Organizational Behavior Management Overview

Organizational Behavior Management (OBM)

• OBM is a branch of applied behavior analysis
• It applies behavioral principles to individuals and groups
• Used in business, industry, government, and human-service settings
• Related to applied behavior analysis and industrial-organizational psychology
• Both focus on applying psychological or behavioral knowledge to work settings
• OBM differs from industrial-organizational psychology in its conceptual orientation, techniques, and topics studied
• Industrial-organizational psychology is more eclectic
• OBM focuses on behavior analysis
• OBM focuses on assessing and improving performance
• Focuses on common assessment and intervention strategies across subdisciplines

OBM History

• Precursors date back to the 1950s
• Skinner's 1953 text mentioned economic control and differential reinforcement
• 1960s and 1970s saw rapid expansion
• Professionals founded consulting firms (Praxis, Behavioral Systems, Inc.)
• Researchers established the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management
• Fortune magazine covered a successful OBM application at Emery Air Freight

Performance Management

• A subdiscipline of OBM
• Focuses on improving individual or group employee performance
• Uses a step-by-step process
• Step-by-step process involves identifying target performance, assessing environmental variables influencing performance, intervening to improve performance, evaluating social validity, and maintenance of improvements

Assessment in Performance Management

• PIC/NIC analysis is a common method
• Analyzes of consequences (positive/negative, immediate/future, certain/uncertain)
• Aims to adjust consequences to increase desired performance
• Performance Diagnostic Checklist is another common tool
• Developed through OBM consultant interviews, addressing antecedents and consequences, and knowledge and skill deficits

Intervention in Performance Management

• Antecedent-based interventions involve task clarification and training
• Consequence-based interventions include feedback and incentives
• Task clarification involves defining employee responsibilities related to desired performance
• Training involves describing, modeling, and providing feedback on the desired performance
• Reduced response effort involves minimizing the difficulty of the task
• Feedback can be delivered by peers, supervisors, consultants, etc., in various formats (oral, written, graphic)
• Incentives or pay-for-performance systems lead to increased productivity

Behavioral Safety

• Focuses on using behavioral principles to improve safety performance
• First OBM safety study published in 1978
• OBM focus is on directly manipulating variables influencing safety
• Workplace injuries and illnesses are addressed
• Research emphasizes behavior-based interventions and improved safety practices

Behavioral-Systems Analysis

• Examines organizational systems and processes

• Focuses on how parts of an organization interact and influence results (e.g., sales, expenses, customer service)

• Assessments in behavioral-systems analysis analyze organizational systems and processes

• Aims to link interventions to important organizational goals

This quiz explores the key concepts and history of Organizational Behavior Management (OBM), a field focused on applying behavioral principles in various settings. Learn about its relationship with applied behavior analysis and industrial-organizational psychology, while understanding its unique techniques and approaches.