Dr. Deming’s Deadly Diseases

The “Seven Deadly Diseases” are:

1. Lack of constancy of purpose

2. Emphasis on short-term profits

3. Evaluation by performance, merit rating, or annual review of performance

4. Mobility of management

5. Running a company on visible figures alone

6. Excessive medical costs

7. Excessive costs of warranty, fueled by lawyers who work for contingency fees

“A Lesser Category of Obstacles” includes:

1. Neglecting long-range planning

2. Relying on technology to solve problems

3. Seeking examples to follow rather than developing solutions

4. Excuses, such as “Our problems are different”

5. Obsolescence in school that management skill can be taught in classes[24]

6. Reliance on quality control department rather than management, supervisors, managers of purchasing, and production workers

7. Placing blames on workforces who only responsible for 15% of mistake where the system desired by management is responsible for 85% of the unintended consequences

8. Relying on quality inspection rather than improve product quality