Development of an operant-based taxonomy and observational index of supervisory behavior

Abstract

The Operant Supervisory Taxonomy and Index (OSTI), a theory-based taxonomy and observational instrument of supervisory behavior, includes 7 categories of supervisory behavior, the 1st 3 of which are based on the theory of operant conditioning and considered to be related to effective supervision: performance consequences, performance monitors, performance antecedents, one's own performance, work-related, non-work-related, and solitary. Field tests of the OSTI, which consisted of 189 30-min observations of 7 theater managers over a 5-wk period and 440 30-min observations of 20 bank managers over a 12-wk period, showed that the OSTI was feasible, acceptably reliable, and sensitive to differences in behavior among managers. A generalizability theory analysis indicated that 20 30-min observations provided reasonably representative information on a given manager's behavior. (44 ref) (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved)