Deming’s 14 points of management for procurement professionals

Public procurement’s focus over the last decade, has been that of “digital transformation” with a keen eye on the new technologies and tools available to public procurement leaders. Although such “transformation” is of keen interest and vital to moving public procurement ahead, there are some fundamental managerial truths about “organizational transformation” that have been around for decades, which still ring true to this day. It is important for public procurement leaders not to be hyper focused on technological innovation, but also to understand and realize that all true innovation comes from people.

When Dr. Edwards Deming published his seminal classic “Out of the Crisis” in 1982, his focus was clearly on the American manufacturing sector, which was then struggling against international competitors. These competitors were eager to incorporate Deming’s total quality ideas from begone decades—to acquire market share through high quality products sold directly to U.S. consumers. Deming’s ideas had been rejected by U.S. industry giants in the 1950s, as he offered a new “quality” approach that would be viewed as nonsense to American industry leaders who had never had to go head-to-head with international competitors selling durable goods on American soil.

Although many of Deming’s concepts were not his direct, original ideas, he was the first to put these “14 Points of Management” into a comprehensive program of improvement. The points are universal and translate within all types of organizations—manufacturing, service, government, health care, education, non-profit, religious, and yes, even public procurement—as a guidepost towards transformation.

Modern public procurement professionals can learn much from Deming’s ideas, which revolutionary at the time, have come be relevant to those who managing people, processes and systems in modern organizations. Some of these ideas might be thought of as common sense, but together they create one of the most powerful management philosophies ever devised. Here is what Deming asks us to do as public procurement leaders:

1. Create constancy of purpose toward improvement of products and services for continuity of your operation.
Public procurement leaders must be dedicated to creating and cultivating innovation, research, training/education and continuous improvement ideas related to the design (of systems) and service within their organizations, remembering that “the customer” is the center of the improvement process.

2. Adopt the new philosophy, as we are in a new economic age where Western management philosophies must awaken to the challenge of new responsibilities and new leadership.
Leaders must be dedicated to transformation within their departments and organizations. Staff does not need old style (autocratic) management but rather, processes and procedures need to be managed. People need to be led/coached/supported/inspired/trained/empowered in the ideals of continuous improvement.

3. Stop depending upon inspection to achieve quality results. Rather, eliminate the need for inspection by building quality steps into your process and ultimately your product.
Inspection, at the end of a process, is too late, ineffective and costly. It is too late to react to the quality of an output when that output is passed on within the process. Quality comes from improving the process. Strive to ensure high-quality output throughout the process. Build quality into your process.

4. End awarding business on the basis of pricetag decisions. Build long-term supplier relationships based on performance, loyalty and trust.
Supply chain leaders are to make best value decisions regarding to whom business is awarded. Low bid decisions can often bring low value/low quality outcomes.

5. Improve constantly and forever the system of production and service, to improve both quality and productivity.
Meeting the bare minimum of the job is not good enough. Seeking to constantly improve is a high bar but a requirement of true leadership. This ideal has leaders attacking and solving process problems instead of working around them. Continuous improvement is part of everybody’s job.

6. Institute training on the job.
Leaders support and seek on-the-job training to address process and system problems. Training gives us the tools and knowledge that we need to optimize the system, improve processes, reduce variation (errors), improve productivity and enable leaders to grow.

7. Institute leadership.
The aim of supervision should be to help people to do better on the job. Supervision and management need a major overhaul. Management’s job is to lead/coach/inspire personnel, not supervise and micro-manage. Building true leaders creates more leaders in a self-perpetuating cycle of success.

8. Drive out fear within the organization.
Trust is important within the organization. People do their best work when they feel secure and are not afraid to ask questions, express ideas and bring in real world solutions to problems. Trust enables personnel to learn from their mistakes. Encourage communication, respect and teamwork at all levels of the organization.

9. Break down barriers between departments.
The old ideas of building little fiefdoms (silos) within the organization and looking out for No. 1 are antiquated. We should be building rapport within the departments that we work closely with and depend upon to create quality work output. We should be building cross-functional teams to solve problems as part of our work.

10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations and substitute leadership.
Slogans, cheers and exhortations were originally used to motivate personnel but usually have the opposite effect. Low moral due to not hitting work targets are usually systematic in nature and not the primary fault of the personnel within the system. It is better for leaders to bring true, authentic leadership to the table—giving inspiration and autonomy to the staff closest to the problem—to lead the process improvement work to correct it.

11. Eliminate quotas. Instead, work to improve the four M’s—machines, materials, methods and manpower.
Demanding minimum quotas place the emphasis on quantity of production rather than focusing on quality of output. Doing the work the right way the first time pays multiple dividends. Institute methods for improvement instead of quotas/output goals and improved quality, and productivity will follow.

12. Remove barriers that rob worker’s their right to pride in workmanship.
Personnel should enjoy their work and take satisfaction in a job well done. This raises morale on the job and is contagious within the organization and soon, performance excellence will be the norm that is expected.

13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement
Educating your workforce brings instant benefits for both the organization and the individual. Self-development/improvement is a fundamental part of everyone’s job. That can mean earning a certification or degree that seems elusive and far away. Authentic leaders find the time and make this both a priority for their staff as well as themselves.

14. Make certain that everyone in the organization understands their role in accomplishing transformation.
This transformation that Deming suggests is everyone’s job. Improving processes is everyone’s responsibility, not just management. Transformation is synonymous with the ideas of total quality/performance management/continuous improvement. Leaders transform everyday—by taking action and understanding that transformation is a continuous process of improvement—for the department, the division, the organization and the leader.

Final thoughts

Leaders should ask these questions:

• Is there a nagging problem within the department that we can address?
• Is there an issue with our internal customer that we need to address?
• Is there an issue with our external customer that we can fix?
• Can we reduce our cycle time for our contract formation process?
• Can we streamline our RFP process reducing cycle time?
• Can we improve data collection and transparency?
• Can we reduce human error within our procurement processes?

If there is a “yes” to any of these questions, empower the team to take on the improvement project as part of their everyday work. Deming asks us to bring a new mindset of continuous improvement to our work. Instead of thinking about just getting the work completed or getting to the next task/project, change your focus to “How can I perform my work faster and more accurately, bringing more value to the organization as a whole?”

When you bring a new mindset of adding value to your department and internal partners each day, you are thinking beyond the silo. Ask yourself, what ideas that I have learned in previous jobs or in current trainings that I can incorporate into my work product to add value to my department’s systems, processes and people? Meeting with internal partners to ask them how you can help them with a change in the process or work output, is the first step in this transformational mindset. This will go a long way in breaking down those barriers and improving the systems that we work within.

Deming did not say this, but he implies this question in his work—“How do I make my best better?”

Christopher E. Burton MBA, CPPO, CTPM is the director of procurement operations at Houston Community College. Material from “Out of Crisis” by W. Edwards Deming reprinted courtesy of the MIT Press.

This article originally appeared in the Q1 2022 issue of Government Procurement.