The Deming Learning Network in Aberdeen, Scotland, is the local presence of an international community committed to improving the performance of organisations, and society, in sympathy with the spirit of their people. Our aim is to facilitate the searching out and sharing of global knowledge and experience; and, through its members, provide support and assistance in its application. We are a Scottish Charity.

The Membership of The Network is made up of:

• organisations, represented by practical managers, who seek to improve performance
• individuals interested in developing their own understanding
• academics with their focus on conceptual thinking
• consultants or facilitators who provide the bridge between the practical and the theoretical.

The above membership cooperate to create a dynamic learning system, where all parties are learning from each other. The practical manager has as much to teach the conceptual thinker as the other way round. The goal is to create a dynamic system, with strong feedback loops, where we all learn and contribute at one and the same time.

Our Focus on Knowledge

The Learning Network is named after W Edwards Deming because of his focus on knowledge. His aim was to start us "on the road to knowledge, and create a yearning for more knowledge."  In his many presentations he used to repeat the phrase "There is no substitute for knowledge." Furthermore in his book The New Economics he says: "Knowledge is built on theory" and "Without theory experience has no meaning. Without theory, one has no questions to ask. Hence without theory there is no learning." In other words as a learning network we aim to reflect the discipline of identifying and challenging the theories that underpin our perceptions and our actions

Deming was re-iterating what Douglas McGregor was stating some 30 years earlier. To quote from McGregor's seminal book "The Human Side of Enterprise" "The purpose is not to entice management to choose between theories. It is, rather, to encourage the realisation that theory is important, to urge management to examine its assumptions and make them explicit. In doing so it will open a door into the future"

So while the DLN will have views on what theories are appropriate in particular situations its intention is to be open to consideration of all theories and their practical application. We live in a complex world, there is no one answer.

The Challenge

We have, in the UK, a traditional style of management that has been very successful. Its focus is on the return from investment and the control of labour. But society has changed, we now have much higher educated individuals with greater access to world-wide knowledge. Furthermore competition on an international basis is now intense. Successful organisations of the future are going to be learning organisations who have developed a skill in unleashing the full potential of their people.

"We are at the frontier of the reinvention of the prevailing system of management" - Peter Senge.

In this context we invite you to explore the site, including our views on modern theories or principles and the methods that are associated with those theories.

Learning Society

In exploring the implications of the above the DLN recognises that all parts of society are interdependent, and what is achieved in one part of society effects the other parts. We are, therefore, working to develop the concept of a learning society. We describe "Society" as being made up of individuals plus the connections between individuals. i.e. society's systems - the education systems, the media system or the system that we use to manage our organisations.

We build community out of crisis and we build community by accident,
but we do not know how to build community by design.

Scott Peck (Author of The Road Less Traveled)

We are therefore developing an initiative to address this challenge posed by Scott Peck. We are working to create a "Learning Society in Scotland," where we all take responsibility for the design of the systems that define our society? In working towards this aim we are involving all aspects of Scottish Society, Politicians, education, the public sector, the private sector, The media, etc. etc.

We are at present evolving a web site - www.learningsociety.org.uk

This is an ambitious aim. Please do get involved.