Johannesburg on a wet afternoon

The deadly diseases of western management

W Edwards Demming elaborated a theory of management that helped to transform Japanese industry. The popular approaches of Total Quality Management, Continuous improvement and Just in Time are all variations of the same approach and derived from Demming's 14 points.

These terms have become very popular in the West, and every company now has  continous improvement and assorted programmes. But these have been implemented without paying the slightest attention to Demming's 14 points. 

Demming outlines 7 deadly diseases that mitigate against the successful implementation of these approaches. 

These are documented in his 1982 book 'Out of the Crisis'. Although much time has passed since the book was first published, little has changed. 

• Lack of constancy of purpose
• Emphasis on short-term profits - short-term thingking
• Evaluation of performance, merit rating, or annual review
• Mobility of management (job hopping)
• Management by use only of visible figures (no consideration of the unknown)
• Excessive medical costs
• Excessive costs of liability

The first of these is governed by the obsession with quarterly (of half yearly or even annual) results. A short term fall in profits (or a loss) can set the stage for panic and open the company to takeover bids. Japanese companies, by contract plan for the long-term - five to twenty years (sometimes more). Short term profit or divident falls are inevitable and could be built into the long term plan. Working towards improving the processes can result in a short-term loss but long term sustainability. Not possible in Western management thought. 

The emphasis on short-term profits means that all sort of essential expenditure is expendable. Training, research, education are all targets. 

Demming devotes much time and many pages to explain why performace evaluations are destructive. Rather than assisting a business in its quest for quality, performance management makes it all but impossible. One of the reasons is that it is almost impossible to find measures that will provide a useful reflection. It prevents people and departments from working together as that could negatively impact on the performance ratings. It works against team work - everything is about the individual. 

Then we have the mobility in management. One bad result and the CEO packs his bags and is replaced by another. In other scenarios, good managers are lured away to greener pastures on a regular basis. 

Doesn't do much for continuity, building relationships or leadership.

How many companies claim to have a continuous improvement management process in place? The name sounds good. Empowerment? Have you actually seen empowered workers? 

I have witnessed many annual review processes. 

What happened to the company? Everyone was frantically doing what they needed to get the required scores. So what is the problem with that? you may ask. At the time there were many critical issues that should have been dealt with. Much more important issues than the performance measures. These were ignored. 

Then they want to have both continuous improvement and performance management. Illustrated by Demming to be mutually unatainable. 

Benefits of green living

The benefits of green living begin soon after embarking on the journey. The journey can be rewarding, providing both personal satisfaction and financial benefits.

The common perception of green living is that it is great for the environment, but requires a huge effort. But green living brings great benefits not only to the environment and future generations, but to your life in the here-and-now.

Energy consumption - solar water heating

If you live in an area that has abundant sunshine, then a good first step is to install solar water heating. While there is an initial cost, the savings achieved will be felt in a short space of time. In some regions or countries, subsidies are readily available to take this important step. Electrical water heating is expensive. Depending on where you live you could be cutting your power consumption by as much as fifty per cent. Calculate that over the course of a year and the initial costs diminish into insignificance.

The financial savings are just one of the benefits. If your power is fuelled by coal, you will be making a real difference to the environment.

Energy consumption - lighting

The traditional light bulbs each use between 60 and 150 watts of power per hour. The newer energy efficient light bulbs use mush less power to produce the equivalent amount of light. The wattage of these bulbs ranges from about 11 to 18 watts per hour. Although the initial cost is higher, these bulbs last longer and you will feel the benefit when it is time to pay for the electricity account.
Energy consumption - switch off!
Switching off the lights when you leave a room is a habit that is worth developing. Why burn the lights when there is no-one to benefit? Most appliances are left turned on and plugged into the power supply at all times. Most appliances go into a pilot mode when turned off - they are still consuming power. The main reason is to make it easier to use the remote. Instead of simply turning off the appliance, switch off the power source by using the switch at the wall or by unplugging the device. The savings are small but add up to a significant amount when you consider the amount of time these appliances are not in use.

Grow your own 

If you have a garden, there is ample opportunity to grow your own vegetables and herbs. Now you are in control of what chemicals you use to stimulate growth. A compost heap is easy to maintain and could provide all the fertilizer you need. Once again there is a financial benefit that must be weighed up against the effort required. But the real benefit is in the freshness and taste of home grown products.

The home-grown varieties almost always taste better. Growing your own requires consistent effort. During dry weather it is necessary to ensure that there is enough water and you will have to guard against pests. Some herbs and garlic are known to keep the insects away. Simply plant some garlic interspersed with your other plants.

Many people find gardening to be both relaxing and enriching.

Transport

The private motor car is one of the biggest energy consumers around. Before you rush out to by a hybrid model, there are other measures that can be put in place. There is some doubt as to whether the hybrid car actually saves on power consumption. Doesn't it merely replace oil with grid electricity?

Lift schemes are a good way to reduce overall energy use.

The most energy efficient means of transport is still the bicycle. It is not feasible for everyone, but if it works for you then why not? Apart from the fuel savings you will be getting all the exercise you need to keep fit!

Other green ideas


Replacing the grid electricity supply with renewable sources can be a challenge today. Photo-voltaic solar cells are still very expensive and will take many years to pay for themselves.

However, you can green your home in other ways. If you are building a new house you can build in all sorts of green features. These include maximizing the supply of natural light, installing solar water panels and maximizing natural heat and using appropriate insulation.

There are still a whole host of green activities that benefit the environment as well. Your personal benefit may not be tangible at first. One of these is the need to recycle the garbage. This requires effort with little visible benefit. But before you discard this option, take a ride to the nearest garbage dump. That may help you to change your mind.

Perhaps the secret to green living is not to do everything at once. Embarking on a greening initiative will help to foster an environmental awareness in the entire household. You will find yourself going greener and greener over time.

Perhaps your friends will catch the bug and we will have a healthier and more sustainable world for ourselves and our children. 

Can written text survive?

Ebooks have made little inroad against printed versions. Even serious computer addicts (like me) that spend their time on-line reading blogs, comments and articles prefer a newspaper that we can page through. A book is a book and there is no way that I will even make an attempt to read a book on-line.

The question here is about written text. Are we going to continue to teach our children to write? Is every child going to be equipped with a laptop from the moment they start school? Will teachers still write on the blackboard or simply project images from their computers onto a screen?

Written text is becoming quite rare. I don't remember the last time I saw a hand written letter. Come to think of it, I haven't seen a personal letter for a long time. The closest is a hastily typed email.

I have been to meetings where the participants faces are obscured by laptops. It may look as though they are furiously taking notes. In reality they are answering their emails. Students sit in lectures behind laptops. All the lecture notes are pre-printed. There is no need to take notes.

Somehow, there is still a need to use pen and paper. In my business consulting I use it all the time. On the odd occasion we work on a machine with a projected image, but pen and paper is still less obtrusive and much faster that using a laptop or a palm-top. Recording meetings may be useful where there is a dispute about the minutes, but who wants to sit through a two hour meeting again? When it comes to taking minutes, pen and paper is still the best. Writing is faster than typing. It allows for more flexibility.

Then there are written exams. Some on-line universities do have on-line exams as well, but that is a solution that favours the fast typers. I worked on course where this was applied - the students were not happy.

Pen and paper is still the most portable solution around. It love being able to leave my laptop at home.

One place where writing will never be replaced is on the Torah scrolls used in orthodox Judaism. The scrolls are made from leather parchment. Every letter in the Torah must be handwritten with a special kind of pen and a very specific ink. That is the law and it will never change. The same principal applies to the scrolls used in a Mezzuzah - these are placed on every door in a Jewish home. So this is one place where written text will survive. The Torah is read from the scrolls every Shabbat and at every festival and religious holiday.

Caligraphy is still popular. In fact, the calligraphy tools and materials are more easily available than ever. We are all tired of computer printed invitations and cards, and calligraphy has become the preferred medium.

Written text has fallen away in many respects. Letter writing is a disappearing art. But we are finding new ways to use pens, pencils and paper as a communication tool. We can use it during presentations. Everyone has had enough of slide presentations!

The art of writing is not dead! Let's hope that it will never die.

The origins of Earth Day, April 22

Earth Day is celebrated on April 22 each year. The April 22 Earth Day was started by Senator Gaylord Nelson.

The idea began in 1962 when Senator Nelson first tried to bring environmental issues into government in the United States. "That year," recalls Senator Nelson, "an idea occurred to me that was, I thought, something that would put the environment into the political spotlight once and for all." He proposed a conservation tour to President Kennedy, and in September 1963 President Kennedy embarked on a conservation tour of the United States. The tour did not succeed in putting conservation onto the political agenda.

At a Seattle conference in September 1969, Senator Gaylord Nelson announced "a nationwide grassroots demonstration on behalf of the environment". Everyone was invited to participate in this demonstration the following spring.He recalls that "The response was electric. It took off like gangbusters. Telegrams, letters, and telephone inquiries poured in from all across the country. The American people finally had a forum to express its concern about what was happening to the land, rivers, lakes, and air - and they did so with spectacular exuberance. For the next four months, two members of my Senate staff, Linda Billings and John Heritage, managed Earth Day affairs out of my Senate office."During the 1969 antiVietnam war protests and teach-ins, Senator Gaylord Nelson came up with an idea. "Why not organize a huge grassroots demonstration a teach-in that would focus on what was happening to our environment?"

On November 30, 1969 the New York Times carried a lengthy report on environment issues. By this time, public concern about the environment had become huge. Gladwin Hill reported that:
"Rising concern about the environmental crisis is sweeping the nation's campuses with an intensity that may be on its way to eclipsing student discontent over the war in Vietnam...a national day of observance of environmental problems...is being planned for next spring...when a nationwide environmental 'teach-in'...coordinated from the office of Senator Gaylord Nelson is planned...."

Senator Gaylord Nelson's initiative was a huge success. On April 22, 1970,twenty million Americans participated in the first Earth Day. They demonstrated for a clean, sustainable planet. Earth Day became an annual national event where eco-activists could voice their concerns about environmental issues. The results of the first Earth Day have been significant and included the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency, and the passing of the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species acts.

One of the most remarkable features of the first Earth Day was that the event was virtually un-organised. In Senator Gaylord Nelson's words, "We had neither the time nor resources to organize 20 million demonstrators and the thousands of schools and local communities that participated. That was the remarkable thing about Earth Day. It organized itself."

Since 1990, Earth Day has become an event celebrated in many countries around the world. Since 2000, the focus has turned towards global warming.

How I use the Internet

I began using the Internet about fifteen years ago. That was just before the Internet became highly commercialized, but even then had lots of sites and information on almost anything. I had lived all my life until then without email and without this vast information and opinion resource. Internet banking and Wikipedia belonged to the future. Microsoft had not yet entered the Internet browser market and Netscape was the leading browser available. Internet shopping was still a pipe-dream.

I soon discovered MP3s. I began downloading music by artists known and unknown. I explored music of different countries and discovered artists that are unknown where I live. In those days the only option that was open to me was dial-up. Some songs took almost an hour to download, often resulting in incomplete songs. This downloading of copyrighted material actually benefited the music industry. I managed to locate agents for artists that I had discovered to purchase legal copies of the CDs. The cost of dial-up was high enough to make it worth buying CDs when I was impressed by an artist.

The Internet soon became a major source of information and although some sites had to be treated with caution, much value was gained.

In 1996 I embarked on an MBA degree. The primary delivery mechanism of the university was distance learning. The on-line discussion forums for the course never really got off the ground, but the on-line delivery of study materials and articles proved to be of great value. So did on-line submission of assignments. The Internet really began to deliver value when the university's library enrolled me on several on-line journal libraries. Articles from all the leading academic journals of the world were available at my fingertips! I could access a huge range of information for my assignments and research at all hours of the day and night without leaving my home. The days of waiting while the library sourced the journal were over.

Following my graduation, I became a part time lecturer on a business degree course. One of my tasks was to run an on-line discussion forum. I became an e-tutor for a top UK
business school and helped students from China,
Canada, the UK, Australia, Europe and the Middle East to work their way through a variety of modules - all from my home in Johannesburg.

I participated on an on-line course on e-learning and ended up running courses for the same organisation. These courses are time-consuming but rewarding, and I continue to run these on an occasional basis.

My wife complains that I am glued to my computer - but although she was computer illiterate until a few months ago, she now has a work at home job on the Internet for an on-line dating site.

Six months ago while searching for information for a newsletter I stumbled upon Helium.com. I contributed an article and then another. My first article was purchased by a publisher and I then won third prize for a contest! On Helium I read about blogging and blogging for money. I now have several blogs but have not made much money. At least not yet!

I have set up sites to display my wife's art.

On a daily basis, I use the Internet to access information, to find answers to technical and business issues, for Internet banking, and to get regular news updates.

The Internet has enriched my life!

The Muti Market, Johannesburg, South Africa

A huge market full of stalls selling traditional medicines. Most of the medicines, or 'muti' are herbs and roots. But there are also snake-skins and birds on display