Plan, Do, Check/Study, Act
Deming cycle or Shewart cycle related to learning
This comes from quality theory but could be about learning.
The Japanese call this the Deming Cycle but Deming credited Shewart. It is a management approach to planning improvement, doing it, checking or studying the result, and acting on policy or intention.
Ishikawa used Check, following Shewart but Deming changed this to Study. I am not sure what the Japanese words are or how the difference is understood. What I find hard to explain is how the Japanese used the ideas apparently from Deming and why they have not really worked that well in the USA or UK. There is something about the social context or philosophy that influences how quality policy functions. Quality circles have more or less been forgotten in USA and UK but continue strongly in Asia.
The Four Days with Dr Deming book is based on seminars in the USA between 1981 and 1983 including material from Japan in 1950. Ishikawa (1985) has a slightly different approach and challenging views on why quality circles would probably not work outside Japan. Shiba and Walden (2006) show PDCA as part of a case study on NIMS, part of NEC in the 1980s.
I have included a reference to Wilkinson and Wilmott (1995) as this book is still the biggest block on connecting ideas about quality and management learning. The introduction recognises that Ishikawa emphasizes the importance of employee involvement but questions whether this is principally a way to raise productivity (page 16) .They claim that wider issues are not examined withing the quality literature. I find though that Ishikawa raises some fundamental issues. He suggests that Christians believe that "man is by nature evil and this results in Western mamangement assuming that employees cannot be trusted. The translator, David J. Lu, has an introduction disagreeing with this. Whatever could be argued at this time about religious belief, Ishikawa is not offering a simple prescriptive text.
Wilkinson and Wilmott do not consider The New Economics published in 1993. The 'System of Profound Knowledge' supports the PDSA approach. I have shown this as a link as much of the book is available online.
Also there is a link to the Experimentality project at Lancaster IAS. PDSA may fit in with this at some point. If a workshop gets this far there could be discussion around Action Science ( see book ref) and the "Knowledge Creating Company" (see Nonaka ref). American pragmatism is a base for Deming ideas. Why they seem to work more readily in Asia is not easily explained but is a question worth asking.
Contact details: will.pollard@gmail.com
Extra content
Embedded Content
PDCA from Flickr
PDCA from Flickradded by Will Pollard
Kolb's learning cycle
Kolb's learning cycleadded by Gráinne Conole
Slides including PDCA
Slides including PDCAadded by Will Pollard
Screengrab from Cohere
Screengrab from Cohereadded by Will Pollard
Slides for Experimentality conference
Slides for Experimentality conferenceadded by Will Pollard
Highwire at Online Information
Highwire at Online Information Accessible Alternative
added by
Will Pollard
e-Learning Workplace Support
e-Learning Workplace Support Accessible Alternative
added by
Will Pollard
Expansive Learning diagram
Expansive Learning diagramadded by Will Pollard
Kolb Diagram
">Kolb Diagram
Accessible Alternative
added by
Will Pollard
Alt Kolb Diagram
Alt Kolb Diagram Accessible Alternative
added by
Will Pollard
Collage of Kolb diagram and reversed ISO diagram
Collage of Kolb diagram and reversed ISO diagram Accessible Alternative
added by
Will Pollard
Comment 1 by Gráinne Conole
Comment 2 by Gráinne Conole
Comment 3 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
4:33pm 14 October 2009
Thanks for the Kolb link. I think there is a lot of potential for connections once quality systems are accepted as contributing to learning. They sometimes come over as boring and restrictive. But it is worth exploring what else is possible.
Comment 4 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
1:27pm 19 October 2009
Tony Brown in an email has suggested these pointsas an intro to Deming on education
- Motivation for learning comes from within.
- Automonous learning will always out perform centralised educational education.
- Education must use the quality management principle especially continual improvement.
- No targets without the process owners plan to improve the system.
- To improve education, an operational definition is needed of improvement in education.
- Reform the appraisal system of schools to improvment of the overall system based on the data.
- Transformation of the education system from selection , training, maintenance, improvement and assurance.
This is copied from another email exchange. He may turn up here later.
Comment 5 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
1:04pm 31 October 2009
Main text amended to link in with Argyris and Nonaka references. This could be a workshop that expands to fit most units of time.
Comment 6 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
4:00pm 25 January 2010
I have added some slides from previously. starts with an example of improvements on a web site. then versions of PDC/SA and Deming idea of an organisation.
By the way, Slideshare works ok. Scribd not. Has anyone got Scribd to work? could be better for documents as larger screen size i think.
Comment 7 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
11:41am 21 March 2010
I have added a screengrab from Cohere. Click to Flickr for more scale. Shows some issues around wicked problems and why learning and quality could be more connected.
Comment 8 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
3:31pm 28 March 2010
Have added to my blog about options for working on something for the Experimentality conference. Why just one place? What about guessing what happens during the rest of the year?
Comment 9 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
3:14pm 22 June 2010
Have added slides and link to Google doc for the Experimentality conference. The doc is mostly about the dark side of mode two knowledge. I put it in this cloud as the slides and text really are connected. If we get past the dark side concerns to links quality / learning should follow.
Comment 10 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
2:17pm 29 June 2010
Have added a link to my blog and also a reference to Yoshida in Quality Management Journal.
Yoshida on Analytic / Holistic and Desirability / Acceptability is closest yet to finding the differences between check / study. But the translation may not help yet.
Comment 11 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
7:58pm 2 July 2010
I have added a couple of videos and a diagram on expanded learning. There will not be time for the video in Lancaster next week, 30 minutes max for all this cloud. But the diagram may fit in.
Apparently Management Science is one thing and Management Learning is another. So the case for Mode Two Knowledge had better work out.
Comment 12 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
5:01pm 19 July 2010
I have added a link to a blog with YouTube clips displayed. It would take too much space if i showed all four on this page.
http://will789gb.posterous.com/experimental-walk-stops-now-on-youtube
At the Experimental Society conference I think I got over that PDC/SA was on topic but there was not enough time to discuss why Deming ideas have worked better in Japan than USA/UK. Discussion can continue online. Video links welcome.
Lancaster campus is a great set for video. InfoLab 21 is inspiring and there are plenty of other spots to balance it. The Learning Zone is only open to students so seems a bit forbidding out of term. Central Lancaster could also work as a set with several retail sites for mobile devices and connectivity.
Comment 13 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
1:07pm 26 September 2010
I have added a link for MoSO, a model of a sustainable organisation.
The Chartered Quality Institute has a Deming SIG where this has been developed. It aims to present Deming ideas in a current form. The Deming cycle is fairly central to the model.
Comment 14 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
9:26am 23 June 2012
I have added a link to my recent blog
http://will789gb.posterous.com/recycling-kolb-continued-new-diagram-could-li
based on Steve Wheeler who argues that design based on Kolb can be too formal. The phases may vary in sequence in the context of social media. My thought is that networks may be forms of organisation so quality ideas would relate.
So I have chopped up the diagram to show a different direction, closer to PDSA I think. Suggestions please for words from a quality language to add.
Comment 15 by Will Pollard
Will Pollard
4:51pm 30 July 2012
I have added a couple of new diagrams and new versions of two previous as I find the Flickr code has stopped working.
See blog - http://will789gb.posterous.com/comment-on-blog-linking-quality-and-learning and previous
The Facebook group is one of several looking at virtual worlds. Sometimes they are trying to crash a system, sometimes they study ISO documentation.
start here
www.facebook.com/groups/immersive.world.quality/
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Gráinne Conole
3:47pm 9 October 2009
Sounds really interesting! Look forward to hearing more and if you have any links that would be great!