Behaviour change vs. culture change: Divergent approaches to managing workplace safety
Article;
DeJoy, D. M. (2005). Behavior change versus culture change: Divergent approaches to managing workplace safety. Safety Science, 43(2), 105–129. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssci.2005.02.001
Summary;
Understanding how organizational behaviour plays a role in the overall effectiveness of proper workplace safety, is a determining factor in the overall success of a company. This article states that there are 2 main approaches, regarding the management of workplace health and safety. The first approach focuses on more data base and employee participation types of surveys and feedback, as well as problem solving processes. Whereas the second approach puts more of an emphasis on implementing culture change types of processes that will ultimately allow for the processes to be systematically monitored and assessed. The article offers an in depth understanding of how each process works, as well as a thorough comparison between both, background and key aspects and how both procedures are implemented in the workplace.
The 2 Approaches:
In other terms, the first approach focuses on properly identifying the critical safety procedures throughout the workplace, whereas the second approach emphasizes the current safety procedures already in place. This will help to better grasp how the procedures are applied in the workplace aswell as the overall effectivness. The implementation of both approaches typically includes a range of different steps. Understanding the different behaviours and personalities throughout the workplace will offer the opportunity to better grasp the types of people you will be dealing with while creating proper health and safety procedures tailored to your workplace’s needs. With organizational behaviours four main components being; individual behaviour, group behaviour, organizational structure and organizational processes, it is easy to see how a thorough understanding of the behaviours as well as tendencies of the employees will be essential to the overall success of the procedures put in place.
Strengh's and weaknesses’s;
able 1. Summary comparison of behavior-based and culture-change approaches to safety management
| Characteristic | Behavior-based approach to safety | Culture change approach to safety |
|---|---|---|
| Background/origin | Operant psychology/behavior modification | Organizational behavior/anthropology |
| Key aspects | “Bottom-up” approach | “Top-down” approach |
| Analytic/data-driven | Intuitive/ethnographic | |
| Setting specific | Setting specific | |
| Continuous process | Self-sustaining | |
| Typical implementation | Identify and define critical behaviors | Assess aspects of culture (values, beliefs, assumptions, etc.) |
| Set performance goals | Devise alternative vision | |
| Observe/sample behavior | Work with leadership (and employees) to implement change | |
| Provide contingent feedback/reinforcement | ||
| Principal strengths | Specific technology | Emphasizes organizational change |
| Objective/empirical | Focuses on basic causes | |
| Shop floor focus | Participatory (often) | |
| Participatory (usually) | Comprehensive | |
| Positive | ||
| Principal weaknesses | Victim-blaming | Diffuse technology |
| Minimizes environment | Subjective/intuitive | |
| Focuses on immediate causes | Indirect |
Personal Experience;
This is very timely and relevant. It is true that understanding the influence of organizational behavior on workplace safety is important for the general growth of a firm. Your article suggests that there are two ways on how to keep workplace health and safety which are one relies on problem-solving and data-driven surveys, while the other prioritizes cultural shifts for methodical observation and I think it both defines important safety procedures which is good to really evaluate approaches to a safe management and workplace. For someone who do not have a direct experience in managing a workplace, I think your reflection on this one is a good start as you can now somehow compare which approach is the one you always observe in your experiences.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed how well this article covered in analyzing how businesses handle worker safety. It emphasizes how important it is to understand employee behavior in order to ensure that safety precautions are successful. I also believe that the article can definitely be a helpful guide for everyday workplaces where putting the health of workers first is important. It emphasizes the importance that top-down and bottom-up approaches have in developing a diverse safety method and promoting ongoing growth.
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