The CEO of a United States manufacturing company is focused on winming the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award for performance. The CEO has instituted evidence-based decision-making and process-management improvements. The CEO has a strict, randomized quality-nspection process using quantifiable metrics for finished products, and yet the number of defects per production cycle continues to rise. No changes to the inspection process have reduced the number of defects. The CEO is making the systems-thinking error of: A) assuming that quality can be built into the product at the final step of the process B) trusting quantitative measurements in the inspection process C) focusing on process improvements D) seeking external confirmation of the company's quality from an outside source