Managers Win Too

                    David and Sarah Kerridge

Some gains from the Deming Philosophy are easy to understand. 
Customers gain from better products and services. The company 
gains profits, productivity, and reputation. Workers have more 
security, and job satisfaction. The benefits to managers are less 
obvious in advance, but even greater. In fact the higher the 
level in the organisation, the greater the benefit, right up to 
the Chief Executive.

   One common reaction to Dr Deming's four-day seminar was that 
it seemed terribly negative. Stop tampering, don't rank staff, 
don't set targets...... But there is an enormous and immediate 
benefit to the busy manager who can stop doing any  unnecessary 
work. If the organisation gains as well, that is a bonus.

   Most managers are grossly overworked. Everything is done under 
pressure. Tampering means making harmful changes in reaction to 
chance events. This does more than increase variation. It creates 
extra work for the manager who does it, twice over. First making 
the change, and then trying to straighten out the chaos that 
results.   

   The change to fewer suppliers provides another example. It 
reduces variability in raw materials, which directly improves 
products and services. This means fewer problems for managers, 
and less fire-fighting. But having fewer suppliers directly 
reduces the administrative load, and makes planning easier.

   Most managers work under enormous stress. This comes not just 
from too much work, but from a system that encourages competition 
and aggression, both between companies and within them. Another 
source of stress is the unpredictability of problems, the fire-
fighting and trouble-shooting, and the blame when things go 
wrong. All these are reduced by the Deming transformation.

   No one likes to complain. We even enjoy being under pressure, 
at times. It gives us a sense of achievement. The problem arises 
when pressure never stops. We often think that stress makes us 
perform better. The truth is that no one really makes better 
decisions under pressure: we may not even make them faster. Most 
of all, continual  stress destroys creativity, because this 
requires time and concentration. This raises costs to the organ-
isation, but the greatest cost is to the manager who is always 
under stress.

   One of the "buzz-words" that Dr Deming often challenged was 
"Empowerment". It is true that in a transformed organisation 
workers are freer to take initiative. But to call this empower-
ment sounds as if power is being taken away from managers, and 
given to workers.

   This is wrong. What we must aim for is a change in the system, 
which removes conflict between people, between different levels 
in the organisation, and between departments. This enables every-
one to achieve better results. Greater freedom for workers to 
make their own decisions is  power of a kind, and it makes their 
work more satisfying. But managers increase their power over the 
system as a whole. It responds more easily to their guidance, 
instead of resisting every attempt to control it. This is a 
perfect example of Win-Win.

   The PDSA Cycle, or Deming Cycle, is of tremendous benefit to 
managers. Instead of having to decide whether a change will work, 
all that matters is to see that it is properly tested. There is 
no fear of making wrong decisions, or of conspicuous failure. 
Instead there is the certainty of continual learning.

   Under the Deming Philosophy managers exercise greater leader-
ship. This sounds like an extra burden on managers. It would be, 
under the existing system. But in a transformed company there is 
greater freedom, more time, less conflict, and less stress. This 
makes leadership rewarding, rather than frustrating. Profound 
Knowledge gives us insight that enables us to see further, and 
lead effectively. Transformation does not destroy existing 
management skills. Instead it increases them, and removes the 
frustrating barriers to using them.

   "A system must be managed" as Dr Deming said. With the extra 
insight and knowledge that the Deming Philosophy brings, managers 
not only must  manage. They can  manage, effectively and 
creatively, and find satisfaction in doing it.

Reproduced from the BDA newsletter Variation, by permission