Differences Between Shewhart and Deming's Work
According to some historians, Dr. Deming's contributions were largely founded by Dr. Walter Shewhart. Shewhart influenced Dr. Deming the most, but Deming added some nuances to Stewart's ideas that are worth exploring.
Walter Shewhart laid the foundation for a new generation of quality based on statistical analysis. Shewhart's research focused on identifying statistically assignable causes of variation. Shewhart focused on physical production processes (for example, telephone equipment). There are two types of causes of variation, according to him. Natural systems are subject to what he termed chance-cause variation. Examples of chance causes include:
Slight variations in raw materials.
Small vibrations of machines.
Lack of human perfection in reading instruments.
There are also assignable causes beyond the statistical probability of the natural systems. Assignable causes occur when things that are not part of the natural process occur. Examples include machine failures, power surges, operator absences, and other unpredictable factors. Shewhart used charts and statistical tools, such as standard deviation, to identify and eliminate assignable causes of variation. Shewhart called this system Statistical Process Control (SPC). Shewhart's genius was applying academic statistics to assembly lines, drawing from physics, astronomy, and biology.
Shewhart left Hawthorne for Bell Labs in New York in 1925, while Deming worked at Hawthorne as an intern in 1925 and 1926. Shewhart and Deming first met in 1927 while Shewhart was employed at Bell Labs. Shewhart's work was well-known to Deming before that meeting. Later, Deming would claim he worked more closely with Shewhart than anyone else at Bell Laboratories. Deming and Shewhart shared a similar mindset regarding mathematics, statistics, and physics, as well as diverse knowledge from scientific management and philosophy. The following factors heavily influenced both:
Henri Fayol's 1916 General and Industrial Management
Percy Bridgeman's 1927 The Logic of Modern Physics
Clarence Irving Lewis' 1929, Mind and the World-Order
Deming identified the concept of profound knowledge early in his career, with the first two parts derived from Shewhart's work on knowledge and variation. Deming later expanded Shewhart's ideas by incorporating psychology and systems thinking. At the time of Elton Mayo's Hawthorne Experiments, Deming worked at Hawthorne. He observed at Hawthorne and later in Japan that worker motivation is critical in collaboration and participation in change initiatives. At the United States Census Bureau, Deming and Russell Ackoff were exposed to systems thinking in the 1940s. In the 1940s, Deming attended a seminar by Ludwig von Bertalanffy, the father of general systems theory. Later, Deming worked on top-secret ballistic weapons research at the infamous Army Aberdeen Proving Ground. In addition to Vannevar Bush, the founder of Raytheon, and Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, he worked alongside Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics.
With a system-based perspective and a deeper understanding of human nature, Deming expanded Shewhart's statistical methods. Using the concept of variation from physical work, Deming applied it to organizational theory. He shifted responsibility for quality performance from workers to executives by applying a psychological and systems thinking approach. Deming's ideas led to the expansion of quality methods into service, government, education, healthcare, and even IT today. As described in his final book, New Economics, Deming's System of Profound Knowledge was published in 1993.
Deming's System of Profound Knowledge comprises four components: Appreciation for a system, Knowledge of Variation, Theory of Knowledge, and Psychology. Leaders can use these components to transform their organizations and staff to develop a transformative view of how the organization works. While formulating his system of profound knowledge, he demonstrated that inherent variability significantly hindered the sustainability of business success.
The book I am writing about Dr. Deming's journey should be available by the end of the summer. For a sneak peek, you can listen to an early dramatized version here:
