I was taught the Deming way when I worked for NEC. Some of it is very useful and can be applied to most businesses.

If there were to be one take-away from his points, it would be the practice of continuous improvement for any process or service, leading to increased productivity.

Fucking hell. I'm glad I'm not working any more. Reading that gubbins brought back horrible memories of interminable meetings, with buzzwords and jargon making much of the discussion meaningless.

But, anyway, I'm sure what he says is full of good sense, even if he does wear objectionable braces.

Its one thing improving a company and another making it a perfect working environment. Some people will never buy into the philosophy and it won't be a perfect working environment for them. In fact it may even be their nightmare working environment. Having had my share of this sort of stuff in my time, I'm more aligned with Jez. That doesn't mean I can't recognise the potential benefits. Just that for my own personal tastes, it's not an environment I'd ever want to work in.

Some people will never be happy at work and yet stay in the same place making life tougher for everyone else. I can appreciate that and agree that they are a problem we could all do without. I do feel though that there are people who pull their weight and more, yet they don't want to buy into an ideology whilst doing their job.

I've seen so many major management initiatives come and go, whilst watching the "nodding dogs" embrace every last word and accept it all without question. Often the new initiative is in direct contradiction to what was believed and accepted by them just days ago. After a couple of years the same "nodding dogs" once again volt-face when significant sums are thrown at a "new" initiative, which is a re-hash of a previously abandoned philosophy. The only ones who seem to do well from it are the consultants and gurus who peddle the stuff.

Sorry if I'm cynical but I've witnessed hundreds of Millions of public money completely wasted on this stuff, with the biggest impact being the disruption of key services through constant change. It certainly didn't feel like a dream environment to work in, despite my own motivation to add value being very strong.

I rather work in environment that I feel a sense of meaning for and pays well for the responsibility placed on me. At present I have the the work based meaning but not the pay for the amount of responsibility I have.
I do not consider myself business motivated

Mike: that pretty much sums up my time in public sector change management. So many times a business model (usually from manufacturing), was adopted wholesale without any ability to adapt to circumstance. I have seen potential savings running into nine figures rejected because they did not fit within the rigid confines of the latest mantra. I always started from a premise that I would try to think of the business as my own and act accordingly. Sadly the majority of management I encountered were incapable of doing anything other than blindly following rules. 

Not all my work experience has been so frustrating. I worked for one of the major political parties at one stage and they were the best employer imaginable: Empowering, liberating and trusting. The results were very positive and it was refreshing to see new arrivals change for the better. The experience left its mark on me and I found it very hard to return to anything less enlightened.