Organizational behavior management

Founded in 1977, the Journal of Organizational Behavior Management (JOBM) served as a milestone in the field of Organizational Behavior Management.[2] With Aubrey Daniels as editor and Larry Miller as manager editor, the first board of editors for JOBM was composed of twenty-five individuals. Various names were used to describe the application of behavioral principles in organizational settings but the birth of JOBM solidified the use of the term Organizational Behavior Management to describe such applications in such settings.[1]

JOBM is periodical journal which seeks to publish research and review articles which apply principles of ABA to improve organizations through behavior change. Areas addressed throughout JOBM include performance measurement, performance level interventions, goal setting, feedback, incentive programs, and evidence-based management.[3] In 2003, the ISI Impact Factor of JOBM was ranked third in the Journal Citation Reports ranking of journals in applied psychology further establishing JOBM as a high-quality journal.[4]

Presently, the editorial board of JOBM consist of 72 members with Dr. Ramona Houmanfar serving as editor.[3]

The first university to offer a graduate program in OBM and systems analysis was Western Michigan University, under the instruction of Dick Malott.

Another early program in OBM was initiated at the University of Notre Dame in 1975 with the arrival of Martin Wikoff, the first graduate student in the program. Prior to attending Notre Dame, Wikoff, with University of Washington professors, Bob Kohlenberg (Psychology) and Terrance Mitchell (Foster School of Business) conducted one of the first controlled studies of applied behavior analysis in business; in this case, to improve grocery clerk performance.[5] This study was presented at the 1976 MABA Convention in Chicago. Its application to business was so novel that the research was assigned to the topic category of "Experimental Living Arrangements", confirming its status as one of the pioneering OBM documented applications. The Wikoff-Crowell-Anderson Notre Dame OBM research team was born.

Antecedents in OBM are simply defined as triggers that evoke behavior by presenting something in the workers environment that will increase the likelihood the behavior will occur.[6] These interventions can be used to address an array of behaviors which ultimately benefit the organization and workers of the organization. The intervention used is determined by the behavior(s) being targeted and whether or not the organization has a desire for the behavior to be exhibited in the work setting or not.[1] The interventions are categorized by what is done to influence behavior.

More commonly used antecedent interventions involve combining task clarification, job aids, and goal setting. Task clarification interventions are used and designed to provide specific job requirements for employees by clarifying and prompting employee behavior.[7] Previous studies which implement task clarification involve using items such as memos and checklists to ensure tasks are completed.[8] Job aids interventions involve prompts, or addition of items in the work environment such as signs, remind workers whether or not a behavior should occur.[9] When combined, goal setting is can then be introduced to establish a standard to how well workers must perform within a given time frame.[10] While the use of antecedent interventions one of the most common strategies, the strategies set the occasion for behavior, but do not maintain them. That aspect of OBM falls to consequence interventions.[1]

Consequence is defined as a change in the environment that follow a worker’s behavior which increases the likelihood the behavior will continue to be exhibited in the future.[11] Consequences interventions in OBM play a primary role in maintaining behavior are seen as the one of the most important aspects of OBM.

In OBM, feedback is a common and successful intervention method used in organizational settings. A study in 2012 found that feedback was the research of interest in over 70% of studies published in JOBM.[12] This is due to the various types of feedback delivery which can be tailored to the organization and its goals in addition to having numerous research articles which provide empirical evidence of its effectiveness. Such types include feedback on individual performance, group performance, previous individual performance, previous group performance, and different group’s performance.[13]

Regardless of the which consequence intervention used, an important element of the OBM intervention involves using one of the principles of ABA known as reinforcement.[14] This is due to the fact that when a behavior is reinforced, it is likely to continue to be exhibited in similar conditions to which the behavior was reinforced.[15] Behaviors which will be reinforced it determined by the organizational setting and its goals.

OBM might be seen as one of the distant branches of scientific management, originally inspired by Taylor.[16] The principal difference between scientific management and OBM might be on the conceptual underpinnings: OBM is based on B.F. Skinner's science of human behavior.[17] Because different people behave differently in the same situation, studies from multiple disciplines using multiple research methods create confusion, hindering a unified concept of organizational behavior.[18]

The parallel between OBM tools and the process and procedures common to the so-called Quality Movement (SPC, Deming, Quality Circles, ISO, etc.) was documented by Wikoff in his ISPI Article of the Year, the quality movement meets performance technology,.[19]