RE: "Empirical Observation" - Redundant?

["John McConnell" <wysowl@msn.com.au>]

Jonathan Siegel wrote,
There is one more point I think worth making. I don't believe Deming simply
developed 14 points for management. I believe he developed a fairly broad
perspective -- a "system" of knowledge -- that encompasses ideas about
philosophy, psychology, statistics, physics, metrology,  the behaviour of
complex systems of people and processes, and other areas. While Deming
applied the principles to a particular time, place, and situation, the
broader set of principles might call for a different set of points in other
situations. I believe that Deming taught that one needs to continuously
develop, test, evaluate, and apply theory in order to anticipate and respond
to change. If one simply repeats by rote what one has been taught, or what
worked elsewhere, one will eventually be caught by events and fail. This is
why theory, knowledge of the second kind, is so worth studying, even though
it can't by itself make one happy.


Jonathon makes a good point.  At my second or third Deming seminar many of
the questions being asked led me to believe that the questioners had failed
to grasp Deming's thrust.  He was not only discussing a new approach to the
conduct of business, but also was outlining a theory of profound knowledge.
This theory, if believed, understood and internalised at a visceral as well
as at a rational level changes the way we see and understand the universe,
and how we behave.  It certainly changed my life.  For example, no purely
"business" approach could have changed the way I raised my children or my
attitude towards the battle against illegal drugs.

Too often we find folk chanting the 14 points, as if it were dogma.  It is
not, or at least should not be.  Perhaps one of the most significant aspects
of Deming's theory of profound knowledge is that it contains the seeds for
its own evolution and development.  It did not cease to develop when Deming
died.

Have fun!

John McConnell
wysowl@msn.com.au