On the Necessity of Structure in an Arbitrary World

Abstract

The term response generalization has been poorly defined and has, over many years, been a source of controversy for applied researchers who must grapple with results that show changes in behaviors outside of the response class targeted by their intervention. The present discussion seeks to differentiate response generalization from such terms as response covariation and induction. Instead, response generalization is redefined in the context of response classes and concurrent schedules of reinforcement.     

Response Generalization in Behavioral Safety

Abstract

This paper details concerns with the potential misuse of the term “response generalization” in the behavioral safety literature. Stokes and Baer's (1977) technologies of generalization and the basic literature on response induction are used to make the claim. Ludwig and Geller's (2000) Journal of Organizational Behavior Management special issue describing their work with pizza delivery drivers is used as an example. The potential problems of non-technical use of language in a technological behavioral science are briefly discussed. Finally, Baer, Wolf, and Risley's (1968, 1987) criteria of applied behavior analysis are re-visited in this context in hopes of calling researchers of organizational behavior management to more closely align their work with the tradition of applied behavior analysis.     

Specificity of Performance Feedback in a Professional Service Delivery Setting

Although feedback is one of the most widely used intervention strategies, data on the specificity of effects has been sparse. The current study examined the effects of individualized public feedback on maintenance of client charts by therapists in a clinic setting. Four types of charting errors were tracked throughout the study. In Phase 1, feedback on two types of charting errors was provided and withdrawn in an ABA fashion. Phase II was a systematic replication of Phase I, using a second group of therapists, in which feedback was provided on the other two types of charting errors in an AB fashion. Results showed that feedback affected only those errors on which it was provided, thus supporting a specificity view of feedback effects. It is suggested that target behaviors be carefully selected and that generalization of feedback effects be assessed and not assumed.     

Teaching Employees How to Receive Feedback: A Preliminary Investigation

ABSTRACT

There is a substantial literature on how to deliver feedback to change performance. However, to date no research has been conducted on teaching employees how to effectively receive feedback, even though employee behavior during a feedback session could moderate the effects of feedback. Thus, we developed a list of skills that should be exhibited by an employee while receiving verbal feedback. We then evaluated their acquisition after behavioral skills training using a nonconcurrent multiple-baseline design across participants. The results showed that participants were able to acquire and maintain appropriate feedback receiving behavior.     

The Mapping of Contingencies in Mental Models Found in Organizations

From a cognitive perspective, mental models held by individuals are thought to guide interactions with objects or systems, including interpersonal interactions. Frameworks that categorize types of interactions in organizations suggest that they are guided by cultures and mental models that range from the egoistic to the cosmos-centric. From a behavioral perspective, what the cognitive approach calls mental models are sets of verbal rules. Therefore, we suggest that behavior analysis could be used to reconceptualize the mental model literature, generating new research questions and more rigorous experimentation. Cognitive constructs such as more expansive mental models may simply be a function of an individual’s or group’s increased attention to interlocking contingencies. Applying behavioral interventions such as acceptance and commitment therapy could be a way to examine the utility of a behavior analytic approach.     

The Impact of Skinner's Verbal Behavior on Organizational Behavior Management

In the book Verbal Behavior, Skinner provided a comprehensive, behavioral account of language. While the impact of Skinner's analysis on empirical research has been examined broadly, this review of the literature focused on studies relevant to organizational behavior management (OBM). Both empirical and nonempirical journal articles in OBM were analyzed, along with several influential books in the field. The results of this review indicate that the conceptual framework provided in Verbal Behavior has had virtually no impact on empirical research in OBM and very limited impact on conceptual work. Potential reasons for this lack of influence are discussed, and further research on verbal behavior in organizations is encouraged.     

Process Safety Behavioral Systems: Behaviors Interlock in Complex Metacontingencies

ABSTRACT

This paper seeks to identify behavioral components active in process safety. Three types of behavior classes are identified as contributors to process safety: task-specific behaviors, safety-directed behaviors, and behaviors associated with situational awareness. Behavioral systems analysis is used to provide a framework for identifying the cross-functional interlocking behavioral contingencies that can, even over a period of years, contribute to process safety incidents. Leadership behaviors are also identified that can create the context in the form of metacontingencies that maintain these interlocking contingencies.     

A Behavioral Interpretation of Situation Awareness: Prospects for Organizational Behavior Management

Situation awareness (SA) is a construct used in human factors research and application. It is typically employed in the design of equipment to facilitate rapid and adaptive responding in dynamic and high-risk environments. Although the theory backing the SA concept is not entirely compatible with behavioral philosophy, components of the analysis and measures employed in SA work can benefit researchers and practitioners in Organizational Behavior Management (OBM). The present discussion includes (a) the definition and context for SA, (b) a behavioral interpretation of SA, (c) the assessment tools used in SA work, and (d) the relevance of SA to behavioral research. This discussion is pertinent to behavior analysts who work in industries where SA terminology is used and seek analytic tools to guide the design of effective interventions.     

目标取向和过时感知能力对两类销售行为的影响

销售努力和适应性销售是两类最基本的销售行为,探寻这两种销售行为的决定因素是销售管理领域的热点研究问题.基于教育心理学和销售力管理的相关研究成果,探讨3种目标取向与两类消费行为的关系,并通过引入过时这一概念,探究不同目标取向导致不同程度的销售努力和适应性销售的内在机理.通过对9家公司160名销售人员的问卷调查,运用结构方程模型,考察销售人员的不同目标取向与销售行为和销售力过时感知能力以及销售力过时感知能力与销售行为的关系,并重点检验销售力过时感知能力对目标取向与销售行为关系的中介效应.实证研究结果表明,目标取向对销售力过时感知能力和销售行为均有显著影响,销售力过时感知能力也会显著影响销售行为,销售力过时感知能力在目标取向与销售行为的关系中起到一定的中介作用.     

Collective Leadership and Circles: Not Invented Here

Issues like police-community relations, violence—from neighborhood to global levels, economic inequality, and climate change have been only minimally addressed within behavior analysis, despite the oft repeated mantra that they are all at root behavioral. Disciplines determine the scope of their interests; behavior analysis and behavioral systems analysis have long claimed at least potential expertise in changing not only individual behavior, but also the collective and interlocking functioning of larger institutions and systems. In this paper we note that standard organizational behavior management (OBM) practices primarily emphasizing centralized leadership are unlikely to be adequate for such work. We therefore argue that collective leadership, a strategy that has not been emphasized in OBM, will be required to operationalize behavioral systems interventions in situations where centralized leadership is impossible or dangerous, and suggest circle processes as one behaviorally specifiable approach to constructing collective leadership, an approach that behavioral systems analysts are well-positioned to test and refine.     

Advancing Theory in Entrepreneurship from the Lens of Operations Management

Early writings in economics describe the entrepreneur's role in terms of bearing the uncertainty inherent in new undertakings. Much of the research published in the pages of Production and Operations Management deals with management under uncertainty. The shared concerns over the impacts of multiple types of uncertainty suggest that research on Operations Management (OM) can play a role in the development of theory in entrepreneurship. We discuss aspects of such a role from two perspectives. First, we consider several topics in the OM literature that have clear applications or parallels in entrepreneurship. These topics include innovation, the management of technology, new product development, flexibility, and hedging strategies. Understanding these topical connections should aid in the development of tools and applications central to the practice of entrepreneurship. On another level, when we consider how the approaches to many of these topics in OM are grounded in theory adapted from Operations Research and Economics we argue that these same roots can be used as starting points for the development of theory in entrepreneurship. As examples, we will argue that the theoretical bases supporting robust optimization, stochastic dynamic programming, and even Total Quality Management can also serve as foundations of theories about the roles, practice, and behaviors of entrepreneurs.     

How transformational leadership works during team interactions: A behavioral process analysis

Transformational leadership is generally considered helpful for team functioning. However, the social dynamics underlying the benefits of transformational leadership remain elusive to date. To understand how and why transformational leadership can foster team functioning, this study focuses on leader–follower communication dynamics during team interactions. From the perspective of leadership as social problem solving, we argue that transformational leadership is linked to functional team problem-solving processes because transformational leaders use solution-focused communication (mediator model). In a sample of 30 videotaped problem-solving team meetings from two organizations, we coded transformational leadership style and the verbal behavioral interactions of leaders and team members over the course of their entire meetings (30,128 behavioral units in total). Multilevel results showed that transformational leadership was positively linked to functional problem-solving communication by team members. This positive relationship was mediated by leaders' solution-focused communication. Moreover, at the micro-level of conversational dynamics within the meeting process, lag sequential analysis revealed that leaders' ideas and solutions triggered subsequent solution statements by team members and inhibited counterproductive communication by team members, such as running off topic, criticizing, or complaining. We discuss theoretical and methodological implications for conceptualizing dynamic leader–follower processes as well as managerial implications for leading effective meetings in organizations.     

异常情况下基于VARX模型的中国投资者行为研究

内容本文基于市场数据和宏观经济变量,通过引入虚拟变量代表作为大牛市和大熊市的异常情况,利用VARX模型研究了中国证券投资者在异常情况下的行为决策,同时,利用Cholesky正交分解的脉冲响应和方差分解分析了投资者行为变化的主要影响源。结论显示：中国资本市场存在大量的非理性因素和投机因素;与大牛市相比,中国投资者在大熊市的情绪变化更加剧烈;宏观经济对中国投资者行为变化作用不大,债券市场和国际股票市场是影响投资者行为变化的主要因素。     

Leadership to Overcome Resistance to Change

Abstract

The thoughtful behavior analysis of organizational leadership and resistance to change by Goltz and Hietapelto (2002) inspired this follow-up article. Goltz and Hietapelto propose that organizational power is determined by the magnitude, frequency, and quantity of consequences under a person's control, and that people resist change when their consequence control is threatened. This presentation extends the Goltz and Hietapelto article by describing 14 distinctions between management and leadership, and offering 16 guidelines for effective leadership that involve more than consequence control. Thus, while managers obtain their influence by controlling other peoples' consequences, leaders go beyond consequence control to benefit the behaviors and attitudes of their colleagues and coworkers. The leadership guidelines are founded on behavioral research and are relevant and practical for any organizational employee, even those who have only minimal influence on the meaningful consequences of their own and others' work life.     

Newcomers’ reactions to unfulfilled leadership expectations: An attribution theory approach

This paper examines newcomers’ reactions when facing unfulfilled leadership expectations. Although leaders are ascribed a key role in newcomers’ socialization, very little is known about newcomers’ expectations of leadership and their subsequent behaviors when these expectations are not fulfilled. Against the background of a follower-centered perspective, we develop a differentiated model of newcomers’ leadership attributions. As general attribution theory has recently shown, causal links are not always made in clear-cut ways. Thus, there may be several steps between the attribution and non-attribution of leadership. As our qualitative empirical study in Germany reveals, different unfulfilled leadership expectation types lead to equally different leadership attribution levels, with various behavioral consequences for newcomers. We suggest a dynamic model, starting with investing in a relationship before newcomers choose refusing reactions such as confrontation or withdrawal.     

Organizational identification and workplace behavior: More than meets the eye

Organizational identification is a theoretically profound and practically important construct. It fundamentally transforms the relationship between employees and their work organizations, because highly identified employees integrate their organizational memberships with their sense of who they are. This transformation enhances highly identified employees’ work performance and contributions to the organization. However, despite considerable research on the benefits of organizational identification for employee behavior, theorizing about this effect and its underlying mechanisms remains underdeveloped. In particular, there has not been sufficient theoretical development regarding the specific types of work behaviors that follow from organizational identification, the psychological mechanisms that underlie these behavioral consequences, or observers’ evaluations of these behaviors and those enacting them. To address these issues, we present a framework of the behavioral consequences of organizational identification as well as observers’ reactions to them. Our framework highlights two distinct motivational orientations that underlie organizational identification, one that reliably leads to conformist work behaviors and one that may lead to deviant work behaviors that violate the status quo to advance organizational interests. Moreover, our framework highlights that reactions to these behaviors will differ depending on the organization’s emphasis on means versus ends. Overall, we emphasize that the benefits of organizational identification for work behavior are not as straightforward or as widely recognized as implied in prior research.     

The Effects of Graphic Feedback,Goal Setting,and Manager Praise on Customer Service Behaviors

Abstract

The current study used a multiple baseline design to investigate the effects of graphic feedback, goal setting, and manager praise on customer service behaviors in a large retail setting. Direct observation of customer greeting, eye contact, and smiling was used to collect data. After baseline data were collected feedback graphs were posted twice each week in the employee break room. A second intervention phase included goal setting and manager praise. Goals were developed based on employees' prior performance and were posted on the graphs. Managers then delivered immediate, verbal praise to employees. Graphic feedback produced slight increases in the customer interaction variables in the front of stores 1 and 2. Another small increase in performance was seen in the back of store 1 and the front and back of store 2 with the implementation of the interventions.     

Motivating Operations in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management: Review and Discussion of Relevant Articles

Every article published in the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management from 1982 through 2012 that contained the term motivating operation (or a related term) was examined. Seventy-six articles used a relevant term. Authors used the term in attempts to categorize and explain the behavioral effects of many aspects of interventions (e.g., rules, feedback, goal-setting), everyday occurrences in organizations (e.g., nicotine deprivation, top management support), and characteristics of behaving individuals (e.g., optimism, personality state), which on the one hand suggests that the motivating operation concept has been of value in organizational behavior management research as published in the journal. On the other hand, none of the articles demonstrated the successful use of a motivating operation as the term was initially defined, which suggests that the MO concept has been substantially expanded or widely misused by authors of the evaluated articles.     

Notes from an Introspective Behaviorist

Abstract

Based on the three-contingency model of performance management, I make the following argument: (1) Often, we fail to behave as we should because the natural contingencies supporting appropriate behavior are ineffective; the natural contingencies involve outcomes for each individual response that are either too small, though of cumulative significance, or outcomes that are too improbable. The delay of the outcome is essentially irrelevant. The psychodynamic model of the cognitive motivational theorists provides a poor explanation for why we fail to behave as we should. (2) The performance-management contingencies in organizational behavior management (OBM) must usually involve deadline-induced aversive control, even when they are based on powerful reinforcers. Furthermore, such performance management succeeds only to the extent that the person's behavioral history, “Jewish mother,” has inculcated an appropriate value system. Wiegand and Geller's critique of the necessity of the use of aversive control fails to take into account the necessity of deadlines and the difference between instrumental and hedonic reinforcers; furthermore, it greatly over values the power of intrinsic reinforcement contingencies in OBM.     

Americans’ Views of Voluntary Protective Actions Against Zika Infection: Conceptual and Measurement Issues

Understanding factors affecting decisions by people to protect themselves, or not, is critical to designing supportive communications. Here, threat, protective‐action, and stakeholder perceptions were evaluated for effects on mainland Americans’ behavioral intentions regarding Zika in April 2017, as postulated by the Protective Action Decision Model. Although all three perception types (including a novel resource sufficiency measure) affected intentions, these relationships varied widely depending upon the method used to measure adoption of actions (e.g., total count of all behaviors adopted vs. behavior‐specific analyses), the behaviors involved, and whether analysis focused on the full sample or only on people who had a reasonable opportunity to enact the behavior or who believed it relevant to their lives. There was a general contrast between mosquito control actions (removal of mosquito breeding areas and pesticide spraying) and travel‐related behaviors (avoiding travel to areas of local transmission of the virus, protecting oneself from mosquito bites after potential exposure, and practicing safe sex after potential exposure). Reported action or inaction during the 2016 mosquito season, and stages of behavior change, were both elicited in January–February 2017; both drove intentions in April 2017 for the upcoming season, although direct and indirect effects varied widely. Collectively these findings present theoretical, measurement, and practical implications for understanding, tracking, and promoting voluntary protective actions against hazards.