I'd like to make a few comments on this one:
> A rather brief, but thoughtful comparison of Quality initiatives (TQM,
> CQI, etc) and Learning Organizations (perhaps from someone on
> this list?) that has stayed with me is that the Quality movement is an
>industrial
> model (Deming's focus was certainly those industrial models he had
> experienced and worked with). The Learning Organization is a
> post-industrial model (the paradigm shift). Some of the
> features of TQM have been integrated (or absorbed) into learning org
>characteristics.
TQM, CQI, or any other acronym of a like nature were appalling to Deming.
He believed in management. The Deming model of a System for Profound
Knowledge is something that attracted Senge to Deming's work. Deming was
a systems thinker. His work was devoted to "transformation of business,
government, and education", his focus was on a theory of knowledge, an
appreciation for systems, an understanding of variation, and psychology.
The "quality movement" which followed in his wake was, in fact,
detrimental to the industrial model in its focus on tools instead of
theory, its reliance on "implementation" instead of modeling. What we
call today "paradigm shift" or breaking a mental model, Deming called a
transformation.
The transformational systems model can be applied to any organization in
any sphere of activity. The power of Deming's system of profound
knowledge lies in the underlying generative ability of the systems
approach to organizational behavior and process modeling. When asked
about TQM, Deming would always answer to the effect that there is no such
thing as TQM. The reason: there is no operational definition.
John
John F. Zavacki
jzavacki@greenapple.com <mailto:jzavacki@greenapple.com>
--"John Zavacki" <jzavacki@greenapple.com>
Learning-org -- Hosted by Rick Karash <rkarash@karash.com> Public Dialog on Learning Organizations -- <http://www.learning-org.com>