Association for Behavior Analysis International

Organizational behavior management research has collectively documented that feedback is critical to creating behavior change in staff performance that drives organizational effectiveness (Daniels & Daniels, 2017). Moreover, self-management strategies help structure the work environment, increase self-motivation, and facilitate behaviors that contribute to the achievement of performance standards (Breevaart, Bakker, & Damerouti 2014). Furthermore, an emphasis on improving staff performance may contribute to their overall satisfaction, which is critical, as the effects of staff turnover include variability and decreased consistency for the consumers, perceived threats to company culture, and the financial costs inherent in recruiting and replacing lost staff. Fortunately, previous research has reported that satisfaction with training, supervision, and pay predicted the employees’ intent to turnover (Kazemi & colleagues, 2015). This symposium presents recent research related to the use of organizational behavior management within ABA-based agencies in an effort to improve their performance and satisfaction. The first paper analyzes the effects of a performance development system on the acquisition of direct intervention staff goals using a multiple baseline across behaviors design. The second paper analyzes the effects of a self-management intervention utilizing rules and self-monitoring on work-related organizational and planning skills using a multiple baseline across behaviors design. The third paper analyzes the effects of an intervention on self-reported staff satisfaction, relative to baseline reports, using a multiple baseline across service locations, within the same organization, design that additionally differentiates mediating variables (e.g., employee position and rank, weekly supervision, goal setting).

Individuals working in community-based ABA-agencies who provide supervision to direct intervention service delivery staff, as well as all direct service delivery staff themselves.

Organizational behavior management research has collectively documented that feedback is critical for creating behavior change in staff performance that drives organizational effectiveness (Daniels & Daniels, 2017). However, often feedback is dictated, rather than collaboratively determined. Additionally, direct intervention staff performance is critical to maximizing the quality of services provided. Typically, the more the intervention implementation integrity, the more effective and efficient overall outcomes are likely to be. As such, exceptional supervision entails the application of performance development plans (PDPs) strategically designed to collaboratively (i.e., supervising BCBA and RBT together) identify performance strengths, improvement goals, and current progress, across each supervisory session. A concurrent multiple baseline across behaviors design is being utilized to evaluate the effects of individualized PDPs on the acquisition of direct intervention staff goals. Current data represent baseline performance across six goals, with the initiation of intervention for the first four. Given the significant change in level across goals, data thus far indicates that the PDP effectively increased staff acquisition of performance improvement comparative to baseline. Future data will be collected to determine if intervention continues to yield such promising acquisition via stability across active goals and consistent change in level, increasing trend, and limited variability across novel goals to be introduced. Moreover, two additional goals have been generated, are currently in the baseline phase, may soon be introduced. Finally, any mastered goals are to be monitored in a maintenance phase to follow the PDP intervention.

Employee turnover has many side effects within a service organization. Some likely effects of turnover include variability and decreased consistency for the consumers, perceived threats to company culture and the financial costs inherent in recruiting and training replacements. In the presence of such effects, examination of the factors that decrease employee turnover is an important investigation. It is a logical extension that highly satisfied employees remain and thus organizations with high levels of reported satisfaction are likely organizations with decreased levels of employee turnover. Previous research has reported that satisfaction with training, supervision and pay predicted the employees’ intent to turnover (Kazemi & colleagues, 2015). This presentation will discuss the results of employee reported satisfaction on the aforementioned variables, measured throughout implementation of specific interventions aimed to increase satisfaction. Data were collected on satisfaction throughout baseline and intervention phases and intervention was evaluated with the use of a multiple baseline across service locations within the same organization. Our data will be discussed in the presence of observed trends and position specific variables. For example, this investigation highlighted the need to separate out the data based on clinical position as the highest dissatisfaction was reported by those in the behavior interventionist (BI) position and the highest satisfaction was reported by more senior team members. These results will be discussed in detail while discussing other data that were collected on other measures of interest, such as weekly supervision and goal setting. Future directions for those examining employee satisfaction will also be detailed.