Field Of Organizational Behavior Management Research Articles

A preliminary investigation of procedural refinements to the performance diagnostic checklist - human services

ABSTRACT The Performance Diagnostic Checklist – Human Services (PDC-HS) is a functional assessment tool used in the field of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) to assess reasons for employee performance problems and inform intervention development. There are two aspects of the intervention-selection process that could inhibit the objectivity and utility of the tool, particularly for practitioners with limited experience conducting the assessment. Proposed refinements to address these drawbacks include (a) identifying a cutoff threshold to objectively identify the categories requiring intervention based on the PDC-HS outcome, and (b) developing decision-making models to identify a single category that should be the focus of intervention. A between-groups design was used to evaluate the degree to which access to components of these proposed refinements resulted in appropriate intervention selections when practitioners in the field were presented with scenarios derived from published case studies. Binary logistic regressions indicated that practitioners with refinement access were 4.97 times more likely to select the most appropriate category for intervention, relative to those who did not have access to the refinements (p < .001, 95% OR CI [2.38,10.41]). Secondary analyses indicated variables such as certification level and experience in organizational behavior management did not significantly influence the selection of an appropriate category for intervention. Preliminary findings suggest that future applications of the PDC-HS, particularly as it relates to the intervention-selection process, may benefit from the supplemented refinements.

Revisiting the Past and Selecting for the Future: An Introduction to Handbook of Organizational Performance: Foundations and Advances

ABSTRACT Both business and behavior can be understood through the lens of variation and selection, with adaptive approaches prospering and other approaches perishing. The Handbook of Organizational Performance: Foundations and Advances series seeks to lay out the groundwork and direction for our field to prosper, as understood by many expert contributors in the field of organizational behavior management. Other worthwhile directions beyond the series are also noted, all guided by the notion that a science of behavior is not only possible, but also a critical missing component from the typical understanding of how to best operate a business so that it survives.

The Ethics of Organizational Behavior Management

ABSTRACT Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) is a sub-discipline of applied behavior analysis that focuses on organizational improvement and the performance of employees and leaders. OBM practitioners work to apply behavior analysis to help get results through teamwork, collaboration, high practice standards, and professionalism. There are a number of ways to get business results, but OBM aims to get results by supporting the most important asset in any system: the people. The purpose of this paper is to show the value of ethical standards to those practicing within the field of OBM, the current state of OBM regulation, and offer a call to action for OBM practitioners to maintain ethical standards.

Analyzing the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty in Isfahan Province Gas Company

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to analyze the influence of job satisfaction on hostage employee loyalty in Isfahan Province Gas Company (IPGC).Design/methodology/approachThe statistical population of this study included the formal recruited employees of IPGC out of which, 212 employees have been selected using a stratified random sampling method. A questionnaire has been developed and used for data collection regarding job satisfaction and employee loyalty. In this study along with the other studies of the authors, employees of IPGC were classified into four different categories on the basis of loyalty matrix, and the majority (78 percent) of them were located in the hostage category. Structural equation modeling has been used for data analysis.FindingsThe findings imply that job satisfaction does not have a significant influence on the loyalty of hostage employees.Practical implicationsOrganizations are encouraged to identify the individual and organizational factors and obstacles, take necessary measures to increase job satisfaction and maintain the level of employee loyalty and gradually shift them from the hostage category to the apostle category, which results in an increased number of loyal and satisfied employees.Originality/valueThis study indicates how the application of the concepts of loyalty matrix, particularly its hostage category, can be expanded in the field of organizational behavior management.

Motivation and Complex Verbal Phenomena: Implications for Organizational Research and Practice

ABSTRACTThe concept of motivation has attracted the attention of scholars in the field of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) over the last two decades. In this paper, we revisit the behavior analytic conceptualization of motivation and highlight recent developments that may contribute to further research and application in OBM. This paper includes a proposed consideration of verbal stimuli (e.g., rules, goals, and values) as potential intervening variables to motivate performance in organizational settings.

Employee Engagement and Organizational Behavior Management

Engagement is a “buzz” word that has gained popularity in Industrial/Organizational Psychology. Based on a “Positive Psychology” approach, engagement is perceived as a valuable state for employees, because surveys on the construct have found it correlates with some organizational tactics (e.g., human resource policies, procedural justice) and positive outcomes (e.g., growth, lower costs, lower absenteeism). Reviews of the engagement literature suggest engagement is not clearly defined, which is common with some popular cognitive/emotional constructs. Positive Psychology is nothing new to behavior analysis (Luthans, Youssef, & Rawski, 2011), which has many applications through the field of Organizational Behavior Management to create an “engaged” workforce and culture.

THE EFFECTS OF VARIED VERSUS CONSTANT HIGH‐, MEDIUM‐, AND LOW‐PREFERENCE STIMULI ON PERFORMANCE

The purpose of the current study was to compare the delivery of varied versus constant high-, medium-, and low-preference stimuli on performance of 2 adults on a computer-based task in an analogue employment setting. For both participants, constant delivery of the high-preference stimulus produced the greatest increases in performance over baseline; the varied presentation produced performance comparable to constant delivery of medium-preference stimuli. Results are discussed in terms of their implications for the selection and delivery of stimuli as part of employee performance-improvement programs in the field of organizational behavior management.

Fleeing from the Elephant

The present set of papers show that leaders in the field of organizational behavior management are grappling with issues of human language and cognition. That is a good and necessary step for the field, but the solutions proposed are worrisome: adopting principles from non-behavioral psychology, adopting principles from introspection that have not been empirically validated, returning to methodological behaviorism, or appealing to non-empirical interpretations using traditional behavioral principles. In this paper I argue that these are the wrong solutions, being taken for the right reasons. There is a need for an analysis of language and cognition, but it will be found neither in other forms of psychology nor in traditional Skinnerian thinking on the topic. I suggest instead that OBM look at the data that exists in contemporary basic behavior analysis on the topic, particularly in the area of Relational Frame Theory. That work is a vigorous area of research, and its applied implications are significant, growing, and known to be relevant to organizations. The solution to the malaise these papers reflect is most likely to be found in post-Skinnerian behavior analysis itself.

Should We Teach the ABC's?

A great deal of discussion has taken place about the field of Organizational Behavior Management and whether it should broaden its content beyond the field of applied behavior analysis to include fields such social psychology, positive psychology, and more traditional I/O psychology. The current discussions stem from different views of OBM and our struggles in promoting greater use of behavioral technology. The authors discuss their views as practitioners from the field of OBM and suggest that our intervention model needs to be changed to focus more on creating behavioral systems and less on training. Further, the challenge of promoting behavioral interventions is viewed as a function of limited data and a lack of long-term success stories, rather than a function of current content or how we talk about our technology.

Organizational change applications in behavior analysis: A review of the literature and future directions.

Implementing lasting organizational change has received an increasing amount of attention in the literature over the last 20 years. Despite this general trend, behavior analysts have been slow to address this when presenting applied research. This article reviews research published in The Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) since 1990. The review suggests that the major areas of systematic applications in 013M target performance of first line employees and supervisors and that the impact of such interventions are rarely linked to companies' financial success and survival. Conclusions concerning the directions of the field of organizational behavior management in consideration of these findings are offered. ********** Global market change is occurring at fast pace. A recent report published by The Conference Board in Canada, titled Leadership for Tomorrow: Playing Catch-up with Change, reveals that the complexity and speed of change is beyond what most high-level executives can manage or their own. Increasingly, corporate leaders are relying on the skills, education, and competence of their employees at all levels of organization (Papmehl, 2002). Accordingly, successful organizational response to market demand requires response from individuals at all levels. This means that organizational effectiveness depends on the alignment of responses from the top management level down to the performer level (i.e., front line worker). In review of Industrial /Organization (1/0) psychology literature, Tharenou (2001) stresses the need for greater focus on organizational change. Tharenou (2001) states that as the world continues to move to global economy, organizations will need to adapt to changing cultural and economic contingencies. She argues that even though individual performance certainly cannot be ignored, the changing climate calls for greater focus on the context in which an organization functions. Tharenou (2001) also discusses how lasting, structural change might be carried out given contextual constraints. Given the need to focus on organizational change, it is important to consider various ways through which such change may be approached. Theoretical Perspectives At the theoretical level, organizational change has been studied from variety of perspectives incorporating an array of assumptions. Prochaska (2000) argues that organizational change can be viewed as developmental process through which the organization passes through variety of stages. Desired changes are made possible when the change agent is able to successfully recognize and adapt to the developmental stage that the organization is resting in (Levesque, Prochaska, & Prochaska, 1999). McKenna (1999) takes more humanistic approach in arguing that successful change comes about as function of the manager's need for control and his or her ability to understand the complexity of the system in need of change. Olson (1990) takes psychoanalytic perspective in arguing that orchestrating successful change involves capitalizing on the conflict between conscious and unconscious understandings of that change. In the behavioral literature, organizational change is addressed theoretically through the meta-contingency analysis (Mawhinney, 1992, 200 1; Malott, 2002). According to this perspective, when the products of organizational practices contribute to the materialistic survival of the organization, the practices that generated them are more likely to reoccur. More specifically, like any other cultural practice, organizational practice can be defined as a set of interlocking contingencies of reinforcement in which the behavior and behavioral products of each participant function as environmental events with which the behavior of other individuals interact (Glenn, 1988). Furthermore, group practices (e.g., production methods, marketing techniques, process management, etc. …

Unconditioned and Conditioned Establishing Operations in Organizational Behavior Management

The establishing operation (EO) is a behavior-analytic motivational concept that prompts a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of motivation with practical implications. The field of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) has made limited use of the EO concept, but other specialization areas in behavior analysis have developed EO-based treatments. Analogous success in OBM will likely require advances in the use of molecular analyses of behavior, functional analysis technologies, and analyses of verbal behavior. Theoretical and technical progress will also require a better understanding of Michael's (1982; 1993a; 1993b) taxonomy of unconditioned and conditioned EOs. Therefore, this taxonomy is illustrated with empirical research examples and plausible organizational examples at a molecular level of analysis, including the unconditioned effects of activity deprivation and conditioned EOs related to nicotine deprivation, behavior-based safety observations, and intrinsic motivation to learn on the job. A behavioral approach to understanding motivation is practical and empirically approachable, and the class of motivational variables known as EOs will help advance our understanding of workplace motivation.

The Historical Roots of Organizational Behavior Management in the Private Sector

Applications of behavior analysis in the private sector became visible in the late 1960s and early 1970s. By the 1980s, the field of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) was a well established discipline. This article chronicles the people, events and publications that contributed to the formation of the field, beginning with the precursors in the 1950s and ending in the early 1980s. The contributions of individuals who have been honored by the OBM Network are detailed and emphasized. Although some historical accounts attribute the development of OBM to influences from traditional management fields, the present account, through documentation of the formative events, argues that the field developed in relative isolation from such influences, emanating primarily from Skinner's development of programmed instruction and the advent of behavioral applications in other settings. While application of psychology to the work place predated behavioral involvement, the primary force for the development and growth of OBM came from within the field of behavior analysis.

Some Thoughts on the Field of Organizational Behavior Management

In this article the author makes the following recommendations for the field of OBM and discusses their implications: (a) report more details of studies, (b) conduct longer-term studies and examine maintenance of effects achieved, (c) review standards for long-term studies, (d) add discussions of behavioral mechanisms involved in interventions, (e) involve more people from business in the field of OBM, and (f) engage in activities that perpetuate the field. The article closes with brief conclusions regarding the topics discussed.

History and Contribution of Organizational Behavior Management to Services for Persons with Developmental Disabilities

ABSTRACT This article traces the development of the field of organizational behavior management (OBM) from its origins in early behavior modification studies, the development of a technology for modifying staff behavior, to recent developments in the evolution of cultures. An ecological model of staff behavior is outlined using Bronfenbrenner's (1979) ecological model of human development. The technology used to modify staff behavior is briefly reviewed. In the final section recommendations for managers and researchers are made. Managers should be aware that there is an effective technology for modifying a wide range of staff behaviors that can be implemented both in response to crises and during routine management. Future research on OBM should address three major concerns. First, OBM should broaden the scope of its enquiry beyond the immediate staff and consumer dyad to include analysis of and intervention upon the entire ecosystem within which the consumer's behavior occurs. Second, the issue of integrating theory with practice should be pursued more vigorously through fundamental research on supervisor behavior and through basing interventions on an analysis of the variables maintaining current supervisory behavior. Third, greater attention should be paid to developing training for middle managers as general ist users of the principles of OBM.

W. Edwards Deming, Quality Analysis, and Total Behavior Management

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.

Philosophical and Ethical Aspects of Organizational Behavior Management

Historical and recent events in the developing field of Organizational Behavior Management are critically reviewed. The review suggests the following: (a) the field is losing touch with its basic science, behavior analysis, (b) the ends to which behavior technologies are employed favor productivity and devote little attention to satisfaction in the work place, (c) technologies for measuring and increasing satisfaction have not been developed, (d) the question of equity and allocation of financial outcomes of organizational effectiveness has been neglected, and (e) our basic science and applied tools provide us with means to address all of these potential problems.