Abstract

Alfred North Whitehead greatly influenced the first set of authors of works regarding quality and, in turn, modern quality professionals. His "process-relational philosophy," in which the world operates according to interrelated processes, and his take on how humans perceive things around them are foundational works for follow-on quality authors and rich with insight into how organizations operate. Whitehead regarded the improvement of organizations' processes as being rooted in a decision to wade into the complexity and regard each encountered thing as a piece of the puzzle while simultaneously pointing out that any conclusions reached, any 'solution' to the puzzle, could only be regarded as temporary.