Jim Forrest

Jim Forrest is given the chance to run his own treatment facility with some existing staff, but would have to hire most of the staff brand new (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2012). Forrest’s approach to running the program is set up as a token economy meaning that the clients would receive concrete and specific reinforcements for behaviors that were consistent with responsible adult conduct (Lewis, Packard, & Lewis, 2012).
Forrest’s approach to program administration is a good idea, but he does need to set up further rules and regulations other than the token economy has to use and, other than that the therapist can treat their patients based on what they feel works the best. His strengths in dealing with the new leadership position are that he is very enthusiastic about it, monitoring the newer therapist more to help guide them is a great idea, he seems to have a vision of how he wants the organization to run, and he is showing that he is giving his staff his full trust to do what is right for the clients and the organization. Some of
Forrest’s weaknesses are that he is being too laid back when it comes to giving the program some structure, the token economy may not allow Forrest the ability to be able to measure the success or failure of the program, he has given the therapist too much freedom and this can lead to not having reliable staff available in an emergency.
The problem that Carol Cooke poses is a valid issue, with the staff having so much freedom the level of commitment to the organization will change over time.
The staff is going to be enthusiastic about the freedom at first, but over time this will be taken advantage of, which Forrest has found out when he could not reach a single staff member when he had forgotten something for a presentation. To address the issue that Carol Cooke brings up I feel that there would need to be more rules and regulation set forth for the employees, even if this means taking away some of the freedoms that Forrest has tried to implement. The first that needs to be done is there needs to be set hours put into effect for all employees so that there would be someone in the office during normal business hours. The token economy could remain in place, but would need to have other rules and regulations to be added for the organization to run
effectively.
The guidelines that Forrest provides for the employees are very vague and yes, they do need clearer behavioral guidelines for the organization to be successful. Even the trained employees need to have the structure and guidance for them to be successful. With the guidelines that Forrest has in place there is no guidance or structure, which will make it hard for the new employees to grow and the ones that were there at the start will not have the drive to be successful. With some of the trained employees already being set in how they treat their patients there may also be resistance to the token economy concept.