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Hi Robert,
You are welcome and I am glad to read they are teaching about Deming and his
methods in college now,
And Mary,
While some did not pay enough attention to Deming right after the war, that has changed as you can see Robert learned about him in collage. And I learned about him in one of the many management classes I attended while being employed as a supervisor in the electronics industry.
Something else I learned during one of those classes was how terrible most people are at listening. If fact, people are so bad at it, I am sometimes amazed we get anything accomplished from listening to others.
(This class was given in about 1966 or 67
at the electronics division of the National Cash Register Co. which was then in Hawthorne, Ca. The class was given by Dr. Vanderwater & Associates, a firm then considered to be a leader in the field of management.)
During this class, the instructor wrote on the blackboard, in BIG LETTERS,
THIS WILL BE A LISTENING COMPREHENSION TEST. YOU WILL BE TESTED ON YOUR ABILITY TO LISTEN WITH COMPREHENSION.
Then, they twice told the class what the test was about BEFORE they gave the test. So, there was NO way anyone in that class should not have known what they were being tested for.
The class members were ALL supervisors and MOST all were college graduates who supervised things like hardware and software engineering, accounting,
personnel, etc.
So imagine my total surprise when I found the average score of these supervisors, people whose job requires higher listening skills than those of the average person, ONLY scored 23%!
Now if a college degreed supervisors who KNOW they are being tested on their ability to listen with comprehension ONLY scores 23%, what do you think MOST people who did NOT know they were being tested would score?
Anywho, then we took a class on how to improve our listening skills. They average increase in that ability was around 23% so they double their skill level.
After taking this class, I became a real memo freak and I started writing memos on everything. When asked why, I replied
something to the effect of:
"Because now that I know most people do not listen worth a damn, I do not want to take a chance of being misunderstood.
When I write a memo, there is a record of exactly what was said and when it was said."
Someone once said:
"IF YOU DONE IT, IT AIN'T BRAGGIN."
So here goes. I have NO clue what had transpired in my life before or why my listening skills were much higher than most. All I know is they must be as shown by my test scores.
(Now, if only my "remember" worked better.)
On the first test, before taking the class on how to improve our listening skills I got something over 45%. And after taking the class, I was informed I had the highest score ever yet achieved in the "Xerox Listening Course" and it was somewhere over 96%. (I think it was 97.7% only I just do not remember for sure.)
Please, Take Care!
Neil
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