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Industrial Engineering in Toyota Motors – Production System (TPS)
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Industrial Engineering - Introduction
There is a difference between industrial engineering and engineering management. Now both these programs are run by IE departments only in USA. IE is better described as engineering in response to industry data, economic theories, social science theories, and management requirements etc. Engineering has to be core of industrial engineering. It is done in response to industry generated data. Basic engineering is driven by scientific and technical development. Industrial engineering is response to industry data that is generated in using basic engineering output. Cost data and human factor related data are two important data which find a significant role in industrial engineering. Work measurement and productivity measurement were developed within industrial engineering as useful measurements in industrial engineering design. Industrial engineering is very valuable. That is what Taiichi Ohno and Shigeo Shingo proved in Toyota after a period of IE successes in USA. Japanese practitioners of IE made significant contributions to industrial engineering.
Innovation is the daily activity of industrial engineers. They have to come out with redesigns and convince their colleagues as well as top managers to use them. Ideas are to be identified or created and their economic value has to be demonstrated. Solutions are to be implemented and customer satisfaction has to be ensured.
Industrial Engineering - Definitions
Industrial engineering directs the efficient conduct of manufacturing, construction, transportation, or even commercial enterprises of any undertaking, indeed in which human labor is directed to accomplishing any kind of work . Industrial engineering has drawn upon mechanical engineering, upon economics, sociology, psychology, philosophy, accountancy, to fuse from these older sciences a distinct body of science of its own . It is the inclusion of the economic and the human elements especially that differentiates industrial engineering from the older established branches of the profession (Going, 1911) [1].
“Industrial engineering is the engineering approach applied to all factors, including the human factor, involved in the production and distribution of products or services.” (Maynard, 1953) [2]
“Industrial engineering is the design of situations for the useful coordination of men, materials and machines in order to achieve desired results in an optimum manner. The unique characteristics of Industrial Engineering center about the consideration of the human factor as it is related to the technical aspects of a situation, and the integration of all factors that influence the overall situation.” (Lehrer, 1954) [3]
“Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, improvement, and installation of integrated systems of men, materials, and equipment. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems.” (AIIE, 1955). [4]
"Industrial engineering may be defined as the art of utilizing scientific principles, psychological data, and physiological information for designing, improving, and integrating industrial, management, and human operating procedures." (Nadler, 1955) [5]
“Industrial engineering is that branch of engineering knowledge and practice which
1. Analyzes, measures, and improves the method of performing the tasks assigned to individuals,
2. Designs and installs better systems of integrating tasks assigned to a group,
3. Specifies, predicts, and evaluates the results obtained.
It does so by applying to materials, equipment and work specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical and physical sciences and the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design. Since, however, work has to be carried out by people; engineering knowledge needs to be supplemented by knowledge derived from the biological and social sciences.” (Lyndall Urwick, 1963) [6]
"Industrial engineering is concerned with the design, improvement and installation of integrated systems of people, materials, information, equipment and energy. It draws upon specialized knowledge and skill in the mathematical, physical, and social sciences together with the principles and methods of engineering analysis and design, to specify, predict, and evaluate the results to be obtained from such systems." [7]
"Industrial engineering is an art for creating the most efficient system composed of people, matters, energy, and information, by which a specific goal in industrial, economic, or social activities will be achieved within predetermined probabilities and accuracy. The system may be for a small single work station, a group, a section, a department, an institution or for a whole business enterprise. It may be also be of a regional, national, international, or inter-planetary scope."(Sawada, 1977) [8]
“Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering. It is an engineering discipline that deals with the design of human effort in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved.” (Narayana Rao, 2006) [9]
"Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering and System Efficiency Engineering. It is an engineering discipline that deals with the design of human effort and system efficiency in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved."(Narayana Rao, 2009) [10]
Total Industrial Engineering is "a system of methods where the performance of labor is maximized by reducing Muri (unnatural operation), Mura (irregular operation) and Muda (non-value added operation), and then separating labor from machinery through the use of sensor techniques." (Yamashina)
"Industrial Engineering is Human Effort Engineering and System Efficiency Engineering. It is an engineering-based management staff-service discipline that deals with the design of human effort and system efficiency in all occupations: agricultural, manufacturing and service. The objectives of Industrial Engineering are optimization of productivity of work-systems and occupational comfort, health, safety and income of persons involved."(Narayana Rao, 2011) [Added to this knol (blog post) on 14.9.2011]
References
1. Going, Charles Buxton, Principles of Industrial Engineering, McGraw-Hill Book Company, New York, 1911, Pages 1,2,3
3. Lehrer, Robert N., “The Nature of Industrial Engineering,” The Journal of Industrial Engineering, vol.5, No.1, January 1954, Page 4
4. Maynard, H.B., Handbook of Industrial Engineering, 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill, New York, 1963.
5. Nadler, Gerald, Motion and Time Study", McGraw-Hill Book Company, Inc., New York, 1955
6. Urwick, Lyndall, F., “Development of Industrial Engineering”, Chapter 1 in Handbook of Industrial Engineering, H.B. Maynard (Ed.), 2nd Edition, McGraw Hill, New York, 1963.
7. http://www.iienet2.org/Details.aspx?id=282
8. Sawada, P.N., "A Concept of Industrial Engineering," International Journal of Production Research, Vol 15, No. 6, 1977, Pp. 511-22.
9. Narayana Rao, K.V.S.S., “Definition of Industrial Engineering: Suggested Modification.” Udyog Pragati, October-December 2006, Pp. 1-4.
10. Narayana Rao K.V.S.S., Industrial Engineering
Industrial Engineering and Supporting Science
Industrial engineering is based on science. It is based scientific theories developed by examining the work of machines and men in practical applications in delivering outputs using engineering processes.
Develop a science for each element of a man - machine system's work related to efficiency and productivity.
The productivity science developed is the foundation for industrial engineering in productivity engineering and productivity management phases.
Industrial Engineering is a Management Function
Industrial engineering (IE) discipline emerged out of the involvement of engineers in management of engineering departments. It is management function. Henry Towne in a 1886 paper, presented in ASME called for learning of economics, management, cost accounting and cost reduction by engineers. Frederick Taylor identified the short coming in the shop management that engineers really do not understand how operators are using machines or hand tools. It is not proper management of manufacturing activity. Taylor came with the theory that managers have to know how work is to be done by operators and must have the capability to train them. Managers have to specify standard operating procedures. Taylor used time study as the tool to identify the best practices or methods being used by operators (mechanic arts) at that point in time and based on them developed standard operating procedures for human effort that improved productivity. Along with it, Taylor developed theory of various machine work methods, conducted experiments and came out with improvements in machine work and thus increased man-machine system productivity. Gilbreth came with a different approach of developing micro motions used by operators to carry any activity. He developed optimal methods by removing certain non-value adding micro motions and specifying more optimal micro motions. Harrington Emerson, developed principles of efficiency for manufacturing organizations.
Within the management functions its present focus of industrial engineering is on the improvement of efficiency of products, processes and systems and design of work done by operators.
In certain companies, IE department was made a part of management services department which was appropriate. Management accounting, Management controls, Management audit, Industrial engineering and some more such similar functions can be organized under management services departments. Such a departmentation clearly recognizes that these sections or functions are functions of management assisting management in planning, organizing and directing resources. Productivity services department was also in existence in some companies. In the recent days, there was trend to start operational excellence departments and industrial engineers are being employed in them.
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Explanation for the Words "Industrial" and "Engineering" in Industrial Engineering
Difference between Pure Engineering and Industrial Engineering
Pure Engineering creates technical products and processes that produce them, inspect them, operate them and service them.
Industrial Engineering is engaged in evaluation and further improvement of the technical products and processes created by the pure engineers so that at the price offered by the customers to buy a specified quantity of production, profit is made by the firm through resource use minimization and through further iterations over the life cycle of the product, profit is further increased.
That is why Taiichi Ohno termed it Profit engineering
Target costing developed in Japan best explains the role of industrial engineering in new product introduction.
IE techniques are primarily used for improving technical processes and managerial processes of technical processes (planning, organizing, resourcing, executing and controlling of technical tasks and processes) for increasing productivity. All IE pioneers worked in engineering concerns. They improved technical processes as well as managerial methods and processes used to manage technical processes.
F.W. Taylor improved metal cutting processes, machines, and management of machine shop. He recommended functional management scheme for the machine shop.
Gilbreth improved bricklaying process by making changes in techniques. Then he proceeded to make fatigue studies to decide the speed at which workers can function without fatigue and also time.
As an augmented activity, IE is applied to business processes and managerial activities related to business processes. With the development of information technology, industrial engineers with focus on information technology have made significant contribution to business process improvement.
The emphasis on engineering tasks is the engineering component of industrial engineering. Emphasis on making products profitable is the explanation for the term "industrial". Technical products are made commercial products or industrial products by IEs by reducing their costs below the prices quoted by potential consumers and still further reducing the costs by eliminating wastes so that profit is maximized through increase in sales (due to lower prices) as well as reduction in unit costs.
The basis for reduction of costs is better explained by value engineering. A potential customer quotes a price for a new product by the services it provides to him and by comparison to the prices that he is paying for current equipment that he is using. So for reducing the costs of a proposed product to bring it in line with customer's quote, industrial engineers have to study the architecture of the current products being used by potential customers. They need to get ideas for redesigning the proposed product by understanding how the required functions are being provided by the existing products being currently used. In investigating the product, the processes being used for producing them also come into investigation.
Industrial engineering is concerned with redesign of engineering systems with a view to improve their productivity. Industrial engineers analyze productivity of each resource used in engineering systems and redesign as necessary to improve productivity.
It has to be ensured that the increase in productivity due to the use of low-cost materials, processes and increasing speed of machines and men, should not lead to any decrease in quality of the output.
1908 – The industrial engineering department at Penn State wa founded by Hugo Diemer, a pioneer in the field. James Gunn coined the term “industrial engineering” in 1900 to describe the fusion of the engineer who understands production costs, analyzes them and reduces them. Diemer was named the first head of the department.
The fusion created by Taylor, Gilbreth, Emerson, Diemer and Going is the efficiency improvement of engineering systems to make projects viable and prosperous.
Functions and Focus Areas of Industrial Engineering
Functions and focus areas are discussed in the following article and the lists are shown in pictures..
Principles of Industrial Engineering - Taylor - Narayana Rao
Presentation by Narayana Rao on 23 May 2017 at IISE 2017 Annual Conference - Pittsburgh
Professor Narayana Rao developed Principles of Industrial Engineering in July 2016 and presented them in two conferences. The detailed set of principles were presented in the 2017 IISE Annual Conference held in Pittsburgh, USA. The paper is included in the proceedings of the conference.
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Narayana Rao
Basic Principles of Industrial Engineering - Narayana Rao
1. Develop science for each element of a man - machine system's work related to efficiency and productivity.
2. Engineer methods, processes and operations to use the laws related to the work of machines, man, materials and other resources.
3. Select or assign workmen based on predefined aptitudes for various types of man - machine work.
4. Train workmen, supervisors, and engineers in the new methods.
5. Incorporate suggestions of operators, supervisors and engineers in the methods redesign on a continuous basis.
6. Plan and manage productivity at system level.
(Principles developed by Narayana Rao based on principles of scientific management by F.W. Taylor on 4 July 2016.) Detailed List of Principles - Presented at IISE 2017 Annual Conference at Pittsburgh on 23 May 2017.
1. Productivity science
2. Productivity engineering
3. Industrial Engineering is applicable to all branches of engineering
4. Principles of machine utilization economy to be developed for all resources used in engineering systems.
5. Industrial engineering optimization
6. Industrial engineering economics
7. Implementation team membership and leadership
8. Human effort engineering for increasing productivity
9. Principles of motion economy to be used in all IE studies in the area of human effort engineering
10. Operator comfort and health are to be taken care of.
11. Work measurement
12. Selection of operators
13. Training of operators, supervisors and engineers
14. Productivity training and education to all
15. Employee involvement in continuous improvement of processes and products for productivity improvement.
16. Productivity incentives
17. Hearty cooperation
18. Productivity Management
19. System level focus for productivity
20. Productivity measurement
21. Cost measurement
Levels ofIndustrial Engineering in an Organization
Policy Decisions by Top Management: Starting and Expanding IE Department, Approval of Productivity Improvement Project Portfolio as part of Capital Budgeting of the Company, Approving Productivity Policy, Setting Productivity and Cost Reduction Goals. Setting Employee related comfort, health and safety goals. Incentive income policy making.
Facilities are used by processes. Facilities are common to processes. Taylor clearly mentioned in his "Piece Rates - Elementary Rate Fixing System" paper that he has to make modifications to all machines to increase productivity of his machine shop. Toyota even today carries out gradual improvements to the machines in the direction of autonomation. Machines are continuously improved. Period layout studies and readjustments are another example of facilities industrial engineering. 5S that demands upkeep of facilities is another example of facilities IE when it is implemented for the first time and proposed and initiated by the IE department. Thereafter it becomes the activity of operations management.
Process Industrial Engineering - Process Machine Effort Industrial Engineering - Process Human Effort Industrial Engineering.
Process industrial engineering is the popular method of industrial engineering. But, the process chart method was promoted by Motion Study books. The machine effort industrial engineering, that is improvement of machine effort, that was done by Taylor primarily to increase productivity got neglected in the evolution of industrial engineering. It is a weakness to be corrected to make IE a strong discipline.
Process chart is a condensed version that show the entire process of producing a full product and the production of each part. The process chart is composed by symbols representing 5 operations. Operation - Inspection - Transport - Temporary Delay (WIP) - Permanent Storage (controlled store). Using process chart, the sequence of operations can be investigated and changed for more benefit. But each operation needs to be improved. It is termed simplification in process chart analysis. To do simplification information on each operation has to be collected in operation information sheets and they have to be analyzed in operation analysis sheets (Stegemerten and Maynard)
Elements are in Operations - We can understand the term "element" from the subject "Design of Machine Elements". Each engineering product has elements. Similarly each operation, that is part of a process has elements. Some are related to machines and tools used in the process. Some are related to human operators. Some are related to working conditions. Some are related to the work being done. Taylor first named the productivity department as "Elementary Rate Fixing Department." It has to improve each and every element in task and determine the output possible for unit time in the work element. The time allowed for that element for a piece or batch is determined through these elementary standard times or allowed times.
Industrial Engineering in Various Functions of a Business/Industrial Organization
Industrial engineering is primarily applied in engineering departments of organizations. But as productivity is a relevant issues in other departments, application of industrial engineering is available in other departments also.
Logistical Systems Industrial Engineering (Truck, Rail, Air and Ship Transport related Industrial Engineering) (Suggested B. Venkateswara Rao, FaceBook)
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Defining Marketing for the New Realities - Important Points
Skillful marketing is a never-ending pursuit.
What Is Marketing?
Marketing is about identifying and meeting human and social needs.
The American Marketing Association offers the following formal definition: Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.
Marketing management "The art and science of choosing target markets and getting, keeping, and growing customers through creating, delivering, and communicating superior customer value."
Social definition: Marketing is a societal process by which individuals and groups obtain what they need and want through creating, offering, and freely exchanging products and services of value with others.
The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. Ideally, marketing should result in a customer who is ready to buy. All that should be needed then is to make the product or service available. - Peter Drucker.
Marketers market 10 main types of entities: goods, services, events, experiences, persons, places, properties, organizations, information, and ideas.
A marketer is someone who seeks a response—attention, a purchase, a vote, a donation—from another party, called the prospect. If two parties are seeking to sell something to each other, we call them both marketers.
Needs, Wants, and Demands
Needs are the basic human requirements such as for air, food, water, clothing, and shelter. Humans also have strong needs for recreation, education, and entertainment. These needs become wants when directed to specific objects that might satisfy the need. Demands are wants for specific products backed by an ability to pay. Many people want a Mercedes; only a few can buy one.
A value proposition is a set of benefits that satisfy needs. The value proposition is made physical by an offering, which can be a combination of products, services, information, and experiences. A brand is an offering from a known source.
The buyer chooses the offerings he or she perceives to deliver the most value, the sum of the tangible and intangible benefits and costs. Value is an important and central marketing concept. It is primarily a combination of quality, service, and price. Value perceptions increase with quality and service but decrease with price.
Digital Transformation Comes Down to Talent in 4 Key Areas
by Thomas H. Davenport and Thomas C. Redman
May 21, 2020
Assembling the right team of technology, data, and process people who can work together — with a strong leader who can bring about change — may be the single most important step that a company contemplating digital transformation can take.
Process management for effectiveness is to be done horizontally, across existing departments (silos), with output focused on customers. Still many organizations find it difficult to reconcile the new approach with traditional hierarchical thinking. As a result, this powerful concept has languished. https://hbr.org/2020/05/digital-transformation-comes-down-to-talent-in-4-key-areas
Prjects and Programs launch and acceleration phase
4. Start with lighthouse projects (projects that offer potential for significant rewards with manageable risk)
5. Appoint a high-caliber launch team
6. Organize to promote new, agile ways of working
7. Nurture a digital culture
Scaling up phase
At 18-months pilot phase, time to scale up up arrives.
8. Sequence initiatives for quick returns
9. Build capabilities
10. Adopt a new operating model
Digital Leadership Principles
Subhinder Dhillon
Capgemini
2015
Customer is King
Have Plan A, B and C Ready.
Digitalisation with Representation
Ecosystem Control (Participation)
Business with Technology (24/7 business)
Data as Lifeblood (Or at least a new material of the business out of which products and services are made)
Channels of Choice (As per the desires of the customer)
Innovation Never Sleeps https://www.capgemini.com/2015/06/how-successful-leaders-secure-benefits-from-digital-transformation-8-0/
The critical decisions occur in the four phases of a successful digital transformation program:
Discovering the ambition for the business based on where value is migrating
Designing a transformation program that targets profitable customer journeys
Delivering the change through an ecosystem of partners
De-risking the transformation process to maximize the chances of success
In each decision, the CEO has a role, from modeling, visualizing and approving the new system to efforts to bring in new behavior in organization that is in tune with the change in strategy.
Important Decisions
1: Where the business should go
2: Who will lead the effort
3: How to ‘sell’ the vision to key stakeholders
4: Where to position the firm within the digital ecosystem
5: How to decide during the transformation
6: How to allocate funds rapidly and dynamically
7: What to do when
Digital Transformation Rules
Six IT Design Rules for Digital Transformation
Break boundaries across IT stacks.
Embrace DevOps
Be open.
Incorporate policy engines.
Induce insights
Insist on user-friendly experiences and tools.
Six IT Design Rules for Digital Transformation
July 19, 2017 Bain Brief
http://www.bain.com/publications/articles/six-IT-design-rules-for-digital-transformation.aspx
15 Rules for Winning During the Age of Digital Transformation
Identification of Performance Behaviors
Measurement of the Behavior
Functional Analysis of the Behavior
Development of Intervention Strategy
Evaluation to ensure Performance
The whole text on organizational behavior is concerned with the what and how of managing and leading people for high performance in today's organizations.
Organizational behavior is a science that explains how people behave. In a changing world, the science of behavior must remain the bedrock, the starting place for every decision we make, every new technology we apply, and every initiative we employ in our efforts to bring out the best in people.
In this chapter, an over view of learning theory and principles are first discussed as they act as the foundation for presenting the behavioral management practice.
Learning Process - Change in Behavior
All organizational behavior is either directly or indirectly affected by learning. For example, a worker's skill, a manager's attitude, an assistant's motivation, or a doctor's mode of dress are all learned. Hence managers of organizational behavior have to understand the learning mechanisms to guide employees to change their behavior. Learning is defined as change in behavior.
In learning theories, behavioristic theories, cognitive theories, social learning and social cognitive learning theories are discussed in the chapter. Classical conditioning and operant conditioning are behavioristic theories.
In operant conditioning, the organism must operate on the environment in a right way or appropriate way to get the desired reward.
Working is the operation a worker has to do to get food clothing and shelter for himself and his family.
Cognitive Learning
Tolman proposed cognitive learning.
Kohler discovered insight learning (insight is not based on experience)
Social Learning
Learning takes place via vicarious, or modeling, and self-control processes.
Behavioral Dimension Performance Management Process
1. Identification of Performance Behaviors
Critical behavior that contribute to job performance in the organization are to be identified
2. Measurement of the Behavior
A baseline measure is obtained by determining by observing or by analysis of records the number of times the identified behavior is occurring or not occurring.
3. Functional Analysis of the Behavior
A functional analysis identifies both the antecedents (A) and consequences (C) of the target behavior (B), or simply stated, an A-B-C analysis is performed.
The antecedent cues that emit or elicit the behavior, and sometimes control it, and the consequences that are currently maintaining the behavior must be identified and understood before an effective intervention strategy can be developed. If the employee cannot do the behavior even if he wants to do it, then intervention has to be in antecedent variables. If the employee can do but not doing it, then the intervention has to be in consequence variables.
4. Development of Intervention Strategy
The strategies to be used strengthen functional behaviors and weaken dysfunctional behaviors are positive reinforcement and punishment-positive reinforcement.
Under positive control, people come to work in order to be recognized for making a contribution to their department's goal of perfect attendance, and they keep busy irrespective of the supervisor's presence to receive incentive pay or recognition
If punishment is to be used or used, the supervisor must take the first opportunity to positively reinforce the alternative behavior.
5. Evaluation to ensure Performance
Kirkpatrick's four levels of evaluation to a behavior modification initiative are important. They are reaction, learning, behavioral change, and performance improvement.
Step 1: Identification of Performance Behaviors
The goal of the first step of O.B. Mod. is to identify the critical behaviors—the 5 to 10 percent of the behaviors that may account for up to 70 or 80 percent of the performance in the area in question.
The process of identifying critical behaviors can be carried out in a couple of ways. One approach is to have the person closest to the job in question—the immediate supervisor or the actual jobholder—determine the critical behaviors. Another approach to identifying critical behaviors would be to conduct a systematic behavioral audit by internal staff specialists and/or outside consultants. The audit would systematically analyze each job in question, in the manner that jobs are analyzed using job analysis techniques commonly employed in human resource management. In this approach the jobholder, his immediate supervisor, and others related provide inputs.
Regardless of the method used, there are certain guidelines that can be helpful in identifying critical behaviors. First, only direct performance behaviors are included. Only direct performance behaviors such as absenteeism or attendance, tardiness or promptness, or, most importantly, doing or not doing a particular task or procedure that leads to quantity and/or quality outcomes play the major role in O.B. Mod. The behavior has to be measurable such as not being at the workstation, being tardy when returning from breaks, spending time at the water cooler, disrupting coworkers, playing computer
games or surfing for personal reasons, and even socializing with coworkers face-to-face or
with others online. However, for a behavior to be identified as a critical behavior appropriate for O.B. Mod., there must be a positive answer to the questions: (1) Can it be directly measured? and (2) Does it have a significant impact on a performance outcome?
The behaviors causing problems must be properly identified, or the subsequent steps of O.B. Mod. become meaningless for attaining the overall goal of
performance improvement.
Step 2: Measurement of the Behavior
After the performance behaviors have been identified in step 1, they are measured. A baseline measure is obtained by determining (either by observing and counting or by extracting from existing records) the number of times that the identified behavior is occurring under existing conditions. The purpose of the baseline measure is to provide objective frequency data on the critical behavior. A baseline frequency count is an operational definition of the strength of the behavior under existing conditions. It is important to realize that measures are taken after the intervention as well.
Step 3: Functional Analysis of the Behavior
Once the performance behavior has been identified and a baseline measure has been obtained, a functional analysis is performed of the critical behaviors finalized on the basis of baseline data. A functional analysis identifies both the antecedents (A) and consequences (C) of the target behavior (B), or, simply stated, an A-B-C analysis is performed. As discussed under behavioristic learning theory and operant conditioning, both the antecedent and the consequent environments are vital to the understanding, prediction, and control of human behavior in organizations. In the A-B-C functional analysis, A is the antecedent cue, B is the performance behavior identified in step 1, and C is the contingent consequence.
They know how to do the desired performance behavior and there is all the necessary support to do it, but there are not reinforcing consequences and therefore the behavior is not occurring. This lack of reinforcing consequences is the major problem and challenge facing behavioral management.
Step 4: Development of an Intervention Strategy
The goal of the intervention is to strengthen and accelerate functional performance behaviors and/or weaken and decelerate dysfunctional behaviors. There are several strategies that can be used, but the main ones are positive reinforcement and punishment–positive reinforcement.
A Positive Reinforcement Strategy
Positive, not negative, reinforcement is recommended as an effective intervention strategy for
O.B. Mod. Under positive control, the person behaves in a certain way in order to
receive the desired consequence. Under positive control, people come to work in order to be
recognized for making a contribution to their department’s goal of perfect attendance, or they
keep busy whether the supervisor is around or not in order to receive incentive pay or because
they get social recognition/attention and feedback for their good work. Positive control through
a positive reinforcement intervention strategy is much more effective and longer lasting than
negative control. It creates a much healthier and more productive organizational climate.
Besides money, many positive reinforcers that are also very powerful, readily available to all behavioral managers, and cost nothing are the social reinforcers (attention and recognition) and performance feedback. These reinforcers (money, recognition, and feedback) can be and, as has been demonstrated through research, have been used as an effective O.B. Mod. strategy to improve employee performance. In fact, the most comprehensive evidence shown in Figure 12.5 indicates that when these three reinforcers are used in combination in the intervention, they produce a stronger (synergistic) effect and probability of success than any of the reinforcers used by themselves, the sum of the individual
effects, or the combination of any two of the interventions.
A Punishment–Positive Reinforcement Strategy
So many negative side effects such as hate and revenge accompany the use of punishment that it should be avoided if at all possible. Punished behavior tends to be only temporarily suppressed; for example, if a supervisor reprimands an associate for some dysfunctional behavior, the behavior will decrease in the presence of the supervisor but will surface again when the supervisor is absent. In addition, a punished person becomes very anxious and uptight; reliance on punishment may have a disastrous impact
on employee satisfaction and commitment and create unnecessary stress.
If punishment is deemed necessary and given, the desirable alternative behavior (for example, safe behavior) should be positively reinforced at the first opportunity. Use of this combination strategy will cause the alternative desirable behavior to begin to replace the undesirable behavior in the person’s
behavioral repertoire. Punishment should never be used alone as an O.B. Mod. intervention. It has to be supported by positive reinforcement support quickly. If punishment is absolutely necessary, it should only be used in combination with positive reinforcement of the desirable alternative behavior.
Step 5: Evaluation to Ensure Performance Improvement
O.B. Mod. attempts to meet the credibility and accountability problems head on by
including evaluation as an actual part of the process. In this last step of the approach, the
need for Kirkpatrick’s well-known four levels of evaluation (reaction, learning, behavioral
change, and performance improvement) is stressed.
The reaction level refers simply to whether the people using the approach and those having it used on them like it. If O.B. Mod. is well received and there is a positive reaction to it, there is a better chance of its being used effectively. In addition, reaction evaluations are helpful because (1) positive
reactions help ensure organizational support, (2) they can provide information for planning
future programs, (3) favorable reactions can enhance the other levels of evaluation (learning, behavioral change, and performance improvement), and (4) they can provide useful
comparative data between units and across time.
The second level of evaluation is learning, which is especially important when first
implementing an O.B. Mod. approach. Do the people using the approach understand the
theoretical background and underlying assumptions and the meaning of, and reasons
for, the steps in the model? If they do not, the model will again tend to be used ineffectively.
The third level is aimed at behavioral change. Are behaviors actually being changed? The
charting of behaviors started in step 2 of the O.B. Mod. process gives objective data for this
level of evaluation.
The fourth and final level, performance improvement, is the most important. “Hard” measures
(for example, data on quantity and quality, turnover, absenteeism, customer complaints,
customer satisfaction, employee grievances, safety, length of patient stay, number of clients
served, sales revenue, and rate of return on investment) and scientific methodology are used
whenever possible to systematically evaluate the impact of O.B. Mod. on performance.
Commitment-based management (CbM) was initially developed by Fernando Flores of University of California at Berkeley and Terry Winograd of Stanford University. This management style relies on agreements of commitment among parties to deliver an output within the agreed timeframe. When it’s executed efficiently, it will increase the quality of business performance.
To coordinate work across different business units, executives should think of the organization as a nexus of commitments, or personal promises between employees, that must be actively managed.
Mr. Walton, the Jesse Isidor Straus Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, is a pioneer authority on work-force management issues. His HBR article, “How to Counter Alienation in the Plant” (November–December 1972), was one of the first analyses of participative management. He chaired the National Research Council committee whose work is reported here.