Re: TQM-Is it a fad?

[Ad absurdum per aspera <JTCHEW -at- LBL -dot- GOV>]

Chuck Banks  <chuck -at- asl -dot- dl -dot- nec -dot- com> writes:
> TQM systems are based on ...positive reinforcement.  Few sticks,
> mostly carrots.  No finger pointing, no blaming, no us versus them.

Heh. Several years ago, McDonnell-Douglas in St. Louis was
implementing a Total Quality Management System (TQMS).  In
the midst of this program, and presumably by coincidence,
they had a huge management shakeup of the kind where (as I
recall -- you could look all this up in Aviation Week) you
pretend to fire everybody and make them rejustify their job
and their presence in it.  At the time they were taking a
rather severe beating from Boeing, so some wiseguy promptly
reinterpreted TQMS as "Time to Quit and Move to Seattle."

Lesson learned:  While instituting TQM , you have to think
about nearly everything in light of the rule Chuck just gave.
The flower of "reinventing the corporation" and the weed of
employee cynicism take root under very similar conditions.

Joe
"Just another personal opinion from the People's Republic of Berkeley"
Disclaimer: Even if my employer had a position on the subject,
I probably wouldn't be the one stating it on their behalf.