https://doi.org/10.24928/2020/0056

Lean, Psychological Safety, and Behavior-Based Quality: A Focus on People and Value Delivery

Sulyn Gomez¹, Glenn Ballard², Paz Arroyo³, Cory Hackler⁴, Rodney Spencley⁵ & Iris D. Tommelein⁶

¹PhD Candidate, Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1712, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-2367-9880
²Research Associate, Project Production Systems Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1712, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/ 0000-0002-0948-8861
³Quality Leader, DPR Construction, San Francisco, CA 94111, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000- 0002-8098-8172
⁴Lean Leader, DPR Construction, Redwood City, CA 94063, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000- 0002-1103-596
⁵Director for Quality, DPR Construction, Redwood City, CA 94063, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0003-2263-543X
⁶ Prof., Civil and Envir. Engrg. Dept., Director, Project Production Systems Lab., Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA 94720-1712, USA, [email protected], orcid.org/0000-0002-9941-6596

Abstract

A number of issues regarding quality, safety, and production persist in the construction industry. These issues arise in the form of rework, accidents, delays, cost overruns, and loss of trust. The way companies have been dealing with these issues is problematic because of an insufficiently broad perspective on interconnected processes and overreliance on buffering as opposed to reducing the negative variation itself. One gap in our knowledge concerns the influence of human factors in the design and success of construction processes. Psychological safety, a construct that can help to bridge this gap, is based on assessments about the risks associated with an action. Lean principles, such as respect for people, can be fostered through people being aware of each other’s level of psychological safety. This is shown on site when people speak up without constraints, understand each other’s expectations, and come to an agreement about the work, which follows the behavior-based quality (BBQ) approach. The paper highlights theoretical conceptions to describe how underlying ideas about Lean, psychological safety, and BBQ are connected in a people-centered approach to improve value delivery. The exploratory research presented in this paper provides empirical evidence to illustrate the linkage of these ideas in practice.

Keywords

Lean construction, psychological safety, behavior-based quality (BBQ), value delivery.

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Reference

Gomez, S. , Ballard, G. , Arroyo, P. , Hackler, C. , Spencley, R. & Tommelein, I. D. 2020. Lean, Psychological Safety, and Behavior-Based Quality: A Focus on People and Value Delivery, Proc. 28th Annual Conference of the International Group for Lean Construction (IGLC) , 97-108. doi.org/10.24928/2020/0056

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