Continuous improvement -Demming theory
Deming theory
Dr. W. Edwards Deming developed a method for the quality improvement process. He believed that the identification and correction of defects after production is not effective. The quality issue is critical to address before production rather than after production (Doherty, 2003). Along with this, it is identified that quality control issues arise due to poor management. If the processes are in place, their performance can be measured and changes can be made to improve the quality of products and process. For the continuous improvement, employee involvement is necessary. So, it is important to use highly effective techniques for continuous improvement in the workplace.
According to Deming theory, the job of management is neither to assess employee output numerically nor to inspect product quality after production. But the management is responsible to create a production process and organizational culture that encourages employees for quality work (Gitlow, 2000). Deming proposed 14 principles of management such as:
 Develop constancy of purpose for improvement in products and services
 Adopt a new philosophy of economy
 Stop dependence on inspection to gain quality of products and services
 End the practice of awarding business according to the price tag.
 Improve the production system and quality to reduce costs
 Provide on the job training (Gitlow, 2000).
 Adopt new methods of leadership and supervision
 Drive out fear and develop trust to increase employee morale
 Reduce slogans and targets for employees to gain zero defects
 Reduce conflicts between departments
 Eliminate work standards
 Eliminate barriers for hourly workers
 Develop an effective program for education and self-improvement of employee
 Share company goals with employees.
Deming provides a technique for continuous improvement that is called PDCA cycle or Deming cycle. It is the acronym of plan, do, check and act. It is a conceptual and practical framework that includes Kaizen activities (Swansburg & Swansburg, 2002). For example, if employees want to improve their performance, they should ask some questions for themselves during the planning process such as: what are they trying to get, what types of changes have to do to improve performance and how will they know the improvement in their performance?. So, this PDCS cycle helps to ensure continuous improvement with a process.
Plan: In this stage, analyze the current situation, collect data and information and build methods to achieve improvement are included.
Do: In this stage, testing of alternatives in a laboratory or through a pilot process with a small number of customers are involved (Doherty, 2003).
Check: In this stage, it is determined that whether trial process is successful or some improvements are needed. It means in this stage results of last stage are studied decisions are taken.
Act: This stage is related to the implementation of the planning in the organization to improve the process and product (Doherty, 2003).
So, through these steps, improvement is standardized but it is not stopping here because improvement is a continuous process. With the changing circumstances and new techniques, it is required to improve process, product or service again with the Deming cycle. References
Doherty, G. (2003). Developing Quality Systems in Education. USA: Routledge.
Gitlow, H. S. (2000). Quality Management Systems: A Practical Guide. USA: CRC Press.
Swansburg, R. C. & Swansburg, R. J. (2002). Introduction to Management and Leadership for Nurse Managers. USA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.