Behavioral Assessment in Organizations

Luis López-Mena (Ph.D.)

Departamento de Psicología
Director de PERSIST LTDA.

Assessment procedures are usually carried out in work-settings. The assessment of people is probably the most important decision-making process
in which organization engages. Traditional behavioral measures in the enterprises can be summarized as follows: a) assessment based upon
economic indexing or results, and b) assessment based upon "personality" or "traits".

Unfortunately, these measures do not eliminate errors such as inadequate observation or subjective judgment. In this review we offer the behavioral
assessment as an alternative to traditional ones, based on reversal design (ABA or ABAB) and multiple baseline design applied to the work of
industrial psychologist.

Key word. Organizational psychology, behavioral assessment, work settings, traditional evaluation, single-case experimental design.

Paper published in: Revista Latinoamericana de Psicología, (1993) 25; 3; 375 - 402

BUILDING A BEHAVIOR BASED SAFETY CULTURE.

PERSIST LTD. has been developed original methods (in Spanish) since 1982 applying psychology to safety at work.

With this Methods and measurement strategies PERSIST can develop Safety Culture at work.
These methodologies has been applied to different enterprises around the world since 1997.

Here you can see a sample of two Method: PTAS Method and PREMAC Method.

The name PTAS mean: Psychological Techniques Applied to Safety

It is a translation from spanish name: Técnicas Psicológicas aplicadas a la Seguridad.
Method developed by L. Lopez-Mena, since 1982.

The name PREMAC means: Prevención mediante autocontrol.

 Self-control skills as applied to occupational safety

Luis López-Mena
Professor of Work Psychology.
Director de PERSIST LTDA.

Summary

In this study we present an applied intervention model (M.O.S.) to improve 415 industrial workers skills in self-control that contribute to
occupational safety based on techniques for self management to develop self protective behaviors. This model had four steps a) self-
identification of high own risk behavior at work ; b) self-monitoring of at least one such conducts; c) self-management (as intervention)
based on techniques of applied behavior analysis; d) target of change.

In this exploratory study at a copper foundry plant, we found that 81% of workers, as an average, were capable of fulfilling a self-
contract. Self-contract is a contract wit himself and indicate wich behavior will be changed and wich consecuences now are under
self-management of worker. This experience was positively value by the participants and their training in self control skills was applied
in other issues, such as excessive food and alcohol consumption. Besides, this study show an improve in self concept, self esteem,
and empowerment. An external validity of this model was attained: a drop in work accident rates, and an improved position in national
ranking relative to equal industrial settings. For the first time, the plant reached over a million men-hours work without work accidents.

Published in: Revista de Psicología de la Universidad de Chile (2000); 9; 1; 61-74.

Ask for this paper (in spanish) to revpsico@uchile.cl

Ask for manuals, slides, courses, seminars, prizes and dates to: persist@persist.cl

© PERSIST LTDA
Luis Thayer Ojeda 0191,Ave. Oficina 1206 Edificio Manhattan, Codigo Postal 7510004, Providencia, Santiago de Chile.
Fonos:(56-2) 23332074 -(56-2) 22342680 Fax:(56 2) 22321612
capacitacion@persist.cl - persist@persist.cl
www.persist.cl