I have helped develop and promote the Behavior Based Quality approach because of my belief that having a strong positive Quality Culture is good for business and generally good for the human condition. I believe that deep-down people truly want to do what is right. It is just “other stuff” that gets in their way.

Recap on part 1 and part 2 before reading this article.

How Do We Stop People Behaving In An At Risk Quality Manner? Punish Them?

Some approaches to Quality management are focused and reliant on fear, use of authority and punishment. These approaches often focus on the discipline and punishment to discourage at risk Quality behavior while Quality behavior is often largely ignored.

This often results in the opposite intended effect. People become afraid to report issues to management or to identify or focus on them. This is because it results in a potential disciplinary type action. Consequently less at risk Quality issues are reported and an increase in the occurrence of minor and major Quality incidents.

As a result of this increase management tend put greater focus on punishment and discipline and this compounds the issue. In the short-term discipline and punishment can sometimes have the intended effect on improving the behavior but more often in the long-term it does not.

Consistency of Application

The effectiveness of discipline and punishment is dependent on its consistency of application. It only works if given immediately and every single time an at risk Quality behavior occurs. It is clear that punishing someone every time they behave in an at risk Quality manner is a very difficult thing to do. More resources are required to enforce this but also because at risk Quality behavior will not always be seen by those that are enforcing the discipline.

This means that those the soon, certain and positive reinforcers gained from behaving in an at risk Quality manner (remember people do what the feel works for them) will gain the upper hand on any uncertain, late negative reinforcers received from punishment.

How Do We Stop People Behaving In An At Risk Quality Manner? Reward Them?

So how can you ensure that the reinforcers for Quality behavior outweigh the at risk Quality reinforcers? People tend to respond to more praise and social approval than criticism and social disapproval. Think of motivational speakers, motivational sporting leaders and children.

Try taking a critical approach with children and see what happens? They will either withdraw into themselves and close up or you have a battle on your hands. The same is true with people in the working environment. It make sense, therefore, to make use of this fact and to praise and reward people for Quality behavior. In my experience this is very rarely done and is a huge untapped source of motivation for many companies.

I have seen systems that link events to points and points turn into rewards. I have seen other systems where overall nominations are proposed by peers and managers for individuals and teams and awards are presented at Quarterly meeting in the form of a Q-Award. This constant focus on positive reinforcement has led to strengthening of a positive Quality Culture due to increased trust and confidence between management and workforce resulting in a reduction in at risk Quality Behavior.

Where To From Here?

We know that focusing on people’s Quality behavior will bring about the desired positive changes and that attitude changes follow behavioral changes. Change the behavior then you change the attitude. We know that social approval and encouragement can bring about positive changes in Quality culture. We know that the workforce is best placed to redefine their Quality norms as they control their own behavior.

It follows, therefore, that any Quality improvement initiative which relies always exclusively on management efforts is less likely to be as successful as one that empowers and enables the workforce itself.

I could not post this article without drawing attention to what has recently taken place at Volkswagen. A different industry but most definitely a Quality issue that allowed cars to pass tests that should not have passed tests. The root cause of the issue is not known at this point but most likely decisions were consciously made to work around the tests.

I believe that had BBQ been used in the area in question prior to the events unfolding that senior management would have learned a lot more about the culture and behaviors in the area and could have prevented what subsequently unfolded.

Tune in Next Week

In my Final Article I will cover the BBQ process itself and the steps involved in implementing it in your company.