Wednesday, July 02, 2008

I need to make a note of these links

Article in Quality World about the HMRC case

Guidance on ISO 27000 from a newsletter. "Read the FAQ" a good place to start.

My intention is to concentrate on PDCA, but the 27000 content should be there. Security is definitely an issue for the way people think about the Web and some reality to the assurance claims need to be in there alongside the counterhype.

Monday, June 30, 2008

Reading "What is Total Quality Control" again to find out more about Plan-Do-Check-Act. It seems a lot depends on translation. "Control" is not meant to be restrictive, just another word for forms of management.

This is the only book I know of in which the translator takes up space to disagree with the original author. David J. Lu's introduction includes-

Dr Ishikawa's comment on the nature of Western civilization...is off the mark. The Old Testament view of man is that he is created in the image of God and is good. Sin entered the world because of God's disobedience, but it does not follow that man remains in a state of depravity. The act of redemption through Christ allows man to be regenerated and become a "new man".


The context for this is

Quality control functions best where there is a sense of mutual trust. If a man is by nature good, then that trust can always be cultivated. Dr. Ishikawa believes that Eastern civilisation has always sided with the idea that man is by nature good. He speculates that it is because Christianity has always sided with the view that man is by nature evil, that QC has not succeeded in the West. (p. viii paperback 1985)


Well at the moment I am reading the main book to check out what Ishikawa is saying himself. This is worth studying further I think. There must be some explanation why quality circles work in Asia but not in the UK.