Download LEARNING • All organizational behavior is affected directly or

LEARNING
All organizational behavior is affected directly or indirectly
by LEARNING. i.e. modification of behavior through
practice , training and experience
• Any relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs
as a result of experience. Changes in behaviour indicate that
learning has taken place. It is a continuous process.
• We can see changes taking place but not learning.
• Learning involves : Change ( good or bad)
Relatively permanent
Learning must be reflected in
behaviour
Some form of experience is necessary
for learning
• There is no single perfect learning theory which is applicable
to all e.g. students, managers, children or workers etc.
•
Organizations & businesses keep changing due to the dynamic
nature of the environment. In order to survive organizations like
individuals must learn new skills & acquire knowledge about
skills through study, practice or experience. The skills of
workers, the attitude of managers, dressing style – are all
learned behaviour.
Most important learning theories are:
• Behaviouristic Theories
• Cognitive Theories
• Social learning Theories
BEHAVIOURISTIC THEORY:
These theories are derived out of the behaviouristic school of
thought in psychology.
Under Behaviouristic theory two theories were given which
as follows:
• Theory of Classical Conditioning
• Theory of Operant Conditioning
THEORY OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING :
•
This theory was propounded by Russian behaviourist Ivan Pavlov
& American John Watson, They attributed learning to the
connection between Stimulus & Response (S-R).C-C is a type of
conditioning in which an individual responds to some stimulus that
would not ordinarily produce such a response
• Pavlov conducted his famous experiment, involving dog.
He tried to relate dog’s salivation with a bell
Step-1
In the experiment Pavlov presented meat powder
(unconditioned Stimulus) to the dog, he noticed a great deal of
salivation(unconditioned response)
Step-2
He merely rang a bell (neutral stimulus) the dog had no
salivation.
Step-3
Pavlov accompanied the meat powder with the ringing of
bell. After doing this several times, Pavlov rang the bell without
presenting the meat powder, this time the dog salivated to the bell
alone.
Thus,
salivation is – conditioned response
sound of bell – conditioned stimulus.
Learning a conditioned response involves building up an
association b/w conditioned an unconditioned stimulus
Classical conditioning is defined as a process in which a formerly
neutral stimuli, when paired with an unconditioned stimulus,
becomes a conditioned stimulus that elicits ( leads to ) a
conditioned response thus S-R connection is learnt.
This classical theory by Pavlov was criticized, as Skinner felt
that C.C. only explained reflexive behaviour, he felt that human
behaviour is more complex than to be explained by S-R
connection.
♦
OPERANT CONDITIONING:
O-C is a type of conditioning in which desired voluntary
behaviour leads to a reward or prevents a punishment
• The Stimulus serve as a 'cue' in operant conditioning, to
limit the response.
• The strength & weakness of the operant conditioned
behaviour are determined by the consequences
(reward).
• In O.C., the reward is presented only if the organism
gives the correct response.
\
Ex:
C.C.
(S)
(R)
Stimulus
Response
The Individual:
is struck by pin
- Flinches
is shocked by current Jumps/screams
is surprised by loud sound Jumps/screams
O.C.
(R)
Response
The Individual: works
enters restaurant
enters library
Works hard
(S)
Stimulus
- is paid
- obtains food
- finds books
- receives praise
promotion
PRINCIPLES OF LEARNING
Learning becomes more effective when it is based on certain
principles.
REINFORCEMENT & PUNISHMENT
♦
Reinforcement & Punishment are main principles of the
learning process.
♦
Experts believe that Reinforcement is more important
than
punishment.
LAW OF EFFECT : ( By Thorndike)
It states that 'Of several responses made to the same situation,
those which are accompanied or closely followed by satisfaction
(Reinforcement) will be more likely to occur, those which are
accompanied or closely followed by discomfort (punishment) will
be less likely to occur'.
MEANING OF REINFORCEMENT:
It is anything which the person finds rewarding.
Reinforcement- anything that increases the strength of the
response and also increases the repetition of behaviour.
Reward- is simply something that the person who presents it
deems to be desirable.
Ex:
A manager rewards an employee who found an error in a
report by publicly praising the employee, yet it has been found that
the employee is embarrassed and harassed by co-workers, and his
error finding behaviour decreases in future. This shows that
'reward' is not 'reinforcing'.
POSITIVE
&
PUNISHMENT
NEGATIVE
REINFORCERS
&
Both (+)tive or (-)tive reinforcement strengthens the
response and increase the probability of repetition.
♦
Positive reinforcement
Strengthens and increases behaviour by the presentation of a
reward or desirable consequence.
♦
Negative reinforcement
Strengthens and increases behaviour by the termination or withdrawl of Punishment of undesirable consequences.
♦
Ex:
Giving praise to an employee for successful completion of a
work can be an example of +tive reinforcement.
Negative Reinforcement is more complex but it should not be
equated with punishment.
♦
Negative Reinforcement strengthens and increases
behaviour, while punishment decrease the behaviour.
PUNISHMENT:
Is anything that weaken behaviour,
♦
and tends to decrease its subsequent frequency
♦
One way to punish a person is to apply a negative
consequence called punishers – following an undesirable
behaviour .
Ex:
Taking away certain organizational privileges from a
manager who has a poor performance record could be thought of
as punishment.
A professional athelete who is excessively offensive to an
official ( undesirable behaviour ) maybe ejected from the
game( punished)
♦
Punishment also can mean withdrawal of some
desirable consequences.
Ex.
A sales rep. who makes few visits to companies ( undesirable
behaviour) is likely to receive less commission ( positive
reinforcer) at the end of the month.
POSITIVE
REINFORCERS
NEGATIVE
REINFORCERS
REINFORCERMEN
T
(DESIRABLE
BEHAVIOUR)
APPLY
PUNISHMENT
(UNDESIRABLE
BEHAVIOUR)
WITHHOLD
APPLY
WITHHOLD
Punishments may end up in unintended results –mainly negative
outcomes .Even though punishment may stop an undesirable
behaviour ,the potential negative outcome maybe greater than the
cost of undesirable behaviour.
Ex:
Supervisor calls Ramesh and gives him tongue lashing,
Ramesh goes back and again starts talking to his co-worker, thus
supervisor thinks that by tongue-lashing he is punishing him,
whereas he is only reinforcing his bad behaviour by giving him
attention.
♦
Neither children nor adults like to be punished.
Punishment temporarily suppresses behaviour but cannot change
it permanently, as the person becomes more resistant towards the
punisher.
♦
HR Manager or any other Manager should always
attempt to reinforce instead of punishment in order to change
behaviour.
ORGANIZATIONAL REWARDS:
Reward system is very important for employee performance &
orgn. success. There are monetary & non-monetary rewards.
♦MONETARY
REWARDS :
Despite the fact that the money as rewards over the years has
come down, yet the importance of money can never be
undermined, as it can be positively reinforced for most of the
people.
♦For money to be effective in the organizational reward system.
i)
It Must be as objective and fair as possible
ii) Should be administered when the employee
exhibit desirable performance behaviour.
NON FINANCIAL REWARDS:
Various Non-financial rewards can be administered for
raising efficiency and work motivation of employees.
♦
The so called N.F.R. can also cost money to the
organization, yet out of the many NFR - Social Rewards such as
Recognition, Attention, Praise tend to be very powerful rewards
for some people.
♦
Social rewards
should be contingency based
otherwise they have a boom-rang effect.
♦
Ex:
A pat on the back or verbal praise that is insincere or
randomly given may have no effect.
♦
Cost of Social reward is nothing in comparison to
monetary rewards.
FEEDBACK AS REWARDS
♦
Right feedback is very important for the work
performance of an employee.
♦
People have an intense desire to know how they are
doing, especially it they have some degree of achievement
motivation.
♦
Objective feedback has a very positive effect.
Feedback should be POSITIVE, IMMEDIATE, GRAPHIC &
SPECIFIC Researches have suggested that source of getting
feedback is also very important, as also the amount & frequency
of feedback given.
♦
Employees viewed feedback from Organization least
positive, from co-worker next, then from supervisors, with the
best being self-generated feedback.
CONCLUSION
Any observable change in behaviour is prima facie evidence that
learning has taken place.
Positive reinforcement is a powerful tool for modifying behaviour.
By identifying and rewarding performance –enhancing behaviours,
management increases the likelihood that they will be repeated.
Reinforcement is a more effective tool than punishment as
punished behaviour tends to be only temporarily suppressed rather
than permanently changed . Also punishment tends to produce
unpleasant side effects .Managers are therefore advised to use
reinforcement rather than punishment.
A review of research findings on the impact of reinforcement on
behaviour concluded that :
1. Some type of reinforcement is necessary to produce a change
in behaviour
2.Some types of rewards are more effective than others for use in
an organization
3.The speed with which learning takes place and the permanence
of its effects will be determined by the timing of the
reinforcement
Finally , managers should expect that employees will look at them
as models . Managers who are constantly late for work , or take a
long lunch break ,help themselves to office supplies for personal
use should expect employees to read the message they are sending
and model their behaviour accordingly.