The Desire to do better

["Gordon Hall" <g.hall@dln.org.uk>]

How to foster a "desire to do better"

Thank you for opening up this subject area - Alan

And it is all tied up with comments on Six Sigma and the quote "come =
yourself or send no-one"

This is a major challenge we are facing here in Aberdeen, Scotland.

In reading The New Economics you might be surprised how often Deming =
uses the word "theory."=20

To simplify this message we are using the phrase:

"Our actions, and the methods we use, evolve out of how we think"

To secure improvement we therefore have two options
  1. Improve methods - which has been done to death
  2. Challenge they way we think.
We say that there is a sequence:

Theories lead to methods which provide results.

On the above basis we are at present proposing a project to the Oil =
Industry in context of safety. We are posing the question as to what is =
the next step change - how do they improve on where they are just now. =
Our proposition is that the next step change will evolve out of the =
industry recognising their underpinning theoretical assumptions and =
being prepared to challenge them in comparison to modern thought ( =
Deming, Senge, Wheatley etc). For the project to be successful we need =
to get a representative cross section of participants. The response we =
are getting so far is encouraging - but we have a bit to go yet.

But what I am leading up to is that we have moved away from gently =
trying to encourage leaders to "do better." We are going for the =
fundamental message that our thinking and actions are based on =
theoretical assumptions - and if you are not aware of these assumptions =
then learning and improvement is not possible.

We had another excellent session with David Kerridge a couple of months =
back when he posed the question  - is management a Science or a Craft? =
Of course Deming very much saw "management" as a Science. Tony Miller =
had an excellent comment:

"My understanding of 'craft' knowledge relates it to learning by rote, =
to learning a technique without engaging with the thinking that led to =
the creation of the technique in the first place.

A lot of teaching in our Business Schools is related to craft management =
- this is the way things are done.  Scientific method is not a core =
subject.  No wonder we struggle to develop management practice as an =
applied science."

The vast majority of our managers are "craft" managers - some use the =
term "art" - it allows people to be promoted into managerial positions =
without ever understand the underlying principles of organisation.

Sorry this posting is too long but you might, finally, be interested in =
the sequence that Peter Senge used at our conference in February

Mental Models
to
Artefacts - budgets, targets, reward systems,  etc
to
Systemic Structures
to
Patterns of Behaviour
to
Events

A very similar train of thought


Gordon Hall
DLN - aim: Continual organisational improvement through the application =
of learning
Conference: www.societyinsync.org
Tel: 00 44 1358 721258
e-mail: g.hall@dln.org.uk
web site: www.dln.org.uk