Association for Behavior Analysis International

Businesses are crying out for leadership. Businesses need managers and executives to guide them through an environment that is high risk and in flux. Changing markets and business environments require rapid and creative responses and the taking of measured risks to achieve positive results. Higher education has failed miserably at preparing leaders because of its traditional concepts of both leadership and instruction. One cannot learn leadership from a book any more than one can learn golf that way. The problem is exacerbated by the fact that our modern regimented society prepares children to be less, not more, capable of either accepting responsibility or taking a leadership role. This is paper will focus on both what contemporary leaders must do and how they can be prepared to do it.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, graduate students, and anyone interested in leadership in organizations.

This session will trace the history of Schlumberger Limited (SLB) from its inception to its current status as the world’s leading supplier of technology, integrated project management, and information solutions to customers working in the oil and gas industry worldwide. SLB employs about 120,000 people representing more than 140 nationalities and working in more than 85 countries. The organization is committed to technology innovation, research, and engineering to provide the level of value to customers. The SLB chief executive officer has established a blueprint for corporate directions that includes emphasis on behavior change related to teamwork, innovation, and engagement. This talk provides an update on recent work across geo-markets and business segments and illustrates the integration of engineering and behavior science.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning about integrating engineering and behavior analysis.

Consumer behavior analysis employs explanatory variables honed in experimental analyses to understand complex human socio-economic behaviors that are not amenable to laboratory investigation. A synthesis of behavior analysis and consumer science, it involves both the behavioral economics of choice in the market place and--the subject of this talk--the interpretation of consumer behavior in natural settings that suggests solutions to pressing cultural concerns such as environmental despoliation through consumption. The paper examines three aspects of this problem: the nature of consumer behavior as a set of contingent activities, the nature of marketing response, and the opportunities for remedial action that follow from the interaction of consumer choice and the marketing firm. Translating what we have discovered through the experimental analysis of behavior into applicable solutions to social and economic problems requires a willingness to adapt our science to the demands of social technology, to recognize the complexities inherent in the reinforcement of complex behavior, and to make our unique approach to behavior--in this case, consumer behavior and marketing response--available to a broader community. The paper deals therefore with the pattern of reinforcement (consisting of both utilitarian and informational reward) that shapes consumer choice, the bilateral contingencies which integrate consumer and corporate behaviors, and the particular requirements of any program that seeks to redress the effects of over-consumption on the physical and social environment. An important subtheme will address what this kind of response to social and environmental concerns requires of behavior analysts.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning more about human soci-economic behaviors outside the laboratory

Marathon Petroleum, Illinois Refining Division (IRD), adopted a behavioral science approach to its safety operations becoming one of the first sites accredited for its behavioral safety program by the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies (CCBS). With this success came the challenge to use behavioral science to impact the company, its contractors, and its region. Subsequently, Marathon's refining division now has three refining divisions' behavioral safety programs accredited by the Cambridge Center. The Illinois Refining Division led its contractors in adopting behavioral safety leading to nearly half of them receiving accreditation themselves. Evidence indicates that the contracting workforce adopts its behavioral safety best practices in other regional businesses as well. Therefore, the Illinois Refining Division has embarked on efforts to teach behavioral science to regional industry to broaden its impact. This talk will review the growth of behavioral science within Marathon Petroleum and its outreach efforts as well as introduce some new areas of application within other business systems.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, graduate students, and anyone interested in learning about a behavioral science approach to safety operations.

Leadership of the private sector affects socially significant practices inside (employees' health, safety, and financial wellbeing, etc.) and outside of organizations (e.g., consumer practices). By drawing upon their pioneering work in Organizational Behavior Management, panelists will provide comments regarding this theme of the Seminar on Leadership and Cultural Change. The panelists will discuss ways by which organizational leaders can promote stewardship and open opportunities for innovation while adjusting to growing social upheaval, technological advances, and environmental concerns, as well as crises in the global economy, health, education, and environment. It will address how behavior analysis finds common ground with other sciences by investigating the behavior of leaders who influence organizations and society.

Psychologists, behavior analysts, graduate students, and anyone interested in organizational behavior management applied in the private sector.