Managing for Quality and Performance Excellence 9th Edition by James Evans,William Lindsay

Exercise 39

In 1995, Jack Welch, who was then CEO of General Electric, sent a memo to his senior managers telling them that they would have to require every employee to have started Six Sigma training to be promoted. Furthermore, 40 percent of the managers' bonuses were to be tied to the successful introduction of Six Sigma. Do you believe that this directive was a motivational action, or did it violate W. Edwards Deming's maxim that managers and leaders must "cast out fear"? Why or why not?