Part 2 Reflections on the Deming Chain Reaction

In his ‘seminal’ book ‘Out of the Crisis’ (Cambridge 1982 ISBN 0-521-30553-5), Dr W Edwards Deming introduces the chain reaction on page 3:

“Management in some companies in Japan observed in 1948 & 1949 that improvement of quality begets naturally & inevitably improvement of productivity."

“... The chain reaction was on the blackboard of every meeting with top management in Japan from July 1950 onward...”

“... The production worker in Japan, as anywhere else in the world, always knew about this chain reaction; also that defects and faults that get into the hands of the customer loose the market and cost him his job.”

‘Flip’ back to page 2 and you will find a summary of the essence of the heart of the chain reaction:

“Improvement of quality transfers waste of man-hours and of machine time into the manufacture of good product and better service. The result is a chain reaction ....

(Authors note – Italics above are mine for emphasis, largely because they excite my current curiosity!).

When, as a manager in British Rail, I was first introduced to the chain reaction, like “the production worker in Japan, as anywhere else in the world,” it did indeed make intuitive sense – and still does. However, it did not, & in my experience generally still does not, appear to be common practice:

· Modern management thinking and practice does not generally appear to embody the belief that improvement of quality begets naturally & inevitably improvement of productivity.

· The chain reaction does not appear to be on the blackboard (aka powerpoint etc) of many if any top management meetings today.

If it really does make such intuitive sense to ‘production workers’ why does it not appear to make much/ any sense to modern management? Whilst there are undoubtedly very many contributory factors, my current reflections are ‘focussed’ around two particular issues:

1. What I regard & regularly experience as general ‘lip service’ paid to the role of customers.

2. The format, wording & context (manufacturing organisation) of the chain reaction as it is generally presented.

In part 3 we will explore some aspects of the role of the customer.