A Graduate-Level Course in Organizational Behavior Management

Clayton et al. (2024) mapped out a 16-week graduate OBM course at Missouri State. The class meets once a week and gives three exams. Students also finish a three-part performance-management project that counts toward the 30-hour BACB supervision requirement.

The project walks students through pinpointing a staff behavior, measuring it, and changing it with feedback and reinforcement.

The paper is a course plan, not an experiment, so no outcomes are reported. It simply shows how one university fits the BACB supervision hours inside an OBM class.

Reid et al. (2003) ran a year-long outcome-management package that kept job coaches giving real choices to workers with severe disabilities. Clayton’s course could drop that same package into the student project so learners practice a proven system.

Kazemi et al. (2022) surveyed BCBAs and found most feel unprepared to handle workplace conflict. Clayton’s syllabus does not list a conflict-resolution module, so the course could add one to fill the gap the survey revealed.

Johnson et al. (2009) showed that supportive supervision cuts burnout and raises therapist confidence. Clayton’s performance-project structure lines up with those findings because students practice giving supportive feedback the same way effective supervisors do.

You can copy the three-part project tomorrow. Pick one staff behavior, graph it daily, and deliver brief, positive feedback. In class we talk about OBM; in the field we actually do it. Adding the 2003 choice package or a 15-minute conflict-role-play from Kazemi’s data turns the assignment into real-world training that meets BACB hours and builds better supervisors.