Towards Understanding the Foundations of Deming’s Theory of Management Steven Hillmer Dennis Kamey Universiv of zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQP Kansas N! Edwards Deming’s management writings are used to deduce a set of axioms which can be viewed as the most basic assumptions or the foun- dation of his theory of management. These axioms are used to deduce some of the propositions that are the most important tenets qf Deming’s management theory. The relationship between Deming’s fumiliar 14 points for management and the uxioms and propositions are discussed. Issues that practicing managers need to address when implementing Deming’s management philosophy are discussed. INTRODUCTION In his books Out of the Crisis (1986) and The New Economics fur Business, Edu- cation, Government (1993) the late W. Edwards Deming described a theory of management focused on providing products/services which meet and exceed the needs of the customers of the organization. As with any theory, Deming’s philoso- phy can be viewed as predictions derived from a set of axioms or assumptions even though, in this case, these axioms are not explicitly stated. The purpose of this paper is to derive a set of axioms that will imply Deming’s four components of pro- found knowledge and his 14 points. The set of assumptions which are derived pro- vide a basis for managers to begin the discussion of evaluating the usefulness of Deming’s theory of management for their firms and for academicians to discuss its role in the shift to a new management paradigm. These axioms are useful to prac- titioners as they can serve a starting point for an assessment of the degree to which the current organizational conditions match the assumptions in Deming’s theory. This assessment can be valuable input into an implementation strategy. Managers can identify conditions that are required by Deming’s philosophy but not yet in place in their organization and then derive plans to address those problems before Direct all [,orrr.vpondrnc.e to: Steven Hillmer, zyxwvutsrqponmlkjihgfedcbaZYXWVUTSRQPONML University of Kansas: SHlLLMER@BSCHOOL. WPO.UKANS.EDU Journal of Quality Management, Vol. 2, No. 2, pp. 17 I-I 89 ISSN: 1084856X Copyright 0 1997 JAI Press Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved 171