Re: Advice Needed from Deming Group.

[Sinte@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/31/03 5:54:43 AM Central Daylight Time,=20
Macrossen@ra.rockwell.com writes:


> I am pretty excited about having an opportunity to meet
> with executive management at my company and present information about the
> shortcomings of  incentive and "pay for performance" programs.=20

Dear Mike,
I read with trepidation your post and wish you well with your presentation t=
o=20
mangagement about Deming's view of performance appraisal. =20

I recently spent several days putting together a speech I gave at the Fort=20
Worth Chapter of the Texas Association of Business luncheon on May 7th.  I t=
ook=20
them through the concept of System's thinking, Statistical Thinking, Common=20
and Special Causes of Variation, and understanding why one could not rank a=20
worker. I explained the concept of statistical control of variation and the=20=
role=20
of a leader who has that understanding.  I even told the story of Deming's R=
ed=20
Bead experiment and why there were no good or bad workers.  It was probably=20
too much for 45 minutes, but as Dr. Deming once said, he was desperate to ge=
t=20
the message out and that is why he kept working way past retirement years. =20=
I=20
felt that to be able to get as much information across as condensed and=20
progressive in reasoning as I could, perhaps someone in the room would reall=
y hear the=20
message.  As it turned out, I will probably never know although the response=
=20
was good and there were several good questions.  Those questions pointed to=20
the fact that most were unhappy with performance appraisal systems, but real=
ly=20
felt that they could improve it rather than get rid of it.  Of course, there=
=20
were a lot of labor attorneys in the audience and perhaps they would have le=
ss=20
work if people were happy at their jobs and we learned how to lead people=20
rather than manage them. I was even asked what I thought of Jack Welch's GE=20=
and=20
getting rid of the bottom 10%.  I told them I thought it was horrible and th=
at at=20
some point there would be no one left.  The same person responded that Mr.=20
Welch had been good for the stockholders.  I then mentioned that Enron had b=
een=20
too and hired the top 10 % of MBA students from the top business schools in=20
the country and went bankrupt in 11 years.=20

 None the less, during my hours of putting the speech together I did include=
=20
a list of companies taken from Tom Cohens and Mary Jenkins work that have=20
substantially eliminated the elements of conventional appraisal. =20

=20
=20
AlcatelNetwork Systems (TX)
Berrett-KoehletPublishers  (CA)
CeridianCorporation  (MN)
EastmanChemical  (TN)
EntreComputer Services  (MI)
GalleryFurniture   (TX)

GeneralMotors=E2=80=94Powertrain Division  (MI)
Glenroy, Inc. (WI)
Grand Rapids Ophthalmology  (MI)
KellyAllan Assciates, Ltd.  (OH)
Leander School District  (TX)
City of Madison Police Department  (WI)
Southwest Missouri State University  (MO)
=20
Source:
Partial list from:
Coen,Tom and Jenkins, Mary.  AbolishingPerformance Appraisals:  Why They=20
Backfire and What To Do Instead. Berrett-Koehler, San Francisco, CA. 2002.=20


I found the above source most helpful.  Unfortunately, I believe both are no=
w=20
deceased.  They were doing excellent work.  Another good source is Alfie=20
Kohen's work Punished By Rewards.

Good Luck and best regards,

Linda Ortberg  MLA
Quality Technology Program Coordinator
Tarrant County College
Fort Worth, TX
www.tccd.edu
and=20
President and CEO
Leading Education.com Inc.
www.LeadingEducation.com
817-489-2316