Some Rights ReservedSingapore2015 Application of Buddhist Teachings in Management with Focus on the Deming-Cycle Thomas Voss M.A., B.Eng. (Hons) Abstract In this paper  I compare the pivotal Buddhist teaching of the Four Noble Truths with the Deming-Cycle, a wide- spread improvement tool in today’s management. The reader will be introduced into the origin and fundamentals of this method which is then contrasted with a concise description of the Four Noble Truths. The characteristics of the former are than compared and interpreted with the Buddhist teaching to discuss their similarities and to work out that both are in fact equivalent in their qualities as problem solving and improvement tool. Therefore, the Deming- Cycle can be treated as an application of the Buddhist teaching in management provided its use is motivated by the same intentions abandoning selfish desire, hatred and delusion. Keywords Continuous Improvement Model, Change Management, Four Noble Truths, PDCA, Buddhism Introduction “[I]t's not easy, living at home, to practice the holy life totally perfect, totally pure (…)”. 1 This is what many lay followers often realise quickly, when they try to practice the Buddha’s teaching in their everyday lives. The “Noble Path” and the “real world” seem to contradict each other to such extend that a lay follower might consider any en- deavour to practice as a completely hopeless and unrealistic task. This view might harbour even more momentum for the Buddhist manager who, in today’s competitive business environment, finds himself overpowered in a notori- ous greedy, hostile and beguiling environment, which demands him to either obey or being otherwise doomed non- fit for survival. Executives, however, who never came in touch with Buddhism before might be surprised and wonder how an an- cient religion could offer anything useful at all to solve their daily problems. They might question how relevant a system of faith and devotion can be in the deterministic world of business and without hesitation abolish further enquiries altogether. In this paper I will try to bring both attitudes closer together and contrast the Four Noble Truths (cattāri ariyasac- cāni), the very foundation of the Buddhist philosophy, with a widely used management tool, called the Deming 2 - Cycle or Plan-Do-Check-Act-(PDCA)-Cycle, illustrating, based on this example, the similarities of both concepts as improvement models. I will show that the latter, even though being a concept developed around World War II, is in its core the same as what the Buddha taught more than 2500 years ago. Neither does this work aim to dig up so far uncovered insights of the deep meanings of the Buddha’s teaching nor does it try to mould a western management practice into an Asian philosophy for the sake of showing off Buddhism as a “Theory of Everything”. I am rather motivated by the quest to illustrate a quite obvious similarity – but as I feel barely visible - between this very common management tool and what the Buddha taught. If through the study of this piece of work the manager of either standpoint catch a glimpse of the virtues of these Buddhist teachings, I con- sider my mission accomplished. To do so, I will, after a short introduction into the nature of improvement, present the fundamental idea and usage of the Deming-Cycle and reflect briefly on its history and importance. Likewise, I will provide a very condensed in- sight of the Four Noble Truths and collect the fundamentals of this teaching before moving on to compare and con- trast both models to lay open their striking similarities which will be summarised in my conclusion.  This work was initially submitted by the author as thesis for Postgraduate Diploma in Buddhist Studies to the Postgraduate Institute of Pāḷi and Buddhist Studies, University of Kelaniya in Colombo, Sri Lanka (December, 2014). 1 Ratthapala Sutta (MN 82). 2 William Edwards Deming (1900 - 1993) was an American statistician, professor, author, lecturer and consultant in Quality Control. DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.1.4185.1288