An Integrated Approach for Conducting a Behavioral Systems Analysis

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to illustrate how to conduct a Behavioral Systems Analysis (BSA) to aid in the design of targeted performance improvement interventions. BSA is a continuous process of analyzing the right variables to the right extent to aid in planning and managing performance at the organization, process, and job levels. BSA helps to build alignment among activities within an organization to better provide value-adding products or services to the organization's consumers, which ultimately determines its survival. This paper provides an overview of the BSA approach, a Behavioral Systems Analysis Questionnaire (BSAQ) to guide the performance analyst, and an example of the BSAQ applied to an organization.

KEYWORDS:

• behavioral systems analysis
• behavioral systems analysis questionnaire
• performance improvement
• performance management
• process improvement
• total performance system

The authors thank Drs. Geary Rummler and Dale Brethower for providing the foundation upon which our Behavioral Systems Analysis Questionnaire was built and for their invaluable feedback and encouragement. We also thank Dr. Timothy Ludwig for his editorial assistance and for implementing and refining the question sets in his OBM graduate course.