The goal of community placement for people with developmental disabilities is to enable them to live productively and independently. However, the very routines followed at programs and facilities that serve them often thwart that goal. The present study was designed to increase the extent to which individuals with developmental disabilities engaged in tasks pursuant to preparing for, consuming, and cleaning up after lunch. During the pre-served condition, staff prepared and served the lunches to the clientele without involving them in any substantial way. The self-served condition involved staff training and environmental changes in order to set the occasion for greater independence among the clientele. The changes included involving the clientele in the preparation, consumption, and clean-up of the meal by least-to-most prompting of the clients through the tasks. Data was collected on 61 participants. A subset of 12 participants' verbal behavior was examined in order to determine the intervention's impact on positive and negative verbal behavior. A multiple baseline analysis across lunch groups indicated an increase in participation in activities associated with the lunch routine, but had varying effects on verbal behavior.

Este estudo teve como objetivo investigar como se configura o treinamento e o desenvolvimento de gestores no setor de telecomunicaÃÃes, segundo as prÃprias concepÃÃes de 6 destes participantes. Metodologicamente, organizou-se como uma pesquisa qualitativo-descritiva, que teve, como meio de recolher informaÃÃes e conhecimentos, a pesquisa de campo. Utilizou-se como instrumento a entrevista semi-estruturada na modalidade temÃtica. A investigaÃÃo, que foi realizada nas filiais das empresas operadoras de telefonia celular (A, B e C), nas cidades de Teresina, no PiauÃ, e em Fortaleza, no CearÃ, buscou conhecer, conforme a perspectiva dos gestores, as caracterÃsticas dos processos de treinamento e desenvolvimento de gestores nas organizaÃÃes do setor de telecomunicaÃÃes, averiguar os nexos entre o treinamento e o desenvolvimento de gestores, existentes nestas organizaÃÃes e as idÃias sobre esta temÃtica propostas pelos teÃricos, e analisar qual a relaÃÃo existente entre o treinamento e o desenvolvimento de gestores e suas estratÃgias organizacionais. Os autores bÃsicos utilizados neste estudo foram Milkovich e Boudreau. As anÃlises das entrevistas confirmaram os pressupostos e apontaram que, nas organizaÃÃes pesquisadas, o treinamento e o desenvolvimento de gestores realizados à assistemÃtico, fragmentado e mais centrado no adestramento tÃcnico; que o processo de treinamento e desenvolvimento de gestores, realizado nestas organizaÃÃes, diverge dos modelos propostos pelos teÃricos e que o treinamento e o desenvolvimento de gestores nÃo està alinhado Ãs estratÃgias organizacionais das referidas instituiÃÃes. / The objective of this study was to investigate the configuration of the training and development of managers in the sector of telecommunications according to the concepts of 6 participants. The methodology was organized as a qualitativedescriptive research. The field research was to collect information and knowledge using interviews half-structuralized in the thematic modality. The inquiry which was carried out in the branch offices of the cellular phone service companies (A, B and C) in the cities of Teresina, Piauà and Fortaleza, CearÃ, had as specific objectives to perform research in regards to the perspective of the managers, the characteristics of the training processes and development of managers in the organizations of the sector of telecommunications, to view the nexuses between the training and development of existing managers in these organizations and the ideas of these thematic proposals for the theoreticians and to analyze which was the existing relationship between the training and development of managers and the strategies of their organizations. The primary authors used in this study were Milkovich and Boudreau. The analysis of the interviews confirms the estimated ideas and points out that in the target organizations the training and development of managers carried through is not systematic, not continuous and more centered upon the training technician; that the process of training and development of managers carried through in these organizations diverge from the models considered by the theoreticians and that the training and development of managers is not lined up to the organizational strategies of the related institutions.

Staff training packages combining instructions, modeling, practice, and feedback have been shown to be effective in demonstrating skills to work in early intensive behavioral intervention, but maintenance and generalization of the skills trained are often not addressed. Establishing a community of practice, in which staff members continue to learn and develop new skill sets from one another through shared experiences and information, may lead to the endurance and maintenance of desired staff behavior over time. The purpose of the current study is to evaluate the effects of a behaviorally designed community of practice on staff use of socially embedded consequences. The effects of the training procedure were evaluated using a concurrent multiple baseline design across two sites (7 staff members). The results suggest that the behaviorally planned community of practice was effective in reinforcing and maintaining staff use of socially embedded consequences for at least 5 to 9 weeks. Additionally, the number of learning opportunities provided by the staff and social engagement between staff and child increased.

Thesis (MTech (Public Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2019 / The study focuses on Human Resource Development through employee training and development practices. This research sheds light on the relationship between employee training practices and employee development, with specific emphasis on employee performance and job satisfaction. The purpose of training and development programmes is to improve employee competence and organisational performance. A number of employees are perceived to be reluctant to attend training and development opportunities and do not want to develop themselves. The objectives of the research were to investigate employee training and development practices followed at a selected municipality in the Western Cape in South Africa and to explore and understand the dimensions of employee training and job satisfaction. It was anticipated that this would give an indication of the various training and development programme types, as well as its benefits, offered to municipal employees of the selected municipality. It also focuses on employees’ expectations and involvement in such types of training programmes. The aim of the study is to analyse the implementation of training and development intervention practices of a selected municipality as well as its impact on the perceptions about employees who do not want to attend training and development interventions organised which, in the long run, will lead to job performance improvement and job satisfaction. An investment in training activities is returned in the form of retaining more productive and effective employees. Training and development intervention programmes may focus on individual or team performance. It is observed that municipalities following systematic and scientific training and development practices create high job satisfaction levels amongst employees. In contrast, municipalities who do not put training interventions in place to make sure employees are given opportunities to undergo training and development, do not perform well, and usually receive disqualified audit statuses and experience community protests for lack of service delivery. Municipal employees who attend training and development programmes are more committed towards better performance – results show positive outcomes. The development and implementation of training interventions should be based on needs analyses. Information obtained could be useful for the improvement of training and development practices in all departments. Factors affecting the effectiveness of training and development intervention practices in municipalities include lack of support from top management and peers, employees’ individual attitudes, job-related factors and deficiencies in training practices. In an era where Government struggles to address community’s crisis, public service employees should be managed efficiently and effectively by implementing systematic training and development intervention programmes in order to enhance job performance and understanding of job criteria. This will ensure effective transmission of basic services to communities. There is an urgent need to reshape training and development interventions in order for Government to provide advancement possibilities in Local Government and for departments to be centres of excellence. Government departments should design training policies that resonate with communities’ needs and develop guiding documents that are understandable and implementable. Departments also need to review training budgets and the relevance of training programmes. In addition, the training opportunities provided should be accredited and recognised to afford workers opportunities for growth and promotion as well as to gain a qualification that will give them access to obtaining a formal qualification.

Research has shown that well-trained staff within early and intensive behavioral intervention (EIBI) provide more effective treatment. An important part of training is learning the vocabulary and concepts of treatment. This aids in conceptual understanding of the principles and procedures. The process of learning behavioral concepts also develops the necessary verbal repertoire needed to communicate among members of a community of practice; a group of people who have common reinforcers and are working toward a common goal. Learning to tact a series of sequential descriptions, or verbally narrate, exemplary teaching interactions should be a goal when teaching behavior analysis because it is how we, as a community, interact and establish an understanding of behavior analysis. The purpose of the current study is to train novice behavior analysts to narrate exemplary intervention sequences that are responsive, flexible, and effective teaching interactions. The effects of the training were evaluated using a multiple baseline design across training conditions, replicated across 3 participants. The results suggest that the training was effective in increasing the number of narrative statements as well as the number of narrative statements related to five critical features of a teaching interaction and the relations between those features. The results are discussed in the context of future research directions, including studies of correspondence between verbal behavior and teaching interaction performance.

Having a measurable way to analyze how staff members describe teaching interactions is important for staff training and building a community of effective and caring practice. The purpose of this project, part of a larger program, is to develop a measurement system that captures descriptions of connected events (narratives) during teaching interactions. This project involved development of a reliable measurement system that discriminates between experienced and novice narratives of teaching interactions (contingency arrangements) across multiple cases of instruction. The participants were employees of a non-profit agency serving children with autism and their families. They volunteered to participate in the study. The development of the code included the systematic selection of high quality autism intervention video clips and asking participants to view the clips and describe events, and then coding responses. The participant narratives were then categorized by themes and analyzed. The results are described in the context of usefulness and limitations of the measurement systems. A mutielement design comparing responses across stimulus conditions was used to evaluate the sensitivity of the measurement system in discriminating between novice and experienced interventionists.

The purpose of this study was threefold: (a) to examine the separate effects of increased accuracy on multiple-choice/rank-order written tests and coaching on the teaching performance of participants; (b) to compare generalization across tasks produced by the workshop and coaching; and (c) to assess maintenance of teaching performance. Following baseline, two adults received a lecture on discrete trial teaching procedures. A written test measured verbal performance on workshop material periodically throughout this phase. During the next phase, each adult then experienced further training via in-situ coaching. A multiple baseline design across tasks was used during the coaching phase. Results of the workshop training package revealed an inverse relationship between the strongest verbal performance and strongest teaching performance skill areas. In addition, only with the introduction of the in-situ coaching package did teacher performance improve significantly across all behaviors. Child responding remained relatively constant throughout the study, regardless of teacher performance. Some generalization of teacher behavior was observed across tasks, but was extremely variable across both workshop and coaching conditions. After the cessation of coaching, teacher performance remained stable across maintenance phases and at a 6-week follow-up.

Self-instructional training manuals and video modeling have been demonstrated to be effective for teaching university students and direct-care staff to conduct behavioral procedures, such as preference assessments and discrete-trials teaching with persons with intellectual disabilities (ID) and children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). The Assessment of Basic Learning Abilities – Revised (ABLA-R) is an assessment tool used by Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) service providers for determining the learning ability of clients with ID and children with ASD. In this study, I combined an ABLA-R self-instructional manual (DeWiele et al., 2014) with video modeling and evaluated the effectiveness of the training package for teaching ABA service providers to administer the ABLA-R to a child with ASD. I evaluated the training package using a single-subject, modified concurrent multiple baseline (MB) design across a pair of participants, replicated across three other pairs of participants, plus a modified nonconcurrent MB design across a pair of participants, replicated across one other pair. Participants demonstrated a significant increase in the accuracy with which they administered the ABLA-R to an experimenter from baseline to post-test, and conducted the ABLA-R with high accuracy in a generalization assessment with a child with ASD. An implication of this research is that the self- instructional training package is an effective tool for training ABA service providers to accurately administer the ABLA-R to children with ASD. / October 2016

Sales training and feedback is an important aspect of a successful business. Sales based businesses are dependent on effective customer relations. Implementing a training program that is focused on customer service could help increase sales revenue for the business as a whole. The purpose of this research study is to make recommendations for improving the process of initially greeting a customer in order to create a more positive experience from start to finish. It also examines the importance of feedback in regard to increasing desired behavior of a salesperson. After conducting a PDC with the owner, management and salespeople; recommendations for improving upon customer greetings was given to the management team.

The number of autism spectrum disorder (ASD) cases has surged in the U.S. educational system since the mid-2000s. At the same, paraprofessionals who work with these students are not being given adequate training, especially in how to implement applied behavior analytic services. To address paraprofessional's inadequate training, new behavioral treatments have surfaced, including Video Self-Modeling (VSM). VSM is an effective intervention tool derived heavily from Bandura's social learning theory. VSM uses edited video clips in which paraprofessionals view him or herself correctly performing target skills. This study used a single-subject, modified multiple baseline design to evaluate whether VSM could improve the accuracy of procedural integrity when implementing DTI. A sample of 5 novice paraprofessionals was used; all participants worked directly with ASD students with 6 months to 2 years experience, supported an ASD student in an inclusive setting for at least 75% of the school day, and had no previous training in DTI. Three of the 5 participants exhibited immediate and significant gains in DTI implementation, and those gains were maintained during follow-up. One participant demonstrated moderate gain during the follow-up. To determine effective significance, visual analysis, combined with level of performance, non-overlapping data points, and effect sizes were used. VSM treatment was rated as an acceptable treatment according to the social validity scale and the Intervention Rating Profile (IRP-15). This study contributes to positive social change by offering a viable treatment approach that can be used to train paraprofessionals who instruct students with ASD.