What Do Red Beads Have in Common with Safety?

For over 45 years, Dr. W. Edwards Deming taught his management theory through his “red bead” experiment. This simple yet powerful demonstration shows how the American management system evades continual improvement by putting an emphasis on maintaining the status quo.

For his experiment, Deming set up the audience for a role-playing experience by inviting volunteers to play the role of workers, inspectors and a recorder. Deming acted as the foreman and explained to the workers that their job was to make white beads. No other color would do — the customer accepts only white beads.

Deming then explained the procedures and showed the workers how to dip their paddles into a container filled with 3,200 white beads and 800 red beads. He constantly reminded the workers their job was to “make white beads only.” If they couldn't make only white beads, management would close the plant down.

The workers must adhere to these strict procedures. They dipped their paddles to acquire beads and their results were recorded and passed on to management. When a worker produced a higher number of red beads than the other employees, Deming chastised him. If a worker produced a lower number, Deming heaped praise on him. At the end of each day's work, Deming talked to the workers and reminded them they must improve.

Finally, at the end of the fourth day of work, Deming said he could not see any improvement and the plant would have to be closed.

Deming then analyzed the results for the audience. He pointed out that some workers' results were above average and some were below. One worker might have gone from being the worst worker to the best in just 1 day, which made Deming wonder why the other workers couldn't show such improvement. He feigned dismay with their effort. He just couldn't understand what went wrong.

THE MORAL

The message becomes clear: Even when provided with identical tasks, tools, instruction and talent, production outcomes will vary. Deming performed this experiment hundreds of times and the results always were the same. That is, the outcomes of each worker varied even though the imaginary factory always was set up the same way. Some of the workers were above average and some were below average. This happened every time, and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The workers cannot control the system in which they work.

Deming also pointed out the red beads are different. They are painted red, which means they are somewhat larger because of the coating. They feel different to the paddle. He used different paddles over the years, which produced slightly different results because every paddle had variation in it. It might have been too small to be detected by just a quick look, but it still was there.

The moral of the red bead experiment is as follows:

• Variation exists in every process. You can never eliminate all of it.
• Past performance guarantees nothing in the future.
• The work system has things in it that are beyond the workers' control. It is the system, not the workers' skills, that determines how they will perform.
• Managers are the only ones who can change the system. It is best for management to enlist the help of the workers to do this.
• Some workers are above and some are below average. There's nothing you can do about it and the difference may not mean anything.

RED BEADS AND SAFETY MANAGEMENT

The red bead experiment is a good example of how bad management leads to bad results. Most people who watch the experiment understand the foreman is making some really stupid mistakes. Ironically, they are exactly what American managers do in various degrees every day.

Deming began by employing extra layers of managers whose only job was to watch what the workers did and report the results. Then he held workers accountable for their mistakes, for which they had no control. The audience could see the red beads were built into the system and beyond the control of the workers. But the foreman could not. His solution was to force the workers to follow rigid procedures with no way of letting them make any kinds of suggestions for improvement. In short, he was the perfect command and control manager.