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June 14, 2006 Meeting
I. Book/Media Discussion – 6:00 – 6:10
o Fountainhead, Rand, Ayn
Howard Roark is an architect determined to
do great works in a world that denies this is possible with a vengeance. They do all they can to discredit and destroy him but he will not
be deterred. He is a hero for quality.
o Atlas Shrugged, Rand, Ayn
The great capitalists of the world are under
attack by people who are happy to ride on their coattails. Great
men with wonderful ideas drive the nation forward and succeed in spite
of every effort of the “humanitarian” orientated people. What
happens when the industrialists stop producing? How will society
survive? Surely not by those who are just drains on society which
includes all government workers since they produce nothing. When Atlas stops holding up the world, what then?
o The Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle
Aristotle was Plato’s brightest pupil
and his biggest critic. His treatise on ethics is a landmark
in philosophy which holds valuable insights to this day.
o Deming Management Method, Mary Walton
You may remember a lot of hype
about quality back in the 1980s. This was a time when American
corporations gave lip service to quality because they could not ignore
the success of Dr. Deming’s methods as practiced by the Japanese. Ironically, Dr. Deming insists that he was just teaching what American
business had done early in the 20th century but had since forgotten. The clear sense of his ideas is still lost on most of
o The Virtue of Selfishness,
A better name for this book might
be “The Virtue of Self Interest” because Ayn Rand is really promoting
the idea that each person must and ethically should look after his
own interests. She ties this in with capitalism, an economic
system in which self interest insures the most efficient use of economic
resources to produce wealth. Her ideas match with classic economic
theory.
o Quality is job #1 – Result of quality methods of Dr. Deming
o Product does what it should
o It lasts
o Synthesis of form and function
o Measure of value / for specific purpose
o Is doing quality work a moral requirement?
– Example, is it immoral for a baseball player to intentionally make a bad throw.
– Is making a bad contact lens immoral?
o Porsche vs. Camry – Quality fits to needs. Either can be better depending on needs.
o Doing you best work / Making the best product is expected by your customer. If you don’t do this, are you acting in good faith? For example, a tire maker for Ford changes the materials to use inferior ones without telling Ford. Subsequently, Ford customers have problems with the tires and Ford has to do a recall. Is the change in quality by the tire company unethical?
o Safety vs. profits – another ethical tradeoff.
o Application of quality to quality of life?
o Quality depends on the culture’s view.
o In
o How do I do quality work? Do my best?
o Why do your best?
– Self esteem and pride. You need to do your best because it is what is best for you. It hurts our sense of self to do poor quality work.
o In Fountainhead, Roark does the best quality and he does not follow others. They are termed second handers because they only care about what others think, i.e. they live for and through others.
o
.
Relevance of the topic
o Jobs are being sent by
the millions to
o The
A Lesson from Information Technology (IT)
One Definition of Quality
Why Delivering Your Best is Ethical: Ayn Rand’s Worldview
“Greed is good.” Gordon Gekko in the
Three
Parts, One Philosophy: Metaphysics, Epistemology and Ethics.
Epistemology: Aristotle’s Logic: The Law of Identity,
Reality is real.
Ethics: Life
is an end unto itself. Survival, prosperity, i.e. self
interest is the primary goal and therefore ethics should
be towards this end.
Reason is the only tool man has to survive so man must
never abandon reason. Emotions and faith are
secondary.
Metaphysics: The ideal man is the one who
lives by reason and
through it expresses his full productive ability.
What he earns from doing this is his alone
to enjoy and use as he wishes.
The individual has a natural right to live and by
extension
to property he earns by his actions. Freedom of
the
individual is a necessary precursor to capitalism
and capitalism is the only economic system that
supports natural rights.
The Primary Law of Economics: TINSTAAFL - There is no such thing as a free lunch.
The cost of delivering
below quality work; who pays and how?
The Pencil: Proof that Capitalism
Works
Socialism Failures: Soviet Union,
Deming and Quality
Questions to consider: