They Just Don't Get It!

intensity against their fiercest rival. This discretionary effort can produce real gains when you need them, but it's not sustainable. Eventually, people burn out, and performance returns to previous levels. Example: A plant facing a major customer audit rallies to hit quality targets through extra inspections, overtime, and heroic efforts. The audit goes well, but once the pressure Performance improves simply because attention is focused on it. New displays, management walkabouts, or measurement systems can create short-term gains just by making work more visible. But unless an underlying weakness is fixed, the improvement fades once the novelty wears off. Example: Installing real-time displays on a production line initially boosts output as operators respond to visible feedback. Within weeks, however, the same bottlenecks and inefficiencies that existed before start dragging performance back down. Level 3: Behavioral Change lifts, quality metrics drift back to baseline. Level 2: The Hawthorne Effect

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