Organizational Behaviour The Individual: Motivation I – Learning Theories and Goal Setting Theory

Motivation: the extent to which persistent effort is directed toward a goal

Learning Theories – Operant learning theory/operant conditioning/reinforcement theory – where an individual learns to operate on the environment to achieve certain consequences Social learning theory – learning by watching the behaviour of others, seeing the consequences to them, and then thinking about engaging in the behaviour ourselves

Reinforcement Theory – Creating Behaviours Positive Reinforcement: increases the probability of the behaviour by following the behaviour with a pleasant or desirable consequence Negative Reinforcement: increases the probability of the behaviour by removing an aversive stimulus contingent on the performance of the behaviour

Reducing or Removing Behaviours Punishment - following the behaviour with an aversive stimulus –no replacement behaviour, requires constant monitoring, causes strong emotional responses, causes low self-esteem Extinction - removing the reinforcement

Errors and problems in Reinforcement Confusing reinforcements with rewards (rewards are not necessarily contingent on desired behaviours) Not recognizing individual differences in preferences (diversity) Group norms can negate the effects of organizational reinforcements Many sources of organizational reinforcement are ignored

Creating Behaviours Schedules (how often your reinforce has important consequences on behaviour) –continuous versus partial Interval: a time period must elapse before another reinforcement is given – fixed and variable Ratio: a number of responses must occur before another reinforcement is given –fixed and variable

Goal Setting Theory Intended to increase efficiency and effectiveness Primary Elements –Goal specificity – clear and specific; understood without guessing –Goal challenge/difficulty – not too easy, nor impossible to achieve –what is wrong with “do your best”?

Significance to the workplace A means for diagnosing performance problems: 1) How are the goals set? 2) Are the goals challenging? 3) What is affecting goal commitment? 4) Does the employee know when he/she has done a good job?