Introduction Improvement in the productivity and performance of many organizations in both public and private sectors remains to be a desirable goal. Over the decades, many scholars have attempted to come up with ideas that can assist organizations to systematically and sustainably improve their performance. One American scholar who has made a major contribution in the field of management is William Deming. This statistician and theorist came up with a management method that placed great emphasis on quality management through constant improvement efforts. Deming encouraged the use of analytical tools in the quality management process. The positive impact of his work on organizations has made Deming to be considered as one of the most influential management theorists. This paper will set out to provide a brief overview on William Deming and highlight his contribution to public administration. Brief Overview of William Deming William Deming was born in October 1900 to well-educated parents who stressed on the importance of a good education to the young Deming. Deming completed his high school education and joined the University of Wyoming, where he studied electrical engineering. By 1928, Deming had completed his Doctorate program in mathematics and physics at the Yale University. Deming started applying statistical methods to management in the late 1920s following his association with Walter Andrew Shewhart, who was a renowned statistician (Wolf 211). The statistical process employed by Deming was first tried out on a large scale in Japan. After the Second World War, Deming visited Japan as part of the American led reconstruction effort. He taught statistical control to engineers, managers, and scholars and these methods were implemented with great success in the country (Wolf 212) By applying Deming’s techniques, Japanese manufacturers were able to produce products of high quality leading to global demand for these products. This led to Japan emerging as a global leader in manufacturing. Many Western countries were eager to try out these methods for themselves. As such, Deming’s ideas on quality management have been tested in many organizations in Western countries. Prakash declares that results of these empirical tests are overwhelmingly positive thus supporting Deming’s quality management theory (41). Deming proclaimed that his theory of Quality Management can “apply to a service organization with little modification” (49). The Service organizations that Deming had in mind included public sector organizations. Prakash confirms that while manufacturing companies were the first to exploit Deming’s ideas to respond to competitive challenges, many service organizations and government departments have tried to use these ideas (42). Contribution to Public Administration Interpretations of Deming’s work have been used in a wide array of organizational settings. His works have also been used successfully in public sector organizations. For this reason Deming, though his 14 points of management, has made significant contributions to public administration. The first major contribution by Deming is from his emphasis on Quality Management. Deming promoted T