Management and Organization Behavior
Dr. Leigh Stelzer
REFERENCE OUTLINE: Learning and Reinforcement. W&N, Chapter 9
Objectives
Understand how people learn in organizational settings.
Understand that behavior is a function of consequences.
Understand how managers can control contingent consequences. Model: antecedent ( cue, situation) behavior, (action), consequence ( reward, punishment).
Be able to interpret a situation's contingencies.
Know the affects of different reinforcement schedules on behavior.
Classical conditioning model and vocabulary. What is an unconditioned stimulus? Is reflexive conditioning relevant to OB? Operant conditioning model and vocabulary. Positive and negative reinforcement, Punishment, Omission (extinction).
Social Learning: Vicarious learning: Observation, modeling and imitation.
Social Learning operationalized in the work place.
The Law of Effect. Behavior is a function of its consequences.
Antecedent----Behavior---- Consequence.
Reinforcers; contrived, natural, money.
Principles and contingency guidelines for reinforcement. Tying pay to performance.
Positive and negative reinforcement.
Omission (extinction) v. punishment.
Schedules of reinforcement (Table 9.3) are ways that behavioral managers can structure consequences. Know vocabulary and examples of each schedule. What are the behavioral consequences of each alternative? Note that responses acquired under conditions of partial or intermittent reinforcement are most resistant to extinction.
OB MOD. Systematic interventions to alter work-related behavior. Interventions based on operant conditioning. Methodologically self-conscious. Focus on measurement and experimental design, before-after.
Five steps.
Identify critical (relevant, target) behaviors.
Measure critical behaviors (Charting the baseline).
Functional analysis.
Intervention (Change contingencies and measure a second time and chart post-intervention behaviors).
Final evaluation, compare before and after.
Functional analysis. Critical behaviors are functional. Look at the reward structure.
Is behavior a function of its consequences? What is the role of personality in OB Mod?
What are the ethical concerns associated with OB Mod: merit pay and equal pay for poor performers.
What do you make of this discussion? The emergence of group norms in opposition to management goals. Who is manipulating whom?
This course stresses both behavior and cognition. Knowledge informs behavior. It is not enough to alter situations. You must alter a person's perception of the situation. Behavior is a function of perceived consequences. What is the role of personality?