Chair: Andrijana Mušura Gabor & Helena Vlahinja Klauznicer; Zagreb School of Economics and Management (ZSEM)
Date: May 21st, 2025
Time: 9:00 – 16:00 (Full-day session)
Price: 80 EUR
Capacity: 20 People
This workshop equips HR professionals and organizational leaders with practical tools to integrate behavioral science into workplace strategies. Participants will learn to identify behavioral barriers using the COM-B model (Michie et al., 2011) and design for behavioral challenges through the EAST framework (BIT UK), enabling effective, targeted interventions. Through interactive case studies, participants will address real-world organizational challenges, with discussions on ethical considerations to ensure solutions respect organizational culture. This hands-on workshop empowers attendees to apply behavioral insights immediately within their organizations.
ABSTRACT:
This workshop, Behavioral Design in Organizations: Applying Behavioral Science for Positive Change, is designed to bridge the gap between academic insights from behavioral science and practical applications in organizational contexts, particularly in human resources (HR). It aims to equip professionals with the tools and methodologies necessary to diagnose behavioral challenges and design evidence-based interventions that drive positive outcomes within their organizations.
Behavioral science explores the underlying mechanisms behind human decision-making and action—why people sometimes fail to achieve their goals, make irrational decisions, or behave contrary to their long-term interests. By leveraging these insights, behavioral design offers a framework for creating environments and systems that nudge individuals toward desired behaviors in a way that is both subtle and effective.
The workshop will focus on two main behavioral science frameworks: the COM-B model, which helps identify capability, opportunity, and motivation barriers to desired behaviors, and the EAST framework (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely), which guides the design of interventions that are simple, appealing, socially supported, and well-timed. These frameworks will be applied to real-world organizational challenges such as increasing employee engagement, enhancing productivity, improving communication, and fostering innovation.
Participants will gain hands-on experience through interactive case studies and group exercises, where they will identify behavioral barriers within organizational processes and design targeted interventions. The workshop is designed to be highly practical, enabling participants to directly apply the concepts to challenges they face in their own workplaces. Throughout the session, participants will also explore the ethical implications of behavioral interventions, ensuring that solutions are not only effective but also respectful of employee autonomy and organizational culture.
TARGET AUDIENCE
This workshop is designed for HR professionals, managers, organizational psychologists, and any professionals interested in applying behavioral science to enhance workplace outcomes. Participants should have a keen interest in understanding human behavior and how behavioral insights can foster positive organizational change.
LEARNING OUTCOMES
Main Learning Objectives:
- Develop Core Behavioral Science Knowledge: Gain a foundational understanding of behavioral science principles, focusing on the drivers of human behavior and decision-making processes relevant to workplace contexts.
- Apply the COM-B and EAST Frameworks: Learn to use the COM-B (Capability, Opportunity, Motivation – Behavior) model and the EAST (Easy, Attractive, Social, Timely) framework to diagnose and address behavioral challenges, enabling practical application to organizational issues such as employee engagement, productivity, and communication.
- Design Targeted Interventions: Acquire hands-on experience in identifying specific behavioral barriers within organizational processes and designing evidence-based interventions to create sustainable behavioral change.
- Ethical Application of Behavioral Design: Explore the ethical considerations of implementing behavioral interventions in the workplace, ensuring respect for employee autonomy and organizational culture.