The Use of Functional Assessment and Frequency Building Procedures to Increase Product Knowledge and Data Entry Skills Among Foremen in a Construction Organization

Abstract

A functional assessment procedure, which was designed to identify insufficient skills that may have been responsible for employee performance problems, was administered to four foremen employed in a large construction organization. Results of this assessment procedure identified two skill areas, product knowledge and data entry, as deficient. Based on these results, an intervention targeting these performance deficits was implemented. During intervention, instructional and measurement procedures based on Precision Teaching and designed to increase rates of accurate responding were employed. A pair of multiple baseline designs across participants was used to evaluate intervention effectiveness. The intervention resulted in improved skills among all participants. Results suggest that the methods used in this study are a costeffective way of empirically identifying performance deficits and training skills in organizations. Implications for the field of Organizational Behavior Management are discussed and suggestions for future research are provided.

Key Words:

• Frequency building
• functional assessment
• functional assessment
• precision teaching
• training