LEARNING
• A relatively permanent change in
behavior resulting from experience
• Learning and performance -Performance is an indirect measure of
learning but is influenced by other
factors such as motivation and fatigue
LEARNING IN
ORGANIZATIONS
• Formal learning
– skill training
– orientation
– rules and regulations
• Informal learning
– norms
– attitudes
– shortcuts in doing your job
CLASSICAL
CONDITIONING
conditioned
stimulus
unconditioned
stimulus
reflex
learned
conditioned
response
Time 2
unconditioned
response
Time 1
SOME BASICS
• Extinction -- eliminating the response
• Generalization -- extending the response
to similar stimuli
• Discrimination -- limiting the response to
a specific stimulus
• Higher order conditioning -- extending
the response to remote conditioned
stimuli
OPERANT CONDITIONING
ANTECEDENT
A cue about
consequences
ex. advice
BEHAVIOR
CONSEQUENCE
Desired
organizational
behavior
ex. promptness
Positive
reinforcement
ex. attention
Negative
reinforcement
ex. anxiety
QUALITIES OF
REINFORCEMENT
•
•
•
•
Immediate Vs. delayed
Contrived Vs natural
Large Vs small
Relative size
REINFORCEMENT
SCHEDULES
• Interval schedules -- time based
– fixed interval: ex. salary
– variable interval: ex. spot inspections
• Ratio schedules -- performance based
– fixed ratio: ex. piece rate
– variable ratio: ex. gambling on slot machines
SHAPING
• Reinforcement of successive
approximations of desired behavior
• ex. shaping neatness by rewarding
behaviors which gradually move towards
keeping a workplace neat
BACKWARDS AND
FORWARDS
• Summing up: From a look at formal and
informal learning to classical
conditioning to operant conditioning of
desired responses. Focus on qualities of
reinforcement
• Next time: Continuation of operant
conditioning and examination of
observational learning