Next BADUG Meeting - 2 December

[DanRobrtsn@aol.com]

BAY AREA DEMING USERS GROUP NOVEMBER NEWSLETTER

Our next meeting is on Monday, 2 December 2002 from
6:00-8:30pm, at Sun Microsystems in Menlo Park at the
intersection of Willow Road and Highway 84.  Detailed
directions available below. 

PLANNED PROGRAMS: 

Please note that BADUG meetings are always open to all
interested parties.  Dr. Deming's teaching extended far
beyond the traditional confines of quality.  Consider
inviting a friend or work associate who might share your
interest in learning about, and discussing, innovative and
effective theories regarding organizations, systems and
management.

2 Dec:  We will view and discuss Volume XI of the Deming Video
Library, "Cooperation-The Key to Quality".  This tape takes
us back to Vernay Laboratories in Ohio, the location of the
video we discussed in October, where Dr. Deming's teaching
was embraced by all levels of the company.  Managers and
workers will describe the leverage that cooperation brings
in achieving business success.  In our discussion, we can
share our own observations and experiences while considering
what actions we might take as individuals to increase
cooperation.

13 Jan: Take note of this date for the first BADUG meeting
of 2003, to allow for returns from holiday travel.  The
location will continue to be at Sun Microsystems in Menlo
Park.  Topic TBA.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 

* The BADUG Systems Thinking Study Group meets monthly,
prior to the main BADUG session.  Please contact David Camp
at dcamp@ciena.com / 408-366-4863 or Karen Takle Quinn at
ktq@svpal.org / 650-964-5195 if you are planning to join
the December discussion.

* Plans are underway for the second annual In2:InThinking
Network Forum, to be held April 3-6, 2003 in Los Angeles, CA.
The theme of the forum will be "What's New? What's Next?
Better Thinking For A Better Future".  Details are being
developed, with a periodic e-newsletter available to those
interested in keeping up-to-date on the progress being made.
Send an email to info@in2-inthinking-network.org or call
818-489-3005 to sign up for the newsletter.  The forum fee
will be $250, making it a great value for those striving to
improve the way in which we think about our organizations and
our own way of life.  Check your calendar now and save that
block of time to attend the Forum.

* Sustainability Seminar I: "Why Now? Why Your Company? How to
Move Forward" -- December 6, 2002 in Palo Alto, CA; hosted by
the Foundation for Global Change, the Sustainable Business
Institute, and Joint Venture: Silicon Valley.  The seminar
presents the larger context of environmental and social
sustainability, and encourages interactive dialogue that
will assist the participants in building a foundation for
sustainability in their companies.  The seminar will also
present practical models and principles of sustainability
and give participants time to practice with simulated case
examples.  Continental breakfast, coffee and lunch will be
provided with the registration fee of $75-$90.  To register,
send an e-mail to Amy Vossbrinck at
avossbrinck@globalcommunity.org or call her at 650-328-7756.
See http://www.globalcommunity.org/economic/econ/upcoming.html
for further details.

* Sustainability II Seminar: "Making It Happen".  A follow-up
to the seminar above, to be held January 24, 2003, 8:30am -
4:30pm in Palo Alto.  This seminar offers models of
sustainability practices, a framework for implementation,
practical business examples, a mapping process which will help
participants clarify their own Triple Bottom Line vision,
strategy and action plan.  During the seminar, participants
will create an actual "Triple Bottom Line Blueprint" for their
own organizations.  Continental breakfast, coffee and lunch
will be provided with the registration fee of $135-$185.  Same
contact points as above for information or sign-up.

* The fall issue of the Deming Institute's newsletter
"Interaction" can be downloaded at
http://www.deming.org/resources/pdfs/August2002.pdf

* The W.E. Deming Institute will sponsor the Ninth Annual
Research Seminar February 24-25 in New York City. 
Presentations will link the management theories of Dr. Deming
to applied and academic literature, in addition to works of
other great thinkers.  Past participants hailed this seminar
as one of the most powerful events they have attended!  It
will be a unique opportunity to interact with leading thinkers
while exploring the implications of research and application
activities of Psychology, Statistics, Systems, & Theory of
Knowledge.  Register online:
http://www.deming.org/calendar/index.html.  For further info.,
contact: Dr. Joyce Orsini, President, The W. Edwards Deming
Institute, PO Box 59511, Potomac, MD 20859.  Telephone
212-636-6219.

* WE ARE VERY INTERESTED IN GETTING YOUR INPUTS FOR UPCOMING
TOPICS and SPEAKERS. If you have inputs, please contact Marcia
Daszko.  Also contact Marcia for details about upcoming
programs.  Her number is 408-247-7757; e-mail address is
MDaszko@aol.com. 

Surf the Worldwide Web to BADUG.  An overview of the group,
past meeting minutes, and an index of Deming-associated sites
can be accessed via your web browser.  Find the site at: 

http://www.cafm-services.com/badug/BADUG-TOC.htm

November's Meeting Notes: 

Jessica Fullmer, Founder and Director of the Sustainable
Business Institute, brought us an overview of the key
concepts for Sustainable Business and highlights from the
CEO Forum recently held by the SBI.  Sustainability has been
defined as: "the ability to meet today's global economic,
environmental and social needs without compromising the
opportunity for future generations to meet theirs."  Business
Sustainability is an economic opportunity for business to
improve its competitiveness and market share by incorporating
and improving sustainability practices.  A sustainable
business is a business entity that has envisioned, created,
and implemented the means to pursue its economic agenda and
business opportunities in a manner that incorporates
sustainable business practices.   

Jessica explained that private sector initiatives are
collectively the largest user of resources on Earth -- Thus,
the decisions made by business executives ultimately have a
major effect on the health of our planet.  The private
sector is also where the capital and infrastructures are
to bring about change.  Too often, the Environmental,
Health, and Safety organizations within businesses look
too narrowly at the issues - Their mission is defined
within the simple boundaries of compliance with regulations.
How can they go farther, to where the elimination of waste
is accomplished?  She described as to how the concept of
sustainability can be seen as having three pillars:
Environmental, Economic, and Social.

The Environmental pillar calls for bringing the environment
into the overall business strategy.  The change in thinking
is to see the environment not only as the source for business
cycle inputs, but also as the receptacle for outputs.  To add
long term value for stakeholders, a company will insure that
its resources are protected.  The Economic pillar takes into
consideration how a sustainable business approach leads to
more profitability driven by increased demand for more highly
valued products, more long term investment, and a positive
distinction from competitors.  Along the Social dimension, a
business will experience increased employee involvement, and
improved perception in the marketplace, while making a
significant and positive impact on the world.  As one
participant in our discussion stated, sustainable business
practices "create a company that has a soul."

SBI produced a PBS video in 1999, from which Jessica played
a clip.  It described the steps taken by Fetzer Vineyards, in
northern California, to balance their use and return of
resources.  There is almost no use of pesticides or
herbicides; minimal tilling of the earth, to greatly reduce
erosion; and recycling of water used in the winemaking
process for later use in irrigating the vineyards.  There
are many parallels to these practices that can apply to
industries from auto manufacturing to pharmaceuticals to
high tech.

Jessica also referred us to William McDonough and Michael
Braungart's "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make
Things", which provides a spectrum of eco-effectiveness that
businesses can use to see where they fall in their efforts.

- Free of Harmful Resources: Able to gain market advantage by
eliminating the use of harmful resources and making such
information known to consumers.  Can take action beyond
current government regulations to improve, or at least
maintain, the environment.  Makes space for more beneficial
materials.  Slows down the dominant destructive paradigm.

- Preferable: Selects materials or products to encourage
eco-effective design in a timely and cost-effective manner.
(Eco-effectiveness is designing human industry that is safe,
profitable, and regenerative; producing economic, ecological,
and social value.)  Use of recycled and/or recyclable
materials when possible, making choices based on
environmental friendliness and scientific data.

- Fully Assessed: Assess products to know every single input
used to create each product.  Maximize health and quality
within current design framework - Whatever cannot be food for
animals or other products needs to be minimized.  At this
level, and awareness and sensitivity is developing for
biological and industrial metabolisms.  Will optimize for
health and quality.

- Optimized: Eco-effective products are designed within
specified parameters.  Products are made from biological
resources that can be eaten or will degrade naturally -or-
Products are part of a non-biological closed loop where they
become inputs for same or different products.  Result is
there will be no safety regulations to meet or toxins released.

- Fully Eco-effective: Products are beneficial to the
environment while fully meeting consumer needs.

McDonough and Braungart also describe what they believe are
the predictors of a successful and sustainable business
strategy implementation: 1/ Top Management Support,
2/ Corporate Plan, 3/ Organizational Understanding, and
4/ Measuring and Rewarding Progress.

Our assembled group then had a bit of discussion about these
predictors.  The need for support from top management seemed
well in line with Dr. Deming's teaching -- When top
management as a unified group "walks the talk" consistently,
the path would be cleared for the possibility of superior
results.

>From Jessica's description of the other 3 predictors, we
started to see what was possibly a bias by the authors toward
classic Management By Objectives thinking.  They describe the
Corporate Plan as having specific objectives, goals, and
measures over an identified period of time - The danger there
may be a fixation on making the numbers at any cost, and
possibly playing with the methods of measurement to get the
'right' numbers and 'win'.  Organizational Understanding does
take into consideration the need to effectively communicate
the values of eco-effectiveness throughout the organization,
but the defined roles tended to indicate more of a command
and control model - Management by Policy needs to reign over
Management by Directive.  Measuring and Rewarding Progress
emphasized even more the expectation that people will not do
good things without oversight and reward mechanisms.  What
better tool might have been provided if the authors had also
considered sustainability concepts as they apply to the
protection and renewal of the human condition *within* the
business?  They deserve credit for taking the idea of
sustainability into the realm of products -- But even more
can be accomplished.

As a person who has been a BADUG associate for many years, we
certainly enjoyed the discussion with Jessica, and she was
quick to point out that some of the resources would not fully
recognize the opportunities that Dr. Deming brings to the
table.  There is much to gain from considering the
possibilities that sustainability can deliver, though.
Bringing them hand-in-hand with Dr. Deming's concepts can
be an extremely powerful and compelling message to those
truly wanting to make the world a better place.

We thank Jessica very much for sharing this topic with us.
For more information about Business Sustainability and the
Sustainable Business Institute, please contact her at
jhfullmer@sustainablebusiness.org.  The SBI web address is
www.sustainablebusiness.org.

----------------------------------

To receive the Bay Area Deming Users Group's newsletter,
contact:

Dan Robertson               -or-   Marcia Daszko
1141 Bruckner Circle               2752 Glorietta Circle
Mountain View, CA   94040          Santa Clara, CA  95051
650-964-9186                       408-247-7757
DanRobrtsn@AOL.com                 MDaszko@AOL.com
                                   www.mdaszko.com
                                   www.itslonelyatthetop.com

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** Directions to BADUG's meetings **

Venue: Sun Microsystems, at 1601 Willow Road in Menlo Park;
Building 18.  Contact Martyn Perry at 650-786-0271 if you have
questions.  Do your best to arrive by 6pm, so an escort will
be available to bring you to the meeting room.

1/ From 101 take Willow Rd East exit in Menlo Park / E. Palo
   Alto, toward the Dunbarton Bridge.

2/ Take Willow Road to the Highway 84 intersection and
   continue straight ahead.  The Sun campus will be directly
   in front of you after crossing 84.

3/ Immediately after entering the Sun Microsystems' campus,
   go either right or left around the campus to the very last
   building (Building 18); signs mark each building's location.
   Find a parking spot and enter the Building 18 lobby.  

4/ From the East Bay, take the Dunbarton Bridge (Highway 84)
   and stay in the far right lane after crossing the bridge.
   Shortly after the light at University Ave is a right-hand
   exit into the Sun campus.  After entering the campus, stay
   to the right and follow the signs to Building 18.


The next BADUG meeting is Monday, 2 December 2002.