Chapter 24 - Organizational Behavior Management: An Enabler of Applied Behavior Analysis

Abstract

Organizational behavior management (OBM) is a discipline within applied behavior analysis (ABA) that seeks to solve organizational problems through the application of behavioral principles within the work context. Over the past 30 years, researchers and practitioners of OBM have developed and empirically tested numerous behavioral assessment techniques and real-world interventions to understand and manage the complexity of organizational contingencies and metacontingencies. In the same time frame, other areas of ABA have also demonstrated their efficacy in delivering behavior analytic services to clients in human services, education, and many other areas. The industry of behavior analysis is a service industry that can be faced with the same organizational challenges that OBM seeks to solve. After all, the behaviors of employees and managers within clinics, schools, agencies, and governments operate under the same principles of behavior as do our clients. This chapter introduces organizational behavior analysis and describes how OBM can enable and enhance the delivery of behavior analytic services by managing the contingencies operating on the service providers.