Deming's symphony orchestra

["John K. Balor" <balor1999@yahoo.com>]

Illustrating the concept of a system, somebody suggested we looked at Deming's example of a symphony orchestra.  It's not a bad example, I feel, as Deming was a bit of a musician himself.  However, one problem with the symphony orchestra, I feel, is that there is little room for individual interpretation of the music, at least as compared with a jazz combo.  What the symphony orchestra illustrates, as far as I can see, is the traditional model where the leader is the artist and his group of people are interchangable parts.  It is perhaps a model that is inspirational for the conductor-leader, but not for the people working in the organisation.
 
A better system model is perhaps the model of the theatre.  In this case the manager is the director, but a theatre director is only a fascilitator.  The thesipians are equally or perhaps more important.  Who is the most important, Peter Hall or Laurence Olivier?  In a play there are also many interesting roles.  Hamlet is not the only interesting part.  Sometimes Polonius, Laertes, Gertrude or Claudius can be equally interesting to investigate.
 
John Balor