Jan Lelie asked about Dr. Deming's quote about Senge's book, _The Fifth
Discipline_.
Dr. Deming wrote a comment that appeared in promotion literature for The
Fifth Discipline and on the dust jacket of early copies. Peter said at one
point that it would be incorporated into an introduction beginning with a
new printing, but I don't think that ever occured, and the comment is no
longer on the dust jacket.
I've always liked Deming's comment, which is:
"The prevailing system of management has destroyed our people.
People are born with intrinsic motivation, self-esteem, dignity,
curiosity to learn, joy in learning. The forces of destruction
begin with the toddlers -- a prize for the best Halloween
costume, grades in school, gold stars -- and on up through the
university. On the job, people, teams, divisions are ranked --
reward for the one at the top, punishment for the one at the
bottom.
"Instead, the job of management in education, industry, and
government should be the optimization of a system (not its
fragmentation into Management by Objectives, quotas, incentive
pay, business plans, put together separately, division by
division). Peter Senge's book, The Fifth Discipline, from which I
have learned much, is a good place to begin."
-- Dr. W. Edwards Deming
--
Richard Karash ("Rick") | <http://world.std.com/~rkarash>
Speaker, Facilitator, Trainer | email: rkarash@karash.com
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