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Addressing organizational complexity: A behavioural systems analysis application to higher education
Author(s) -
Malott Maria E.,
Martinez Wilfredo Salas
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
international journal of psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.75
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1464-066X
pISSN - 0020-7594
DOI - 10.1080/00207590500492773
Subject(s) - functional illiteracy , graduation (instrument) , variety (cybernetics) , psychology , productivity , psychological intervention , process (computing) , micro level , higher education , literacy , medical education , applied psychology , pedagogy , political science , computer science , engineering , economic growth , medicine , mechanical engineering , civil engineering , economic impact analysis , artificial intelligence , psychiatry , law , economics , operating system
Countless demonstrations across a variety of settings have shown how behaviour analysis can alter the behaviour of individuals by manipulating behavioural contingencies. However, changing organizations is more complex than changing specific behaviours. Organizations involve different units of analysis and require distinct interventions. This article describes a higher education change initiative based on a behavioural systems analysis approach. The work was carried out at the National Pedagogical University at Veracruz (México). This large institution presented significant problems, as well as low productivity: enrolment was declining, programs were outdated, and complaints about the administrative processes were frequent. Three types of complexity were analysed: environmental, hierarchical, and component. From the analysis, four improvement strategies were identified and implemented: (1) the incorporation of adult literacy training at the macro system level to attend to the high adult illiteracy and the academic failure of children; (2) the addition of various options to the thesis requirement at the organizational level to increase graduation rate; (3) the development of new programs at the process level to combat the downward enrolment trend; and (4) the re‐engineering of the student‐centred administrative processes, also at the process level, to tackle the inefficient administration. The designed procedures were partially implemented with great success. This case study points out the application of behaviour analysis to the organizational level.