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BACK TO BASICS BY T.

DAN NELSON

The Gravity of PDCA


How the scientific method can turn a daily habit into a quality tool
THE LAW OF gravity doesn’t depend on cally developing hypotheses, and observ- take advantage of this opportunity repre-
humanity’s understanding of it to have ing, measuring, testing, and reformulating sents the hypothesis.
an effect. Humans knew how to interact these hypotheses until their explanatory Similar to forming the best hypothesis
with gravity—to an extent—far before Sir powers were satisfactory. The result- for a scientific experiment, it is impor-
Isaac Newton “discovered” it. ing scientific understanding increased tant to consider all available data when
Likewise, the principles of quality people’s abilities to function in this formulating a plan.
management didn’t arrive with ISO 9001. universe. Test: Carrying out the plan correlates
Successful organizations understood to the testing or experimental phase
these basic principles long before the The science behind PDCA of the scientific method. Organizations
first standard was published. Plan-do-check-act (PDCA) represents implement their plans akin to a scientist
Before Newton, people understood an intersection between the scientific observing and measuring nature to test a
the effects of gravity enough to success- method and everyday operations. Given hypothesis.
fully shoot an arrow, but they were un- an objective, whatever process is defined Analyze: After completing testing,
able to elicit gravity in abstract concepts to achieve that objective can be—and organizations check results to determine
because there was no empirical method often unknowingly is—subject to PDCA. whether they are acceptable.
behind it. In an ideal situation, as soon as an If more improvement is needed, it is
Newton’s work with gravity allowed idea to achieve an objective is consid- the same as a scientist finding a false hy-
us to develop a scientific understanding ered, a plan is conceptualized to follow pothesis. The organization must go back
of this natural phenomenon by systemi- through on that idea. After a plan seems to the hypothesis (plan) stage and use the
robust enough to ac- additional data gathered from the first
count for all potential test to create a new plan and retest it.
risks in achieving the Report: If the results are perfect, an
objective, the plan is organization should report this conclu-
implemented. sion by standardizing the process. This is
The method seems ba- the final “act” stage of PDCA.
sic, but it can be easy to While some quality tools can seem
skip or skim over steps if abstract or unnecessary from the surface,
the logic behind each is explaining the logic behind them helps
not properly understood. get employees on board with improve-
That is why it is impor- ment plans. It is up to top management
tant for quality profes- to take ownership of these improvement
sionals to understand procedures to ensure all steps are being
that PDCA is rooted in taken and only acceptable results are
the scientific method— standardized. Otherwise, the same results
a sound approach to can be expected. QP
reaching the best pos-
sible conclusion. T. DAN NELSON is principal at T. D.
Nelson Consulting in Groton, NY. He
Hypothesis: After has an MBA from the University of
Iowa in Iowa City.
recognizing an opportu-
nity for improvement,
the plan put in place to

64 QP • www.qualityprogress.com

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