We suggest starting out with these:
- Deming, W. Edwards. The New Economics for Industry, Government, and Education. 1993, MIT/CAES.
- Deming, W. Edwards. Out of the Crisis. 1986, MIT/CAES
- Deming, W. Edwards. Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position. 1982, MIT/CAES. Delayed shipping.
- Deming, W. Edwards. Some Theory of Sampling, 1950, 1984.
- Deming, W. Edwards. Statistical Adjustment of Data, 1938, 1984.
- Deming, W. Edwards. Sample Design in Business Research (Applied Statistics), 1960, 1990.
- Deming, W. Edwards. On Errors in Surveys (Reprint Series in Social Sciences), 1993.
- Ackoff, Russell L. Creating the Corporate Future, 1981.
- Ackoff, Russell. The Art of Problem Solving Accompanied by Ackoff's Fables, 1987.
- Ackoff, Russell L. The Democratic Corporation: A Radical Prescription for Recreating Corporate America and Rediscovering Success 1994.
- Aguayo, Rafael Dr. Deming: The American Who Taught the Japanese About Quality, 1991. Dr. W. Edward Deming, the prime catalyst behind the transformation of Japan's industries, professes a philosophy which is in direct contrast to what is taught in most business schools. His 14 points for changing management structures, ranging from on-the-job training programs to eliminating all work quotas, form the backbone of this book. Aguayo studied with Dr. Deming for seven years in order to write this book, and uses examples from industry giants such as Ford and Proctor & Gamble.
- Barker, Joel A. Discovering the Future - The Business of Paradigms. 1986. (Hardcover)
- Box, George, William Hunter and Stu Hunter. Statistics for Experimenters. 1978, John Wiley and Sons.
- Brassard, Michael. The Memory Jogger Plus+, 1989.
- Cotter, Maury and Daniel Seymour. Kidgets: and Other Insightful Stories about Quality in Education. 1993, ASQC.
- Delavigne, Ken and Dan Robertson. Deming's Profound Changes - When will the Sleeping Giant Awaken?, 1994. details
- Dobbyns, Lloyd and Clare Crawford Mason. Quality or Else, 1991. Read the first chapter of the book.
- Dobbyns, Lloyd and Clare Crawford Mason. Thinking About Quality: Progress, Wisdom and the Deming Philosophy, 1994. Read the first chapter of the book.
- Gabor, Andrea. The Man Who Discovered Quality. 1990, Random House.
- Gitlow, Howard and Shelly. The Deming Guide to Quality and Competitive Position. 1987, Prentice-Hall.
- Gitlow, Howard. Planning for Quality, Productivity, and Competitive Position, 1990.
- Imai, Masaaki. Gemba Kaizen: A Commonsense, Low-Cost Approach to Management, 1997.
- Imai, Masaaki. Kaizen: The Key to Japan's Competitive Success. 1986, Random House Business Division.
- Ishikawa, Kaoru. What is Total Quality Control. 1985, 1991 Prentice-Hall. (Hardcover - 1988)
- Joiner, Brian. Fourth Generation Management. 1994, McGraw-Hill. An excellent book for those who wish to begin the transformation to "Fourth Generation Management" and for the experienced as well. We recommend you start with this well written and easy to follow book.
- Kilian, Cecelia. The World of W. Edwards Deming, Second Edition, 1992, SPC Press. Offers a behind-the-scenes profile of Dr. Deming by his personal secretary of over 30 years. Provides a record of his personal achievements as well as the joys and tragedies in his life.
- Kohn, Alfie. Punished By Rewards: The Trouble With Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A'S, Praise, and Other Bribes. 1993, 1995, Hoghton Mifflin Company. Shows that while manipulating people with incentives seems to work in the short run, it is a strategy that ultimately fails and even does lasting harm. Offers a set of practical strategies for parents, teachers, and managers that move beyond the use of carrots or sticks.
- Kohn, Alfie. No Contest - The Case Against Competition. 1990, 1992, Hoghton Mifflin Company. Examines the roots of competition and its myths: competition is more productive, it will build character and is more enjoyable. Explains the interpersonal consequences of competition and reviews the prospects for replacing competition with cooperative alternatives.
- Kume, Hitoshi. Statistical Methods for Quality Improvement. 1985. Provides an introduction to the basic tools of quality, including histograms, Pareto analysis, cause and effect diagrams, scatter diagrams and control charts. Demonstrates how to apply the methods of statistics to real work problems.
- Langford, David and Beverly Cleary. Orchestrating Learning With Quality. 1995, ASQC. Provides a framework to approach and strengthen the relationship between the facilitator and the learner by having both parties work together to improve the system they work in. Utilizes many quality principles, while considering different approaches to classroom learning. Includes case studies, examples, and the author's experience to help facilitate an exchange of ideas and create new classroom experiences.
- Latzko, William J. and David M. Saunders. Four Days with Dr. Deming. 1995, Addison-Wesley. "This book comes as close to replicating the experience of participating in one of Dr. Deming's 4 day seminars as I can imagine being possible in print" Brian Joiner.
- Lewis, C.I. Mind & The World Order. 1929, 1991, Dover Publications, New York.
- McIngvale, Jim Always Think Big: How Mattress Mac's Uncompromising Attitude Built the Biggest Single Retail Store in America, 2002. Read about Jim McIngvale's management ideas (Read an excerpt from the book). Jim is, of course, very well known to the Deming community for his leadership at Gallery Furniture.
- Mann, Nancy. The Keys to Excellence: The Story of the Deming Philosophy. 1987, Prestwick Books. Not available.
- Moen, Ron, Tom Nolan and L.P. Provost. Improving Quality Through Planned Experimentation. 1991, McGraw-Hill. details
- Neave, Henry R. The Deming Dimension. 1990, SPC Press. Explores the axioms of W. Edwards Deming. Examines his ideas, the techniques taught and the philosophy. Provides a historical perspective for understanding Deming's answers.
- Rodin, Robert and Curtis Hartman. Free, Perfect, and Now, 1999. Connecting to the Three Insatiable Customer Demands - A CEO's True Story. A great look at how Marshall Industries applied Deming's ideas to improve their organization.
- Ryan, Kathleen D. and Daniel K. Oestreich. Driving Fear Out of the Workplace: How to Overcome the Invisible Barriers to Quality, Productivity, and Innovation, 1991. (Hardcover) Provides workable strategies that show how managers can drive out fears which keep people from offering their ideas and voicing concerns. Explores the dynamics of fear and research findings about how fear operates in organizations. Details strategies that build high-trust work environments.
- Scherkenbach, William W. The Deming Route To Quality and Productivity: Road Maps and Roadblocks, 1986. Provides an analysis of Deming's 14 points. Designed to supplement Deming's book Out of the Crisis. Describes the points in further details yet is a quick reference.
- Scherkenbach, William W. Deming's Road to Continual Improvement. 1991, SPC Press. Highlights the understanding of Deming's philosophy. Explains how to operationalize the philosophy in business, academia and government.
- Scholtes, Peter R. The Leader's Handbook: Making Things Happen, Getting Things Done, 1998. details
- Scholtes, Peter R. et. al. The Team Handbook, Second Edition, 1996.
Team Handbook for Educators, 1994.
Team Handbook in Spanish, 1992.
Team Handbook in French, 1992.
- Senge, Peter M. The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of The Learning Organization. 1990, Doubleday. (Hardcover) (audio tape) Examines organizational learning disabilities and how long-held processes eventually lead to the death of an organization. Describes how organizations that learn from the top down cannot survive and that business must tap into the commitment and capacity to learn at all levels in order to excel.
- Senge, Roberts, Ross, Smith and Kleiner The Fifth Discipline Fieldbook: Strategies and Tools for Building a Learning Organization. 1994, Doubleday. Shows how to create an organization of learners where memories are brought to life, where collaboration is the lifeblood of every endeavor, and where the tough questions are fearlessly asked. Shows that companies, businesses, schools, agencies, and even communities can undo their "learning disabilities" and achieve superior performance.
- Shewhart, Walter. Statistical Method from the Viewpoint of Quality Control. Graduate School of the Department of Agriculture, 1939. Dover, 1986. details
- Shewhart, Walter. The Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Products. 1931. ASQC, 1980.
- Voehl, Frank. Deming: The Way We Knew Him, 1995.
- Walton, Mary. Deming Management at Work, 1990. Describes the methods as used by organizations in service and manufacturing. Highlights Florida Power & Light, Hospital Corporation of America and public sector organizations.
- Walton, Mary. The Deming Management Method, 1986. Provides an engrossing biographical portrait of W. Edwards Deming. Examines Deming's 14 points and 7 deadly diseases. Explores practical applications of the methods by American companies.
- Wheatley, Margaret. Leadership and the New Science. 1993, Berrett-Koehler Publishers. (Hardcover) (audio tape) Shows how the new science (revolutionary discoveries in quantum physics, chaos theory, and molecular biology) provides insights for changing the way we understand, design, lead and manage our organizations. Examines how systems move from order to chaos and from chaos to order. Explores how order is different from control. Presents new ways to view issues that trouble our organizations most: order and change, autonomy and control, structure and flexibility, and planning and innovation.
- Wheeler, Donald J. Building Continual Improvement: A Service Industry Guide. 1998, SPC Press.
- Wheeler, Donald J. Understanding Variation: The Key to Managing Chaos. 1993, SPC Press. Presents techniques to apply the basic tools of arithmetic to analyze, interpret, assimilate and digest numbers to extract the knowledge that may be locked up inside data. Provides a thorough and understandable explanation of variation for people with no statistical background. details
- Wheeler, Donald J. and David Chambers. Understanding Statistical Process Control, 2nd Edition. 1991, SPC Press. Describes how to use count data effectively, the right way to assess process capability and the right and wrong ways of computing control chart limits. Provides information on flow charts and pareto charts.
- Whitney, John O. The Trust Factor. 1994, McGraw Hill. details