Who created the plan, do, check, and act cycle for process improvement?

• A. Walter Shewhart
• B. W. Edwards Deming
• C. Joseph Juran
• D. Philip Crosby

Answer: (A)

The idea being tested is who first introduced the Plan-Do-Check-Act cycle as a method for continuous improvement. Walter A. Shewhart created this cycle to help manage and improve processes, outlining steps to plan a change, implement it on a small scale, study the results, and then act on what’s learned—adjusting or standardizing based on evidence. While W. Edwards Deming later popularized and advocated the cycle (often calling it PDSA), the attribution for creating the cycle goes to Shewhart. The other figures contributed important quality-management ideas, but they did not originate this cycle.