🚀 go-pugleaf

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Here are my thoughts on the subject, based upon my recent studies for MBA
and employment at a Fortune 50 company with a three year old "TQM" program:
 (Deming will surely rise from his grave to whack me with a ruler as I
cheerfully interpret his words).

1.  Fear exists in the first place because you are relatively lower in a
hierarchical organization.  The proper relationships are inverted: you
consider your boss to be your customer, when in fact, the people you manage
are your customers.  Instead of hard currency being exchanged, as is the
case with external customers, you are paid by being allowed to keep your job.

2.  Fear may be the weapon of last resort, but it is so omnipresent as to be
the dominant weapon--the business sword of Damocles.  To remove it requires
that it be removed at every stage, all the way up the chain.  This is why
its presence is felt so strongly by workers.

3.  The removal of fear requires a "letting go" of past practices and
attitudes that is impossible for some.  Our CEO says, "Make your numbers,
but practice TQM."  There is a fear that the numbers won't be made.  TQM
goes out the window if necessary.

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| Lon C. Thomas, Jr.  |"When in doubt, tell the truth" --Mark Twain|
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