Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 1Out of employee training
and into the daily grind:
The application of OBM to supporting
everyday workplace behavior
Julie M. Slowiak and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth & Western Michigan UniversitySlide 2Training is not enough, nomatter how good it may beNeed to ensure transfer-oftraining from the training
environment to the workenvironment

Training Department

Applicants

Employees

Self-CollectedFeedback

Slide 3Training Department

Applicants

Daily Workplace

Employees

Self-CollectedFeedback

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.eduSlide 4

Training Department

Applicants

Daily Workplace

Employees

Self-CollectedFeedback
External Feedback to Training

Slide 5

Influences External to the Organization

Training Department

Applicants

Daily Workplace

Employees

Self-CollectedFeedback
External Feedback to Training

Slide 6

Influences External to the Organization

Training Department

Applicants

Daily Workplace

Employees

Self-CollectedFeedback
External Feedback to Training

On-the-Job
SupportLinkages to the workplace must
support transfer of training

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 7

Failed Training Systems



Reasons why training might fail

Understanding the person incontext• Unclear goal/mission• Irrelevant & missing
training content• Wasted practice time
• Artificial training outcomes• Little or no feedback during
training• Little or no workplace
support• Infrequent feedback
provided to trainers

Slide 8TASKSUPPORTINPUTPERFORMANCE
SPECIFICATIONSOUTPUTCONSEQUENCESINDIVIDUALCAPACITYFEEDBACKKNOWLEDGE & SKILLSHUMAN PERFORMANCE SYSTEM(Rummler, 2004; Rummler, Ramais, & Rummler, 2010)

Slide 9“Why Are They Doing That?”

How do we address undesiredbehaviors?

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 10

Don’t Jump To Conclusions

Slide 11Each comment / hypothesis mightlead to a different conclusion orsuggest a different solution
Need to understand the problem
first –trial& error approach can leadto wasted time, money, andresources

Sources of Discrepancies
Personal Interactions
Working Against Policy
Counterproductive/Unethical Work
Behaviors

Is it worth pursuing?
Need to determine whether theissue is worthwhile…weigh thecosts vs. benefits
Identify all of the consequences(outcomes) of the discrepancy
Calculate the cost of each outcome
Total the costs

PinpointPerformance
Discrepancies

Slide 12Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 13

Are there obvious “fast-fix” solutions
that can make the performance
discrepancy smaller or even goaway?

Are the consequences for thedesired performance punishing?

Are the consequences for theundesired performance
rewarding?

“Fast-Fix”
Solutions?

Slide 14Analyze the Consequences:
Desired Performance Punishing?

Slide 15

Analyze theConsequences:
Undesired Performance
Rewarding?

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 16Do AnyConsequences Exist?



Are there any consequences atall?
Determine whether any
consequences exist that impinge on
the performer; if not, arrange one ormore that do…Make it matter!

Slide 17

Slide 18

Evaluate Skill Capacity
Could the person perform the task if hisor her life depended on it?

Is it a skill deficiency?

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 19



Could they do it in the past?

Is the skill used often?
How often is the skill orperformance used?
Is there regular feedback onperformance?
How does the person find out how
well he or she is doing?

Look atPast Performance
Could the person performthe task in the past?

Slide 20

Determine theFrequency of Performance

Slide 21

Task Characteristics





Can the task be simplified?
Reduce the standards?
Performance aid?
Redesign of the workplace?
Parcel off part of this job?

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 22

Any obstacles remaining?

Do they have what it takes?
Could the person learn the job?
Are they trainable?
Is this person right for the job?

Have all the potential solutions
been identified?
What is the cost of each potentialsolution?

Other Obstacles

Slide 23

PersonalCharacteristics

Slide 24

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 25

Feedback:Let them know ifthey are on the markSlide 26

If feedback is done right andrewarding, they should seek it.

Goals: Give them something towork towards

Get themexcitedenough toseek feedbackon their own

Slide 27

Goals:
Give them something towork towards

Feedback to let them know if theyare on the mark.
How often?

Out of Employee Training and Into the Daily Grind: The Application of OBM to Supporting Everyday Workplace Behavior
JULIE M. SLOWIAK and Douglas A. Johnson
University of Minnesota Duluth and Western Michigan University
September 30th, 2011
Minnesota Northland Association for Behavior Analysis, St. Cloud, MN
Correspondence: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

Slide 28

Incentives:Make the effort
worth it for them

Slide 29

Incentives: Make the effort worth itfor them.
Types of incentives
Percentage of pay

Contact: jslowiak@d.umn.edu

jslowiak@d.umn.edu