Re: The Cornerstone; Again

[PHILHOOVER@aol.com]

Thanks Del Nelson.  As usual, I think you are "right on!!"

You wrote about Dr. Deming, ".........he BEGAN his insight with variation, 
and then, in his never-ending improvement/evolving nature of his own 
knowledge came to understand that there was no possible valid knowledge of 
variation, or of its meaning without pre-knowledge/ appreciation of THE 
SYSTEM and THE AIM of that system."  Then you concluded, "Start with 
variation? Yup. And stayed there? Nope! That would not be 
"never-ending-improvement.""

Thinking back to previous threads about the "Cornerstone", I wonder why so 
many people seemed affronted by the subject, and argued strongly that it was 
wrong to say that one part of "Profound Knowledge" is more important than 
other parts.  I never said that, nor did I intend that.  I simply said it was 
the Cornerstone of Dr. Deming's thinking, or as Del Nelson wrote, "He Began 
his insight with variation."

The only statement I would add to Del's is, that as Dr. Deming expanded his 
thinking into Appreciation of The System and The Aim, and even Psychology of 
People (interesting that Del left this out), all of his pronouncements were 
consistent with his deep understanding of the Theory of Variation.  The flip 
side is that his major tirades were evoked when he saw Corporate behavior 
that violated the Theory of Variation; things like annual apprasials, 
Employee of the Month, setting numerical goals, gold stars, and marks in 
school.

Phil Monroe
PhilHoover@aol.com
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