Deming and Ethics in Business

Deming's 9th Point states: "Break down barriers between departments. People in research, design, sales, and production must work as a team, to foresee problems of production and in use that may be encountered with the product or service."
The Deming "cycle" of points has for its goal continuous improvement, sharing success and correcting failure with employees, and thus sharing responsibilities. First successful in Japan, Dr. Deming proposed a series of steps so that there is no single goal-setting, but a commitment by everyone to continuous improvement. When there is a goal of continuous improvement, the idea of problem solving is part and parcel of that commitment. 

Without the ability of a team committed to solving problems the cycle would be inoperable. Times, and the labor force, have changed since Deming first proposed his points in Japan in the 1950s. Today, we are faced with the ethics of managing diversity. This now involves building teams that are created from minorities as well as the majority of workers. By government legislation, management is no longer permitted to discriminate, in terms of race, gender, ethnic background, or even age. Therefore, team building and the creation of partnerships that go beyond specific company departments need to avoid any confrontational or prejudicial actions.

As Deming points out, barriers need to come down in order to create the sort of effective teamwork that gets results. Ethics come into focus when management must make some difficult choices in eliminating these departmental barriers. "Although most people fail to think of companies and industries as having values and ethics like people do, social scientists have coined the term corporate culture to describe these values, traditions, legends, and systems of rewards or punishments." (Ferrell 1991 31)