Performance Management and Supervision: A Behavior Analytic Perspective

What does it take to build a workplace that truly works, for the organization and the people within it?

Organizational Behavior Management offers a rigorous yet accessible answer. Grounded in the science of behavior analysis, this textbook bridges foundational theory and real-world practice, equipping readers with the conceptual tools and empirical knowledge needed to drive meaningful, measurable change in organizational settings.

Carefully structured to build understanding progressively, the text moves from core principles, the history of OBM, defining performance targets, and measurement, through increasingly applied territory: assessment, training, feedback, and incentive systems. Final chapters address the broader organizational landscape, exploring cultural considerations, supervision, safety, and employee health and wellbeing. Each chapter weaves together seminal research and recent innovations, enriched by practical examples, case studies, exercises, and recommended readings that bring the science to life.

This book was written by experts with a broad audience in mind. Graduate students in behavior analysis will find conceptually precise, research-integrated content that prepares them for both scholarship and practice. Undergraduate students, professionals in education or business, and practitioners deepening their expertise will discover a text that is demanding without being inaccessible, one that respects both the rigor of the science and the complexity of the human beings it serves.

As organizations face accelerating change, the demand for performance management that is effective, ethical, and evidence-based has never been greater. Behavioral science offers a uniquely powerful framework for meeting that demand, one committed to observable outcomes, pragmatic intervention, and social significance.

This textbook is an invitation to learn that science, apply it thoughtfully, and contribute to workplaces that are not only productive but genuinely supportive of the people who make them possible.