An Introduction To Behavior Based Quality

An Introduction to Behavior Based Quality (BBQ) Part 1
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.
Quality Needs To Follow Safetys

Lead
Industry has done a tremendous job in improving safety. This has been hugely helped by
the use of Behavioral Based Safety. Behavior based Quality is predicated on behavioral
based safety and was first conceived as an idea in March 2007 when I attended a
Quarterly Operations review at a Covidien site in Galway, Ireland. We were reviewing
safety data and the presenter was being congratulated for the number of safety
observations and opportunities to improve and that over time were increasing. The
general feeling around the table was that great progress was being made and that this
was a good thing.
I could not help thinking that if a member of the Quality team got up to present the fact
that the number of opportunities for Quality improvement were increasing that the
question would be asked Why are we getting worse and what is the plan to addressed
the poor performance? It became clear to me that a no blame and more mature
approach to quality improvement and opportunities was required if companies were to
emulate the success of safety improvements in the quality area. Uncovering and finding
better ways improve safety or quality should be supported and encouraged and seen as
a big positive for an organization.
Not Always Employees Poor

Attention to Detail
Many companies have spent much time and effort improving Quality. This is usually
addressed by improved systems, remediation plans and training. Over time these
usually produce improvements. However, in many cases a trend of underlying Quality
issues persist. They often appear resistant to all efforts at removing them.
Many of these get attributed to employees poor attention to detail or quality behavior
but most of these are triggered by deeply ingrained at risk quality Behavior. Behavioral
based quality addressed these by making use of proven management techniques which
almost always result in positive step change in Quality Performance and Quality
attitudes.
80% of Quality Incidents

Triggered By Risk
Although there is no hard data published to support it I believe based on my experience
that greater than 80% of all quality incidents are triggered by at risk quality behaviors.
Because BBQ focuses on particular sets of at risk quality behaviors, people tend to be
more aware of their potential to cause quality issues. In turn this gives people the
mechanisms by which they can control their own Quality Behavior and that of their
colleagues.
Risk Quality Behavior

Focusing on risk quality behavior also provides a much better index of ongoing Quality
performance than incident rates for two reasons. Firstly, incident rates are the end
result of a causal sequence that is usually triggered by an at risk quality behavior.
Secondly, at risk quality behaviors can be measured in a meaningful way on a daily
basis.
Prevention is Better Than Cure

By focusing on the at risk quality behavior you are therefore focusing in a proactive and
preventative manner rather than a traditional reactive manner. This reactive manner
typically means companies look at the negative lagging Quality trends and only react
when a limit is broken or dramatic rise in incidents occur. When the issue appears to be
under control or resolved, managements attention and resources are diverted to other
more pressing issues until such time as the incident rate rises once again, and so on.
This is regularly referred to as fire fighting. As a result the focus tends to be reactive
rather than proactive.
The Takeaway
Because Quality Behavior is the unit of measurement, a collaborative, problem-solving

approach involving management and employees is adopted to identify a set of Critical
to Quality (CTQ) and at risk quality (AR) behaviors in the form of a list or inventory.
These become the basis for employees to systemically monitor and observe their
colleagues on-going Quality Behavior, on a daily basis, in an empowering environment.
Using the first few weeks of peer monitoring the employees set their Quality
Improvement Targets (QITs). Information feedback is then provided on a weekly basis to
allow the workgroups to track their progress in reaching QITs. Companies that adopt
this approach are usually rewarded by fewer Quality incidents, consistent Quality
Management, Improved compliance, better communication and greater employee
involvement and engagement. These all result in improved business and bottom line
profits.
Part-2
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.
Before you dive into this article you can read Part 1 by clicking this link.
Why do people behave in an at risk quality Manner?
Generally, people do what works for them. In many cases they may not have had a
Quality Incident as a result of doing their job in an at risk quality way. This may be
true but over time the risks stack up against you. Heinrichs triangle although
specific for safety related issues suggest that for every 330 unsafe acts, 29 will
result in minor injuries and 1 in a Major or lost time incident.
I believe that a parallel can be drawn in Quality terms that for every 330 at risk
quality acts, 29 will result in minor non-conformances/compliance issues and 1
Major product recall/compliance issue. Having trended such issues in the past I
believe the correlation of 300 to 30 to 1 is about right.
Overtime the greater number of at risk quality Behaviors that you accumulated the
greater the probability that minor and eventually major issues will occur. People
behave in an at risk quality Behavior for a number of reasons. Examples that I have
seen are;
Workflow when more steps are introduced without

consideration to adding additional time to complete the
steps
Additional checks added with no additional time to
complete them
Line managers ignoring bad practice
Increased product demands
Steps that should be completed in a process are having
other negative impacts on the operator and this is not
understood at the time. The operator stops performing
the required steps because of these negative impacts.
Fear of disciplinary action for at risk behavior events
Generally the reasons for the at risk quality behavior reveal themselves during the
ABCD analysis phase of BBQ.
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How do you stop people behaving in a risk quality manner?

When incidents are identified in Non-Conforming reports or Internal Audit reports or
other sources they tend not to focus on the behavioral aspect of the issue. Often
they point to training or a system issue without going into the people aspect. This
often results in renewed Quality slogans, Campaigns or retraining to address and
bring about change in peoples attitudes to Quality.
The link from attitude change to behavior change is very weak. This can be
explained by the fact that a single attitude comprises of at least three components.
Thinking (cognitive), feeling (emotional) and the intention to the act (commitment).
In addition a single attitude is usually linked with a set of other related attitudes.
To change ones attitude you need to target each component of each linked attitude
for all employees and this becomes an enormous and next to impossible challenge.
Positive Quality Behavior change can then lead to new belief
Thankfully the link from Behavior change to attitude change is much stronger. If you
consciously change your behavior you also tend to re-adjust the associated attitude
and belief systems that fit the new behavior. This is because people tend to resolve
any conflict/discrepancy between their new behavior and attitude in an attempt to
align them. They want to reduce the tension caused by the mismatch between their
new behavior and old attitude.
Positive Quality Behavior change can then lead to new belief and attitudes that
underline and support the new set of behaviors. An example of this is an Oxygen
sensor that was manufactured at a Tyco Healthcare facility that I worked in. One of
the biggest issues we had in terms of in house scrap (circa 10%) was air bubbles in
the silicon window that took the Oxygen level reading. I demonstrated that the
bubbles made no difference to the performance of the device and spoke with and
showed the operators the data. A scrap target of less than 1% was agreed and this
was exceeded within a week.
The new norm reflected the fact that air bubbles were not an issue and this aligned
with the new agreed scrap rate target. There were no complaints from the customer
base and this was also shared with operators to help with the reinforcing of the new
norm.
Positive reinforcement brought about by peer pressure
An additional factor that enhances attitude change by focusing on behavior is the
positive reinforcement brought about by peer pressure. Psychologists have known
for some time that group acceptance demands conformity to the groups behavioral
and attitudinal norm.
If a working group adopts the thinking and norm that quality focus and standards
is best for all concerned then the group as a whole will tend to apply social
sanctions to the individual who deviates from this norm and behaves in an at risk
quality manner. If people wish to remain part of the social fabric of the group they
soon revert back to quality focus and standards.
Part-3
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 peoples 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.

An Introduction To Behavior Based Quality

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An Introduction To Behavior Based Quality

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An Introduction to Behavior Based Quality (BBQ) Part 1

Quality Needs To Follow Safetys

Not Always Employees Poor

80% of Quality Incidents

Risk Quality Behavior

Prevention is Better Than Cure

Because Quality Behavior is the unit of measurement, a collaborative, problem-solving

Workflow when more steps are introduced without

How do you stop people behaving in a risk quality manner?

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

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