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BOOK REVIEW

THE CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING SELF

BY: Jeffrey E. Lickson, Ph.D.

REVIEWED BY:

Dr. Saleem Raza

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OUTLINES OF PRESENTATION
Title of Book

About the Author

Contents ( Part 1-7)

Comments
Recommendations

Title:

The Continuously Improving Self A Personal Guide to TQM Viva Books Private Limited New Dehli Jeffrey E Lickson 101

Publisher: Author: No. of Pages:

Deliverable Countries: This product ships to India and SriLanka.

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About the Author

The Author Mr. Jeffrey E.Lickson, Ph.D. Product Manager-Distribution Equipment at

Werner Electric Supply Neenah, Wisconsin USA

Education:

Degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin. peoples and ideas come from his teachers and Writers about management and professional development

28 years experience of working with different

CONTENTS
PART-1
PART-2

The Concept
Deciding Where to Begin

PART-3

Deming, continuous quality improvement and you

Personal applications of the Deming principles Your personal path for selfmastery Continuous improvement through quality relationship Continuous learning

PART-4 PART-5 PART-6 PART-7

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PART-1 THE CONCEPT

The path for a continuously improving

self is different for each of us. We each bring our individual story of :

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Who we were, Who we are, and Who we wish to be in future.

Quality: Have the individual potential to learn competence at Work and in our Personal lives
There is no profound knowledge without

learning, communication external world.

This

from

the

is the message which keeps ourselves motivated for continuous improvement.

PART-2 Deciding Where to Begin

For seeking quality,
Assess the strengths and barriers For achieving desired improvements

Be patient with your self, Work on one or two priority improvement at a time, then move to n ext, and Think of ways to overcome the barriers on the way block you.

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A NEVER-ENDING PROCESS Continuous improvement implies a never ending process. Each of these has a beginning, a middle and an end THE BEGINNING Beginning any thing requires redirection of energy and motivation.

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Deciding Where to Begin ( Cont: ) THE MIDDLE

During the middle of any process, energy flows through the process, creating path ways and patterns to its steps and changes. We can change our minds or change our goals Any thing is possible

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Deciding Where to Begin ( Cont: ) THE END Processes have an end point Disengagement, evaluation and sometimes stress feelings.

Relief or extreme satisfaction with a job well done.

Sadness or regret at separating from an enjoyable engagement, or feeling that the job was poorly done or the process full of defects.

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PART-3 DEMING,CONTINUOUS QUALITY IMPROVEMENT AND YOU

Dr. W. Edwards Deming, a prominent American statistician emphasized keys to understanding this new philosophy of improving quality.

All work is part of a process All processes contain variation People are the key
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PART-4 PERSONAL APPLICATIONS OF THE DEMING PRINCIPLES Give us tools to help us develop professionalism about ourselves.
Each person is a system Every

one is different and everyone is affected by variation; why we think, feel and do what we do.

We must question and find the root causes We do what we want or need most to do,
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Demings principles of transforming management can be applied to your personal situation. Ask yourself the following questions:
1. What is your purpose, mission or vision of

what you want? 2. How well do you understand the philosophy of continuous quality improvement? 3. What is your impact on your customers? 4. What are the true costs associated with buying the cheapest of everything?
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5. What can you do to improve yourself as a

system? 6. Do you have the skills you want and need? 7. Are you willing to follow anothers leadership? 8. What do you fear?
9. How you willing are you to understand and cooperate with other people? 10. Do you tell people what you think they should do, before attempting to understand their position?
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11. What processes do you own?

12. What gives you pride? 13. What do you want to learn?

14. How empowered do you feel to accomplish personal and work improvement?

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PART-5 YOUR PERSONAL PATH FOR SELF-MASTERY

We all are on a journey. The journey is life, and we travel it as an individual self. What does having a self mean? How we develop and improve as a self? Is it ever too late for us to change and improve ourselves?

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EXPLORING THE VOLCANO WITHIN

Psychologists agree that self-improvement is always possible.

This is because each individual is responsible for his or her choices. As an individual, you make your important life decisions. You are a self-renewable asset.

With self- mystery, you alone determine the scope and breadth of your potential contributions.

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CONTENTS
EXPLORING THE VOLCANO WITHIN
Many psychologists believe that human beings can turn their genetic potential in to action; adults can transform themselves; they can choose to develop self-mastery through:

Self-discipline, Self-understanding, and self- knowledge.

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ZONE-1 PSYCHO-SOCIAL TAPES

Psycho-social Memories

We are on that journey. Our personal yesterdays from our own buried energy.
We can harvest our journey by examining whats inside ourselves, we will always connect with today. We will seek questions to answer about yesterdays, where we are now and where we want to go to create the future we want.

Our first excursion is deepest in to volcano ,Zone 1

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ZONE-2 EMOTIONS, PAST AND PRESENT

Our next excursion is into the Zone of our emotions, past and present. We grow by learning to postpone immediate and gratification, and gradually develop trust that in time our needs will be satisfied. Our feelings have enormous power-power to help us align with others, build quality relationships, improve our lives-

Excursion two will help us begin the process of separating our feelings from the feelings of others.

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ZONE-3 Values and Beliefs

Our values and beliefs.

The people who are around important to us have strongly influenced our core values and beliefs, our paradigm of right and wrong, true and false, good and bad. Our values and beliefs, too, are a source of enormous energy for continuous improvement.
If we think about our core principles and act on them, we often practice different habits.

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ZONE-4 THOUGHT AND INTELLECT

Our next excursion is closer to the surface of the volcano, zone 4,the zone of thought and intellect.

To use Zone 4 effectively, we must constantly stir our ideas, test our hunches, adopt new learning, try new habits, adopt new ways to think, work and question why.
If we do not do this, we may choke our potential to understand. We must learn and relearn, continuously stimulate our ideas, and, consciously plan to think about ourselves and our work processes at a level high enough to accept new paradigms about ourselves and our work and adapt to new information about each.

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ZONE-5 THE CONTINUOUSLY IMPROVING SELF

Continuous

self-improvement means energy applied to measurable, self chosen areas of a persons thoughts, learning, feelings and behavior that is observed and recorded, regardless of apparent results. It is our choice.

We have the power to improve ourselves.

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PART-6 CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT THROUGH QUALITY RELATIOSHIP

Quality relationships are characterized by mutual respect and controlled emotional involvement. Creating energy in our relationships requires selfdiscipline, and avoiding dumping or projecting our feelings and needs on the other person. We must concentrate energy on being more sensitive to the emotional needs of others, to understand and respond appropriately to those needs of in our interactions with others.

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1. 2. 3.

4. 5.

6.

7.
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SEVEN PRINCIPLES FOR A QUALITY RELATIONSHIP Accept each person as a unique individual. Give the person a chance to express his or her positive and negative feelings. Respect the dignity and self-worth of each person by controlling your emotional involvement- remain objective, concentrate on the other person and do not get defensive. Accept others where they are , listen to each person and respond with understanding. Maintain the nonjudgmental attitude toward others who may misunderstand or disagree with our ideas. Respect the right of others to make their own choices( even when you think have a better idea) Build trust. Respect the confidentiality of personal feelings or of other personal information shared with you.

PART-7 CONTINUOUS LEARNING Continuous Learning for a Continuously improving you We seek knowledge, skills and entertainment. We also seek ways to understand and interact with ourselves, friends, strangers, people we love, people we fear, and spiritual and philosophical aspects of our thoughts. Everything we want for ourselves activates barriers If we want to run a marathon, we must overcome many barriers. These barriers are internal and external. There are also many resources to help us learn ways around them: Books and other media, friends who have relevant knowledge and experience, experts and observation.

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CONTINUOUS LEARNING THE RACE WITH NO FINISH LINE In the End the Author said :

You have come far on your journey to a continuously improving yourself.

Keep on with the journey.

Continue to learn yourself, master yourself, love and improve yourself, and you may create your future.

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Comments:

This book gives an clear idea:

Who you are, What you want and how can you improve.

Much in our lives is outside of our control. So what we control? The most important asset we posses and in our control: that is OURSELVES

Self improvement is both unreachable destination.

journey

and

an

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I do agree with the Authors ideas and Dr Demins principles for quality and self improvement continuously,
But to implement this it is bit difficult in our environment until and unless a bigger change in our education system and grooming of our new generation in this direction be adopted.

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RECOMMENDATIONS:

All participants read this book to be aware of the principles of quality and improving self There is always room for improvement. And the fact that there is, is truly a blessing.
There is always something new to be learned. There

are always fresh ideas to be explored. You can make today more beautiful, more productive, more meaningful than yesterday. And you can make tomorrow even better. Each moment is another opportunity to create new value. Each day is yours to fill with positive experience.
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7.1. Reducing Risks in Procurement

To ensure the goods and services needed to carry out the Project are procured with due attention to economy and efficiency; To ensure the funds are used to buy only those goods and services needed to carry our the Project;

To give all qualified bidders an equal opportunity to compete for Contracts;

To ensure that transparent. the procurement process is

Avoid delays in Drawing. Documents to be unambiguous.

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