Category: Quality & Purposeful Action

In this category, we discuss excerpts from a lecture on “Quality Improvement with Purposeful Action” by Prem Chopra at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in September 2006. The text of the entire lecture can be found in Masters of the Game: Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness.

Most people talk about quality in terms of the four parts of: planning, doing, checking and renewing. That is a meaningful way of looking at quality improvement, but it becomes superfluous when you apply the three phases of purposeful action. With these three phases, continuous quality improvement, or Kaizen, becomes automatic. Once you set your purpose to provide the best quality possible, pursue it ethically and measure your progress continuously, assessing and renewing the action to improve it. That is Kaizen. Finally, you must reinforce success with just rewards. Rewards can be positive or negative, but they must be equitable and just. Sometimes managers have difficulty in giving negative rewards, especially to themselves.

References: Masters of the Game: Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=purposefulaction&view=videos

Meditation: What’s the Point?

lotus_croppedEvery soul has an innate desire to be united with the source of all being and, through this desire, to set itself free from all bonds and lower levels of desires that prevent it from achieving its highest potential. This also is referred to as a state of resonance, when the subject and object vibrate in unison. This is why chanting is used in some forms of meditation.

Here are some ways in which meditation can change your life:

  • become more at home with yourself and in the universe
  • be able to concentrate and work more effectively at your tasks
  • see where you are and determine where you wish to go more clearly
  • become less insecure, and less anxious and hostile
  • build better relationships

Read how Ann discovers the beauty of meditation in The Voice, the Mind and the Traveler: Revealing the 7 Secrets for Happiness and learn how you can start meditating immediately by devoting just three minutes a day for this life-changing experience.

Share your thoughts and experiences on meditation with your fellow-travelers in the brook of life – through your comments on this purposeful action blog!

Which Leader has inspired you?

waterfall-from-margaux

Here is a discussion topic on self or personal motivation.

Which inspirational leader, past or present, have you modeled your life after?

Explain, using examples and references, how this leader has helped you improve your personal or professional life, and relate your comments to the Four Principles for Purposeful Action.

This post was written by Margaux Ellis-Hall, who will lead the discussion for the week starting on March 10.

Does purposeful action ever end?

img_0082The answer to this question is found in the metaphor of the brook. Just as the brook is the flow of water, so too life is the flow of action. Without the flow of water, there is no brook; without the flow of actions there is no life.

Since flow creates the flow of what is to follow, our actions set the stage for future actions. So, considering the question in the title of the post, if you consider actions as continuing through life – and we mean purposeful action here – then these continue. You might argue or ask, what happens when we die? The answer depends on the nature of the action. For example, Mohandas Gandhi’s action to free a nation from foreign occupation peacefully continues through others, as do Mother Teresa’s acts of service to humanity.

This concept of continuing action works lock-step with the concept of continuous improvement, or Kaizen. How can there be Kaizen if the action ends?

Another aspect of this post relates to the extent or breadth of the action being considered. For example, if we consider the action to be simply walking a mile on a certain day at a certain place, the action in and of itself ends. However, if one considers the walk as part of a healthy living regimen, it continues – through its ups and downs as the case might be …

Now, what do you think… and why?

Create Value with Quality, Innovation and Entrepreneurship

The following article is excerpted from a lecture by Prem Chopra on “Quality Improvement through Purposeful Action,” at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in September 2006. The text of the entire lecture can be found in Masters of the Game: Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness.nexusdarkerfontcover1

Can you cite some examples that shed light on the content of this article?

You can spend a lot of money for a fancy Cadillac. It is a beautiful car, but if it does not provide value to the customer, the business will ultimately collapse. Value is measured in terms of features, functionality, reliability, longevity, ease of maintenance, and ease of repair. You must continue to improve and innovate to enhance these attributes in the products and services you offer. These are essential aspects of quality control or quality improvement. I do not like the word control. Control is a very static word. It implies unidirectional and unilateral standard-setting and direction.Continuous measurement and improvement of quality is the key to maximizing value. You must measure and improve. You cannot improve something that you cannot measure.

So, what is the bottom-line for continuous quality improvement? The answer lies in the history of the American electronics and software industries — Innovate and improve quality. Do what has not been done before—that is the meaning of innovation. Give people freedom to think and work on their ideas. Give more value to the customer. That is the philosophy of the successful entrepreneur.Purposeful entrepreneurship can be applied to any endeavor, including academics–you can be a purposeful and entrepreneurial teacher. What made the United States so technologically advanced was the entrepreneurial spirit. If you want to discover your propensity to be an entrepreneur, or to know your giver-taker balance, play the BrookMaster game at www.purposefulaction.com

Critique the blog

Please post your comments and suggestions on how to improve the blog – layout, structure, appearance, functionality and content.

Our vision for the blog is to enable every user to freely post comments on the discussion topics and to comment on each others’ posts. We plan to add the capability of using rich multi-media content including, graphics, voice and video.

The reality is that we are selecting and testing themes (designs) for the blog from a library of pre-programmed templates. Each theme has pros and cons. We are unsure about how many desirable changes (many from your suggestions) we can accomplish with these templates, given our limited programming resources – but Swathy and Hema are working diligently on this.

The current blog design is a step in the direction of achieving our vision, as we pursue our commitment to continuously improve functionality, aesthetics and ease of use – leading to a “professional” quality experience. Thanks for your suggestions and contributions. Best wishes, PC.

Quality Creates Value

The following article is excerpted from a lecture by Prem Chopra at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in September 2006. The text of the entire lecture can be found in Masters of the Game: Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness.

Create Value with Quality, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship

You can spend a lot of money for a fancy Cadillac. It is a beautiful car, but if it does not provide value to the customer, the business will ultimately collapse. Value is measured in terms of features, functionality, reliability, longevity, ease of maintenance, and ease of repair. You must continue to improve and innovate to enhance these attributes in the products and services you offer. These are essential aspects of quality control or quality improvement. I do not like the word control. Control is a very static word. It implies unidirectional and unilateral standard-setting and direction. Continuous measurement and improvement of quality is the key to maximizing value. You must measure and improve. You cannot improve something that you cannot measure.

So, what is the bottom-line for continuous quality improvement? The answer lies in the history of the American electronics and software industries — Innovate and improve quality. Do what has not been done before—that is the meaning of innovation. Give people freedom to think and work on their ideas. Give more value to the customer. That is the philosophy of the successful entrepreneur. Purposeful entrepreneurship can be applied to any endeavor, including academics–you can be a purposeful and entrepreneurial teacher. What made the United States so technologically advanced was the entrepreneurial spirit. If you want to discover your propensity to be an entrepreneur, or to know your giver-taker balance, play the BrookMaster game at brookoflife.com.

Purposeful Action Assures Quality

The following article is excerpted from a lecture by Prem Chopra at the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga in September 2006. The text of the entire lecture can be found in Masters of the Game: Reaching Beyond the Nexus to Success and Happiness.

What is Purposeful Action?

To explain the framework for purposeful action, we must first define what we mean by “purposeful.” Basically, purposeful is something with a positive intent that contributes to other individuals, entities, or to society. With purposeful action we should add more value and not take away more as a result of that action. This is an ethical issue that cannot be divorced from action. Purpose implies good or ethical behavior. It is giving, not taking. The more value you give, the more you grow and succeed by producing something of value. 

For example, let us compare Sony’s Play-Station with Microsoft’s X Box. Which one gets a larger share of the market? Is it the one with the lowest price? Or, is it the one with the best features, functionality, and reliability?

Let’s take another example of the impact of quality and value in this country. Consider the automobile industry. There’s a book by Halbersham, The Reckoning, that discusses the competition some years ago between Ford and Nissan—both companies manufacture cars and small trucks. The book is written as if Nissan and Ford were individuals. The author shows how and why one company declines as the other flourishes. And, what do you think the main reason was? What do you think the main difference is between General Motors and Toyota? The big difference is commitment to quality and value. Why do you think people buy Toyota cars? Is it because they cost more? Or, is it because they give more?

We will explore the answers to such questions in the context of the Framework for Purposeful Action in today’s discussion. We also will see how this framework can guide you to a more fulfilling personal and professional life.

The Quality Guru from an Iowa Farm

Some of you might have heard about William Edwards Deming—the quality control Guru from an Iowa farm. At first, no one in this country listened to him. General Motors would not give him the time of day. Did they feel that his teaching threatened their business practices and the lavish lifestyles of GM executives? They were busy golfing and socializing in their country clubs. Back in the 50’s and 60’s, some of the most lucrative jobs, for the brightest graduates, were to be found at General Motors. So, they had no use for Deming and his ideas about quality. Do you know what happened to Deming? He went to Japan.

The Japanese listened to him with an open mind, and they learned from him. Deming’s quality is a major force behind the high quality and performance standards we have come to expect from Japanese companies. In 1951, the Japanese Union of Scientists developed the Deming Award for Quality. They honored the man, because they understood the value of what he was teaching—and they applied it!

So what were we doing in the United States? Well, Ford, Chrysler and General Motors continued to build the cars they believed people wanted, and the kind of cars their MBA trained marketing and product management executives told them would maximize sales and profits. As a result, they continued to lose market share to the Japanese and European manufacturers, until one of them had to be bailed out by the U.S. taxpayer. Some 37 years after the Japanese had established the Deming Award for Quality, the U.S. Institute of Standards and Technology introduced the Baldridge Award for Performance Excellence. You might be tempted to say, “Better late than never,” but what happened to the automobile industry in the meantime? Well, you figure it out–Toyota is the largest automobile manufacturer in the world today.