Customer Reviews

Out of the Crisis

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This is a classic in the world of quality assurance. It is fair to call Deming the father, godfather, grandfather and preacher of the quality movement. This book, written in 1986 after he achieved international fame for helping improve quality in Japan, captures the spirit and ideas that spawned a revolution.

The book captures many of the key points in Deming's philosophy:
1) Creating metrics based approaches to management, without falling into a quota system.
2) Differentiating between problems caused by the system and problems outside of the system.
3) Focusing on both doing things correctly, and identifying the right tasks to approach.
4) Introducing a Plan, Do, Check, Act cycle of continuous improvement.

If you look at this list, the book presents a blueprint for many of the so called management revolutions of the subsequent 15 years: Excellence, Re-engineering, Process Management, Systems Thinking. This book really is both a trend setter as well as highly important body of theory. The theory is relevant today, as many management problems today can be addressed by his 14 points of management. (Example: A reliance on inspection is bad - build quality into the process. This is highly relevant to software construction today.)

So are there any knocks?
1) You're left with many imperatives, but sometimes without positive prescriptions. For example: If you don't do annual performance reviews, what do you replace it with to determine who gets promoted?
2) The book can be dry and hard to follow. Sometimes it is written as notes pieced together.
3) Many of the companies that Deming held up as models have fallen on tougher times. It seems that today Quality alone is not enough.

Having said this, it should be required reading for any manager. The theory is good, and the book should spark your thinking.

W.Edwards Deming is one of the leading thinkers of modern management as a key originator of total quality management. D.Wren and R.Greenwood write, in their 'Management Innovators,' "Deming was critical of U.S. management, perhaps because he had been ignored far so long, but more probably because U.S. firms were losing market share to more quality-oriented competitors. He blamed U.S. management because the wealth of a nation did not depend on its natural resources but on its people, management, and goverment: 'The probem is where to find good management. It would be a mistake to export American management to a friendly country.' "

In this context, in Chapter 2, in order to transform American industry, Deming presents the 14 points that constitute his theory of management:

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of product and service, with aim to become competitive and to stay in business, and to provide jobs.

2. Adopt new philosophy. We are in a new economic age. Western management must awaken to the challenge, must learn their responsibilities, and take on leadership for change.

3. Cease dependence on inspection to achieve quality. Eliminate the need for inspection on a mass basis by building quality into the product in the first place.

4. End the practice of awarding business on the basis of price tag. Instead, minimize total cost. Move toward a single supplier for any one item, on a long-term relationship of loyalty and trust.

5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve quality and productivity, and thus constantly decrease costs.

6. Institute training on the job.

7. Institute leadership. The aim of supervision should be to help people and machines and gadgets to do a better job. Supervision of management is in need of overhaul, as well as supervision of production workers.

8. Drive out fear, so that everyone may work effectively for the company.

9. Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service.

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force asking for zero defects and new levels of productivity. Such exhortations only create adversarial relationships, as the bulk of the causes of low quality and low productivity belong to the system and thus lie beyond the power of the work force.

11. Eliminate work standards (quotas) on the factory floor. Eliminate management by objective. Eliminate management by numbers, numerical goals. Substitute leadership.

12. Remove barriers that rob the hourly worker of his right to pride of workmanship. The responsibility of supervisors must be changed from sheer numbers to quality. Remove barriers that rob people in management and in engineering of their right to pride of workmanship. This means, inter alia, abolishment of the annual or merit rating and of management by objective.

13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement.

14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. The transformation is everybody's job.

According to Deming application of these points will transform style of management. Unfortunately, some deadly diseases stand in the way of transformation. Thus, in Chapter 3, he identifies seven deadly diseases that cause the decline of American industry:

1. Lack of constancy of purpose to plan product and service that will have a market and keep the company in business, and provide jobs.

2. Emphasis on short-term profits.

3. Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review.

4. Mobility of management, job hopping.

5. Management by use only of visible figures, with little or no consideration of figures that are unknown or unknowable.

6. Excessive medical costs.

7. Excessive costs of liability, swelled by lawyers that work on contigency fees.

I highly recommend this business classic for all managers.

Edwards Deming is one of the most outstanding gurus of the quality movement of the 20th century. The book "Out of the Crisis" is a classic in the quality assurance field written by an author who achieved fame after helping to improve quality in Japan, thus helping that country to be an outstanding success story.

This outstanding book would benefit managers of any organization who need to learn how to achieve success by focusing on producing high quality products and services that the customer wants. The book provides readers with knowledge on the meaning of "quality' and the use of some essential quality tools in their organisations. Deming's famous 14 points provides essential guidance and directions to any organisation to ensure that it is efficiently and effectively run.

This is a well written book, which was published 20 years ago, that comprehensively covers the subject of quality with good illustrations and examples that help to clarify issues and concepts.

W. Edward Deming could be called the Mozart of quality control, the Shakespeare of business consulting, the Michelangelo of management science. Deming is the sine qua non of modern business thought - the "without which not." Perhaps more than any other thinker, he engineered the rise of Japanese competitiveness in the consumer goods sector, thereby giving a major prod to globalization. Perhaps his only failure was not envisioning the Big Brother extremes to which some would later push his ideas of "consistency of purpose" (for example, continuous quality improvement). Then again, prophets are plagued by their own disciples. Deming passes the test of time with flying colors. In this reprint of his 1986 classic, his eloquent arguments for single-supplier sourcing and leadership rather than supervision, and against production quotas and the absurd practice of MBWA (management by walking around), ring as true today as ever. We from getAbstract believe that classics should be revisited often, and highly recommends Deming's seminal work to thoughtful people in business at all levels.

Published in 1986, Dr. Deming "Out of the Crisis" seems to form the basis for the transformation needed in American management mentality. Two main subjects are discussed in the book. The first is the exposure of problems and pitfalls in top management operations, the second, relates suggestions and solutions that can solve and transform the way American management operates. 14 core points are suggested by Dr. Deming to address problems in management and are supported by many examples using different scientific methods.
Throughout the book, Dr. Deming promotes the loss of slogans that are even today being practiced by a share of the American Industry, and advocates management that is based on principles such as quality and leadership. At times, the book is not a continuous process that is easy to follow, but overall, Dr. Deming's concepts are transferred to the reader. Dr. Deming's "Out of the Crisis" helped me learn new perspectives about how management and employees can help in building or transforming an industry to a successful one.

When I first saw this book a few years ago at a friend's house I never imagined that I would enjoy reading it. However, somehow my opinion changed recently while I was looking for a good book about manufacturing quality control. This book agrees with all that I believed to be true based on my limited manufacturing experience--the plant worker is very rarely to blame for quality problems, rather problems are usually the result of system issues.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book and couldn't put it down. It is a great overview of quality control methods and control charts. I also have Mary Walton's "The Deming Management Method", but I would strongly recommend to just read Deming's masterpiece.

This book will have you smacking your forehead and laughing out-loud! Deming uses real life case studies to share with the reader the 'simplicity' of his profound knowledge. His teachings may have a profound impact on how you view life, not just business. This book is a good read for just about anyone, but a must read for senior level and middle managers. It will show you what we are doing wrong, and, how to change. Abandon the Western Management Philosophy and adopt the New Philosophy! What is it? READ THIS BOOK TO FIND OUT! Kevin Mader

I can't say enough about the revealing content of this book. I have worked as a Six Sigma Blackbelt for 4 companies, over 12 years, and Dr. Deming is spot on about the sorry state of the management of most manufacturing companies in the US. Why can't we just listen???

Maybe if enough of us pick this book up, read it, and absorb it...

I first became aware of Dr. Deming through the Deming Management method. He affected so much change in Japan and was not known here in the USA. The chief reason for his lack of success here was probably that eliminating fear, one of his 14 points, has never really been a management method of American Management. Today people fear losing jobs, his method of quality was to lead to more jobs and more quality utilizing American pride in work. I do think his method had an impact, look at companies like Xerox, and others who continually improved, yet, our economy is so short sighted, we never seem to get past the view of everything this Quarter...we need to have a broader perspective. I find my coworkers in America to be very hard working people who have pride in what they do and accomplish. If only we would remember the red beads, we would get quality if we provide quality material. Demings last seminar was held in Pasadena, I wanted to go to that, yet I hesitated and well, had to learn from a friend second hand. This is a must buy for anyone who will manage people, engineers and corporations.

Even though the book is nearly 30 years old, the basic lessons of management and quality control are still valid. Indeed, there is a lot of American business that seems to have forgotten Deming's teaching. Most of the book is an easy read and Deming's style is different to say the least.

Whether you are part of the "system", or you're the one responsible for designing the system; this is worth the read. The lessons are basic and applicable to any indusry or service business. It's also an interesting history lesson.