The Code is Irrelevant: Organizational Behavior Management is not Applied Behavior Analysis
The BACB code is built for clinics, so OBM practitioners should stop treating it as their main rule book.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Hantula (2022) wrote a position paper. He asked: does the BACB ethics code help or hurt people who do OBM?
He looked at the code line by line. He used real court cases and business rules. No clients were tested.
What they found
The code gives no useful rules for OBM work. It can even create legal risk.
Following it may push OBM folks out of their own field.
How this fits with other research
Johnson (2022) wants the code used more, not less. He says drop Rekers & Lovaas (1974) from training because it breaks today’s ethics.
Zane (2025) also leans hard on the code. He tells BCBAs to reject spelling-to-communicate even if the rest of the team says yes.
The three papers all talk about the same code. Two say obey it. Hantula says ignore it. The gap is setting: Johnson and Zane work with kids with autism; Hantula works with adults in offices.
Why it matters
If you run OBM projects in business, check your contract before you cite the BACB code. The rules were written for clinic work, not for fixing sales teams or safety scores. Use business law and workplace policy first. Keep the code in your back pocket only if the client asks for it.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
Suggestions that organizational behavior management (OBM) and its practitioners may benefit in some way by adopting the BACB® code of ethics, and by becoming board certified as behavior analysts are refuted. Instead it is shown that OBM is only tangentially related to the practice of applied behavior analysis, the BACB® code of ethics is irrelevant to OBM, there is no consumer protection or benefit offered, and OBM has its own evolving robust approach to ethics. There are no advantages to OBM or its practitioners for adopting the BACB® code of ethics, instead there is only decreased opportunities and increased liability for those involved in OBM, increased influence, ideological hegemony and professional disenfranchisement by the BACB® and increased profits for certain universities and continuing education unit providers.
Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 2022 · doi:10.1080/01608061.2022.2029796