Editorial: An Introduction to the Special Section on Organizational Behavior Management in Health & Human Services

Abstract

In 2017, the Association for Behavior Analysis International conference held a special one-day pre-conference on Organizational Behavior Management (OBM) in Health and Human Services (HHS). This pre-conference featured experts presenting on topics that highlight the breadth and range of OBM, particularly as it is applied within HHS. Dr. Aubrey Daniels kicked off the day's events with an introduction to OBM told through the lens of his 40 years of experience and expertise as a leading OBM consultant and author. While some of the talks presented behavioral systems analysis (BSA) and largescale change, others targeted performance management (PM) and day-today supervision and management requirements, demonstrating that OBM is useful for both strategic and tactical organizational performance improvement. Presenting on BSA and large-scale change, Dr. Heather McGee kicked things off with her talk on how HHS organizations can use BSA to implement large-scale change initiatives. Brett DiNovi presented on the specific leadership accomplishments and behaviors required to successfully and sustainably grow organizations serving individuals with ASD. Dr. Mark Dixon described system-wide interventions that OBMers and HHS organizational leaders could use to promote both sound financial and clinical practices. Drilling down into the PM side of OBM, Dr. Donald Hantula described how OBM can and should be incorporated into supervision practices to ethically improve and support employee performance, while Dr. Florence DiGennaro Reed presented a three-term model for ongoing staff training and performance management. Finally, Dr. Nicholas Weatherly presented an OBM approach to building a clinical safety culture to improve employee safety performance.

Commentary on “Developing and refining a process to improve teacher engagement with the performance management system in a school setting”

“…Because the students might have additional needs, producing optimal outcomes is particularly important, making the use of Performance Management even more crucial. As Rodriguez and McGee (2019) described, work in the field of Organisational Behavioural Management (OBM) in health and human services is vast, referencing work in hospitals, clinics, treatment centres, group homes and schools (Gavoni and Rodriguez, 2016). Hawkins et al (this issue) described the focus of their project to be the role of performance management, targeting teacher engagement ultimately to improve student outcomes.…”