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Intermediate Japanese - Free Online Course
DEMINGU SHŌ
デミング賞
Deming Prize
Deming Goes to Japan
Deming went to Japan for the first time in 1950. The Supreme Command for the Allied Powers (SCAP) hired him to prepare for the country’s 1951 census. This was during the Allied Occupation (1945-1952), and most Americans in Japan were connected with the U.S. military. Memories of the war were still vivid; and accommodations in the country were pitiable by U.S. standards. Therefore, most Americans cloistered themselves in insular “colonies” throughout Japan. Mixing with the Japanese on a personal level was not the norm.
Deming was an atypical expatriate from the beginning. He immediately fell in love with Japanese culture, and eagerly accepted invitations to visit the homes of Japanese friends and colleagues. He even began studying the language—another unusual step for an American in Japan during the early 1950s.
It wasn’t long before word of Deming—and his background in statistical quality control—reached the Union of Japanese Scientists and Engineers (JUSE). The JUSE was founded in 1946—less than a full year after the end of World War II—with the aim of cultivating the expertise that would be needed for Japan’s long journey to recovery.
Japan’s present-day status as the world’s second largest economy is light years away from the Japan of the early 1950s. Postwar Japan was one of the ten poorest nations on earth. Japan’s industries faced a series of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Not only was the country devastated by the war, but the nation’s manufacturers had acquired a poor reputation since the 1920s. “Made in Japan” was synonymous with junk. (This was apparent even during the war, when Japanese troops had to cope with machine guns that quickly overheated, and rifles built to overly loose specifications.)
When JUSE asked Deming to give a speech about statistical quality control, he not only agreed—he also refused any compensation. Deming would eventually give countless lectures throughout Japan. His audiences included engineers and scientists, as well as industrialists and corporate managers.
Deming’s Message Gains Wide Acceptance in Japan
Deming spoke not only about statistical quality control, but also about worker empowerment. The dominant management theories of the day were based on the scientific management principles of Frederick Winslow Taylor. Scientific management focused on reducing the autonomy of individual workers and managers to the point where individuals had little impact on work processes. Deming took a radically different view. He believed that quality started with the individual, and that most workers wanted to take pride in their work.
Despite the hierarchical nature of Japanese society, Deming’s audience embraced his views about worker empowerment. The importance of the individual within the context of the organization is a dominant theme in the so-called “Japanese-style management practices” that were devoured by American managers during the 1980s. Quality control circles, for example, are based on the premise that the workers who actually perform a process are the most qualified to improve it.
By the early 1950s, Deming’s methods were used by most of Japan’s major corporations, and with outstanding results. Newspapers around the world were suddenly full of articles about the surprising quality of Japanese products. Japan was loosing its reputation as a producer of junk, and gradually acquired a new identity as a rising industrial power.
The Japanese gave Deming full credit for his contributions. The Deming Prize was established in Japan in 1951. The award immediately became a coveted honor for Japanese companies. In 1960, Deming became the first American to receive Japan’s Second Order of Sacred Treasure. Within ten years of his first visit, Deming was famous in Japan.