Whether it is the latest buzzword or the hottest management book, someone is always trying to predict the next step in the evolution of quality or quality management. The question to ask is not what is it going to be called—TQM, Deming, Lean, Six Sigma, Performance Management, or Business Management Systems—rather, what are the foundations that are necessary to make whatever it is called, successful? And what is the theory behind it?

I have recently read three excellent books, (Stephen R. Covey’s The 8th Habit, Thomas L. Friedman’s The World is Flat, and Increasing the Odds for High-Performing Teams by Arlen Leholm and Raymond Vlasin). Stephen Covey still embraces the importance of his seven habits of highly effective people, but adds an eighth habit in his new book—"find your voice and inspire others to find theirs.” Friedman’s world isn’t getting flat—it “is flat.”  The connectedness and globalism we talked about in the 1990s have already happened, and he tells us what it means for us now and in the future. Leholm and Vlasin give us insight into why some work teams greatly outperform others within the same organizational settings through a series of case studies that span business and organizational sectors and the globe.

In each of these very different books, I found both enlightenment and challenge on the future of quality in the workplace. On the enlightenment side, I believe that the foundations for quality that will be important in the future are many of the same things that successful organizations have been telling us for years:

• Leadership that serves to empower individuals and teams to be successful
• Trust and trustworthiness that starts at the top and permeates throughout the organization
• A mission and vision that employees can embrace, understand and share
• Systems (both high-tech and human systems) that support the employees and teams rather than get in their way
• A culture that encourages creativity, innovation and risk-taking

When I think about the future of quality, I often find myself looking at the past to see where all of this came from. My own education in quality management came from the teachings of W. Edwards Deming, PhD. Some people may think I am teaching an old system when I tell them that we teach Deming’s theories in the Capital Quality Initiative Academy for Quality Management Fundamentals. I don’t agree—I think the future foundations are based on the very theories that Deming shared. Along with reading new books, and learning about new quality programs, it is time for us to reread Deming’s writings. His theories are the very foundations of Six Sigma, Lean, ISO and Performance Management and of the future programs or systems for quality in the workplace.

Deming was a lifelong learner. If he were still living, I am sure he would be right here with us, learning from new ideas, new theories and new ways of improving quality management and the world. That Deming was not just a practitioner of quality and quality improvement can be seen clearly in the visionary aim of the Deming Institute: “The aim of the Institute is to foster understanding of The Deming System of Profound Knowledge™ to advance commerce, prosperity and peace.”

Deming, in his book The New Economics, linked the importance of theory and experience when he wrote, “Without theory, there is nothing to revise. Without theory, experience has no meaning. Without theory, one has no question to ask. Hence without theory, there is no learning.”  The foundations of a future quality process must be based on a theory.

Deming’s theory is based on his System of Profound Knowledge™.  It has four parts, all related to each other and all necessary:

• Appreciation for a system (it is all connected)
• Knowledge about variation (what the connections are trying to tell us)
• Theory of knowledge (understanding how we learn)
• Psychology (understanding people)

There is no doubt in my mind that in the future there will be new programs, practices and processes to encourage us to improve our organizations.  They will have new names and new champions to lead them. But the challenge is that whatever we call them, they do not forget the foundations of quality—leadership, trust, empowered teams, systems and a culture of innovation. And I hope they are rooted in theory, so that we can go where Deming aspired for us to go—to advance commerce, prosperity and peace.

		Adrian Bass is director of Capital Quality Initiative at Lansing Community College. CQI provides learning opportunities in quality management and continuous improvement to individuals and organizations in the area.