Overcoming Hedonic Adaptation in Operations Management

This work complements a study conducted a few years ago regarding the design of a Competency Development Program whose purpose was, and remains, to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of personnel management in the processes carried out by a public company providing drinking water and sanitation services located in a province of northern Argentina. On this occasion, the focus of the study is based on outlining and implementing a Strategic Plan to transform the safety culture in highly repetitive operational environments, taking the public company mentioned before as a case study. This research addresses "hedonic adaptation" as the root cause of regulatory non-compliance in crews that, despite possessing high levels of operational communication, present systematic failures in the use of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and safe behaviors. The proposed model articulates three strategic axes: biological awareness training, operational reinforcement through the breaking of routines, and coaching-based leadership. It is concluded that the proactive management of the cerebral attention threshold is the determining factor for the sustainability of safety in Latin American operations management. Keywords: Safety Culture, Hedonic Adaptation, Operational Leadership.