Publications & resources

Our bestseller, The PMI Process Manager

New edition!  We’ve updated our handbook on process improvement and team training with an extended glossary of Six Sigma terminology and some fresh ideas.  An invaluable reference, it contains an array of improvement tools and techniques as well as tips for applying them in real-world situations.  Much of PMI's toolset is covered, from developing an interrelationship diagraph to conducting a team review.

Available for £18.  To order, call us on +44 (0)1676 522 766 Monday to Friday between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm GMT.

White papers

• If Toyota Can, Why Can't We? (PDF, 194K).  The history of the quest to catch Toyota, and suggestions for leaders wanting to improve quality and efficiency.  This paper is aimed primarily at managers preparing for or considering involvement with PMI and at those with experience of applying improvement principles who are weighing the prospects of achieving their goals.
• The Beautiful System (PDF, 136K).  Jan Gillett and Jane Seddon consider the worldwide appeal of football, the rules of the beautiful game and parallels with Toyota’s beautiful system — simplicity is the key.  Create beauty in your organisation with PMI’s principles and practices — new rules for a whole new ball game.
• Use Six Sigma to Achieve Excellence (PDF, 144K).  Written by Jan Gillett for the British Quality Foundation Awards 2003, this paper explores the relationship between Six Sigma and the Excellence Model, and how Six Sigma methods can be used in every part of the model to transform the system.
• Joined-Up Leadership (PDF, 208K). An evidence-based approach to improving your system.
• Cooking Up Improvements (PDF, 1.9MB).  Using the PDSA cycle for problem resolution, improvement and strategy in any working environment.
• Developing Systematic Leadership (PDF, 124K).  Using PMI’s strategic model to transform performance.
• Human Motivation: the real key to success in Six Sigma (PDF, 338K).  This paper makes the case for change programmes that develop self-esteem in all who play a part, whether in developing strategies, implementing projects or managing processes.

Papers by Professor Tom Johnson 

• Bringing Quality Management to Life: Variation and Sustainability in the Writings of W. Edwards Deming and Gregory Bateson (PDF, 56K). The writings of both W. Edwards Deming and Gregory Bateson suggest that management thinking and practice should be guided by an appreciation of human organisations as natural living systems, not mechanical systems.  This is evident in both men’s ideas about variation and sustainability, which have been amplified and reinforced by late 20th-century findings in evolutionary cosmology and biology.  These findings suggest important new avenues for research in quality management.
• Lean Accounting: To Become Lean, Shed Accounting (PDF, 473K).  This paper draws on comparative case research documenting the claim that the pathway to genuinely lean operations is to shed accounting.
• Sustainability and Lean Operations (PDF, 176K).  Drawing on the author’s study of the Toyota production system, which inspired the concept of lean operations, this paper discusses two steps businesses can take to create a truly sustainable economy.
• Work Lean to Control Costs (PDF, 174K).  It's a mistake to assume that management accounting systems are necessary to control and evaluate shop-floor operations.

Webcast

•  PMI on BBC Radio Four's In Business (MP3, 8.3MB).

Links

• Chartered Quality Institute. The CQI provides Six Sigma public training courses in association with PMI.  As the world's oldest quality body, it provides professional recognition and support for those working in business improvement.
• The Deming Forum. A not-for-profit educational organisation promoting the study and application of the management philosophy developed by Dr. W.E. Deming.

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