| Management's
Most Costly Error - "Tampering" |
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One of the most profound concepts to come out of the work of Dr. Walter
Shewhart in the 1930's is the concept of "tampering". Dr. Shewhart was
the pioneer of statistical quality control and recognized that all processes
have natural variation inherent in them. |
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Dr. Shewhart defined a process to be "in control" if its output was stable
and predictable. This meant that if one measured the outputs, one could
calculate an average value and also a natural variation for the process.
This was achieved by calculating what are called "control limits" which
would indicate the natural span of the variation of a process. |
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The first goal of management should be to get the process "in control",
that is stable and predictable. Once that is achieved then one can measure
the anticipated output of the process which would include the process average
and the spread of the process's natural variation. |
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Of course, management's long-term goal should be to improve the process
which would mean to change the average in a beneficial direction and in
most cases to narrow the spread. The wider the spread of the outputs of
a process, the more difficult it is for an organization to deal with that
process's outputs. Less spread is higher quality. |
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What Dr. Shewhart recognized was that if one tried to improve a process
by reacting to specific instances of natural variation, one tended to degrade
the process. That is called "tampering". |
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A definition of "tampering" is the changing of a process in reaction to
one instance of its output. |
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Dr. Lloyd Nelson constructed a famous experiment called the Funnel Experiment
whereby he demonstrated how several different methods of "tampering" will
result in the degradation of a process, in some cases driving it completely
out of control. |
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Dr. Shewhart and Dr. Nelson taught these concepts to their prot‚g‚, Dr.
W. Edwards Deming. Dr. Deming then recognized the significance of the problems
that "tampering" caused with processes and applied that to the management
principles that he then developed and promulgated. If one studies Dr. Deming's
teachings carefully, one sees that many of the things that Dr. Deming rails
against are instances of "tampering". |
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There are many ways that managers can "tamper" in an organization. |
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In some cases "tampering" is actually institutionalized. Examples of institutionalized
"tampering" are the setting of numerical goals, certain types of performance
appraisals and compensation systems, "Employee Of the Month", and others.
(See Deming's Fourteen Points). |
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Other types of "tampering" are not necessarily institutionalized, but nevertheless
commonly practiced. It is not uncommon in an organization when something
goes wrong to look to see who is at fault or who did not do their job properly.
This is generally a form of "tampering". |
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When things go wrong in an organization it is usually because a process
is either out of control or is incapable. Enlightened managers realize
that workers rarely have control over the outputs of processes. There are
many things that influence the outputs of processes. Generally the workers
can not control it. |
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Even when the worker is involved in the "bad output" it is often due to
a lack of tools, lack of a well-defined procedure, lack of proper training
or skills, ie. the mismatching of the worker to the process. All of those
situations are generally out of the control of the workers. |
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To react to an instance of a "bad result" by blaming the worker and exhorting
the worker to do better or work harder is a gross form of "tampering" and
generally degrades the process. |
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Possibly the ultimate manifestation of "tampering" in an institutional
sense is the "Zero Defects" concept of management. The idea is that if
you tell workers what is expected of them and state the specifications
of their processes, then it will be their responsibility to see to it that
they do not produce any defects. Dr. Deming has a devastating demonstration
of this approach to management in his famous Red Bead Experiment. |
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Once again, most defects are the results of a defective process over which
the worker has little or no control. To blame the worker for a bad output
of a less than adequate process not only is not going to solve the
problem, but it is actually going to degrade the process in the long run
and create even worse results. |
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We spend substantial time in QPI training discussing this issue of "tampering"
to be sure that is clearly understood. |
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QPI Principle Six is counterintuitive to traditional managers. Most traditional
managers are used to "solving problems" which generally means dealing with
undesirable results of processes. |
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On a strictly short-term local level it often looks like the manager is
doing a whale of a good job to deal with all of these problems. But, in
a long-term global perspective these activities of "tampering" are actually
hurting the organization and those organizations where "tampering" is rampant
generally degrade significantly over time. |
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Principle Number Six is often the most difficult to accept because it is
counterintuitive, but it is also the one that can yield the quickest and
most beneficial results when one is implementing the QPI System. |
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Cessation of "tampering" can have a profoundly beneficial effect on virtually
any organization. Furthermore, when one carries it to its logical conclusions
it will cause significant restructuring of many of the policies and procedures
of the organization. |
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