Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Urges statistician and quality-control expert Deming, "Don't blame the Japanese" for the U.S. trade deficit--"we did it to ourselves." According to Aguayo, Deming is largely responsible for Japan's industrial revolution, though he is little known in the U.S. Here addressing America's corporate leadership, the author--a former bank executive who studied with Deming at New York University--contends persuasively that Deming's advice is savvy, current, even indispensable: American management practices must change, renouncing goals of immediate profit in favor of long-term quality. Aguayo expounds on the leadership training techniques and specific steps that would likely trigger lower costs, increased productivity, larger market share and profits, along with more jobs and higher standards of living for all.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

Business Week Aguayo offers a schematic for putting Deming's teachings to work. -- Review

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Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Fireside; 1 edition (September 15, 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671746219
• ISBN-13: 978-0671746216
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #430,566 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A lite version of "Out of the Crisis", February 4, 2001

By	Mark Latta (Wilton, IA USA) - See all my reviews

Mr. Aguano's book was one of the first ones I read when placed in a supervisory position 10 years ago. Through people "borrowing" my copy (never to return), I'm currently on my third, highlighter marker streaked copy. I enjoy it that much!

This book is a great introduction to TQM. It is extremely easy to read, well organized, and moves quickly. It basically is a "lite" version of Deming's "Out of the Crisis." (Deming's book is a definite recommended read).

The plus side of this book is that it explains how management needs to understand the nature of variation. It explains through Deming's (now famous) "red bead experiment," how variation is inherent in all systems, and it is up to management to reduce that variation. It also shows how some of the tools of quality management, such as control charts, explain stable/unstable systems.

The minus side of this book is that it is simplistic. If you are looking for how to calculate a control chart, do not look here. If you want to understand the difference between X & R control charts and P control charts, it is not in this book. On the other side, it's not really in Deming's either. But at least Deming shows some of the calculations necessary to make a P control chart. I recommend reading Leonard Doty's "Statistical Process Control" for the hard-core SPC methodology.

Also, the author gushes a bit about Deming. I don't know how to articulate it, but the fawning over Deming oozes out of the writing. That gets annoying (to me) after a while. Fortunately, it's a short book!

In summary, if you have read Deming's "Out of the Crisis," skip this book. It more or less rehashes much of that book, without any of the statistical calculations.

If you haven't read Deming's book, by all means read this. I still feel that it should be a TQM required read for all new managers. It explains in simple terms the role of management in TQM.

P.S. If you are trying to decide between this book and Mary Walton's "The Deming Management Method," pick this one. Mary Walton's book does not deal as much as this book with the theory and application of TQM. Her book is more TQM "case history" based.

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very thorough job of explaining Deming's theories., January 17, 2000

By A Customer

Of all the books on Deming that I have so far read this book is probably the most concise and easy to understand.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Know more than most MBA's! Discover Deming!, August 5, 1998

By A Customer

Quit running around to management seminars and reading the latest book to gather loose tidbits of Deming's work floating around often bound together with very bad advice, advice that can be the ruin of your company. Find out the origin of the most effective management practices out there. Discover the ideas in their entirety which are making our workplaces successful and productive and adding quality to our lives.

In recent years the Japanese utterly eclipsed our efforts in the personal electronics and automotive industries. How did they go from the butt of jokes about quality to their current reign? Aguayo explains in his straightforward, readable introduction to the work of W. Edwards Deming just what he taught the Japanese that allowed them to achieve such unimaginable success in these fields. He explains the principles of management and manufacturing that American companies have largely ignored to their peril.

Unlike hundreds of other management gurus, Deming wa! s not just spouting platitudes and basing his claims solely upon "case studies" (which amount to unsolicited testimonials). He was a physicist and statistician, a scientist who was able to put his testable and verifiable groundbreaking theories into practice with many companies, first in Japan and later in the U.S. His approach to management is unparalleled in its vision, scope and practicality. This approach finds its roots in continuous improvement with the ultimate goal of creating a product or sevice of quality, and doing so in an environment that allows workers to experience satisfaction in their work.

You will find watered down versions of Deming's teachings floating about the business management world, but these out of context tidbits won't be effective in the same way as implementing the "profound changes" Deming taught. Be an insider.