Re: Where is the Evidence?

["John Trevithick" <trevithj@xtra.co.nz>]

I have been following this thread with interest. Here is my attempt to clarify the subject:

WED was trained in the hard sciences...
WED applied this training to the world of business...
It is reasonable to say that WED's conclusions are therefore based on rigorous reasoning.
One of WED's conclusions was that most problems in a system are outside the control of the individual worker...
It is fair to say that this conclusion is based on rigorous reasoning, since it is fundamental to WED's philosophy.

I am not familiar enough with the foundations of WED's work to comment on what this argument might be. I would like to comment on another area that I am more familiar with, which may shed some light.

The points raised above about Dr Deming can also be applied to the work of Dr Eliyahu Goldratt.  Goldratt estimated that 0.1% of the variables are responsible for 99.9% of the end results [ The Haystack Syndrome, Pg 53]. I understand that these are ball-park figures. The spirit of what EG is saying is I believe the same as WED's statement: most of the problems in a system are outside the control of the individual.
Now...
The training background of these men is very similar (the hard sciences)...
Their approach to business problems is very similar (rigorous scientific method)...
Their conclusions are very similar...
I'm guessing that the reasoning behind their conclusions is also similar if not identical.
So...
The reasoning that Goldratt offers for his conclusions is this:
In an organisation many functions have to carry out their tasks, in synch, until a customer is served and a sale is realised...
Such systems therefore consist of chains of dependant variables.
The strength of a chain is determined soley by its weakest link (by analogy)...
If a chain has 100 links, only one will determine its strength...
The people in charge of the other 99 links can improve the strength of their links forever, and will still have no impact on the strength of the chain.

{Here the Math loses me, but I understand that with independant variables, variations Add together, while with dependant variables, they Multiply together. If someone else could confirm/deny that, I would appreciate it.}

Hence the conclusion, with most real-world systems the majority of workers cannot impact the system's performance.

Hope this isn't too off the subject.

Kind regards

John Trevithick
Manukau Institute of Technology
trevithj@xtra.co.nz
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