Introduction
Management is a complicated process that consists of various activities, including organizing, planning, directing, staffing, and supervision intended to achieve organizational goals. In this regard, diverse concepts and practices have been developed to improve the management efficacy and the overall performance of a company. This paper aims at describing and comparing Deming’s 14 principles and Baldrige’s 11 core values and determining which of these two approaches is more effective.
Description
Deming’s 14 principles place a strong emphasis on the significance of continuous improvement rather than making radical changes. The first provision directly claims, “Create constancy of purpose for improving products and services” (“Dr. Deming’s,” n.d.). Herewith, according to the principles, managers should implement various new philosophies, training, on-the-job education, and other relevant practices and strategies to ensure gradual enhancement. The advancements can concern the staff or particular workers, administration, equipment, processes, relationships, and resources. The principles also encourage executives to strengthen the team and interdepartmental cooperation, eliminate impracticable standards and objectives, and stimulate all employees to achieve beneficial transformations resulting in higher competitiveness and profit.
Baldrige’s 11 values define the management’s correct behavior and attitudes towards all organizational activities and fields to guarantee excellent performance. For instance, the Baldrige Criteria states that the management system should consolidate all parts of the organization under the shared purpose, mission, and vision (“Core values,” n.d.). Besides, this concept urges managers to establish high expectations for workers and focus on providing an outstanding quality of service for customers. Organizations also should be open to new approaches, ideas, and innovations and resilient to emerging challenges and distress, retrieving valuable lessons from them. Finally, successful management takes care of constant improvements in personnel’s professionalism and adherence to professional and corporate values, ethics, and transparency.
Comparison
In terms of management, Deming’s 14 principles and Baldrige’s 11 values have their commonalities and distinctions. For instance, the shared feature between these two concepts is a focus on improvement, primarily in the technological sphere and staff competence. Additionally, they recommend companies be open to forwarding ideas, methods, and practices. Similar to Deming’s principles, Baldrige’s values also welcome progressive changes.
However, the former concentrates on quality alterations in production processes and workers’ behaviors, while the latter optimizes the final products or results. Moreover, Deming encourages managers not to set high expectations and standards for employees, considering this activity ineffective and redundant. In contrast, Baldrige determines the establishment of expectations for staff as an essential task to ensure customer satisfaction. Finally, the first view gives priority to employees’ creativity, whereas the second prefers system quality.
The Definition of Higher Quality
Based on the comparison, it can be concluded that Deming’s 14 principles appear to be more effective and practical in the management field. In particular, if applied appropriately, this set of principles allows for releasing the enormous potential of employees, especially regarding their creativity and resourcefulness. This concept enables workers to grow professionally and ultimately become genuine leaders.
In his book, Bialaszewski (2018) expands on the considerable benefit of Deming’s principles for project management and decreasing risks. On the other hand, Baldrige’s 11 core values rely more on the correct operation of the system, leadership, and vision. According to Baldrige, managers should develop their plans carefully to avoid possible obstacles, build a system able to withstand challenges, and try to foresee problems (“Core values,” n.d.). Last but not least, Deming principles have similarities with lean manufacturing principles since they both focus on adjusting the production processes, not merely the final output.
Conclusion
In summary, the paper has described and compared Deming’s 14 principles and Baldrige’s 11 core values and determined which of these two approaches is more quality. Deming’s principles focus on constant improvement in the production processes and professional development, while Baldrige’s values advocate for the importance of system, vision, and leadership. Nevertheless, the former seems to be more effective in management because it cares more for workers, allowing them to develop creativity and competency, which affects organizational performance.
References
Bialaszewski, D. (2018). W. Edwards Deming as a Guide for reducing risk in project management. In K. D. Strang, M. E. Korstanje, & N. Vajjhala (Eds.), Research, practices, and innovations in global risk and contingency management (pp. 174-185). IGI Global.
Core values and concepts. (n.d.). The National Institute of Standards and Technology. Web.
Dr. Deming’s 14 points for management. (n.d.). The W. Edwards Deming Institute. Web.