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

Motivation: the extent to which persistent effort is directed toward a goal Key elements: –The amount of effort –The degree of persistence –The direction of the effort –Directed towards a goal

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

Learning Theory –Creating Behaviours Operant Learning –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 the probability of behaviour 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

Learning Theory – 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

Social cognitive learning theory Modeling – learning by watching and copying Self-efficacy helps Use self-management –Self-observe (determine your baseline) –Observe (ask) models –Set goals –Rehearse –Reinforce yourself

Goal Setting 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”?

Determinants of the success of goal setting Goal acceptance and goal commitment – the internalization of the goal and the determination to reach the goal. (Publicness, participation, reward, and support) Feedback – necessary for goal setting to work