Script for

                 Dr. Deming's Red Bead Exercise


     Before beginning the exercise, set up a small table in the
middle of the front of the room with the bead bowl and paddle on
it.  Place conspicuously on the same table, on the side facing
the audience, two candy bars.  Earlier in the day, draw two
charts on flipchart paper that look like this:


[Chart 1:]
                             Defects


Workers:Day 1Day 2Day 3TOTAL1._____2._____3._____4.____TOTAL
                                                    GRAND TOTAL  



[Chart 2:]
                             Defects

       20  Ý
       //  Ý
       13  Ý
       12  Ý
       11  Ý
       10  Ý
        9  Ý
D       8  Ý
E       7  Ý
F       6  Ý
E       5  Ý
C       4  Ý
T       3  Ý
S       2  Ý
        1  Ý    1   2   3   4   1    2   3   4   1   2   3   4
           þÄÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄ|ÄÄÄÄÄþ
TIME:              Day 1    |      Day 2     |       Day 3   |


     Also have prepared ahead of time a flip chart sheet with
some banal slogan written on it in very large lettersþsomething
like þQuality in numero uno!þ or þLet's hear it for quality!þ 
Place this sheet so that it is concealed but can be displayed
quickly.

When you start the exercise, use a script that runs something
like this:

     Now I am going to invite you to join with me in Dr. Deming's
Red Bead exercise.  When Dr. Deming does his four-day seminar, he
introduces the Red Bead exercise on the third dayþwhen everyone
else is exhausted and he's still going strong.  He invites the
participants to relax and take a little recess, a little time for
relaxation and enjoyment.  So... [changing r“les]

     I am the general manager of the Great White Bead Enterpris-
es.  We make pure white beads, untouched by human hands.  We sell
them to [organization in the seminar]þdon't ask me what they do
with them.  I have been given a process to produce white beads
designed by R Group.  It is, therefore, perfect and will not be
changed.

     Now, to make these beads, I need some workers, and I'm going
to ask for volunteers from the group here to help me.

     First I need people for whom there are no job require-
mentsþno education requirements, no experience requirementsþyou
just have to be willing workers.  So can I get four people to
volunteer to be willing workers?

[If I don't get any volunteers, I warn them that I was once in
the Army and I know how to volunteer people.  If I still don't
get any, I pick out one and say, þWhy, thank you, George.  Come
on up.þ  Then I continue with the others.]

     Now I have two jobs with requirements: you have to know how
to write numbers up to 20.  Does anybody in this organization
meet that requirement?  These jobs are for people who like to
record other people's mistakes.  What I need is two inspectors. 
Please bring with you paper and a pencil.

     Now I need someone who likes to tell other people what to
doþthe Senior Inspector.

     And finally, I need two people who can both write and add,
may be even up to 100.  These are my recorders.

[Assemble the nine volunteers so that the four workers are to the
right of the table with beads (as you face the audience), the two
inspectors and the Senior Inspector are to the left, and the two
recorders are standing at the flipcharts prepared ahead of time
(shown here on page 1) at the back.  Try to keep the volunteers
in a semi-circle so that the audience can see what's going on.]

     Workers, will you line up over here, please [to the right]? 
And recorder number one, will you please write down their names
on the chart where it says one to four?  Thanks you.

     Now I'm going to give you your training.  Are you ready?

     We make our white beads by dipping this paddle [demonstrate]
into the beads in the bowl, letting the beads roll over the
paddle, and then withdrawing the paddle at exactly 47 degrees. 
If you do it right, you end up with all white beads and all holes
in the paddle filled.  [Withdrawing the paddle] Now I have
allowed some defects so that you'll know what they look like. 
[Show the paddle with some red beads and some unfilled holes to
the four willing workers]  After you have got your paddle filled,
you show it to the two inspectors.  They record their separate
findings on a slip of paper.  Then the Senior Inspector compares
the numbers shown to him by the two inspectors and calls out in a
loud voice the number of defects, then dismisses the worker who
returns to the end of the line.  Meanwhile, the first recorder
writes the number of defects in the first box, totalling the
numbers as columns and rows are completed, and the second inspec-
tor plots the number of his chart.  [Shows the recorders where
the numbers and dots should be put.]  Now as you can see, we will
do three days of work.  Each worker will have one turn per day.

     Now this a quality company, but we also believe in high
productivity, so there will be no talking!  We discovered long
ago that allowing workers to chit-chat distracts them from hard
work.  Now we wouldn't want that, would we?

[Allow the workers to go through one turn.  Badger them constant-
ly.  After the first one is finished, draw him aside as if for a
confidential chat and tell him, speaking loud enough to be heard
by all, that the objective is no defects, not the number he got. 
Keep reminding them to withdraw the paddle at exactly 47 degrees. 
Generally be obnoxious, bossy, and condescending.  After the
first round:]

     Wait, wait, stop.  This isn't going at all well.  I know
what's wrong.  We need a slogan.  [Display the flip chart sheet
with the slogan on it]  Nowþall say it after me...Quality is
numero uno! [or whatever you have used]  Now, are you feeling
inspired?  Good!  Let's begin day two!

[Continue haranguing the workers.  Ask one after he has finished
if he has a family.  Ask another why she isn't any good at
beads...after all, she is a womanþanything you can think of to
pressure the workers.  It sometimes helps to pick one out for
punishment and keep picking on him or her.  At the end of the
second round (day 2):]

     This is still isn't working.  Hold it.  I know.  We don't
have an awards program.  Let's establish one right now.  Let's
see who has the lowest defects in a single turn?  George!  Please
come forward.  On behalf of the Great White Bead Enterprise, I
want to publicly reward you for your exemplary work.  [Give him a
candy bar]  Can we have a round of applause for George?  Now
let's seeþwho has shown the greatest improvement....Sally!  Come
on right up here, honey...isn't she cute?...Well, for your great
improvement in your work, I want to publicly reward you on behalf
of the Great White Bead Enterprise.  By the way, what are you
doing after work?  [Chuckle fatuously]  Naw, seriously, can we
hear for this little lady?  [Lead the applause]

     OK, now let's get back to work.  The last day!  Let's see
how much we can all approve.

[More badgering...remarks about how some people don't appreciate
rewards, etc.  At the end of day 3:]

     Well, folks, since we are not producing pure white beads,
[the organization] is not going to buy our product any more, so I
have to let you all go.  [Fire each group individually]

[While one person does the calculations (shown below), the other
processes the exercise by asking each participant how he felt
about what was going on.  Ask how much control she had, how he
might have improved the process if he had been allowed.  Ask if
any of them have ever experienced anything like this (for exam-
ple, recording data that are never used).  The point is that
management had complete control of the process, the workers had
none.  And yet management rewarded and punished them as if they
were in control.  Ask what effect the slogan and the rewards had. 
Ask about the performance of the general manager.  Ask if they
have ever seen any managers like him at NSA, etc., etc.  be
creative.]

     While all this is going on, a partner is doing the calcula-
tions using the following formulae:
x = Total defects divided by 12(number of trials)
p = Totals defects divided by 600 (number of beads drawn)
UCL = x + 3(the square root of x(p-1))
LCL = x - 3(the square root of x(p-1))

     þin which x is the average, p is the proportion, UCL is the
upper control limit, and LCL is the lower control limit.

     Once these figures are calculated, one of the instructors
marks the values on the chart, explaining:

     Now what we have constructed here is a run chart.  You can
see that when I join the dots [do it].  But we can turn it into a
control chart by showing the average and the upper and lower
control limits.  [Marks them on the chart].

     Now what this shows is that the red bead process is in
control [if it's out of control, see below].  If a process is in
control, it's ready to be improved.  If it's out of statistical
control, then it's either in the midst of change or it's being
impinged upon by something outside of the process itselfþso what
we need to do is work on the larger environment that the process
is embedded in first, then, after the process is in control, work
on improving it.  In other words, don't bother trying to improve
a process that's not in statistical control.

     Let me give you an example.  It takes me about 40 minutes to
drive to Fort Meade each day.  There's common variationþsome days
it takes 37 minutes, some days 43.  But one day it took me over
70 minutes.  Now, should I work on the process to try to improve
that 70 minute defect?  Should I check my tires or gas or review
my driving technique?  No.  The first thing I do is to find out
why that outlier occurred.  It turns out that was the day that
Route 32 was all tied up.  So should I change the kind of car I
drive or check my tires or review my gas usage for that cause? 
No.  I get the process into controlþfree from the influences of
external effectsþthen I can take on improving it.

     Now see these high and low peaks in the control chart? 
They're within the control limits.  Notice how I (or my partner)
kept haranguing the workers over these scores.  I rewarded George
for this low score, and I scolded Helen for this high score.  And
yet what I was rewarding and scolding was nothing more than
random variation over which the workers had no control whatever! 


[If the process is out of control:]

     Let's find out what caused these outliers.  George, what
happened here?  [Find out what was going on.  I have always been
able to explain all the outliers either by the fact that the
process was changing (e.g., the workers lost heart and stopped
trying) or there was an outside influence (sometimes I get the
players so upset that they start shaking--then I'm the outside
influence messing up the system).  Then proceed with the remain-
der of the explanation shown above.

     Any questions about the process or the statistics?

     The final message is: we, the managers, own the process.  If
there are problems, the chances are pretty high that it's up to
us, not to the workers, to change things for the better.


Prepared by Tom Glenn, TQM BBS, 301-585-1164