W. Edwards Deming, quality analysis, and total behavior management.
Deming’s PDCA loop gives BCBAs a built-in, data-driven habit for nonstop service upgrades.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Johnson et al. (1994) wrote a think-piece, not an experiment.
They asked: Can Deming’s factory-style quality loop help BCBAs consult better?
The paper links Plan-Do-Check-Act steps to reinforcement contingencies inside agencies.
What they found
The authors show the PDCA cycle is really a chain of behavioral contingencies.
When you "Check" data you get reinforcement or punishment for the prior "Do" phase.
Treating the loop this way keeps teams cycling instead of quitting after one fix.
How this fits with other research
Powell et al. (2020) is the 26-year sequel. They map the same PDCA steps onto Baer’s seven dimensions of ABA.
Lyons (1995) zooms in on one tool: statistical process control charts. Both papers borrow factory tools and bolt them onto behavior services.
McSween et al. (2017) and Johnson et al. (2024) stay in OBM but talk safety and discipline, not quality loops. They show the idea keeps spreading to new corners of practice.
Why it matters
You already graph client data; now graph your own consultation habits. Run a tiny PDCA cycle each week: pick one procedural glitch, test a fix, plot the result, and decide next steps. It keeps your service delivery in continuous motion instead of one-and-done tweaks.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
During the past 10 years, the inclusion of the word "quality" in descriptions of production methods, management approaches, educational systems, service system changes, and so forth, has grown exponentially. It appears that no new approach to any problem is likely to be given much consideration today without overt acknowledgment that some improvement in quality must be the outcome. The origins of the importance of quality are primarily rooted in the awakening recognition of the influence of W. Edwards Deming in the post-World War II restoration of Japanese industry. We provide a brief overview of Deming's approach to modernizing management methods and discuss recent criticisms from the field of organizational behavior management that his approach lacks emphasis on the role of reinforcement. We offer a different analysis of Deming's approach and relate its evolution to the contingencies of reinforcement for the behavior of consulting. We also provide an example of problem solving with Deming's approach in a social service setting familiar to many behavior analysts.
The Behavior analyst, 1994 · doi:10.1007/BF03392656