Linking WuWei with context via QFD for System Thinking Presentation on 2nd International Lean Six Sigma Conference for Higher Education in Arnhem, The Netherlands, organized by HAN University of Applied Sciences

1. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with
Contextualization via
Six Sigma (QFD) for
System Thinking
Presented by:
Dr. Shirley Yeung MC
Quality Assurance Director/
Asst. Professor
Supply Chain Management Dept.
(Hang Seng Management College, HK )

2. Natural disasters

3. Pollution
Waste
Hazardous Material & Waste
Sustainable & renewable Energy?
Environmental Problems will increase?

4. Supply chain incidences
Source: BSI, HK

5. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
According to UNESCO (2010), Education for
sustainability (EfS) has international priority, as
emphasised by the United Nations Decade of
Education for Sustainable Development (DESD 2005-
2014), which seeks to integrate the principles, values,
and practices of sustainable development into all
aspects of education and learning, in order to
address the social, economic, cultural and
environmental problems we face in the 21st century
(UNESCO, 2010, p.1).

6. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
Rationale :
Objectives, learning outcomes, activities (in-class and/ or out-
of-the class) and assessments have to be well-planned and
penetrated with spiritual and real life elements, for example
Wuwei and connectivity of Daoism to develop system thinking
and widen the horizon of learners via the use of Six Sigma –
Quality of Deployment (QFD).

7. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
Five factors for green service delivery (Yeung, 2014) :
• Organizational mission with quality concepts;
• Staff management with caring mindset;
• Strategy with green elements;
• Technology with removing waste and streamlining
operational processes; and
• Economic returns with increase in total revenue in
green services delivery.

8. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for
System Thinking
Aim:
Integrating disciplinary knowledge of supply chain
management with WuWei and Six Sigma concepts
of SIPOC and QFD of Six Sigma.
Both the learners and the faculty members will
develop system thinking with creativity for
sustainability.

9. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
Conceptualization:
Based on the eight qualitative interviews with scholars from
Canada, the U.S., Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong who have
experience in GE curriculum design; and literature on Daoism and
Quantum skills model, it is found that :
The ideas of Daoism – WuWei (non-action) can be integrated with
subject-based module to increase the awareness of “connectivity”
for harmony and life-long innovation that is beneficial to
undergraduate students.
In fact, this kind of cross-disciplinary design of curriculum for
harmony and life-long innovation is needed to meet the challenges
of the dynamic external environment.

10. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
There's also a branch called tao-chia - the school of tao or of unity with the
tao - which has as its initiators the famous Taoist masters such as Lao-tzu
and Chuang-tzu.
What is tao-chia? A way of life. Pointing to it, Alan Watts, the most
important western author who wrote about Taoism, says:
Taoism [is] the way of man's cooperation with the course or trend of
the natural world, whose principles we discover in the flow patterns
of water, gas, an fire, which are subsequently memorialized or
sculptured in those of stone and wood, and, later, in many forms of
human art.
(From Tao: The Watercourse Way).
Source: http://www.taopage.org/taoism.html

11. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
“ Tao at first meant ‘road’ or ‘paths’.
From this it developed the sense of a method, and of a course of conduct.
As a philosophical term it appears first in the Confucian Analects.
For the Confucians tao is the way, the method, of right conduct for the
individual and for the state. And the Confucian tao was also an entity, since
an individual or a state might ‘possess the tao’ or ‘lack the tao’.
But this Confucian tao was still only a principle; it was never regarded as a
substance, like the tao of the Taoists.” (p. 2)
Source: Creel, Herrlee G. (1970) “What is Taosim?” and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

12. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
Wu Wei, the Chuang Tzu says, ‘Do nothing, and everything will be done. And
it is very near to really meaning just that.
“The small man sacrifices himself in the pursuit of gain, the superior man
devotes his whole existence to the struggle for fame. Their reasons for
relinquishing the normal feelings of men and warping their natures are quite
different, but in that they abandon the proper human course and give over
their whole lives to a strange and unnatural endeavor, they are exactly the
same.
Therefore, it is said, ‘Do not be a small man, thus to destroy the very essence
of your being. And do not try to be a superior man, either. Follow the natural
course. No matter whether crooked or straight, look at all things in the light of
the great power of nature that resides within you. Look around you! Attune
yourself to the rhythm of the seasons. What difference whether it is called
‘right’ or ‘wrong’? Hold fast to the unfettered wholeness that is yours, carry out
your own ideas, bend only with the tao.” (p.4”)
Source: Creel, Herrlee G. (1970) “What is Taosim?” and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

13. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
“The Tao has no beginning or end.
Things die and are born, never resting in their culmination….Decay is followed
by growth, and fullness by emptiness; when there is an end, there is also a
beginning…
The existence of all creatures is like the galloping of a horse. With every
movement there is alteration; at every moment they are under-going change.”
(p. 27)
Source: Creel, Herrlee G. (1970) “What is Taosim?” and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

14. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via
QFD for
System Thinking
“All the various species of things transform into one another by the process of
variation in form.
Their beginning and ending is like an unbroken ring, of which it is impossible
to discover the principle?”
And a number of scholars have rendered the term Tao as ‘God’.” (p.29)
Source: Creel, Herrlee G. (1970) “What is Taosim?” and Other Studies in Chinese Cultural History, The
University of Chicago Press, Chicago.

15. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
This study highlights the ideas of “WuWei” (non-action):
minimizing force,
interference and
intervention, and
within the context of the Dao,
harmonizing oneself with the patterns and pulses of the cosmos (Nixon, 2006) to
complement with the findings of the cross-boundary interviews on GE.
Barrett (2011) mentioned that WuWei was first and foremost a special way of
comporting oneself in the world: more specifically, it was a form of action
distinguished by :
1) fine-tuned responsiveness or skill,
2) non-deliberative spontaneity,
3) effortless, and
4) enjoyment.
Yeung 2014

16. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
No flow with the flow was no longer for the purpose to ‘fit in’ but to transform or to
effect changes within, the system that one fitted in.
Fitting in thus became simultaneously the means and the needs itself for
transformation. In this case, the self in Daoism was a fractal itself, one that
potentially could seamlessly interweave its being with the affinitive systems, or
attractors in the world, whose organization was now recognized to transcend classic
dimensionality.
Yeung 2014

17. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
A “Yin” Thought – System” in which the particular capitulated to the demands of its
environment and ‘flows with the tao’ – WeWei then became literally ‘doing nothing’.
Images created through the enriched
image-making,
way-making,
world-creating, or
Dao-carving language that
should produce as much meaning –making ripples as it would be with any thought-
provoking flapping of the butterfly.
Yeung 2014

18. Six Sigma in Curriculum Design
QFD – Quality for Deployment /
HoD – House of Quality

19. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
“Sigma” is a symbol meaning how much deviation exists in a set of data. It is used to
identify the number of defects within the production process.
For service industries or social service organizations in relation to organization
culture, it can be interpreted as defects in working relationship and communication
that affect organizational performance.
Yeung 2014

20. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
Six Sigma to outline the requirements of internal customers – curriculum designers
and external customers – employers and accreditation bodies in supply chain
management (SCM) programme design to match the system thinking of
Six Sigma – SIPOC and the contents and activities expected from the community.
The matrix of House of Quality in Six Sigma can help reduce defects –
mismatch of deliverables.
Yeung 2014

21. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
When designing the House of Quality for matching the concepts of SIPOC
(Suppliers, Inputs, Processes, Outputs, Customers) of Six Sigma and the contents
of a supply-chain related module, the author has collected relevant data through
literature on WuWei and General Education, and interview with scholars on
curriculum design to increase reliability.
Yeung 2014

22. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization
via QFD for System Thinking
Yeung 2014
Curriculum Design with System Thinking & QFD :
Inputs –
Diversified learning experience
Processes -
Learning activities and assessments are coherent with support
from relevant departments, e.g. General Education
Outputs –
WuWei for spiritual development,
Current issues of SCM –
green and ethics for knowledge development.

23. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking
Yeung 2014
Eight qualitative interviews with scholars from Canada, the U.S.,
Malaysia, Macau, Hong Kong who have experience in GE
curriculum design; and literature on Daoism and Quantum skills
model, it is found that :
-The ideas of Daoism – WuWei (non-action) can be integrated with
subject-based module to increase the awareness of “connectivity”
for harmony and life-long innovation that is beneficial to
undergraduate students.
-In fact, this kind of cross-disciplinary design of curriculum for
harmony and life-long innovation is needed to meet the challenges
of the dynamic external environment

24. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD for
System Thinking
Spirituality with WuWei and real life activities with :
Inspiration,
Integration, and
Multi-disciplinary knowledge outside the classroom are recommended to develop :
A broad mindset for students to change and to generate innovation, for example,
Missionary trip,
Residential College life,
College-wide assembly,
Company visits with the use of Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma for process
improvement…etc.
Yeung 2014

25. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD for
System Thinking
House of Quality
Aim #1 –
Contextualization of Contents ( from Literature Review and Interview Results)
SIPOC
Suppliers – Faculty with knowledge and practice of WuWei
Inputs - College mission with quality concepts
Processes – Faculty and supporting staff with system thinking, lean Six Sigma,
green mindset of service delivery to streamline operational processes
Outputs – Economic returns with increase in total revenue in green services
delivery
Customers - Learners with sustained learning outcomes serving
the community
Yeung 2014

26. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD for
System Thinking
Yeung 2014
House of Quality
Aim #2 – Spirituality of WuWei
SIPOC
Suppliers – Department of General Education (Generic) for Daoism
Inputs - Current SCM Issues with arguments on green,
ethics, transformation..etc.
e.g. toxic substances in children garment of LV
Processes – Engage experienced faculty from Dept. of GE and
SCM for team teaching to highlight the importance of
educating staff with responsibility in managing issues
in SCM
Outputs – The level of system thinking l can be enhanced with cross
disciplinary knowledge
Customers - Holistic system thinking and lean six sigma concept will be
developed via paper of this kind

27. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking

28. Linking WuWei (Daoism) with Contextualization via QFD
for System Thinking

29. Progression from
Lower to Higher
Order Skills
Acknowledgement: Jessica YING, BA in Arch. Studies (2014)
Diversified Inputs
(SIPOC of Six Sigma)
Contextualization -
State of Path (WuWei)
(Doing nothing but
transforming into one another
by the process of variation in
form)
Model of Contextualization with QFD/ System thinking for
Sustainable Curriculum

30. Thank youThank you
forfor
Your Patient ListeningYour Patient Listening
Any Questions?Any Questions?