Deming Institute

FEBRUARY 20, 2020

Might this proverb apply to systems leadership in schools, as well? Is “tunefulness” the optimal state for a system to best achieve its desired results? How might a leader promote a “tuneful harmony” so that the system that is neither too tightly or loosely “strung?”.

System 66

System Senge Management Deming 66

The Practical Leader

SEPTEMBER 2, 2020

In the early 1900s, Frederick Taylor, used “Scientific Management” principles to make the new production lines more efficient. Workers became cogs in the machine; shut off their minds, shut their mouths, and did what engineers and managers told them to do. The planning session centered on processes, metrics, and systems.

McGregor 101

McGregor Scientific Management Taylorism Taylor 101

Curious Cat

JANUARY 12, 2016

These were the most popular quotes on the Curious Cat Management and Leadership Quotes web site in 2015 (based on page views). Managers who don’t know how to measure what they want settle for wanting what they can measure. The answer to the question managers so often ask of behavioral scientists “How do you motivate people?”

Ohno 40

Ohno Deming McGregor Management 40

Deming Institute

APRIL 2, 2018

Guest post by John Hunter , author of the Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog. A previous post on our blog included an except from this talk: Attributing Fault to the Person Without Considering the System. We are already well motivated… The only thing you can do as a manager is demotivate people.

Deming 44

Deming McGregor Motivation Video 44

Harvard Business Review

JANUARY 3, 2017

A slower worker doesn’t just reduce a team’s productivity — he can also hurt his colleagues’ morale, says Lindsay McGregor, the coauthor of Primed to Perform and co-founder of Vega Factor. “Start with assuming positive intent,” says McGregor. What the Experts Say.

McGregor 14

McGregor How To Brainstorming Micromanagement 14

Harvard Business Review

JULY 30, 2014

Organization as machine – this imagery from our industrial past continues to cast a long shadow over the way we think about management today. Managers still assume that stability is the normal state of affairs and change is the unusual state (a point I particularly challenge in The End of Competitive Advantage ).

Six Sigma 10

Six Sigma Drucker P&L Short-term 10

Harvard Business Review

MARCH 14, 2014

FireEye’s sophisticated system worked: It triggered alerts that malware had entered Target’s computers. There may have been some skepticism about the system, because it was new to Target. In response, Target acknowledged that its computer system had been alerted to suspicious activity. Except no one did anything.

McGregor 8

McGregor Information Technology Crisis Management COO 8