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The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of Deming's ideas on the twenty‐first century.

A ProQuest search of articles is done mentioning “Deming” and “quality” or “legacy” in the title published between 1994 (Deming died in December 1993) and 2006.

It is found that 136 articles described Deming's legacy. Legacy in five areas are examined: professional accreditation, customer satisfaction, business ethics, human error, and supply‐side management.

Deming's ideas have furthered not only quality management but have also touched areas in the social sciences, such as ethics and organizational relationships.

This paper shows that Deming's ideas continue to flourish in areas that he emphasizes, such as the importance of customer satisfaction and understanding human error, and areas that he did not foresee, such as business ethics and supply‐side management.

This article discusses the total quality management (TQM) movement and then elaborates about W. Edwards Deming’s experiences and views. Finally, there is a comparison of total quality management and the Deming approach to quality management. The TQM movement was attractive to many organizations during the 1980s and the first half of the 1990s. To succeed, total quality management had many long‐term require‐ments. One of these was that top management must have a passion for the subject. Without this sustained passion top management’s attention and energy towards TQM would be diverted to other pressing needs. While Deming insisted that there was no “instant pudding”, many consultants in establishing themselves with a client suggested short‐term gains. Because of this search for short‐term gains, process improvement and reductions in cycle time became very popular and in some cases a final objective. Unfortunately, after they ran their short‐term course, many efforts collapsed and TQM was often declared a failure.

Much literature suggests a positive relationship between winning a quality award and subsequent firm performance. However, for the vast majority of the large Japanese manufacturing firms that have won the Deming Prize results in this study indicate a negative association. Results also show that for a minority of these firms there does appear to be a positive relationship between winning and subsequent performance. Two theories, the danger of simplicity and the winner’s curse, are utilized to explain these results. Firms that compete for quality awards have a significant risk of putting undue pressure on organizational resources or focusing too narrowly on winning and neglecting other aspects of their business, thereby leading to performance shortfalls. Significant experience in TQM/TQC prior to competing for a quality award may moderate these risks. For managers, there should be serious consideration as to whether their companies should compete for a quality award in the hope of improving performance. Instead, they may want to ask if there are any alternative methods for designing and implementing improvements in quality control.

In order to understand both the man and his contributions, this symposium is an attempt to construct an operational code based on the historical records and the data of W. Edwards Deming. Operational code is defined as those Deming guidelines and actions believed to be essential for the effective productivity of high performing individuals and organizations. It is assumed that these Deming rules and principles have general applicability to public and private organizations in the USA, and throughout the world. Because today one hears more discussion of the views of commentators and less discussion from the practitioners themselves, the thrust of this symposium is with the use of personal power and the elaboration of Deming’s compositions, books, letters, correspondence, and personal lectures on the management process as interpreted by both professional managers and Deming scholars. This development of an operational code hopefully will add critically important dimensions and synergy to the many biographical, historical, and eulogistic materials on Deming scattered in various journals, archives, and libraries.

Compares the traditional performance appraisal systems with Deming′s philosophy of operating a production system focused on quality for the consumer. W. Edwards Deming has long challenged the effectiveness of traditional performance appraisal systems used by American managers. He criticizes the traditional performance appraisal system of rewarding “win‐lose” results rather than supporting “win‐win” aims, thereby placing so much emphasis on judging and ranking people and using extrinsic motivational means. He recommends replacing the traditional performance systems that encourage win‐lose behaviour with systems that promote co‐operative and supportive behaviour. The Deming approach to performance appraisal involves a complete change of the traditional system to one that concentrates on managers being highly focused on quality and long‐term improvement. The successful implementations of Deming′s management approach in several American organizations were examined as available means of integrating performance appraisals into their quality system. The more successful companies have found remarkable improvement in consumer recognition, sales, market share, operating costs, customer satisfaction, employee morale, and of course quality. Such actions will not only help to strengthen these companies′ market position, but will help to improve the overall global competitiveness of American industry.

This article questions the widely held proposition that the management philosophy of W. Edwards Deming, with its focus on quality improvement and pragmatic thinking, is a new conceptual paradigm which renders previous management thought, particularly that represented by the scientific management concepts of Frederick W. Taylor, obsolete and wrong‐headed. A closer examination of the similarities between older management theories and those of Deming indicates that there is significant commonality. Deming has provided, not a radical new school of thought, but a complementary body of emphases that enrich our understanding of management rather than revolutionize it.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the epistemological origin of Shewhart's and Deming's ideas in their development of a theory of quality.

The approach takes the form of a literature review.

Walter. A. Shewhart's and W. Edwards Deming's ideas concerning a theory of quality originated not solely from insights about variation within statistics but also from the field of philosophy, particularly epistemology. Shewhart and Deming, both seen as quality pioneers, were strongly influenced by the conceptualistic pragmatist Clarence Irving Lewis and his theory of knowledge. This is, and has often been, a neglected connection; however, in today's competitive business environment knowledge and competence have become crucial success factors. Thus, the epistemology‐related origin of their theory of quality has become increasingly interesting and important to explore. First, a summary version of Clarence Irving Lewis' theory of knowledge will be presented here as expressed in his work Mind and the World Order: Outline of a Theory of Knowledge (1929). Second, examples of some important connections between Lewis, and chosen parts of Shewhart's and Deming's theory of quality will be given, for example the plan‐do‐study‐act cycle, operational definitions and profound knowledge. It will also be indicated how the social element in knowledge is emphasised in the works of Lewis, Deming, and Shewhart.

By exploring the epistemological background of Deming's and Shewhart's ideas of a theory of quality, it might be able to better comprehend the profound ideas they left behind and improve the understanding and use of their theory of quality today.

W. Edwards Deming, famous for his work with the Japanese following the Second World War, had a unique set of theories and approaches that were clearly his own. While much has been written about his experience and views, this article will focus on those individuals who made a significant impact on the formation of his views during the 1920s and 1930s and what he gained from each of them. Walter A. Shewhart was clearly the individual who had the most profound influence on Deming’s views and subsequent approaches to quality. But more than an influence, Shewhart was Deming’s mentor. Others who influenced Deming during this period include: Clarence Irving Lewis, Sir Ronald A. Fisher, and Jerzy Neyman. Those who wish to understand Deming’s theories can gain from studying Deming’s experience and views. In addition, a more detailed understanding of Deming can be gained by also studying the work and theories of those who influenced him.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the commonalities and differences between the Deming Prize (DP) and the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA).

A qualitative comparison is made of the changes in the Deming Prize and the MBNQA from 1992 to 2005. In the process, the paper arrives at their current commonalities and differences.

Concludes that during the last 13 years the emphasis of both the Deming Prize and the MBNQA has shifted from technical quality to excellence of all organizational processes. They have moved towards a common understanding of “good leadership” and an appreciation of systems thinking. However, they have maintained their basic difference in the sense that, while inherent in the DP are consulting and guidance by the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE) over a longer timeframe, MBNQA begins with a more self‐ assessment approach and is more competitive in spirit. Further, since its inception, while the MBNQA has been very public with its entire award process, the DP has made its award process public only since 2003.

Prior experience in TQM is considered desirable if an organization is to reap full benefit from the Deming Prize.

Compares the changes in the understanding of quality by two major awards in a common time period. It shows that, in spite of all its mutations, the DP maintains its basic congruence with the Deming's philosophy. It also brings out the differences in the assessment methods of the Deming Prize and the MBNQA.

The Deming management method, which encompasses the breadth of W. Edwards Deming's approach to quality management, has had significant impact on the practice and scholarship of quality management. In this paper we present a scholarly introspection and discussion on scientific research related to the Deming management method, the contributions of such research to theory development in quality management, and future research directions to pursue in order to continue to advance scientific knowledge in quality management. In doing so, we traced the historical development of the Deming management method. We present and discuss two streams of research related to the Deming management method, namely the concept of profound knowledge and the Deming‐based theory of TQM. We also highlight several opportunities for future research that would advance theory development in the TQM discipline – opportunities anchored by the imperative for confirmatory research that requires proper operationalization and primary data, and the plausibility of theory refinement and extension through the specification of new relationships and the inclusion of moderators and mediators.