Besides improving productivity, behavioral observation can help establish a positive, safe work environment by inculcating a culture that promotes teamwork and takes ownership of actions. Some of the other benefits of behavioral observations include:-

i). Provides a baseline to set improvement goals

ii). Improves safety practices of the observers and the observed

iii). Increases situation awareness

iv). Creates a forum for recognition of positive behaviors

PRINCIPLES OF BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATION

Behavioral observation can be implemented across industries such as marine, retail, construction, manufacturing, and healthcare.

i). Define clear, realistic, and achievable goals.

ii). Start with a small department or section of the organization

iii). Expand observation radius to other companies to get an idea of their experiences

iv). Improve internal communication to get better results

v). Increase employee involvement and participation

vi). Follow the company’s language to reach the employees better

vii). Concentrate and identify the root cause of errors and accidents

viii). Emphasis on safety is a core value instead of safety

ISSUES IN BEHAVIORAL OBSERVATIONS

♤ Assessment Reactivity

Because observers are in the physical presence of the client while collecting behavioral observation data, there is the potential for the procedure itself to change the client’s behavior.

This is referred to as assessment reactivity. Assessment reactivity can significantly affect the validity of observation data, so steps need to be taken to minimize its effects.

♤ Reliability

Reliability refers to the consistency of results obtained from an assessment procedure, and it is important for the purposes of behavioral observation. There are several types of reliability, including internal consistency, test-retest, and inter-rater reliability. The first two are less applicable than the third for behavioral observation. With regard to test-retest reliability, for example, behaviors are not expected to remain stable over time, so low retest reliability is less a function of the instrumentation being used than the characteristics being assessed.

♤ Defining Behaviors

Behavioral definitions should have several characteristics. They should be objective, clear, and complete. Objective means the definition should include only observable aspects of the behavior. No inferences or judgments should be necessary when using the definition.

The definition should be clear, meaning that it is understandable to any person who would want to conduct observations using the definition. Finally, the definition should be complete. It should delineate the bounds of the behavior, so that decisions can be made about whether a particular behavior represents an instance of the target behavior being observed.

● What Is a Personality Test?

A personality test is a tool used to assess human personality. Personality testing and assessment refer to techniques designed to measure the characteristic patterns of traits that people exhibit across various situations. Personality tests can be used to help clarify a clinical diagnosis, guide therapeutic interventions, and help predict how people may respond in different situations.

Career is an occupation undertaken for a significant period of a person's life and with opportunities for according to (Fouad, 2007; Wolfe and Betz, 2004) making career decisions can be scary. Individuals who exhibit and qualifications have limited secure attachment and who have a sense of self-efficacy about career -relevant abilities thus find it easier to make career choices. Other personal characteristics that affect career choice include intelligence related to academic success, for example, professions such as law, medicine and engineering are only open to those who can meet increasingly selective criteria as they advance from high school to college to graduate education and professional training. In many occupations, special talents are more important than general intelligence.

Specific aptitudes that might make a person more suited for certain occupations include creativity, artistic or musical talents, mechanical abilities, clerical skill, mathematical abilities and persuasive talents. Others include social skills and family influence (Kozlowski and Bell, 2003). Finally, it is important to choose an occupation that is compatible to your personality (Swanson and D'Achiardi, 2005).

● Using Psychological Tests for Career Decisions

Psychological tests are used to gather information concerning a person's personality and characteristics. These include educational level, achievement, interest, strengths, perception, mental ability, aptitude among others. Essential information about occupations that you should know include: the nature of the work, working conditions, job entry requirements, potential earnings, potential status, opportunities for advancements, intrinsic job satisfaction and future outlook.

● Examples of Psychological Tests

♤ Mental Ability Test: This tests the person's ability to cope with intellectual challenges of life. A mental ability test is a pre-employment test that assesses a candidate's ability to comprehend complex ideas, solve problems, and apply learned skills through questions based on abstract reasoning, numeric reasoning, and verbal reasoning. It helps you identify top talent at the pre-hire stage.

♤ Achievement Test: Used to measure how much has been learnt, how much skill has been developed and what competence has been acquired. They are mostly used for prediction.

Academic performance can influence career choice in a whole lot of ways; most undergraduate student has a particular career in mind before even gaining admission into tertiary institution with hope of making good grades so as to enable them get their dream job.

There was a case of an undergraduate student who wished to be retained by the school after graduation but he ended up not making first class and the school did not retain him. There are some jobs that will specify they want candidates with second class upper to first class; graduates that did not get second class or first class end up losing that opportunity. It is usually very important that you make good grades so as to not have a limitation as regard your career choice.

♤ Aptitude test: Career aptitude tests are usually taken online, in the form of a detailed quiz that covers various questions. The goal of these questions is to uncover your personality, values, skills, motivations, and preferences, and match them with the most-fitting professional fields and careers paths for you.