ABSTRACT
Much has been written and researched about Deming's 'total quality management' (TQM), Follett's 'law of situation', and Taylor's 'scientific management'. Yet, these management scholars differ in their organizational and strategic leadership abilities and practices and remained in three different corners of a triangle. Though the differences in their thinking may be attributed to the changing nature of management as a discipline over a period of time and consequent changes in the fractionalized corporate ownership, there are some interesting commonalities found in their approaches. The purpose of this paper is to highlight some of the commonalities between total quality and scientific management, and explain how Follett's law of situation bridges the gap between these seemingly different approaches. The commonalities found in Taylor, Follett and Deming provide enduring lessons for the practitioners and academicians, and enrich the organizational and strategic leadership literature.
INTRODUCTION
A review of the scientific management theory of Taylor, total quality management perspective of Deming, and systems thinking of Follett gives an impression that these scholars differ dramatically in their approaches apples to oranges (and grapes). However, by turning to the original works of Taylor, Deming and Follett (rather than others' interpretations) one may opine that Taylor's ideas have reemerged in the form of Deming's quality management and Follett's systems thinking paved a bridge between these perceived polar theories. This paper is divided into four sections. The first section gives a brief description of Deming's total quality management (TQM); the second compares the scientific management principles of Taylor with TQM; and the third section compares Follett's theory with Deming's. In the final section we synthesize these approaches, contrary to the conventional wisdom, and conclude that these theories have more in common than it would seem.
DEMING'S TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Deming, with a doctorate in mathematical physics from Yale and a nomination for the Nobel Prize in 1992, was an extraordinary and remarkable individual. In fact, Deming was an institution in himself (he passed away in December 1993 at the age of 93 years), and an astute businessman who brought Japan back from the ashes of the World War II. In his time, Deming was the most powerful management consultant anywhere in the world, and a friend-consultant-advisor who made the Japanese post-second world war miracle possible (Stupak, 1999). Unsurprisingly, the emphasis on 'quality' placed the Japanese companies on the Fortune list. Having acted as a savior of Japan for three decades, Deming was invited by US business houses to make recommendations for retaining competitive strength and ensuring corporate survival. Deming pointed out seven deadly sins that plagued American businesses and suggested fourteen remedies in his outstanding book, "Out of Crisis", published in 1986. By the 1990's, American companies unquestionably started implementing the magic 'quality pill' as advocated by Deming in order to come 'out of crisis'. The deadly sins and Deming's 14 points are summarized in Table 1.
Several scholars have documented the importance of Deming's legacy in the development of what is commonly known as Total Quality Management (TQM), although Deming himself never used the term TQM (Vinzant & Vinzant, 1999). According to Deming, "Western style of management must change to halt the decline of Western industry, and to turn it upward. There must be awakening to the crisis, followed by action--management's job. The transformation can only be accomplished by man, not by hardware (computers, gadgets, automation, and new machinery). A company cannot buy its way into quality" (Deming, 1986: 18). Deming suggested a total transformation through four major themes, which refers to the system of 'profound knowledge'. The themes are:
a. appreciation of the system (i.e. interdependence of all the organizational units that work to accomplish the goals in an organization)
b. knowledge of variation (i.e. understanding what variables can reveal about the capabilities of the system)
c. understanding of the theory of knowledge
d. psychology (i.e. intrinsic motivation)
Deming's theory of knowledge is derived from the work of Lewis (1929), who taught that knowledge is built on theory, observation of the past, and predictions about future outcomes. Deming contends that rational prediction requires theory and builds knowledge through systematic revision based on the comparison of actual outcome with the predicted one. Deming asserts that "information, no matter how complete and speedy, is not knowledge. Knowledge has temporal speed. Without theory, there is no way to use the information that comes to us on the instant" (Deming, 1993: 104-105). In addition, Deming contends that the system of profound knowledge as outlined in the four major themes will enable managers to make the transformation necessary for survival and success in volatile economic climates.
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