This document provides an overview of learning theories and reinforcement concepts relevant to organizational behavior. It discusses three types of learning: classical conditioning, operant conditioning, and social learning. Key concepts around reinforcement include contingencies of reinforcement, types of reinforcers, punishment versus negative reinforcement, and schedules of reinforcement. Managers can influence employee behavior through understanding and applying principles of reinforcement, such as contingent reinforcement, appropriate use of punishment, and intermittent reinforcement schedules.

1. LEARNING AND
REINFORCEMENT
By
Chetan Kumar
Tarun

2. CONTENTS
• Overview of Learning Theories
• Learning Through Rewards and Punishments
• Contingencies of Reinforcement
• Schedules of Reinforcement

3. Nature of Learning
• Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge or
observable behavior that results from practice or experience.
• Importance of Learning to OB
 Most organizational behavior is learned (remember that only 2-12% of
behavior is directly linked to personality)
 By controlling the situation, a manager can influence behavior/performance.
 The manager is held accountable for the performance of his/her subordinates.

4. • Classical Conditioning: The learning of
“involuntary,” reflexive behavior, such as emotional
reactions
• Operant Conditioning: The learning of
voluntary, goal-directed behavior through the direct
experience of consequences
• Social Learning: The learning of voluntary, goal-
directed behavior through observation and imitation of
others

5. Classical Conditioning
Unconditioned
stimulus
(food)
Conditioned
stimulus
(metronome)
Reflex
response
(salivation)

6. Examples of Operant Behaviors and their
Consequences
BEHAVIORS
The Individual
CONSEQUENCES

7. Examples of the Three Types of Learning:
Which Example Illustrates Each Type?
• After a tightening in policy regarding lateness, a worker sees a
coworker fired for excessive tardiness, resulting in increased attention
to arriving on time
• After a tightening in policy regarding lateness, a worker receives a
written reprimand for being late twice in one month, resulting in
increased attention to arriving on time
• After witnessing a coworker’s accidental loss of several fingers in a
machinery accident, a worker experiences anxiety when operating the
same piece of machinery

8. Contingency of Reinforcement
• Definition: The relationship between a behavior and the preceding and
following environmental events that influence that behaviour.
• Basic Components:
• Antecedent -- the stimulus that precedes the behaviour.
• Behavior -- the behavior emitted in response to the stimulus.
• Consequence -- the positive or negative consequence of the behaviour.
• Important Note: Managers can often control the contingencies of
reinforcement influencing their subordinate’s behavior, and thereby, the
behavior itself

9. Example of Contingent Reinforcement
NO
Manager and
employee
set goal
Does employee
achieve goal?
YES
Antecedent
(precedes the
behavior)
Manager is silent or
reprimands employee
Employee
Task
Behaviour
Manager compliments
employee for
accomplishment
Consequences Reinforcement
(result of the
Contingent
behaviour)
on Consequence

10. Categories of Reinforcers
• All reinforcers fall into one of two categories:
• Primary Reinforcers -- Based upon the satisfaction of
physiological needs, such as food, water, air, sex, escape from
pain, etc. (Note that the text defines this as: “an event for
which the individual already knows the value.”)
• Secondary Reinforcers -- Learned reinforcers; the text
defines this as “an event that once had neutral value but has
taken on some positive or negative value for an individual
because of past experience

11. Types of Contingencies of
Reinforcement
Event is Added
Event is Removed
(best to use)
Pleasant
Event
Unpleasant
Event
Positive
reinforcement
(increases behaviour)
Punishment
(decreases behaviour)
(worst to use)
Omission
(decreases behaviour)
Negative
reinforcement
(increases behaviour)

12. Rewards Used by Organizations
MATERIAL REWARDS
Pay
Pay raises
Stock options
Profit sharing
Deferred compensation
Bonuses/bonus plans
Incentive plans
Expense accounts
SOCIAL/INTERPERSONAL REWARDS
Praise
Developmental feedback
Smiles, pats on the back,
other nonverbal signals
Requests for suggestions
Invitations to coffee or lunch
Wall plaques
SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS
Company automobiles
Health insurance plans
Pension contributions
Vacation and sick leave
Recreation facilities
Child care support
Club privileges
Parental leave
REWARDS FROM
THE TASK
Sense of achievement
Jobs with more responsibility
Job autonomy/self-direction
Performing important tasks
STATUS SYMBOLS
Corner offices
Offices with windows
Carpeting
Drapes
Paintings
Watches
Rings
Private restrooms
SELF-ADMINISTERED
REWARDS
Self-congratulation
Self-recognition
Self-praise
Self-development through
expanded knowledge/skills
Greater sense of self-worth

13. Negative Reinforcement
• Definition: An unpleasant event is occurring which can be removed
by emitting the desired behaviour.
• Differs from punishment, but may result from the fear of punishment.
• Two types are identified:
• Escape Learning: An unpleasant event occurs until the employee
emits an “escape response” to terminate it
• Avoidance Learning: An employee prevents an unpleasant event
from occurring by emitting the proper behaviour.

14. Potential Negative Effects of
Punishment
Recurrence
of undesirable
employee behaviour
Undesirable
emotional reaction
Antecedent
Undesirable
employee
behaviour
Punishment
by
manager
But
Short-term
leads to
decrease in
frequency long-term
of
undesirable
employee
behaviour
Aggressive,
disruptive
behaviour
Apathetic,
noncreative
performance
Fear of
manager
Which tends
to reinforce
High turnover
and absenteeism

15. Punishment and Interpersonal
Relations
• The inappropriate use of punishment increases with:
• Anger and/or frustration on the part of the manager
• Inadequate interpersonal communication
• In such cases, this inappropriate punishment creates long term
interpersonal problems, by:
• Reducing trust
• Stifling motivation
• Undermining and/or destroying relationships.

16. How to Make Punishment Effective
Managers should:
• Use the principles of contingent punishment, immediate
punishment, and punishment size.
• Praise in public, punish in private.
• Develop alternative desired behaviour.
• Balance the use of pleasant and unpleasant events.
• Use “positive discipline” (i.e., change behaviour through reasoning,
with an emphasis on personal responsibility or “self control,” rather
than by imposing increasingly severe punishments)

17. Guidelines for Using
Contingencies of Reinforcement
Managers should:
• Not reward all employees the same (i.e., take individual differences into
account to reward employees with consequences that they personally value,
within the constraints of perceived equity)
• Consider consequences of both actions and non-actions
• Make employees aware of what behavior will be reinforced (and then be sure
to reinforce it uniformly)
• Let employees know what they are doing wrong
• Not punish in front of others
• Make their response equal to workers’ behaviour

18. Schedules of Reinforcement
• Definition: The determination of when reinforcers are applied; after every response
or only after some responses
• Two general categories of schedule are:
• Continuous Reinforcement: Every behavior is reinforced; the simplest schedule
• Intermittent Reinforcement: Only some behaviors are reinforced; four types
are identified in the text:
• Fixed Interval: based on a fixed time interval
• Fixed Ratio: based on a fixed number of responses
• Variable Interval: based on a variable time interval
• Variable Ratio: based on a variable number of responses

19. Comparisons of Schedules of Reinforcement
SCHEDULE
FORM OF
REWARD
Fixed interval
Reward on fixed
time basis
Fixed ratio
Reward tied to
specific number
of responses
Variable interval Reward given
after varying
periods of time
Variable ratio
INFLUENCE
ON
PERFORMANC
Leads to average
E
and irregular
performance
EFFECTS
ON
BEHAVIOR
Fast extinction of
behavior
Leads quickly to
very high and
stable
performance
Moderately fast
extinction of
behavior
Leads to
moderately high
and stable
performance
Slow extinction
of behavior
Reward given for Leads to very
some behaviors
high
performance
Very slow
extinction of
behavior

21. Thank you