English C2 CPE

The ongoing slump in the Japanese economy has taken some of the lustre (0) OF that country's once revered management techniques. However, total quality management practices, the business philosophy (1) ............ William Edwards Deming - (2) ............ helped build Japan into a superpower following World War II - have continued to shape the modern enterprise. Even in an era (3) ............ speed matters, (4) ............ is a growing emphasis on quality. "Deming has clearly (5) ............ a profound and lasting impact on HR," says Arnold Packer, a senior research fellow at John Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies. He notes (6) ............ the 'father' of the quality movement focused attention (7) ............ 14 key areas, including the ability to build quality into a product in the (8) ............ place, improve it constantly, provide institute training on the job, break down barriers between departments, and stress workmanship over hierarchy. Half a century later and eight years after Deming's death, the concept is still going strong. Within HR. it is leading to a greater emphasis on analytics, the widespread adoption of International Organisation for Standardisation guidelines. and, in some cases, mandatory training for vendors. "As time passes, the forces that lead to change will be harder to trace to Deming or any other single cause," Packer says. "But his impact will, nevertheless, remain profound."