Jun 16, 2017

In our June 2017 podcast, his first session with Tripp, Phil Monroe shares stories on his introduction to Dr. Deming, leading to his personal transformation as a naval officer and later a post-Navy career as a quality management consultant, city council member, and, currently, board member of a hospital in Coronado, California.

Beginning with meeting Dr. Deming in 1983, while serving as the Commanding Officer of the Naval Air Rework Facility at North Island Naval Air Station, Coronado, Phil reminisces about his first exposure to Deming management.  The meeting was arranged by Bill Cooper, Tripp’s next podcast guest (our July 2017 edition), and the senior civilian at this 6,000+ person Navy operation. 

Highlights include: 

• What caused Dr. Deming to "look down his nose" at Phil, in front of 350 supervisors
• Phil’s transformation moment, captured on film, including which of the 14 Points Phil was in violation of, according to Dr. Deming
• Being challenged by Dr. Deming on his MBO style of management
• Applying Deming management to an incident involving a Metropolitan Transit Service (MTS) bus carrying school children.  Phil was serving as an MTS Board member and thought the wrong people received disciplinary punishment; i.e. time off without pay.
• What is top management’s responsibility?
• The influence of Phil’s academic background at Cornell University
• Shifting his thinking on problems from “Who did it?” to “What in the process caused this to happen?”
• World-wide Quality Management consulting with Bill Cooper
• Numerical illiteracy
• Impressions of the status of the practice of SPC today
• What is a statistician’s job?
• The theory of variation of as the cornerstone of Dr. Deming’s System of Profound Knowledge
• The "Phil Monroe" change