We l c ome

THE RED BEAD EXPERIMENT

THE RED BEAD EXPERIMENT

WE ARE RECRUITING!

OBSERVING THE EXPERIMENT

As we conduct the experiment, keep in mind...

▫︎What kind of motivation techniques am I using?

▫︎How effective are they?

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FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

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FINISHED FILES ARE THE RESULT OF YEARS OF SCIENTIFIC STUDY COMBINED WITH THE

EXPERIENCE OF MANY YEARS.

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REFLECTION

▫︎What motivation techniques did you observe? Were they effective?

▫︎Were the slogans and posters effective?

▫︎Did rewarding or punishing affect behaviour?

▫︎What effect did keeping the best worker have?

▫︎What impact did targets have?

▫︎What was the biggest source of variation in the work?7

LESSONS LEARNED

▫︎ It is the system, not the workers

▫︎ It is organisational thinking that designed the system

▫︎ Arbitrary numerical targets are completely ineffective

▫︎ Rewarding or punishing the workers has no effect

▫︎ Rigid and precise procedures are not sufficient to produce quality

▫︎ Keeping the best performing workers does not work

▫︎ Tampering creates more problems than it solves

▫︎ Posters and slogans are at best useless, and can be insulting and create resentment

▫︎ The biggest source of variation is in the system. 8

VARIATION AND TARGETS

THE FIRST PRINCIPLE OF THE THEORY OF

VARIATION

We Should Expect Things to Vary, They Always Do

DAVID’S PERFORMANCE

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ü

û

xxx

xx x x

xx

xx x

x x

x

x

x

xx

Time

Perf

orm

ance

Lev

el

STATISTICAL PROCESS CONTROL CHARTS

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ü

û

xxx

xx x x

xx

xx x

x x

x

x

x

xx

Upper control limit

Lower control limit

Mean

Time

Perf

orm

ance

Lev

el

THE SECOND PRINCIPLE OF THE THEORY OF

VARIATION

Understanding Variation Will Tell us What to Expect

VARIANCE

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x

xx

x

x

xx

x

x x

x

x

xx

xx

xxx

Iterations

Com

plet

ed

NATURAL VARIATION

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x

xx

x

x

xx

x

x x

x

x

xx

xx

x

xx

Iterations

Com

plet

ed

Mean

EXPECTATIONS

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x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x x

Iterations

Com

plet

ed

SETTING A TARGET

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ü

û

x

x

Upper control limit

Lower control limit

Mean

x

xx x x

xx

xx x

x x

x

x

x

xx

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM WITH TARGETS?

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ü

û

x

x

Upper control limit

Lower control limit

Mean

x

xx x x

xx

xx x

x x

x

x

x

xx THEY DON’T

WORK!

If you give a manager a numerical target, he’ll make it, even if he has to destroy the company in the process.

W Edwards Deming

I recently asked a CIO whether he would prefer to deliver a project somewhat late and over-budget, but rich with business benefits, or one that is on-time and

under-budget but of scant value to the business.

He thought it was a tough call, and then went for the on-time scenario.

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THE THIRD PRINCIPLE OF THE THEORY OF

VARIATION

Work on the Causes of Variation, Which are Always Found in the System

MAJORITY OF POSSIBILITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT ARE IN THE SYSTEM

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Individual5%

System95%

A bad system will defeat a good person every timeW Edwards Deming.

SYSTEM CONDITIONS

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Examples of System conditions (red beads) that affect our performance:

▫︎ Policies, Procedures, Measures/Targets, Work Design

Upstream

▫︎Business Cases, Funding, Poor Requirements

Downstream

▫︎ Inspection, Compliance

THE NEW JOB OF MANAGEMENT

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The job of management should change to a co-operative role, working on the system, fixing

things outside of the workers control.

Managers then work alongside staff, experimenting with work methods to ensure

the system gets better every day.

THE FOURTH PRINCIPLE OF THE THEORY OF

VARIATION

Understanding Variation Tells you When Something has Happened

SPECIAL CAUSE VS COMMON CAUSE

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x

xx

x

x x x

x

xxx x

x x

x

x

x

x

x

0

50

100

THE IMPACT OF CHANGE

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LEARNING FROM PERFORMANCE

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x

x

xx

xx

xx

Team 1

xx

xx

x

x

xx

Team 2

xx

xxxx

x

Team 3

x

x

x

xx

x

x

Team 4

VARIATION IN THE RED BEAD EXPERIMENT

REFLECTING ON THE EARLIER QUESTIONS

▫︎ In the execution of your role as a manager:

▫︎ how do you spend your time?

▫︎what do you pay attention to?

▫︎ how do you engage staff/peers/leaders?

▫︎ Is there a difference between your original answers?

▫︎ If there is a gap, is there anything you intend to do to close it?

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RECOMMENDED READING

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THANK YOU

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