Organisational behaviour
Keer49
ORGB2810-Chapter2-Online.pptxChapter 2
Personality and Learning
ABOUT THIS SLIDESHOW
Yellow-gradient background – New Section
There are links on some slides that will take you to either articles or videos on the topic at hand.
There are notes for most slides that can be read when the slideshow is in edit mode (the mode it is in when you are creating content). You may need to click the word ‘Notes’ at the bottom and then click and drag the bottom to see the notes section. You can also see the notes if you go to print mode and print slides with notes. (refer to the picture on the next slide)
I’ve included a couple of links to the online textbook for more information about the topic at hand – you will see them in a box with a green background
2
NOTES SECTION
Another Note
There are slides within this presentation that discuss what the ‘research’ says. I’ve included these slides to show the importance of the variables we are discussing, but they aren’t as important as understanding what the variables are. Don’t spend time trying to memorize research results.
To make my point, I will give those slides a slightly grey background.
Learning Objectives
Define personality and describe the dispositional, situational, and interactionist approaches to organizational behaviour.
Discuss the Five-Factor Model of personality, locus of control, self-monitoring, and self-esteem.
Discuss positive and negative affectivity, proactive personality, general self-efficacy, and core self-evaluations and their consequences.
Define learning and describe what is learned in organizations.
Learning Objectives (continued)
Explain operant learning theory and differentiate between positive and negative reinforcements, and extinction and punishment, and explain how to use punishment effectively.
Explain when to use immediate versus delayed reinforcement and when to use continuous versus partial reinforcement.
Explain social cognitive theory and discuss observational learning, self-efficacy beliefs, and self-regulation.
Describe the following organizational learning practices: organizational behaviour modification, employee recognition programs, and training and development programs.
What Is Personality?
Personality: The relatively stable set of psychological characteristics that influences the way an individual interacts with his or her environment and how he or she feels, thinks, and behaves.
Determined by genetic predisposition and one’s long-term learning history.
People have a variety of personality characteristics (obviously).
The bottom link takes you to a page with a long list of personality traits (just to give you an idea).
7
Personality and Organizational Behaviour
The role of personality in OB has often been debated in what is known as the “person-situation debate”
This has led to three approaches:
The dispositional approach – individuals possess stable traits that predispose them to behave in certain ways
The situational approach – the situation determines how people behave
The interactionist approach – combination of the two (most widely accepted)
Dispositional: The person makes the largest difference.
Situational: The situation makes the largest difference.
Interactionist: The situation will determine how big of an influence the person will have (this will be explained in a few slides).
Now… why would this matter? If dispositional was correct, you would give out personality tests in interviews and hire based off of which characteristics/traits work the best for your job. If situational was correct, then using personality tests would be a waste of time. Leaders would be easy to find as they would possess the same traits under dispositional. Leaders would be harder to find it if was situational.
8
Question(s)
Compare situation to disposition / personality when it comes to stealing.
Which do you believe:
Some people will steal and others won’t
Whether people steal depends on how easy it is to steal and not get caught, the consequences of getting caught, and how bad they need whatever they are stealing
In other words, how much influence do you think the situation has on whether someone steals? How about cheats on a test? Are some people composed of traits that would either make them steal/cheat or not steal/cheat or does the situation play a larger role?
9
Personality and Organizational Behaviour
The dispositional approach – inconsistent findings failed to support this approach
The situational approach – supported by research
The interactionist approach – found that strength of situation can determine what has the most impact
THIS IS WHAT THE RESEARCH SAYS.
Strength of situation will be explained in the next slide.
10
Personality and Organizational Behaviour
Weak Situation: not clear how to behave – personality has most impact
Ex. You begin your new job and there are no clear rules or procedures and nobody has told you what you what will be rewarded and what will be punished
Strong Situation: clear how to behave – situation has most impact
Ex. You begin your new job and it is very clear how you should act, what the rules are, and how you will be rewarded
When you enter a situation in which you have very little idea how to behave, you tend to revert to your disposition. However, when you enter a situation where it is VERY clear how to behave, then the situation is dictating your behaviour.
11
Trait Activation Theory
Trait Activation Theory: Personality traits lead to certain behaviours only when the situation makes the need for the trait salient.
Personality influences people’s behaviour when the situation calls for a particular personality characteristic.
IN OTHER WORDS, there is no one best personality and certain traits are better in certain situations.
It’s about FIT and supports the importance of diversity.
The link takes you to Wikipedia for more information on Trait Activation Theory, however the brief definition here should be enough for our discussion. The idea is that you are composed of relatively stable traits, but those traits only lead to a change in performance when the situation is relevant for the expression of that trait.
12
Question
Do you think that organizations should base their hiring decisions on applicants’ personalities?
YES
NO
Depends on the job
The Five-Factor Model of Personality
Five basic but general dimensions that describe personality:
Extraversion
Emotional stability/neuroticism
Agreeableness
Conscientiousness
Openness to experience
The Five-Factor Model is quite well known in psychology and OB. The reason that it is so popular is because these dimensions are related to a lot of outcomes of interest. In other words, measuring them can help predict attitudes and behaviours.
THE LINK IN TOP RIGHT TO ONLINE TEXTBOOK: This connects you with further information on many of the upcoming topics.
14
The Five-Factor Model of Personality (continued)
Just a clip from the textbook.
When trying to remember the 5, some people think of OCEAN. O (Openness), C (Conscientiousness), E (Extraversion), A (Agreeableness) and N (Neuroticism : which is the opposite of emotional stability).
15
Extraversion and OB
Outgoing versus Shy
Important for jobs that require interpersonal interaction and where being sociable, assertive, energetic, and ambitious is important for success.
Do you consider yourself to be an extrovert?
Can you see how this would be important when hiring for a sales job?
Emotional stability/neuroticism and OB
Degree to which a person has appropriate emotional control
Persons high on emotional stability will have more effective interactions with co-workers and customers as they tend to be more calm and secure.
For almost any job, low emotional stability harms performance
Agreeableness and OB
Degree to which a person is friendly and approachable
Contributes to job performance in jobs that require interaction and involve helping, cooperating, and nurturing others as well as in jobs that involve teamwork and cooperation.
Conscientiousness and OB
Degree to which a person is responsible and achievement oriented
Important for job performance on most jobs given the tendency towards hard work and achievement.
Openness to Experience and OB
Extent to which a person thinks flexibly and is receptive to new ideas.
Important for jobs that involve learning and creativity given the tendency to be intellectual, curious, and imaginative and have broad interests.
Probably a high percentage of this class would score high on this dimension because the majority of you had to open yourselves to new experiences in coming to TRU.
The Five-Factor Model of Personality: Research
Each of the “Big Five” dimensions is related to job performance and organizational citizenship behaviours.
Best predictors of job performance depends on the occupation.
Conscientiousness is the strongest predictor of overall job performance across all occupations.
Organizational Citizenship Behaviours: We’ll talk about these more in the future but basically these are voluntary behaviours that help the organization but aren’t part of an employees assigned role. Stuff they do that they don’t have to do that helps the organization. For example: As a TRU student it would be considered an OCB if you picked up garbage while walking around campus. (you don’t have to do it and it helps the school)
21
The Five-Factor Model of Personality: Research (continued)
The “Big Five” are also related to:
Retention and attendance.
Counterproductive behaviours, unsafe work behaviour and workplace deviance.
Work motivation, job satisfaction, and life satisfaction.
Team behaviours such as cooperation.
Career success.
This just shows why measuring these 5 dimensions is so common. If they didn’t matter, nobody would bother looking at them.
22
A set of beliefs about whether one’s behaviour is controlled mainly by internal or external factors.
Internals: opportunity to control their own behaviour resides within themselves.
“I’ll get promoted because I work hard and I control my own destiny.”
Externals: external forces determine their behaviour.
“People tend to get promoted on luck or have special connections, so working hard isn’t likely to pay off.”
I personally feel that people are in constant search of control. Those with an internal locus of control feel like it is up to them. Those with an external locus of control feel like what they do doesn’t really matter.
The promotion example is a good example. Who is more likely to work harder? Obviously the person with an internal locus of control.
23
The Internal/External Locus of Control Continuum
Question
How much control do you have over your grades?
100% - It is all on me
75% - Most of it is on me, but a little luck and the right teacher helps
50% - Some of it is me, some of it is the teacher, the class, my classmates, etc.
25% - I do have to work, but most of my grade is determined by factors outside of my control
0% - Doesn’t matter how hard I work, I always get about the same grade
Locus of Control: Research
Internals:
more satisfied with their jobs
more committed to their organization
earn more money
achieve higher organizational positions
perceive less stress
cope with stress better
experience less burnout
engage in more careful career planning
less likely to be absent from work
more satisfied with their lives
To summarize, internal locus of control is better. You want people who have it.
26
Self-Monitoring
The extent to which people observe and regulate how they appear and behave in social settings and relationships.
High self-monitors
Show concern for socially appropriate emotions and behaviours
Tune into social and interpersonal cues and regulate their behaviour and self-presentation according to these cues.
Imagine if someone entered a funeral and was smiling and laughing? Having an understanding of what is going on and being able to self-monitor is important in a number of jobs.
Some jobs, especially in the service sector, have what are called ‘display rules’. These rules (whether explicit or implicit) govern the emotions an employee should display. If you work in customer service, you should be smiling and happy. If you are a police officer, you should be more serious. Sometimes you might not feel happy, but when you get to work you need to appear happy as part of your job. This is called ‘Emotional Labour’, a topic which we might discuss later.
27
Self-Monitoring: Research
HSM good for jobs that require role-playing and the use of their self-presentation skills.
HSM are more involved in their jobs, perform better, and are more likely to emerge as leaders.
HSM experience more role stress and show less commitment to their organization.
HSM are uncomfortable in ambiguous situations (ex. Different cultures)
When you constantly have to control your emotions and monitor your own behaviour, it can be stressful. Imagine always acting like someone you aren’t. Also, it can be stressful for people who are high self-monitors to be in situations where they are unsure what emotions they should display or what they should be doing. People who are low-self monitors don’t really care and are simply themselves.
28
The degree to which a person has a positive self-evaluation.
High self-esteem = favourable self-image
Behavioural Plasticity Theory
People with low self-esteem tend to be more susceptible to external and social influences than those who have high self-esteem.
Ex. Kids with low self-esteem are more susceptible to peer-pressure (smoking, drinking, etc.)
BP Theory is quite simple and something that makes sense. Those of us who have high self-esteem aren’t as susceptible to external and social influences. You are more ‘plastic’ and malleable if you have low self-esteem.
Ex. If someone says, “you suck!” a person with high self-esteem would just move on and it wouldn’t effect them. A person with low self-esteem would likely believe the other person.
29
Self-Esteem: Research
How might someone with low self-esteem react to negative feedback?
People with high self-esteem make more fulfilling career decisions and have higher job satisfaction and job performance.
People with high self-esteem are more resilient to the strains of everyday work-life.
How could someone bolster your self-esteem?
Positive and Negative Affectivity
People who are high on positive affectivity (PA) experience positive emotions and moods and view the world in a positive light.
People who are high on negative affectivity (NA) experience negative emotions and moods and view the world in a negative light.
They are emotional dispositions that predict people’s general emotional tendencies.
Recent study shows that optimistic people live 11 to 15% longer
This doesn’t mean that someone with PA is always positive and someone with NA is always negative. It is just a tendency.
31
Positive and Negative Affectivity: Research
People with higher PA report:
higher job satisfaction and job performance
engage in more organizational citizenship behaviours
are more creative at work
NA is associated with lower job satisfaction and poorer job performance.
NA has also been found to be related to more counterproductive work behaviours, withdrawal behaviours, and occupational injury.
PA has been found to link happiness to success in life and at work.
Proactive Personality
A stable personal disposition that reflects a tendency to take personal initiative across a range of activities and situations and to effect positive change in one’s environment.
Proactive behaviour involves taking initiative to improve current circumstances or creating new ones.
Proactive individuals search for and identify opportunities, show initiative, take action, and persevere until they bring about meaningful change.
Once you are done doing the work you’ve been assigned, do you go looking for something else to do or do you wait for until someone gives you another task? Maybe you work retail and when there isn’t much to do, you decide to clean or fold clothes or something ‘proactive’. Other people might just goof off and check their phones and wait to be told.
Do you try to create opportunities or do you wait for them to come to you?
33
Proactive Personality: Research
Proactive personality is related to a number of work outcomes (such as job satisfaction, job performance, organizational citizenship behaviours).
Persons with a proactive personality are more successful in searching for employment and career success.
A lot of these advantages make sense. People that go out and create opportunities for themselves get better outcomes. If you go looking for a promotion, you are more likely to find it. If your job sucks so you go and find a new job, you’ll be happier than someone who stays in their old job.
34
General Self-Efficacy
A general trait that refers to an individual’s belief in his or her ability to perform successfully in a variety of challenging situations.
General self-efficacy (GSE) is a motivational trait rather than an affective trait.
Related to whether they can succeed, not how they feel about themselves
If you’ve had lots of success, more likely to have high GSE (failures = low GSE)
Questions
Are you a better driver than the average person?
Yes
No
I’d rather not say
General Self-Efficacy: Research
Individuals with higher GSE are better able to adapt to novel, uncertain, and adverse situations.
Employees with higher GSE have higher job satisfaction and job performance.
Exercise
Rate the following statements from 1 to 5 (write them down)
I am confident I get the success I deserve in life
Sometimes I feel depressed
When I try, I generally succeed
Sometimes when I fail, I feel worthless
I complete tasks successfully
Sometimes I do not feel in control of my work
Overall, I am satisfied with myself
I am filled with doubts about my competence
1 – strongly disagree
2 – disagree
3 – neither agree or disagree
4 – agree
5 – strongly agree
The following 2 slides are an exercise that you can take part in if you like. Keep track of the scores and then you can calculate your totals based on the directions on the next slide.
38
Exercise
I determine what will happen in my life
I do not feel in control of my success in my career
I am capable of coping with most of my problems
There are times when things look pretty bleak and hopeless for me.
To get your score, subtract your responses to questions 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, and 12 from 6. In other words, if you got 1 on question 2, you would then have 5 (6-1).
Add your six new scores to those you got for questions 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11, and then divide your overall total by 12 to get your average.
AVERAGE FOR UNDERGRADS IS AROUND 3.8 (based on 2 studies)
1 – strongly disagree
2 – disagree
3 – neither agree or disagree
4 – agree
5 – strongly agree
Core Self-Evaluations
A broad personality concept that consists of specific traits that reflect the evaluations people hold about themselves and their self-worth, competence, and capability.
4 Main Traits:
Self-esteem
General self-efficacy
Locus of control
Neuroticism (emotional stability)
Core Self-Evaluations: Research
People with more positive CSEs have higher job satisfaction, life satisfaction, and career satisfaction.
CSE is related to job satisfaction over time.
CSE is related to higher organizational commitment and job performance.
Individuals with higher CSE perceive fewer stressors and experience less stress and conflict at work.
Core Self-Evaluations: Research (continued)
People with Higher CSE:
Are more likely to perceive and pay attention to the positive aspects of their environments.
Experience their job as more intrinsically satisfying and have higher perceptions of fairness and support.
Next Section
Now we take a look at learning and how people learn. Understanding how people learn will make training and development (an HR function) much easier.
What is Learning?
Learning occurs when practice or experience leads to a relatively permanent change in behaviour potential.
The practice or experience that prompts learning stems from an environment that provides feedback concerning the consequences of behaviour. (learning is related to consequences)
What Do Employees Learn?
Practical skills:
Job-specific skills, knowledge, technical competence.
Intrapersonal skills:
Problem solving, critical thinking, alternative work processes, risk taking.
Interpersonal skills:
Interactive skills such as communicating, teamwork, conflict resolution.
Cultural awareness:
The social norms of organizations, company goals, business operations, expectations, and priorities.
Don’t spend time memorizing this list. It is more important to understand ‘how’ people learn than what employees learn.
45
How Do People Learn?
Two theories that describe how people in organizations learn:
Operant learning theory
Also known as Conditioning Theory
Social cognitive theory
Operant Learning Theory (Conditioning Theory)
Conditioning theory (B.F. Skinner)
Learning is a result of reward and punishment contingencies that follow a response to a stimulus
A stimulus or cue would be followed by a response, which is then reinforced
Strengthens the likelihood that response will occur again and that learning will result
Learn the connection between behaviour and response
Ex. Kids’ behaviour
3-47
Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour in response to stimulus
This is the behaviourist school of psychology that states learning is a result of reward and punishment
Negative reinforcement is not the same as punishment (the application of a negative consequence in response to undesirable behaviour)
To put it simply, if the result of a behaviour is something you like, you are more likely to repeat that behaviour. If the result of a behaviour is something you don’t like, you are less likely to repeat that behaviour.
Operant Learning / Conditioning
3-48
Positive Reinforcement: Get something good
Negative Reinforcement: Remove something bad (different than punishment)
Note: Both of these encourage behaviour
Examples
Positive Reinforcement
You want someone to study so you reward them for studying with candy (or whatever they value)
Negative Reinforcement
You want someone to study so you nag them and when they study, you stop nagging
Both types encourage behavior to continue
3-49
Negative reinforcement and punishment get mixed up. Negative reinforcement encourages a behaviour to continue while punishment discourages a behaviour. To be clear, you should understand (define) what the behaviour in question is.
The link is just a funny clip from YouTube (the Big Bang Theory)
49
Organizational Errors Involving Reinforcement
Managers sometimes make the following errors when trying to use reinforcement:
Confusing rewards with reinforcers (need to make rewards contingent on behaviours)
Neglecting diversity in preferences for reinforcers (some people value some rewards while other people don’t)
Neglecting important sources of reinforcement
Ex. Performance Feedback and Social Recognition
It is important that you link the reward (the positive) to the behaviour. If that link is unclear, then the behaviour won’t be properly reinforced.
Money might not be the best reinforcer of good behaviour. Recognizing what people find ‘positive’ is important.
50
Reinforcement Strategies
Reinforcement can be:
Continuous versus partial
Immediate versus delayed
What is the best way to administer reinforcers?
If you look at the right side of the diagram, you can see that the best reinforcement strategy is contingent upon what effect you are looking for.
51
Summary of Reinforcement Strategies and their Effects
Behaviour reinforced with continuous, immediate feedback tends to go away when reinforced less frequently
Managers have to tailor reinforcement strategies to the needs of the situation and often must alter their strategies over time to achieve effective learning and maintenance of behaviour.
Reducing the Probability of Behaviour
We talked about encouraging behaviours (reinforcement), but how do you reduce or eliminate learned behaviours that you no longer want?
Two strategies that can reduce the probability of learned behaviour:
Extinction
Punishment
Extinction
Extinction: The gradual dissipation of behaviour following the termination of reinforcement. (no more rewards)
Ex. Teacher stops giving you bonus marks for completing extra work – you stop doing extra work
If the behaviour is not reinforced, it will gradually dissipate or be extinguished.
Works best when coupled with the reinforcement substitute behaviour.
Punishment
Punishment: The application of an aversive stimulus following unwanted behaviour to decrease the probability of that behaviour.
A nasty stimulus is applied after some undesirable behaviour in order to decrease the probability of that behaviour.
Ex. You use a phone in class and get yelled at. This should mean that you are less likely to use your phone in class in the future.
The key difference here between punishment and negative reinforcement is that punishment is done to DECREASE the probability of a behaviour occurring in the future.
55
Question
For those of you who have gotten a speeding ticket (punishment), did that stop you from speeding in the future?
Yes. I never speed anymore.
A little. I speed, but I’m smarter about when and where.
No. I haven’t changed at all and I continue to speed.
Problems:
It does not demonstrate which behaviours should replace the punished response.
Punishment indicates only what is not appropriate.
Punishment only temporarily suppresses the unwanted behaviour. (when not being watched/punished, behaviour will resume)
Punishment can provoke a strong emotional reaction from the punished individual.
Problems Using Punishment
A big issue with punishment is that it doesn’t show you what you SHOULD be doing. It is important to have a replacement behaviour to be effective.
Temporary suppression is probably what happens when people get a speeding ticket. They might not speed much right after, but as time goes on and they don’t see police, they start to speed again and likely get away with it, which leads to more speeding.
Think of the difference in emotional reaction if I punished you in front of the whole class versus talking to you privately about something you did wrong. You might feel embarrassed if I did it in front of the whole class.
57
Using Punishment Effectively
How do you use Punishment Effectively?
Provide an acceptable alternative
Limit the emotions involved
Make sure punishment is truly aversive
Punish immediately or reinstate the circumstances surrounding the problem behaviour at a more appropriate time
Do not reward unwanted behaviours before or after punishment.
Do not inadvertently punish desirable behaviour
Truly Aversive: When I was a kid, if I got in trouble I was sent to my room. In my room I had video games, television, music, etc. It wasn’t that AVERSIVE. I actually liked my room.
Punish Immediately: Imagine if your child did something wrong and then 2 weeks later you punished them for what they did wrong. Too much time has passed for them to make any solid connection between the behaviour and the punishment.
Do not reward unwanted behaviours: This happens when a little kid says a swear word and the parent laughs. The kid is looking for you to laugh and the laughter is a positive reinforcer.
58
Question
Would posting the name of the student with the lowest test score motivate you to study?
Yes, I don’t want to be embarrassed
Wouldn’t matter to me because I’m never the lowest
No, I don’t care if people know I didn’t do well
Learning isn’t just through rewards and punishments
Social Learning: learning through interactions with others (central premise of social cognitive theory)
Social cognitive theory states people learn by:
Observing the behaviour of others
Making choices about different courses of action to pursue
Managing their own behaviour in the process of learning
3-60
Social learning involves learning though the interactions with others
This can be formal or informal
People learn by:
- Observing the behaviour of others
- Making choices about different courses of action to pursue
- Managing their own behaviour in the process of learning
We observe the actions of others and make note of reinforcing or punishing outcomes
We imitate what we have observed and expect certain consequences
Research suggests that people observe and reproduce the actions and attitudes of others
Social Cognitive Theory
Social cognitive theory has 3 key components:
Observation
Self-efficacy
Self-regulation
3-61
Social Cognitive Theory
Observation: learning by observing the actions of others and the consequences with 4 key critical elements:
Attention (be aware of observable skills)
Retention (remember what they observed and be able to draw from that memory)
Reproduction (try out the skill through practice and rehearsal)
Reinforcement (positive outcomes = do it again)
3-62
Four key critical elements:
Attention--learners must attend to the behaviour (be aware of the skills that are observable)
Retention--learners must remember what they have observed and encode it in their own repertoire so they can recall the skills
Reproduction--they must try out the skill through practice and rehearsal
Reinforcement--if the reproduction results in positive outcomes (reinforcement) it is likely to continue
Social Cognitive Theory
2. Self-efficacy: judgments people have about their ability to successfully perform a specific task (task specific)
Better chance of learning something if you believe you can copy what you see someone else do
3-63
Self-efficacy has a strong effect on people’s attitudes, emotions, and behaviour
Influences the activities people choose to perform, the amount of effort and persistence devoted to a task, their affective and stress reactions, and performance outcomes
Self-efficacy is influenced by 4 sources of information (in order of importance):
Task performance outcomes (had previous success in similar situations)
Observation (see others do it)
Verbal persuasion and social influence (support)
Physiological/emotional state (reduced stress)
3-64
Social Cognitive Theory
Physiological/emotional state is the hardest to understand of the four. In stressful situations, people commonly exhibit signs of distress: shakes, aches and pains, fatigue, fear, nausea, etc. Perceptions of these responses in oneself can markedly alter self-efficacy. Getting 'butterflies in the stomach' before public speaking will be interpreted by someone with low self-efficacy as a sign of inability, thus decreasing self-efficacy further, where high self-efficacy would lead to interpreting such physiological signs as normal and unrelated to ability. It is one's belief in the implications of physiological response that alters self-efficacy, rather than the physiological response itself (WIKIPEDIA).
Self-regulation: relates to managing one’s own behaviour through a series of internal processes
Observe personal behaviour (self-monitoring) and the behaviour of others
Setting performance goals (goal-setting)
Assess personal progress (self-evaluation)
Reward oneself for goal achievement (self-reinforcement)
3-65
Social Cognitive Theory
Self-regulated learning involves the use of affective, cognitive, and behavioural processes during a learning experience to reach a desired level of achievement
Self-regulation training leads to improvements in skill acquisition, maintenance, and performance
Discrepancy reduction and discrepancy production lie at the heart of the self-regulatory process.
Discrepancy reduction: A discrepancy between one’s goals and performance which motivates one to modify their behaviour.
Discrepancy production: When individuals attain their goals they are likely to set higher and more challenging goals.
Social Cognitive Theory
It is easy to remember the difference between the two. In discrepancy PRODUCTION, you are PRODUCING a discrepancy between your performance and your goals.
66
Question
Do you set study goals and then reward yourself for achieving them? (ex. If I complete this homework assignment I can watch that Netflix movie)
Yes, all the time
Yes, but I rarely achieve my goals
No, but maybe I should
What is studying?
3-67
New Section
Now we move from ‘how people learn’ and look at how some of these concepts are applied within organizations.
Organizational Learning Practices
Organizational learning practices include:
Organizational behaviour modification
Employee recognition programs
Training and development programs
Organizational Behaviour Modification (O.B. Mod.)
The systematic use of learning principles to influence organizational behaviour.
Research supports the effectiveness of O.B. Modification as it has been shown to improve:
Safe working behaviour
Improve work attendance
Task performance
OB Mod is basically using the ideas put forth (mainly by Skinner) on reinforcement to help align employee behaviour with organizational goals.
For more information you can click the link.
70
Organizational Behaviour Modification (continued)
The effects on task performance are stronger in manufacturing than in service organizations.
Money, feedback, and social recognition have been used as effective forms of positive reinforcement.
Money has stronger effects, however, the use of all three together has the strongest effect on task performance.
Question
Is it a good idea for an instructor to tell the class who got the highest score on a quiz or assignment?
Yes, I want to know (especially if it is me)
No, it is a privacy issue
Who cares
Employee Recognition Programs
Formal organizational programs that publicly recognize and reward employees for specific behaviours.
Many companies in Canada have some form of employee recognition program.
Have you worked somewhere that had employee recognition programs? (YES or NO)
You might not be aware of what constitutes an employee recognition program (but the next slide will help).
73
Types of Recognition Programs
Employee Recognition Programs (continued)
To be effective, formal employee recognition programs must specify:
How a person will be recognized
The type of behaviour being encouraged
The manner of the public acknowledgement
A token or icon of the event for the recipient
A key component of formal recognition programs is public acknowledgement.
Question
Should the School of Business and Economics have a ‘top ten student’ list (based on GPA) posted in the International Building?
YES, but it probably wouldn’t change my behaviour
YES, I might work harder
NO
I don’t care
Peer Recognition Programs
Formal programs in which employees publicly acknowledge, recognize, and reward their co-workers for exceptional work and performance.
Many organizations have begun to use social recognition platforms for peer recognition.
Can you see a problem with this?
One problem might be that co-workers who like each other might take turns nominating each other for prizes and awards. People who aren’t liked but do a good job might never be rewarded.
77
Employee Recognition Programs (continued)
Employee recognition programs have been found to result in individual and organizational outcomes:
Job satisfaction
Performance and productivity
Lower absenteeism and turnover
Training and Development Programs
Training refers to planned organizational activities that are designed to facilitate knowledge and skill acquisition to change behaviour and improve performance on one’s current job.
Development focuses on future job responsibilities.
Training and Development Programs (continued)
Effective training and development programs include many principles of learning such as:
Positive reinforcement
Feedback
Observational learning
Self-efficacy beliefs
Self-regulation.
For more information on Training and Development programs, take HRMN 4840.
80
