Guidance and Recommendations When Developing an Introductory Graduate-Level OBM Course
Copy the new OBM Network syllabus to teach a grad course that already folds in the best recent staff-training and maintenance studies.
01Research in Context
What this study did
A committee of OBM experts wrote a course blueprint.
They listed the exact topics, readings, and assignments for a first-semester grad class.
No data were collected; the paper is a how-to guide for professors.
What they found
The blueprint gives you a week-by-week syllabus.
It tells you which token-economy studies to assign, which staff-training videos to show, and how to grade each project.
You can copy-paste the whole plan or swap in newer readings as they appear.
How this fits with other research
Gutierrez et al. (2020) showed that a short manual can train staff to run a token economy.
The new course plan uses that exact manual as a class activity, so students learn the same tool.
Regnier et al. (2022) reviewed how to keep token gains after the coins stop.
The blueprint makes that review required reading, turning the review into lecture slides.
LeBlanc et al. (2019) gave tips on running meetings.
The course adds a role-play where students practice those meeting skills before they supervise teams.
Why it matters
If you teach OBM, you now have a ready-made syllabus that embeds proven training tools like the Gutierrez manual and the Regnier maintenance plan.
Swap it in next term and save prep time while giving students the most current, evidence-based content.
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Join Free →Download the appendix, replace your current week-5 lecture with the Gutierrez token-economy manual activity, and assign the Regnier review as homework.
02At a glance
03Original abstract
ABSTRACTRecent developments in the field of behavior analysis have resulted in Board Certified Behavior Analysts® who typically deliver services in clinical settings engaging in activities that require training and experience in organizational behavior management (OBM). The Behavior Analyst Certification Board recognizes the need for credentialed professionals to receive OBM-specific training and currently requires 30 hours of graduate coursework in personnel supervision and management. However, the growth of faculty qualified to teach OBM courses does not match the growth in interest in OBM, which could result in instructors teaching topics outside their scope of competence. To provide OBM instructors with guidance on appropriate content when creating and teaching graduate-level OBM courses, the OBM Network Board of Directors created the Research and Education Committee. The committee was tasked with supporting quality education and research in OBM. This paper presents the committee's initial recommendations for developing a graduate-level OBM course. Specifically, we provide information regarding core and supplemental content, and sourcing the materials needed for teaching these courses. We also outline several other variables that must be considered before finalizing an OBM course.KEYWORDS: Graduate-level OBM coursesOBM networkorganizational behavior management Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. We opt to use the term "behavior analysis" throughout this paper given that OBM is a subdiscipline of applied behavior analysis.
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 2024 · doi:10.1080/01608061.2023.2252800