Using Behavioral Systems Analysis to Improve Large Scale Change Initiatives in Autism Service Organizations

Large scale organizational change initiatives are certainly difficult endeavors. But when we implement large scale change initiatives without properly assessing the impact the changes will have throughout the organization, we make the changes harder than they need be. Organizations tend to take one of two paths when implementing large scale change initiatives. The first path is to implement the change initiative (e.g., grow your client base, hire more staff, add a new service, begin serving a new market) and then identify and implement any system changes and supports required to support that initiative. The second path begins with identifying and implementing required system changes and supports and then implementing the change initiative. While the second path requires a slower implementation of the change, change initiatives in general will become faster once system variables have been initially mapped out and the organization has gone through the process once or twice. Additionally, rather than creating the appearance of being an adaptive and proactive organization, the second path actually produces an adaptive and proactive organization. Therefore, it is the second path that will be the focus of this paper, and this path relies on behavioral systems analysis.