The New Economics for Industry, Government, Education - 2nd Edition

The New Economics by W. Edwards Deming is all in all an enjoyable and insightful read. The shear articulation and ease with which Deming develops his theories and ideas makes this book simple to read and an overall enjoyable journey. The most significant points covered in this book are Deming's Theory of Profound Knowledge, the 7 Deadly Diseases, the 14 Points of Managing people, the Funnel and Red Bead experiments, and rather in depth discussions on the detrimental effects of competition versus cooperation, the definition of a system, and the occurrence and definition of variation. Although these are the typically notable points of the book, there are also tons of smaller ideas and theories in nearly every chapter. For example, Shewhart's PDSA or Plan, Do, Study, Act approach is defined in chapter six, and although not an original Deming theory, its inclusion exemplifies the shear breadth of this book. In reading this book, be prepared to learn a significant theory or idea on nearly every page! Additionally, Deming does an outstanding job of breaking down each idea so that anyone who picks up this book could understand his points and theories. In my opinion, the most difficult theory to understand and grasp was Deming's Theory of Profound Knowledge. The Theory of Knowledge in particular, which was the third theory within this umbrella theory, was difficult to understand as it is quite abstract. This section, however, despite being difficult to understand on a conceptual basis, was exceptionally well laid out and easy to read, making an otherwise difficult concept comprehensible. One of the most significant and insightful sections within the book are Deming's 14 Points of Management. These points break down the definition of what it takes to be a truly excellent manager. In this book, Deming's original 14 points are somewhat paraphrased, however, their value is not diminished at all. Rather, this paraphrasing makes it easier to understand and ties back to the overall ease of reading this book. These 14 points also represent many common and notable ideas touched on throughout the book. For example, rules one and two state that a manager must understand the meaning of a system and convey its meaning to the employees, and that a manager must help employees to see themselves as crucial elements within the system. This link reiterates the importance of the system within the book. Many other rules also tie to other theories and ideas mentioned throughout the book and reiterate key points in terms of how they apply to the management of people. Perhaps the most prominent theme or idea that saturates the book in its entirety is Deming's disapproval and disdain for the current methods of management and overall business in the modern world. From the first chapter of the book, it is clear that he disapproves of these current practices, a point that is reiterated throughout the book. Chapter two focuses on how the current style of management is essentially the most wasteful and detrimental element of the current business systems. The Seven Deadly Sins as well as many other points throughout the book state this mantra continuously. Deming continues his disapproving theme for the current business model in his extensive criticism of competition in both life in general and business. In chapter six he talks about how competition is a hugely detrimental element in both life and business. He defines this competition as `Forces of Destruction" to the intrinsic self worth and motivation of people. Figure 10 in chapter six on page 122 in particular was extremely interesting in my opinion and showed the longevity of these "Forces of Destruction" in our live today. Overall, I would strongly recommend this book. The amount of information and insightful ideas was truly astounding. It made for an enjoyable and educational read, and should be a staple in everyone's personal library.

The main point of the book The New Economics: For Industry, Government, Education by W. Edwards Deming is trying to teach people on how to improve the industry and make it more effective. This is the book that will give you the idea about some general concepts like system, management, leadership, control charts, and variation. He emphasized on explaining those major concepts in depth by going through them one by one in separate chapters. For example, he explains about what is a system and how do you manage the system efficiently and also what causes the destruction of a system. The book also simulates a few experiments in order to help the readers to understand the concepts better. The Red Beads experiment is one of the experiments that he conducted and explained in this book which shows readers on variation that will occur in a process. He also put in real life situations as examples in this book to clarify the readers on what he was trying to imply. Most of the examples were taken from his experience in the industry.This book is also a great book to read if one would like to learn more about statistical quality control and also on how to differentiate between special causes and common causes. He explained that by treating every cause as special cause not only will make things worse, it will also defeat the purpose of having variation. The book also gives illustration on how a good control chart should look like besides explaining control charts in depth. Besides sharing his experiences in the industry, Deming also shared his experiences based on observation of his colleagues. The book did also talk about how we’re not supposed to rank people based on their achievement like for example how schools ranked their students based on their grades. This book is recommended to everyone because it is easy to understand and it mostly talks about the important things that everyone should know before starting a process or if one is trying to define a system.

Creo que merece 5 estrellas pues es un libro imprescindible para el emprendedor, el gerente, el estudiante y el empleado. Deming ha dado en el clavo con este trabajo, su último libro antes de fallecer. En comparación con Out of the Crisis, este libro es mucho más sencillo de leer pero aporta mucho más, define su SoPK y eleva la psicología a un lugar principal en la Mejora Continua y en la Ingeniería de Sistemas.Se lo recomiendo a todo el mundo que quiera estar a la última en Management.

With its older sister book, "Out of Crisis", this is the most influential book I ever read. Deming's work is a kind of communist manifesto for business. I have seen and experienced Deming's teachings in practice, and it works. Alas, it will likely never get a chance in the Western business circles. It requires that management actually do their job. However, Deming books help in organizing business practices, understanding processes and non-uniformities in the process output. One can learn how to understand what is going on in business and how to approach 2 different kinds of problems. Even for a little control over their work that they have, working people can become much more effective in what they do, and significantly improve collaboration with other parties they cooperate with.

It seems a shame that W Edwards Deming had more impact in Japan than in his home country (USA). Certainly the west could still benefit from his thinking. Unfortunately people latch on to some of the tools (e.g. control charts) and misapply them. Deming's system of profound knowledge - explained carefully in this book - should be at the centre of any attempt to improve. If you focus on just one of the elements - or even on all of them, but as separate entities - you miss the whole point. Deming is at pains to explain that the "system" is what counts and gives many examples of what happens when you misunderstand this or misapply system concepts. If you haven't come across his work before, this is an inspiring read. If you have heard of him but haven't been to the source, then this is a good place to start. A must read for any serious business manager.

日本語の訳本が昔あったようですが，絶版であり，２万円以上のもの凄いプレミア本だったので，英語版ペーパーバックを購入しました．（先日，訳本4000円台で出てたので，購入しました．もともと2000円の本だったらしいので，倍以上ですが，それだけの価値はありそうです．）英語なので，読み進むにはまあ，ちょっとは英語力は必要ですが，ネットの英和辞書も活用できるこの御時世，原著の文章は極めて平易であることに驚きました．良く考えればアメリカの町工場のオッチャン社長や，すこし骨のある工場労働者たちにも分かるように書いてあるんでしょうね．淡々と書かれてますが，とにかくこの哲学を伝えたいという，とても強い情熱が「易しさ」から伝わってきます．タイトルは，「産業，政府，教育のための新経済学」まさにトヨタ式カイゼンの源流であるデミング哲学の珠玉の一冊です．トヨタも，トヨタで傲ることなく，デミングまで戻って，トヨタ式カイゼンをもう一度見直した方が良いのかも知れません．当初，やっぱり日本語でスルスルっと読みたかったので，★１つだけ減らしましたが，日本語版も落手した今，対比してよみながら訳者の解釈が入らない「生デミング」はやっぱり価値がありますので，★ｘ５にしました．

Fresh and reiterative of the real basics, which unfortunately, we have strayed away from.