Barnabas File

  “A bad system will beat a good person every time.”—W. Edwards Deming W. Edwards Deming, American engineer and mathematician, is often credited with transforming the postwar Japanese manufacturing industry from a struggling endeavor that produced shoddy goods to a booming enterprise providing quality goods that were desired around the world.   Certainly he did not do this alone, but he introduced a system that allowed the gifts and potential of the Japanese people—especially skilled laborers—to be unleashed. The Continuous Improvement Cycle (or Deming Cycle) that he introduced involved four steps:   Plan—study the current process, identify a potential improvement, and set goals and plans to implement the improvement. Do—implement the plan on a trial basis and measure the results. Study—assess the change to determine if it works and achieves desired goals. Act—institutionalize the improvement (at least until a better way is found). In many ways, the D...

Although he cannot be credited as the sole creator of continuous improvement or Total Quality Management, W. Edwards Deming certainly popularized the concept.   Deming is best known for his work in Japan with the leaders of Japanese industry after World War Two.   In an address at the Hakone Convention Center in Tokyo in 1950, Deming introduced the concept of Statistical Product Quality Administration (SPQA). Many credit Deming’s ideas as the driving force that brought Japanese industry out of postwar devastation to world economic power. Deming taught that small incremental changes, many suggested by those on the factory floor, could help an industry develop quality products that would be preferred by consumers.   Although I would prefer that we not think of ministry as developing products, many of Deming’s ideas can be applied to transitioning a church to becoming more missional, embracing its role in the missio Dei (mission of God). The cycle of instituti...