Think with the few; be mad with the many!

Ronda, here are some observations on your findings. One, W.E. Deming, the Father of TQM, had 14 Points. One of them was "Drive out fear." You, we cannot expect to improve if people are afraid to tell the truth for fear of retaliation. This leads to point two. "Speak with data." Deming argues long and hard for fact-based decision making; of course, what happens personalities and politics want to exclude facts that do not enhance their dominance. Or as Machiavelli observed, the truth is dangerous; he advised never telling the truth openly, bluntly. Instead, he advised hinting at it. He also advised "think with the few and be mad with the many." His survival advice, sadly, still applies today. Ideally we want people to tell the truth, use facts. Is this not what we want from our physicians and dentists? You have identified some key copncepts of TQM, Total Quality Management, and explored sadly reasons why people resist TQM.