Re: Lack of Deming Philosophy in Education, bounding of systems

[ASROBINSON@aol.com]

Here are a few ideas about whether or not it is necessary to understand any 
system as occurring with a series of interlocking, and sometimes larger and 
encompassing systems, before one can "make substantial progress."

It seems to me that any system can be "black boxed", or defined as a set of 
rules that take a set of inputs and generate a set of outputs, the nature of 
which is defined by the set of rules within the black box. The black box rules 
may be very complex, but they exist whether we understand them, can precisely 
characterize them, or not. Understanding these rules is part of understanding 
our system. Part of understanding our system is identifying whether or not the 
outputs are in statistical control (the quality of the output can be reliably 
predicted). If not, then one can make changes to the rules (or to the quality 
of the inputs) to bring the system into control by identifying and eliminating 
special causes. If in control, then one can improve the system, and the 
quality of the output, by focusing on additional understanding and improvement of 
the rules (or quality of the inputs) to narrow the control limits. Thus, some 
understanding of our black box is vital if one is to get its output to a state 
of control (predictable quality of output), and improving that understanding 
(or level of control) allows one to continue to improve its output quality.

This is all well and good, but the operant rules are only part of our black 
box. Virtually any black box has a set of inputs and outputs. The inputs are 
generated by a set of at least one (or perhaps many) additional black boxes, and 
the outputs of our subject black box then become inputs for some set of 
additonal black boxes.

Even though one may be only directly "in charge" of our subject black box, 
having at least some understanding of the nature of the input and output boxes 
is important because the performance of our subject black box is, at least to 
some degree, determined by the nature of these other boxes. For example, if the 
quality of the output of our "input box" (the source of our raw material, for 
example) is out of control, then our black box rules must account for this 
fact if our box is to produce quality output. Perhaps we have to inspect or test 
every piece of raw material in order to keep our black box output within 
control limits. Similarly, if the rules within our box are incapable of producing 
output quality within the limits required by the next box down the line, then 
our rules must account for this fact if we are to meet our customer's 
requirements. We have to inspect or test every piece of our product and select only 
those pieces that pass muster.

We may not be in a position to affect directly the set of rules rules whereby 
these input and output boxes operate, but we neglect understanding them at 
our peril. And indirectly, we do control them. If an input consistently fails to 
meet our needs (supplier proves incapable/unwilling of delivering the 
required quality) we can change suppliers. Or, we can work with the supplier to help 
him improve his "rules", and thereby improve our own box's performance.

Bounding a system does not eliminate the fact that it has inputs and outputs, 
and thus is in contact with the larger universe. (I'm not sure if one can 
imagine a useful black box with no inputs or outputs. Can someone suggest an 
example?) Bounding a system only defines the black box by specifying what are the 
inputs, the outputs and the set of operational rules. Bounding (creating 
and/or defining the black box) is a necessary part of understanding, and eventually 
improving its operation, but it is by no means sufficient. As near as I can 
see, the interrelatedness of the black boxes in the universe never really ends. 
While there may be only a few external processes connected to our black box 
of which we are now aware, and there is probably a limited set of  such 
"statistically vital" external processes, is not a part of the study of profound 
knowledge the gaining of an increasing understanding of this ever widening set of 
black boxes that directly and indirectly affect the operation of our own?