Organizational Behavior - Learning and Creativity (Questions for review)

Q1. Why might an organization prefer to use positive reinforcement rather than the negative reinforcement?

- Positive reinforcement uses positive consequences to reinforce desired behaviour, e.g. bonus

- Negative reinforcement is done by removing negative consequences for performing desired behaviour, e.g. stop scolding when workers turn up to work on time

- Positive reinforcement is easier to implement

- Negative reinforcement could lead to side effect and makes unpleasant environment and the organization using negative reinforcement will be perceived negatively

Q2. How can a manager use the principles of operant conditioning to stop employees from bickering and fighting?

- Operant conditioning by B.F. Skinner uses consequences as the factor to reinforce learning.

- Can be used for reinforcing desired behaviour thru positive & negative reinforcement and can be used to stop undesired behaviour thru extinction & punishment

- The most preferred reinforcement method is positive reinforcement

- Bickering & fighting is an undesired behaviours, 2 methods either extinction or punishment can be used.

- In Extinction, reinforcement for the bickering & fighting must be identified, then later the reinforcement must be stopped and thus the frequency of the desired behaviour will decrease and no longer exists

- If the bickering and fighting is affecting the performance of the organizational adversely, it must be stopped immediately. Punishment can be used to stop the behaviour.

- In punishment, negative consequences are administered when the undesired behaviour, bickering & fighting occur

Q3. Why do some organizations use punishment more often than others?

- The need to stop the behaviour immediately, for e.g. sexual harassment

Q4. Is OB MOD is ethical? Why or why not?

- OB MOD is a systematically application of operant conditioning for leaning desired behaviour

- In OB MOD, behaviour for change is identified, behaviour frequency measured, antecedent and consequences are analysed, operant conditioning methods are used to intervene and finally the performance improvement are evaluated.

- Not ethical because:

- OB MOD is overly controlling

- Manipulation of consequences to control behaviour, strip employees of their dignity, freedom of choice and individuality

- Employees may refrain from performing other organizational related task such us helping co-workers or coming up with new ideas

- Limits creativity of the employees

Q6. On what kinds of jobs might vicarious learning be especially prevalent?

- Albert Bandura in his social cognitive theory has underlined that feelings and thought influence learnings

- Learner cognitively process information in 3 ways; vicarious learning, self-control and self-efficacy

- Vicarious learning occurs when the learner observes and imitates a model

- Repetitive & high risk jobs

Q7. When might employees be especially likely to engage in self-control?

- Self control is when employee learn on their own to perform a behaviour even though no external pressure to do so

- Self-reinforcers, a consequences or rewards that the individual give to oneself must be available

- When employees care about their work doing a good job they often engage in self-control

Q8. Why do some capable members of an organization have low levels of self-efficacy?

- Self efficacy – a person’s belief about his or her ability to perform a particular behaviour successfully

- When employee belief that he is not capable to do certain things, their will have low self efficacy

- This can contributed by their bad past performance, unpleasant vicarious experience-seeing a co-workers failing, internal physiological states which such as pounding heart beat due to a person expectation of his failure

Q9. Why do organizations desiring creativity need to be willing to accept a certain level of failure?

- Creativity is the generation of novel and useful ideas

- Innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas

- The creative process involve; recognition of problem, information gathering, production of creative ideas, selection of idea(s) and implementation of creative idea(s)

- Some time creativity can lead to some undesired outcome. If the employee is punished for this, the behaviour will be stopped thus stopping generation of creative ideas.

- Promotion of creativity in an organization can be done thru; level of autonomy, form of evaluation, reward system and importance of task.

Q10. What steps can organizations take to promote organizational learning and knowledge management?

- Organizational learning involves instilling all members of the organization with a desire ti find new ways to improve its effectiveness

- Peter Senge has identified 5 key activities central to a learning organization;

o Encourage personal mastery or high sel-efficacy

o Develop complex schemas to understand work activities

o Encourage learning in groups and teams

o Communicate a shared vision for the organization

o Encourage system thinking