Critical mass

["John McConnell" <wysowl@msn.com.au>]

The first time I heard the notion that the critical mass was the square root
of the total was from Mr. Bill Conway, then President of Nashua, at a
seminar in Sydney in 1985.

It has surfaced several times since, but I never heard Deming use this
approximation despite his regular use of the term 'critical mass'.

It seems that no-one who knew Deming heard him use this approximation.  It
is unlikely that Deming did use it.  To do so he would have needed a theory.
If he had such a theory, surely he would have mentioned it at his seminars.

When, in 1915, Einstein created his general theory, he was the only person
who understood it.  Was he, by himself, a critical mass?  In 1992, Mr. Geoff
Ward decided to apply Deming's principles to his operations.  He was the
manufacturing manager at Sola Optical Australia.  At that time he was one
man out of about four hundred, and yet he transformed the business.  Perhaps
if there exists a single determined person in a suitable position of
authority then that individual comprises a critical mass, provided perhaps
he is able to convince others to follow him as Geoff did.  If anyone would
like to read a paper by Geoff about how he transformed his business, go to 

http://www.wysowl.com.au/books_newsletters.php

Scroll down and click on the Sola Newsletter.  

By my reckoning, Deming was right.  Only senior leaders can create
sustainable transformation.  If this be the case, a very small group of
determined and knowledgeable leaders might constitute a critical
mass...perhaps as small a number as one.

Cheerio!

John