CHAPTER 2

INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND

LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS

OUTLINE 

I.                   MARS MODLE OF INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE

The MARS model represents four factors that directly influence an employee’s voluntary behavior and resulting performance – motivation, ability, role perceptions, and situational factors.

A.    Employee Motivation

1.      Motivation:  represents the forces within a person that affect his or her direction, intensity, and persistence of voluntary behavior.

a.       Direction:  refers to the fact that the motivation is goal-oriented, not random.

b.      Intensity:  is the amount of effort allocated to a goal.

c.       Persistence:  refers to continuing the effort for a certain amount of time.

B.     Ability

1.      Includes both the natural aptitudes and learned capabilities required to successfully complete a task.

a.       Aptitudes:  natural talents that help employees learn specific tasks more quickly and perform them better.

b.      Learned capabilities:  the skills and knowledge that you have actually acquired.

C.     Employee competencies

1.      Refer to the characteristics of people that lead to superior performance.

2.      Include not only the natural and learned abilities, but also the person’s values and personality traits.

D.    Person-job matching

1.      Three basic strategies to match individual competencies with job requirements:

a.       Select applicants whose existing competencies best fit the required tasks.

b.      Provide training so employees develop required skills and knowledge.

c.       Redesign the job so employees are given tasks within their capabilities.

E.     Role perceptions

1.      Enable employees to understand specific tasks assigned to them, the relative importance of those tasks, and the preferred behaviors to accomplish those tasks.

2.      Clarify the preferred direction of effort.

F.      Situational Factors

1.      Affected by the situation in which the employee works.

2.      Include factors such as time, people, budget, and physical work facilities as well as external factors such as the state of the economy or demographics of the area.

II.                TYPES OF WORK-RELATED BEHAVIOR

A.    Joining the organization

1.      Organizations hire people to:

a.       achieve goals and objectives.

b.      avoid labor shortages.

c.       build a visionary team.

B.     Remaining with the organization

1.      Intellectual capital provides a vast realm of important resources.

a.       Long-service employees have valuable information about work processes, corporate values, and customer needs.

b.      Some firms assess intellectual capital as 95% of its assets.

2.      Organizations experience difficulty in retaining employees.

a.       U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that the typical American employee holds 9 different jobs by the time they are 32 years old.

b.      Retaining talented employees has been recognized as a top issue in companies.

c.       Main cause of employee turnover is job satisfaction – a person’s evaluation of his or her job and work content.

C.     Maintaining Work Attendance

1.       Companies have various ways to reduce absenteeism:

a.       Free flu shots and health screenings.

b.      Telecommuting – working from home.

c.       Motivational rewards for good attendance.

D.    Performing Required Tasks

1.      Task Performance – refers to goal-directed activities that are under the individual’s control.

2.      Performance standards – minimum acceptable levels of behaviors within the organization.

E.     Exhibiting Organizational Citizenship

1.      Organizational Citizenship – refers to behaviors that extend beyond the employee’s normal job duties.

a.       Avoiding unnecessary conflicts

b.      Helping others without selfish intent

c.       Gracefully tolerating occasional impositions

d.      Being involved with organizational activities

e.       Performing tasks that are beyond normal role requirements.

2.      Two conditions essential for organizational citizenship:

a.       Perceived fairness of the company’s treatment of employees.

b.      Degree to which employees hold strong ethical values, particularly with a sense of social responsibility – a person’s or organization’s moral obligation toward others who are affected by his or her actions.

3.      Organizational citizenship is improved through employee involvement – getting employees involved in the decisions that affect them.

III.             LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS

A.    Definition of learning

1.      Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior tendency) that occurs as the result of a person’s interaction with the environment.

2.      It occurs through the use of a person’s senses, study, observation, and experience.

B.     Learning Explicit and Tacit Knowledge

1.      Explicit knowledge is organized and can be communicated from one person to another. 

a.       An example is information you receive in a class lecture.

b.      Can be written down and given to others.

2.      Tacit knowledge is not documented; it is action oriented and known below the level of consciousness.  Examples include:

a.       Organization’s culture.

b.      Team’s implicit norms.

c.       Skills acquired through observation and direct experience.

3.      Four perspectives of learning:

a.       Reinforcement

b.      Feedback

c.       Social learning (observation)

d.      Direct experience

IV.             BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION:  LEARNING THROUGH REINFORCEMENT

A.      Definitions

1.      Behavior modification (a.k.a., operant conditioning, or reinforcement theory) implies that learning is completely dependent upon the environment.

2.      Behavior modification emphasizes voluntary behaviors, called operant behaviors, because they “operate” on the environment.

3.      Respondent behaviors are involuntary responses to the environment.

B.      A-B-C’s of Behavior Modification

1.      Behavior is influenced by two environmental contingencies:

a.       The antecedents that precede behavior.

b.      The consequences that follow behavior.

2.      Central object of behavior modification is to change behavior (B) by managing antecedents (A) and consequences (C).

3.      Law of effect: the likelihood that an operant behavior will be repeated depends on its consequences.

C.      Contingencies of Reinforcement – types of consequences to a behavior.

1.      Positive reinforcement – occurs when the introduction of a consequence increases or maintains the frequency or probability of a future behavior.

a.  Example:  Receiving a bonus for successfully completing a project.

2.      Negative reinforcement –occurs when the removal or avoidance of a consequence increases or maintains the frequency or future probability of a behavior.

a.       A.K.A. avoidance learning because employees engage in the desired behaviors to avoid unpleasant consequences.

b.      Example:  Being criticized by your supervisor or being fired from your job.

3.      Punishment – occurs when a consequence decreases the frequency or the probability of a future behavior.

4.      Extinction – occurs when the target behavior decreases because no consequence follows it.

D.      Schedules of Reinforcement

1.      Continuous reinforcement – reinforcing every occurrence of the desired behavior.

2.      Fixed interval schedule – occurs when behavior is reinforced over a fixed time (example: paychecks).

3.      Variable interval schedule – involves administering the reinforcer after a varying length of time (example: promotions)

4.      Fixed ratio schedule – reinforces a behavior over a fixed number of times (example: piece rate systems)

5.      Variable ratio schedule – reinforces behavior after a varying number of times (sales incentive plans)

E.       Behavior Modification in Practice

1.      International Paper plant in Moss Point, Mississippi provides training programs where supervisors learn about the power of positive reinforcement.

2.      VJS Foods reduces absenteeism by giving employees with perfect attendance each month two chances to win $500.

3.      Auto parts manufacturer, Dana Corp., reinforces work behaviors through a game called safety bingo.

F.       Limitations of behavior modification

1.      It is more difficult to apply to conceptual activities than to observable behaviors.

2.      Reward inflation – the reinforcer is quickly forgotten or is eventually considered an entitlement.

3.      Raises ethical issues because some schedules resemble gambling practices.

V.                LEARNING THROUGH FEEDBACK

Feedback is any information that people receive about the consequences of their behavior.

Corrective feedback improves ability by frequently providing information to correct performance problems.

A.    Feedback Sources

1.      Social sources:  supervisors, clients, coworkers, and anyone else who provides information about the employee’s behavior or results.

a.       360-Degree Feedback:  a multi-source feedback received from a full circle of people around the employee, including subordinates, coworkers, project leaders, and customers.

b.      Ways to conduct – anonymous performance appraisals.

2.      Nonsocial feedback sources:  computer, job itself.

3.      The preferred feedback source depends on the purpose of information.

a.       To learn about one’s progress toward goal accomplishment, employees prefer nonsocial feedback sources.

b.      When employees want to improve their self-image, they seek out positive feedback from social sources.

B.     Giving Feedback Effectively

1.      Specific feedback – should be quantifiable and precise.

2.      Frequent feedback – should coincide with the job structure.

3.      Timely feedback – should be available as soon as possible so that employees see a clear association between their behavior and consequences.

4.      Credible feedback – should be trustworthy and reliable.

5.      Relevant feedback – should relate to the individual’s behavior rather than to conditions beyond the individual’s control.

C.     Seeking Feedback

1.      Inquiry – asking other people about performance and behavior.

2.      Monitoring – involves scanning the work environment and the behavior of others for information cues.

3.      Direct inquiry – powerful form of learning in a private setting and when the person providing the feedback communicates the information clearly.

D.    Ethics of Employee Monitoring

1.      Critics argue that employee monitoring is an invasion of privacy.

2.      Employers argue that it serves to protect company assets.

VI.             SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY:  LEARNING BY OBSERVING

Social learning theory states that much learning occurs by observing others.

A.    Behavioral Modeling

1.      Premise is that people learn by observing the behaviors of a role model on the critical task, remembering the important elements and them practicing them.

2.      It is a valuable form of learning because tacit knowledge and skills can be acquired.

3.      It enhances self-efficacy, or a person’s belief that he or she has the ability, motivation, and situational contingencies to complete a task successfully.

B.     Learning Behavior Consequences

1.      Premise is that people learn the consequences of behavior in ways other than direct experience.

2.      People learn to anticipate the consequences by observing the experiences of other people.

C.     Self-Reinforcement

1.      It occurs whenever an employee has control over a reinforcer but doesn’t take the reinforcer until completing a self-set goal.

2.      It has become increasingly important because employees are given more control over their working lives and are less dependent on supervisors to give positive reinforcement and punishment.

VII.          LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE

A.      Experiential Learning in Practice

1.      Works best where there is a strong learning orientation.

B.      Action learning – the fastest growing form of experiential learning whereby employees are involved in real, complex, and stressful problems, usually in teams, with immediate relevance to the company.