Dr. Deming a commie ?

[Steven_S_Prevette@rl.gov]

I would like to suggest the following, based upon economics.  Economics is
the allocation of scarce resources.  The economic theory named "capitalism"
allows resources to be allocated as capital.  People pay money for
resources.  Those that have money get resources.  Those that can sell a
finished product or service get more money to pay for more resources.

Communism establishes a central body to allocate resources.  Yes, some
attempt at systems analysis can be included.  But the allocation is
controlled by the central body to allocate as it will.  An individual
(person, organization, entity) in a communist system could end up providing
more in product and service than they receive in resources, or the
individual could provide less and receive more.  If you had some altruistic
central body, perhaps it could be made to work.  But in reality the central
body does things that enriches itself.

Note that the USA is not a pure capitalist society.  Certainly the
government does things to control the allocation of resources through
various regulations and social programs.

By these definitions, Deming was a capitalist.  In no way did he espouse
that someone should get something for nothing, or do something and get
nothing.  A key was the issue of balancing a short term loss with a long
term gain.  Also, he allowed an individual within an organization to take a
loss if it contributed to the overall organization's gain.  But the point
was that the overall organization should compensate the individual in the
organization for doing so, and not penalize them with sub-optimization.

There is a separate question - what is the proper balance of cooperation and
competition to achieve the best result in a capitalistic system.

Steve Prevette
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Environment, Safety and Health
Fluor Hanford, A Fluor Global Services Company
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steven_s_prevette@rl.gov
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