Defining a system

[James Robert Crow <jr1crow@mindspring.com>]

Hello Group:

I appreciate the comments of Wyocreek as I hope we will be able to learn
from the exchange.  Deming did not actually speak of management systems,
but rather the understanding of systems and the management of systems.
There is a significant difference.  A mamagement system would imply that
there is a formula we can apply to given situation and get consistant
results.  So far as I know such a thing does not exist.  Deming did speak
of management by method beginning with an understanding of the organization
as a system of interdependent components that try to work together to
achieve the aim of the system.  The system must have an aim.  Without an
aim there is no system.

The development of an aim would be a good place to start.  The aim should
define the basic purpose for the organizations existance.  The aim should
be flexible and long term.  According to Deming the aim should be defined
in terms of how life will be better for everyone, not in terms of numbers
and specific actions.  The aim should be a touchstone for the organization
to come back to when critical decisions are being made.  "How will this
help us achieve our aim?"  The aim is something you are constantly moving
toward, but not something you are going to every achieve.  For example if I
define the aim of an airline as: "To provide safe, dependable, schedualed
air transportation to the public at a profit," I have gone a long way
toward defining the basic purpose for which the company was established.
We will be providing schedualed air transportation.  This is not a charter
outfit, and we are in the business of providing air transportation, not
bus, or train.  The public will not use air transportaion that is not safe,
and to attract and retain business it must be reliable.  On top of all this
we must have profits to stay in business, to have money to reinvest in the
future of the business, to grow and create more opportunity for our people,
the community, and the investors.


Robert Crow
Principal
Crow Consulting
165 River North Circle NW
Atlanta, GA 30328 USA
Voice 770-396-2280
FAX 770-396-7010
jr1crow@mindspring.com
www.crowgroup.net