Innovativeness and Drivers of Manager's Innovativeness

The main purpose of this chapter is to identify and outline drivers of manager's innovativeness in organizations. Managers have the decisive role in efforts for innovativeness in organizations since they must create and maintain appropriate conditions for innovative working and behavior. First, the chapter outlines what is innovativeness and distinguishes between low and high innovative organizations. Next, is presented a framework for understanding the role of management in organizations, followed by addressing the under-considered area in frame of management behavior stream – namely innovativeness of manager's. Outlined are key drivers of manager's innovativeness, which importantly determine manager's attitudes towards innovativeness, which are necessary pre-conditions for increasing innovativeness in an organization. In the final section, rationales behind human behavior are outlined, which provides a fertile ground for future research.

Autism at a glance: A pilot study optimizing thin-slice observations

Borrowing from a clinical psychology observational methodology, thin-slice observations were used to assess autism characteristics in toddlers. Thin-slices are short observations taken from a longer behavior stream which are assigned ratings by multiple raters using a 5-point scale. The raters’ observations are averaged together to assign a “thin-slice” value for each observation. In this study, a total of 60 toddlers were selected from a video archive: 20 children with typical development, 20 children with developmental language disorder, and 20 children with autism. In the first part of this study, 20 raters observed small play segments between toddlers and an assessor. Raters assigned scores to each of the 60 toddlers on items related to autism symptomatology. Item analysis and generalizability and decision studies were conducted to determine the factor structure and optimal number of raters to achieve a stable estimate of autism characteristics. In the second part of the study, generalizability and decision studies were conducted to determine the most efficient and optimal combination of raters and naturalistic contexts. This pilot study provides recommendations for optimizing the utility of thin-slice observations for measuring autism symptomatology in young children.

An analysis of the relationships among engagement, agitated behavior, and affect in nursing home residents with dementia

ABSTRACTBackground: Affect, behavior, and cognition can be considered as basic constructs that dictate human functioning, with intricate and bi-directional relationships among them. Prior to the present study, relationships among these constructs have not been systematically examined within the context of dementia.Methods: Sample 1 contained 185 nursing home residents with a diagnosis of dementia. Sample 2 contained 117 residents with dementia, all of whom manifested agitated behaviors. Outcome measures included stimulus engagement (assessed via the Observational Measure of Engagement), affect (measured using Lawton's Modified Behavior Stream), and agitation/problem behavior (recorded via the Agitated Behaviors Mapping Instrument). Real time direct observations were collected during both stimulus presentation and control conditions.Results: The relationship of engagement with positive affect, represented by the variables of interest and pleasure, were high and positive. No relationship emerged for engagement with negative affect or agitated behavior. A consistent positive relationship was found between agitated behavior and negative affect, and in Sample 2, a negative relationship between agitated behavior and both pleasure and interest.Conclusion: This is the first study to examine relationships among variables that are typically examined individually and, in doing so, has clarified the nomenclature used to describe the constructs of affect, engagement, and agitated behaviors in persons with dementia. The finding that the constructs of engagement, agitated behavior, and affect are multidimensional and that relationships among these constructs occur for some of the dimensions is important for the development of interventions and for clear communication in practice and research.

Statistical Models for Behavioral Observations

Statistical models for the Behavior Stream (renewal processes) are used to explore properties of behavioral observations. For continuous observation, statistical and psychometric properties are obtained for four types of behavioral measures: (i) empirical rates of behavior; (ii) empirical proportions, or relative frequencies, of a type of behavior; (iii) empirical prevalence (proportion of time the behavior occurs); and (iv) empirical event duration. Also, time-sampling alternatives to continuous observation are evaluated. Our formulation includes representations for three sources of unreliability: (a) finite observation time, (b) recorder errors, and (c) heterogeneity (instability) over occasions of observation. Traditional psychometric methods carried over from the analysis of responses to test items (including generalizability theory) are shown not to be applicable to behavioral observations. Our results provide a guide for design and a framework for statistical analysis in behavioral observation research.