Re: Stirring things up!

[isp <jsdwd@ispwest.com>]

> Well, I'm not sure about Deming's belief that statistics are "everything" but
> I am convinced that statistics (ala Shewhart) were the "Cornerstone" of Dr.
> Deming's Theory of Management.  I believe that his deep understanding of the
> "Theory of Variation" is the base from which he developed the other parts of
> profound knowledge.

While I agree that much of Deming's thinking derived from a deep
appreciation of statistical thinking, I think it is not true to his memory
to suggest that he did not understand the limitations of statistics.  He was
a very learned and intelligent man.

To suggest, as Juran did repeatedly over the years, that Deming thought that
good management entailed only the understanding and use of statistical
methods is simply not true.  Juran, of all people, should be (and I believe
is) aware of that.  Deming's concepts of systems thinking and his dabbling
in the field of psychology were not particularly statistical in nature.

If you are suggesting in your email that one share Juran's view, I'd urge
you to give it some more thought.  Yes, Deming was a statistician first and
foremost, but he also had a deep understanding of economics, philosophy,
physics (his PhD from Yale is in Physics).  Like Shewhart before him (also a
physicist, and a Nobel Prize winning one at that), Deming's work was more
economic than statistical in nature in any case.  Remember the titles to
their books:  "The Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product",
"Out of the Crisis" (not a statistical crisis!), and "The New Economics:.."