By George A. Peters
[Editor’s note: This editorial originally appeared in Vol 3 Issue 4 of Hazard Prevention (now Journal of System Safety) in 1966. It has been reformatted from the original, but the text is otherwise unchanged.]
The current panacea for reduction of workmanship errors seems to be the high pressure “employee motivation program.” Unfortunately, many of these well-intentioned programs seem to consist primarily of a combination of (1) some “hard sell” advertising techniques employing posters, pins, banners, boosters and bandwagons; and (2) some blown-up wall charts devised by manufacturing “efficiency experts” to show ever decreasing reject rates until each and every department reaches the perfection of “no defects” at all. We should remember that people react to advertising campaigns in a highly individualistic manner and the vast majority of people are not able to be consistently perfect. Words of encouragement and exhortation may be desirable, but they are certainly no substitute for tangible incentives and concrete improvement in the work situation. Where a manufacturer is involved in personal injury litigation involving claims of workmanship errors, how can it be a good defense to rely upon the fact that the fabrication workmen might have seen some banners boldly proclaiming a motivational slogan or that they might have been influenced by some charts bearing department discrepancy or reject rates?
Exhortation may be a step in the right direction, but it seems to be no substitute for the conscientious by which objective analyses, specific become a reality. application remedies, of the methods and techniques and identifiable improvements.
Some extravagant claims seem to promise a magic cure-all at reduced prices, a method by which every employee can help identify all causes of error, or imply quick punishment of those whose supposed lack of knowledge or inattention resulted in human error. Many of these programs include formulae for “establishing goals and measuring effectiveness” which more typically dries-up the flow of data regarding defects (i.e., loss of management visibility) and brings back all the problems of the “efficiency expert” whose effect on morale and motivation is legendary. An inappropriately administered, timed, or conceived program (of the general purpose motivation type) may actually turn out to be a “negative motivation” program with many adverse symptoms and unreported hidden discrepancies.
It would seem apparent that motivational programs can only be truly motivational to the extent that they are conducted by people who have some training in the behavioral sciences. The unqualified leading the blind is akin to placing a sanitary engineer in charge of designing a sewerage treatment plant when his experience has been solely that of a transfer agent at the rear of a truck. Certainly there is improvement which can be made in terms of motivationally connected workmanship errors by the successful implementation of a good “awareness” program if this were supported by other complementary personnel management programs and actions. However, the preponderant workmanship errors are of the “work situation induced” type which would continue regardless of motivation programs, since even the best motivated worker will make mistakes if he has ambiguous or misleading work instructions, the gauges do not permit accurate reading, the equipment operates contrary to his expectation, or it is virtually impossible to replace a component without damaging it. Perhaps, this aspect of product and system safety assurance is but a reaffirmation of the familiar principle that there is generally no easy or simple solution to complex or chronic problems. Exhortation may be a step in the right direction, but it seems to be no substitute for the conscientious by which objective analyses, specific become a reality. application remedies, of the methods and techniques and identifiable improvements.
[Editor Note: George A. Peters was a Past President and Fellow of the International System Safety Society. He is the author of more than 40 books]