All entries for Sunday 01 November 2009

Deming's effect on management

During the 1950's, Dr Deming's phylosophy helped Japanese industries recover from a whole destruction with a quick pace. Why did it work impressively well? Is Japanese smarter than the others? Is the theory the best above all the others? I have a different thought. I've been thinking over Deming's "Profound Knowledge" a lot. The one thing I realise is that it summaries the key elements in management

Appreciation for a system

knowledge about variation

theory of knowledge

psychonology

Unlike some excelence models, Deming's theories do not have specific requirements. However, it does point  out key elements which could affect a company and bring it towards either positive or negative ways, it depends on how a company performs in these area.

the Concept of system: excellent performance in single department is not enough to bring a company to excellence, sometimes it could be a disadvantage for a company when it couldn't cooperate with the other deparments as a whole;

Variation: changes is everywhere in business, conciousness of variation and solution for problems resulting from variations could help a company breakthrough troubles;

Knowledge: keep updating own knowledge with every effort can create more opportunities for a company to dominating in a market as well as innovating in a new market;

People: as a basic element in a company, people is brain, body, actually, people is everything of a company. Good managemnt of people is a basis to create success in a business because people run the business.

There might someone say that Deming's theory is out of date for business in 21 Century. Look at the famous excellence models at present deep inside, and you will find that his theories is everywhere in those models. ISO, EFQM, Baldrige etc all respect Deming's theories as a basis.

: 01 Nov 2009 22:46 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Practice in leadership

To be a leader takes one moment as long as being successfully voted. To be a GOOD leader however will be involved in lots of time and oppotunities to practise akills, improve on drawbacks and acquire experience etc. The most important thing in my point of view is that having a good chance to practise leadership in a safe environment. Luckily within the module, we have been given such a proper learning environment to actually practise as  a leader.

Time management is critical in business activites. I am likely to chase perfection, however, it is really dangerous to do so in reality. However good the products or services is based on what if they could be prepared on time. A good time management might not lead to perfection, but the target reached within deadline is more important. The improvement on skills and efficiency could be discussed later on.

As a leader when you have a target, the most important thing is to think and make a plan to reach the target. How many steps are we going to take? how many resources shall be allocate in each step? how much time should be spend respectively? etc. These questions in a plan are more like framework or rail which clarify where to go and how to do.

Communication is an important interpersonal skill, it is evalued much more in business environment. A leader should have a great communication skill and a respective attitude. Knowing thoughts and ideas in a team through communication could make a more friendly environment and upgrade the efficiency of working, finally it helps to facilitate decisionmaking.

To be a good leader, I found a huge gap to be filled with. Mainwhile I do realise the importance of a leader to an organisation.  I'm willing to be a good leader in the future, I will make every effort on what I have learnt in the course.

Let's fight, let's win.

: 01 Nov 2009 21:34 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem