Founders of Improvement Philosophies

Founders of Improvement Philosophies

Joseph Juran

Joseph Juran was an American management consultant and engineer. He was born in Romania during the year1904 and later, his family moved to the United States. Scholars regard him as a quality management evangelist because he authored several books on the need for quality improvement. He perfected his skills on quality management at the Western Atlantic Corporation in 1928.  However, the great depression soon took hold leading to his enrollment at Loyola University for further studies.

The government soon noticed his exceptional skills as the World War II came to an end. Because Japan was one of the biggest losers during the war, the US Department of Defense (DOD) deemed it fit to rebuild the damaged country. As such, he was recruited under the Lend-Lease program which took him to Japan for seminars on quality control. He was keen on inspiring Japanese senior managers to adopt company policies that encourage product quality promotion. Prior to the World War II loss, the Japanese tech industry was notorious for poor quality production. However, all were set to change due to Juran’s frequent productive visits to the embattled country.

Joseph Juran is also credited for his improvements on philosophies including Vilfredo’s Pareto principle. The principle is applied globally in business decision making because of his additions and modernization of the philosophy. Additionally, he wrote on cross-functional management approach that comprises his recommendations on quality planning, quality improvement, and control. The philosophy is famously known as the ‘Juran trilogy' and has been adopted globally in mass production.

At the peak of his career, Juran added a human dimension to philosophies regarding the management of product quality. He highlighted the issues in human relations as an impediment and a root cause of quality problems. His recommendations for reforms in the sector are still applicable today in most successful multinationals like Coca-Cola and Ford.

William Deming

Deming was an author, management consultant, and a lecturer. He is mostly credited for the development of sampling techniques still in active use in US Census Department and BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics). However, his achievements stretch far and wide from the field he was trained in. He received undergraduate training as an electrical engineer (Mathematical Physics), but his sheer determination for quality improvement pushed him to make adjustment to the existing quality philosophies to fit into the shifting industrial tectonics of Post-World War Japan and America.

Relentlessly, he worked hand in hand with Japanese industrial leaders to make the ‘Japanese Post-War economic miracle’ a reality. Notable business scholars argue that the economic resurrection of Japan would not have been possible were it not for the rapid improvement of product quality standards. The improvement is attributed largely to Deming's philosophies such as better product design, uniformity in product quality and the establishment of research centers for product testing. The breakthrough led to the entry of Japanese products to the global market. The Japanese reputation for Japanese innovative products triggered global trends in quality production that are still evident today.

Deming philosophy is reflected in his views that every organization can adopt appropriate management principles to increase product quality hence reducing production cost. He stated that continued quality improvement is imperative for a firm’s success. Deming received a National Medal of Technology in the year 1987 as recognition of his efforts. Also, he received 1988’s Distinguished Career in Science Award from NAS (National Academy of Sciences).

Kaoru Ishikawa

Kaoru Ishikawa is regarded as an icon in Japan. He was a faculty professor at the University of Tokyo. He played a crucial role in the development of quality standards to be adopted by industries across Japan. The innovative quality management measures led to an economic boom in Post- War Japan. He came up with the cause-and-effect diagram that is still used globally in the industrial process analysis.

The quality control measures that existed in Japan were not user-friendly. As such, Kaoru Ishikawa made the necessary adjustments to the quality control philosophies to make them easily applicable at an industrial scale. His improvements were successful as Japanese managers adopted them in the production process. Besides he encouraged the implementation of quality circles in Japan by authoring several books in Total Quality Control.

            Ishikawa mobilized the government to set up industrial policies to keep the industrial production process in check. Also, he improved on Juran and Deming’s quality management principles to fit into Japanese business system. The improvements and translation of the Western philosophies to a Japanese perspective was critical in ensuring the restoration of Japanese industrial dominance at the global stage.

Ishikawa’s philosophy was based on a belief that each worker in an organization had a role to play in quality improvement. As such, he encouraged teamwork and participation by all workers in decision making. He suggested that the team members’ skills can be harnessed through proper training and delegation of duties. Today, this concept is applied in successful firms such as Toyota and Sony.