Key Points:

• Operant Conditioning and Behavior:
  • Explore the basics of operant conditioning and its relevance to management.
  • Discussion of Jeremy Bentham's Panopticon and its implications for behavior management.
  • The role of observation in influencing behavior.
  • Distinction between direct and indirect acting contingencies.
• Interview with Dr. Dick Malott:
  • Background and work of Dr. Malott in behavior analysis.
  • Consistency of operant conditioning principles across different groups (rats, students, managers, children with autism).
  • Explanation of behavioral contingencies and categories (unlearned/learned rewards and aversive conditions).
  • The importance of rule-governed behavior and rules that are easy to follow.
• Behavioral Management in Organizations:
  • Effective implementation of behavior management strategies in the workplace.
  • Importance of easy-to-follow rules with immediate, significant, and likely outcomes.
  • Examples of effective performance management in educational and organizational settings.
  • Challenges in implementing and maintaining behavior management systems.
• Practical Takeaways:
  • Reflect on feedback mechanisms in your workplace.
  • Redesign processes to make rules clearer and feedback more immediate.

Relevant Articles:

1. Greer, C. R., Lusch, R. F., & Hitt, M. A. (2017). "A Service Perspective for Human Capital Resources: A Critical Base for Strategy Implementation," Academy of Management Perspectives, 31: 137-158.
2. Podsakoff, P. M., Bommer, W. H., Podsakoff, N. P., & MacKenzie, S. B. (2006). "Relationships Between Leader Reward Behavior and Punishment Behavior and Subordinate Attitudes, Perceptions, and Behaviors: A Meta-Analytic Review of Existing and New Research," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 99: 113-142.
3. Trevino, L. K. (1992). "The Social Effects of Punishment in Organizations: A Justice Perspective," Academy of Management Review, 17: 647-676.
4. Molenmaker, W. E., Kwaadsteniet, E. W., & van Dyjk, E. (2016). "The Impact of Personal Responsibility on the (Un)Willingness to Punish Non-Cooperation and Reward Cooperation," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 134: 1-15.
5. Podsakoff, P. M., & Mackenzie, S. B. (1997). "Impact of Organizational Citizenship Behavior on Organizational Performance: A Review and Suggestions for Future Research," Human Performance, 10(2): 133-151.

Link to Dr. Dick Malott's Book:

• Principles of Behavior

Next Episode Teaser:

• Stay tuned for our next episode, where we explore blame and punishment in the context of organizational learning. In the meantime, keep learning, keep growing, and keep adding to your management theory toolbox!

Dr. Richard Malott [Guest], with more than 40 years of experience at Western Michigan University, has used the principles of behavior to construct teaching models and behavioral systems that have been sustained over several decades. As a result, he has taught generations of students to use behavior analysis in their everyday lives as learners, teachers, practitioners, and citizens, and has provided the training grounds for many of the field's leaders in behavioral systems design. Richard Malott is a prolific, creative, and engaging writer who has authored some of the field's most important and widely read publications, including Elementary Principles of Behavior (first with Donald Whaley and then with Maria E. Malott and Elizabeth Trojan Suarez), which is in its eight ed