Antecedents ~~

Antecedents

Analysis of antecedents considers the things that come before the behavior, such as setting expectations, goals, objectives, targets etc. They include personal objectives and company values.

Antecedents include triggers of behaviors that prompt action as well as constraints that shape action, indicating what is and what is not acceptable behavior.

Check that employees know what is personally expected of them, both in the outputs that they create and in the way in which they go about creating them (for example by following company values). These should be clearly communicated to the employee. They should also be valid and realistic (in that the employee should be able to perform them), and without internal conflict (for example if the employee is being asked to do things outside of the company values).

When using ABC for job analysis, generic antecedents may be used. For investigations, look for theantecedents of the specific behaviors reported or observed (not that for this, you need to start at the Behavior step). The notion of antecedents may also be used as a stimulation when Brainstorming for possible causes.

Example 1:

·         Antecedent: The teacher asks a student to come to the board to move a magnetic marker.

·         Behavior: Angelina bangs her head on the tray of her wheelchair.

·         Consequence: The teacher goes to Angelina and attempts to redirect and soothe her with a preferred item (a Pretty Pony doll.) The function of the behavior is attention since it takes the teacher's attention away from the other child.

Example 2:

·         Antecedent: Johnny is given a vocational bin and asked to assemble the parts.

·         Behavior: Johnny sweeps the bin with all the parts onto the floor.

·         Consequence: Johnny is taken to time out and the classroom aide picks up the pieces. Johnny has avoided the task, so the function of the behavior is avoidance.

In preparing a functional behavior analysis, special educators, behavior specialists and psychologists use an acronym, ABC, to understand a target behavior. The A stands for antecedent, the B for behavior and the C for consequence.

Article source : http://changingminds.org/disciplines/hr/performance_management/abc_analysis.htm