PIC/NIC Analysis
Organizing influences on behavior to gain an
understanding of why people do what they do
In What Two Ways is Behavior
is Changed?
• By what comes before it
• ANTECEDENTS
• By what follows it
• CONSEQUENCES
• Everyone’s behavior makes sense
to him or her at the time
• To begin to understand her/him -• Step 1: Identify the problem
behavior
• Step 2: Identify the antecedents
• Step 3: Identify the consequences
from the perspective of the
performer not the organization
– positive or negative
– happen immediately or in the future
– consequences are certain or uncertain
Which consequences must a
manager manage in order to avoid
or solve problems?
Those for the organization or
those for the employee?
Deciphering PIC/NIC
What can we use PIC/NIC to analyze?
Consequences to individuals
•What does P stand
for?
•Positive
•What is the other
option?
•N for Negative
What is Positive or Negative?
• The nature of the consequence
•What does I stand
for?
•Immediate
•What is the other
option?
•F for Future
What do Immediate/Future
refer to?
• The timing of the consequence
•What does C stand
for?
•Certain
•What is the other
option?
•U for Uncertain
What do Certain/Uncertain refer
to?
• The likelihood of the consequence
What is the PIC/NIC Pattern for
Problem Behavior that Persists?
• Many PICS for undesired behavior
• in the face of many NFUs
P = Positive
N= Negative
I = Immediate
F = Future
C = Certain
U = Uncertain
What is the PIC/NIC Pattern for
Desired Behavior that is Not
Enacted?
• Many NICs
• with PFUs
P = Positive
N= Negative
I = Immediate
F = Future
C = Certain
U = Uncertain
How does PIC/NIC explain
• Why people persist in harmful
behaviors?
• Why people resist change?
P = Positive
N= Negative
I = Immediate
F = Future
C = Certain
U = Uncertain
How does PIC/NIC explain
• Why people persist in harmful
behaviors?
– PIC/NFU
• Why people resist change?
– NIC
P = Positive
N= Negative
I = Immediate
F = Future
C = Certain
U = Uncertain
What Combination of PIC/NIC
Consequences is Typical of the
Way Organizations Motivate
Employees?
• PFUs & NFUs
What are some examples?
•
•
•
•
annual bonuses •
contests
•
promotions
•
salary increases •
getting chewed out
firing
embarrassment
demotion
• loss of perks
P = Positive
N= Negative
I = Immediate
F = Future
C = Certain
U = Uncertain
What Combination of PIC/NIC
Consequences Has the Strongest
Influence on Behavior?
Why?
PIC
NIC
PIU
PFC
NFC
NIU
Most Powerful
P = Positive
N= Negative
PFU
NFU
Least Powerful
I = Immediate
F = Future
C = Certain
U = Uncertain
In problem solving, what
pattern of PIC/NIC do we create
for the desired behavior?
• PIC
Why does this work?
• We can make the desired behavior
more attractive immediately and
thus much more likely to occur
again
Always keep in mind …
• Whose Behavior Your Are Examining
• Whose Consequences Your are
Evaluating
Behavior is Changed in Two
Ways
• By what comes before it
• ANTECEDENTS
• By what follows it
• CONSEQUENCES
The ABC Model
Every behavior is affected by something that
comes before it and by what it produces.
The ABC Model
Antecedents
Anything that prompts
people to act
Behavior
(Actions)
What we do
What we say
Consequences
What happens to the
person as a result
of the behavior
Antecedents start behavior
Consequences maintain
behavior
When observing people in
problem-solving situations …
What do people believe (as
evidenced by their behavior) is
the most effective way to
change behavior?
• Antecedents
Useful Antecedents
•
•
•
•
•
Clarity
Appropriate decisions for action
Hiring well
Training correctly
Setting up effective measurement
and consequence systems
By far the most common way to
trying to implement change in
organizations is to ...
• Change antecedents rather than
consequences
What is the problem with
focusing on antecedents?
• It violates the fact that the closest
thing we have to a behavior law is
that says ...
• behavior is a function of its
consequences
• Thorndike’s law of effect:
Behavior that is rewarded
gets repeated.
What are behavioral
consequences?
• Events that follow a behavior and
change the probability that the
behavior will recur in the future
What is the single most effective
tool a manger has for improving
employee performance & morale?
Consequences
Do consequences wait for you
as a manager to design them?
• Consequences affect performance
whether you attempt to manage
them or not
• If you don’t manage consequences,
they will simply operate
unsystematically and often in ways
that are counterproductive because
• Consequences are always
occurring and always
impacting behavior
Are you as a manager the only
“creator” of consequences?
What Forms Can Consequences
Take?
•
•
•
•
What people do to us
What they say to us
What they give us
What they don’t give us
Both the presence of a
consequence and the absence of
a consequence affect behavior
Your behavior, especially as a
person with authority in a
hierarchy, ALWAYS functions as
either an antecedent or a
consequence for those around
you
Just as their behavior functions
as either an antecedent or
consequence for yours.
To understand why people do
what they do …
Instead of asking
“Why did they do that?”
What should you ask?
• “What happens to them when
they do that?”
The basic fact:
People do what they do for the
positive consequences they
receive
or the negative consequences
they are able to escape or avoid
What determines the effect of
consequences?
Their value to the performer …
Different strokes for different folks
In management, and in life in
general, to be effective with
others we must know the
consequences that they value
rather than providing the
consequences that are valuable
to us.
Timing of Consequences
• It is critical that consequence
follows behavior we want to affect
• Be ware of the squeaky wheel
syndrome
– If managers devote the majority of
their time to problems, they will never
run out of work
• What role does the attention of
managers play?
• It is a major positive consequence
to the vast majority of the
workforce.
Every behavior has a
consequence that affects its
future probability.
What are the Two Types of
Consequences?
• Those that INCREASE behavior
• Those that DECREASE behavior
Consequences that INCREASE
Behavior
R+ Positive
Reinforcement
Get something you
want
R- Negative
Reinforcement
Escape/avoid something
you don’t want
Consequences that DECREASE
Behavior
P+ Punishment
Get something you
don’t want
P- Penalty
Lose something you
have and want
Why aren’t punishment or
penalties more effective at
solving organizational
problems?
• We hire people to do something
(active) not to stop doing
something (inactive)
The ABC Model
Antecedents
Anything that prompts
people to act
Behavior
(Actions)
What we do
What we say
Consequences
What happens to the
person as a result
of the behavior