The Deming Learning Network

The aim of the Deming Learning Network is to facilitate "Continual Organisational Improvement through the application of Learning"

The learning should be applied so that it feeds through to bottom line benefits such as profit, morale of staff, service to the customer and innovation.
Problems
Solved		 Based on underlying perceptions we develop a management culture, with its methods, to address the challenges within our organisations. Our traditional culture was designed to maximise the return from capital and to control Labour. It was very successful. But the situation has changed or evolved. The challenge of the future to recognise and then utilise the knowledge, creativity and spirit of staff. The traditional culture, as represented by the blue line, was not designed for this task. To maximise the potential of people requires new thinking; and from this new thinking will evolve new methods.(red line)
Time

A comparison between the management language of our traditional management culture with what is evolving with the new concepts.

Traditional Language Language of the Future
  • Hierarchical organisation chart
  • Supervision
  • Analytical Thinking - seeing the parts
  • Budgets and Targets
  • The Performance of the Individual
  • Job Specifications
  • Accountability (and Blame)
  • Staff Appraisal
  • Training on Individual
  • Standards
  • Auditing and Compliance
  • Performance Related Pay
  • Holistic Thinking - seeing the whole
  • Systems Thinking
  • Capability of the System
  • Interdependence
  • The Performance of the Team
  • Variation
  • Statistical Process Control
  • Stable and Unstable Systems
  • Self Organising Systems
  • Intrinsic Motivation
  • Our Needs as People
  • Theories as the Basis of Knowledge
  • Organisational Learning

Theories and Methods

There is a direct relationship between underlying theories (or principles), the methods used and the outcomes secured.

    Theories lead to Methods which provideResults

There are few theories and many methods.

This leads us on to the files on principles or theories, and then the methods that evolve out of those principles.

A Lens Analogy

The difficulty with new concepts is that they can be at variance with our education and training. They may conflict with our management "control" paradigm.

In practice we filter our perception of reality through our own lenses determined by our mental models, theories and experience.The outcome of this filtering process is our perception of reality. We then use the methods, tools, structures etc that best fit our perception of reality. And we act relative to our perception and the available methods

The goal of the DLN is to provide an enhanced filter in context of the reality within organisations. A lens to see which theories are being applied so that they can be compared with alterative theories or perceptions. We aim to provide a lens to see the actual energies and interdependencies that exist within an organisation.

The Long Term

Finally we recognise that change and the challenging our misconceptions is difficult:

  • As individuals the majority of our thinking patterns are developed before puberty
  • The thinking patterns of an organisation are equally embedded
The Learning Network recognises that changing thinking patterns takes time. It is therefore committed to its members over the long term.

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