you at something of a disadvantage! So, just in case, I have reproduced some extracts from the Out of the Crisis coverage on Appendix pages 32–37. (In many cases there is, of course, much more in Out of the Crisis.) In what follows, I have referenced the relevant page(s) in both the Appendix and Out of the Crisis.

NB As indicated at the bottom of DemDim page 10, I think there can be no doubt that, like me, Dr Deming regretted the weakness of the English language in lacking single words for “he or she”, “him or her”, “man or woman”, etc. In the circumstances, and as you will have seen before, Dr Deming makes no bones about referring to people, both male and female, simply in the masculine form. Of course, he did not intend any offence by so doing, and indeed traditionally his use of English is correct. I repeat this here because, within the extracts I have chosen, such usage appears quite often, and again I beg that this may cause no offence. In the rare cases that he uses the feminine form, it is usually because he is thinking of a particular individual.

Major Activity 7–i

Please begin by reading through page 27, above again.

1. Hope for instant pudding. (Out of the Crisis pages 107–108[126–127]; Appendix page 32.) The ever-lasting search for the “quick fix”! The term “instant pudding” relates to certain kinds of what are known as “convenience foods”: buy a packet, stir in some water, heat, and serve! Expensive and not very nutritious.

2. The supposition that solving problems, automation, gadgets, and new machinery will transform industry. (Out of the Crisis page 108 [pages 127–128]; Appendix page 32.) Firstly, solving problems only puts right what should not have been wrong. For the other items mentioned here, the point is that you cannot “buy” transformation. At the beginning of The New Economics Chapter 4, Dr Deming emphasises that “The first step is transformation of the individual” who then “will perceive new meaning to his life, to events, to numbers, to interactions between people”. Again, you cannot “buy” that.

3. Search for examples. (Out of the Crisis pages 109–110[128–129]; Appendix pages 32–33.) A large topic, the subject of DemDim Chapter 16. Also see Paragraph 7 (pages 275–276) in the Theory of Knowledge section of DemDim Chapter 18. One trouble is that you can usually find numerous examples to support just about any idea, whether that idea be good or bad. Mindless copying of examples is therefore—well—mindless! Dr Deming similarly warns against simply relying on experience. You have seen something of this on Day 6 pages 1–2; you will see more on Day 11.

4. “Our problems are different.” (Out of the Crisis page 110[130]; Appendix page 33.) This is one of the most common excuses by managers who do not want to learn and do not want to change.

5. Obsolescence in Schools [i.e. Schools of Business]. (Out of the Crisis pages 110–111[130–131]; Appendix page 33.) On Out of the Crisis page 110[130], Deming quotes Robert Reich in a private communication as follows: “As profits declined, generally, from 1970 onward, many American companies attempted to bolster their earnings by acquisition and paper profits. The people in finance and law became the important people in the company. Quality and competitive position were submerged. Schools of Business responded to popular demand for finance and creative accounting. The results are decline.”

Robert Reich, who was Secretary of Labour in Bill Clinton’s administration, is featured in conversation with Dr Deming in the first two of the Deming Library videos: The New Economic Age and The 14 Points.

6. Poor teaching of statistical methods in industry. (Out of the Crisis pages 111–113[131–133]; Appendix pages 33–34.) A basic problem here is that the large majority of “conventional” statistics teaching is to do with matters such as probabilities, distributions, sampling from “populations”, and the like. The subject is essentially treated as a branch of Mathematics, dependent on mathematical models. But the real world is primarily concerned with ever-changing processes that therefore do not fit neat mathematical models. Quite unlike most statistical tools, the control chart, as understood, taught and used by Drs Shewhart and Deming, is not dependent on mathematical models: it is designed for the real world. Because of not understanding this fact and its importance, many teachers try to force the control chart into the conventional mathematical mould—thus destroying its unique virtue! This is all touched upon in the Overture, in my discussion on Pause for Thought 2–b on Appendix page 7, and in the Springboard article cited on Day 1 page 8. There is also much more in the Optional Extras section.

7. Use of [Military Standard 105D and other] tables for acceptance. (Out of the Crisis page 113[133]; Appendix page 34.) This alludes to old-fashioned “acceptance sampling” schemes where batches are sampled and then accepted or rejected according to the number of defective items found in the sample. What’s wrong with that? Well, for a start, an essential requirement for deciding on the details of such a plan is the specification of an acceptable proportion of defectives! And, having mentioned that word “specification”, how is a “defective” defined?—which brings us back to some of the problems with “conformance to specifications” and also takes us forward to operational definitions on Day 11. There is much more in Out of the Crisis Chapter 15.

8. “Our Quality Control Department takes care of all our problems of quality.” (Out of the Crisis pages 113–114[133–134]; Appendix page 34.) Substantially, this takes us back to the delusion that quality can be obtained by inspection (c.f. the third of the 14 Points on Day 4 pages 20–21) or by “quality assurance”.

9. “Our troubles lie entirely in the workforce.” (Out of the Crisis pages 114–115[134–135]; Appendix pages 34–35.) Same comment as with Obstacle 4 (page 29, above). This nonsense is, of course, entirely contradictory to all we have learned about most of the problems (85%, 94%, 98%?) lying in the system (common causes).

10. False starts. (Out of the Crisis pages 115–117[135–138]; Appendix page 35.) Just think back over the years in your organisation. How many great new initiatives, flavours of the month, the latest panacea, have been tried? Where are they now?

11. “We installed quality control.” (Out of the Crisis page 117 [pages 138–139]; Appendix page 35.) As with Obstacle 2, quality cannot be “bought”; see my comments on that Obstacle (page 28, above). Any management that thinks it can “install quality control” will achieve neither quality nor control.

12. The unmanned computer. (Out of the Crisis page 118[139]; Appendix page 35.) With the great changes in computer technology since the mid-1980s when Out of the Crisis was published, the nature of this Obstacle has changed—but it is still an Obstacle! The complaint then was that computers would mostly produce “reams of figures” which were difficult to analyse. Nowadays one can produce a proliferation of multi-coloured multi-dimensional graphs at the touch of a key—which are also often difficult to analyse! See the superb fifth chapter: “Graphical Purgatory” in Don Wheeler’s Making Sense of Data.

13. The supposition that it is only necessary to meet specifications. (Out of the Crisis pages 118–119[139–141]; Appendix page 36.) After your work with the Taguchi loss function, I think I need add nothing here! And you are now so familiar with this matter that I suggest you soon move on to the remaining three Obstacles.

14. The fallacy of zero defects. (Out of the Crisis pages 119–120[141–142]; Appendix page 36.) With “defect” = “outside specifications”, this is equivalent to Obstacle 13 above. In addition, Dr Deming saw zero-defects policies as often inviting tampering, suffering effects we have seen in the Funnel Experiment. Recall also Mack’s mention of Zero Defects (Day 6 page 11).

15. Inadequate testing of prototypes. (Out of the Crisis pages 120–121[142–143]; Appendix pages 36–37.) Prototypes are usually tested in “laboratory-controlled conditions”—which are likely to be substantially different from the very variable conditions to be experienced in use.

16. “Anyone that comes to try to help us must understand all about our business.” (Out of the Crisis page 121[143]; Appendix page 37.) Strongly linked with Obstacle 4 (page 29, above) and my comment there. We have already pointed out on Day 6 page 6 that Dr Deming referred to Profound Knowledge as “outside knowledge”; another pertinent quote (e.g. on The New Economics page 39[54]) is “A system can not understand itself.” Real help comes from new knowledge.

(Please move to the next page for concluding remarks.)

So ends our concentration on the “Old Climate”.

For the rest of the course: forward with the “New Climate”!

“Out-of-hours” note

Depending on your circumstances, you may find yourself able to work through tomorrow’s Major Activity fairly quickly. However, that exercise is naturally customisable to your own particular circumstances and there is likely to be more than one way of doing that. It might therefore be possible for you to carry out two or more versions of that Major Activity within the time available, and that could be very useful. For this reason, it would be a good idea to produce duplicates of the tables involved. Look at the bottom of Day 8 page 3 for advice on this.