Breaks and productivity: An exploratory analysis.

The Fair Labor Standards Act suggests that short rest periods of 5-20 min may improve employee productivity, but there is limited experimental research on the topic. The current study compared productivity when breaks were not required (i.e.

An evaluation of the teach-back method for training new skills.

There are several effective training packages (e.g., behavioral skills training, video modeling, and self-instruction packages) available to train staff.

Branching Out: Finding Success in New Areas of Practice.

In recent years, researchers and practitioners in behavior analysis have called for expanding the application of the science to new, socially relevant areas. The authors of this article work in the areas of applied animal behavior and organizational behavior management, and we are often asked for guidance and mentoring to help behavior analysts transition into our domains. Here, we offer actionable guidance for bridging the gap between behavior analysis graduate training and career paths that are not yet common for behavior analysts.

Key Lessons from the Teaching-Family Model for Organizational Behavior Management: A Commentary on Fixsen and Blasé.

Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) has widely demonstrated its utility for improving performance in organizations. Yet, OBM researchers and practitioners have called for developing more comprehensive and systemic approaches for creating long-term improvements and improving marketability. A successful program in ABA, called the Teaching-Family Model, may provide useful ideas for OBM.

Using a guest- and confederate-delivered token economy to increase employee-guest interactions at a zoo.

The present study used a token economy to promote guest greetings by employees at a zoological facility. Guests and confederate guests delivered tokens to zoo employees for making eye contact from 10 ft (3.05 m) away and verbally greeting guests from 5 ft (1.

Using a Behavioral Intervention to Improve Performance of a Women's College Lacrosse Team.

This study examined the use of prompting and an interdependent group negative reinforcement contingency to improve performance of 12 collegiate women's lacrosse players. The team coaches wanted players to "name passes," defined as saying the name of a player who should catch the ball at least 1 s before the catch. The intervention was evaluated using an A-B-A-B design, and results indicated that prompting and negative reinforcement (removing sprints at the end of practice for desired performance) were successful for improving names on passes.

Using task clarification, graphic feedback, and verbal feedback to increase closing-task completion in a privately owned restaurant.

An informant functional assessment was used to evaluate closing-task completion by servers and dishwashers at a restaurant. Based on the functional assessment results, an intervention consisting of task clarification, posted graphic feedback, and verbal feedback was implemented and evaluated with a multiple baseline design across two groups of employees. Results showed an increase of 15% and 38% in task completion for the two groups.