What Behavior Analysis Offers Managers

by Terry McSween & Jerry Pounds
Quality Safety Edge
Behavioral Safety at Quality Safety Edge

In our view, behavior analysis provides managers with tools they need to be more effective, beginning with teaching them to develop more effective personal relationships.
Managers and supervisors who understand and apply the primary behavioral concepts of reinforcement will be well-liked by their employees and have high performing teams. The concepts of behavior analysis are deceptively simple, but their application does not come easily. Further, simply knowing and understanding the concepts is not sufficient. The key is in their application.

Effective managers are those who create an environment in which employees want to perform well. Mediocre managers, on the other hand, create a workplace where employees either feel they “have to” perform well or else they care only about meeting the minimal work requirements to keep their jobs. To achieve the far more positive work environment, behavior analysis teaches managers how to effectively:

• Operationally define behavior
• Monitor work process performance
• Change consequences to support exemplary performance
• Remove behavioral barriers

All of these tools start with an understanding provided by behavior analysis that behavior is 1) a function of the immediate environment in which it occurs, and 2) a learning history that includes aspects of that environment. Too often, managers tend to view behavior as a function of personality, motivation, and various internal traits rather than recognizing that behavior is a function of the work environment. Of course this work environment also includes leadership practices, management systems, a social environment, and the physical environment, the latter including the workplace facilities and tools.

Often, the difficult problem is getting managers to understand the difference between trying to change someone’s personality and trying to change someone’s behavior. Many managers make no distinction. “Change the person and thus change the performance” is a common leadership assumption. Too often employers believe that the root cause of most employees’ performance problems is related to who they are (their personality) rather than what they do (their behavior.) They often communicate a belief -- often indirectly and unintentionally -- that performance problems are related to the personality. The solution is therefore to change the employee through some process or to get another employee. This not only doesn’t work but communicates blame to employees in a moral sense – i.e., good employees perform; bad employees don’t.

We recognize the temptation to attribute the cause of performance problems to personal style, individual motivation, and emotional issues. Problem-solving behavioral issues frequently start and stop there, often with a superficial decision to discipline the employee or provide additional training. Behavior analysis provides a better framework for looking at the root causes of behavior, one that starts with a clear definition of behavior.

Operationally Defining Behavior

The ability to describe behavior in objective, observable terms is one of the most important tools promoted by the field of behavior analysis. Describing behavior in observable terms helps move managers away from the complexity of personality toward thinking about both what they want employees to achieve and what they need to do to achieve those outcomes. It forces managers to balance their focus on process and outcomes. Too often managers have told employees that all they care about is results, when in fact they also care about how those results are achieved.

By objectively discussing behavior, managers also keep work-related discussions in a constructive problem-solving mode that is less likely to make employees defensive. Identifying causes and finding solutions is much easier when discussing objectively defined behaviors. While objectively discussing behavioral concerns can sometimes be difficult, doing so is much easier than trying to change an employee’s personality or motivation. Describing behavior makes finding a solution easier whereas focusing on such internal factors as personality invariably makes the task very difficult. Furthermore, discussing objective behavior makes effective communication easier. When discussing internal attributes, such as personality, different people have different interpretations of the terms being used. Objectively describing behavior helps keep everyone on the same page and lowers the risk of miscommunication

The CEO of a large publishing firm, after being introduced to behavior-based solutions, was brave enough to examine his own managerial and leadership approach. For years he had heard descriptions of himself as controlling, a micromanager and criticisms that he made too many decisions himself. He really didn’t know how to address the problem because words such as controlling made statements to him about his personality. When he heard about changing his actions rather than his so-called personality he decided to insert one new verbal behavior into his repertoire, a question consisting of five words, “Have you asked your manager?”

He wasn’t thrilled with the idea of asking this question but he decided to give himself a point for every decision he delegated and even displayed his graphed progress on his office door. He wasn’t attempting to extricate himself from his duties, but to allow others to do the job they were hired to do. “The people who have the responsibility should also have the authority,” he said. “I knew it wasn’t my job to do a lot of the things I was doing. After all, if I don’t have confidence in them, then they shouldn’t be here.”

Within a short time, the entire organizational environment changed. People felt they could actually do their jobs without getting approval for every single move and…more things were getting done. The CEO enjoyed more time to attend to the kind of concerns and decisions suited to his position. “There were fewer and fewer marks on my chart,” he said. “It wasn’t because I was doing a worse job, it was because everyone wasn’t always coming to me, but discussing problems with their managers.”

With five words the CEO had removed a bottleneck and revived a choking system. One of his direct reports stated, “I no longer go home a maniac. The change in his behavior has changed my life.”

Using objective descriptions of behavior also improves the quality of feedback, whether positive or corrective. This is a specific instance of where the improved quality of communication serves the goal of improved work relationships.

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