1. Learning and Decision Making
Chapter 8

3. Learning Defined
Permanent changes in an employee’s knowledge or skill that result from experience
Employees learn two types of knowledge:
Explicit - easy to communicate and teach
Tacit - more difficult to communicate; gained with experience

4. Methods of Learning
How do employees learn?
Reinforcement

5. Methods of Learning

6. Methods of Learning

7. Methods of Learning
How do employees learn?
Reinforcement
Observation

8. Methods of Learning

9. Methods of Learning
Some people learn differently, as a function of the goals and activities that they prioritize
Goal orientation
Learning
Performance-prove
Performance-avoid

10. Decision Making
The process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to solve a problem.
Learning has a significant impact on decision making

11. Decision Making Identify the problem
Is the problem recognized? Has it been dealt with before?
Yes No
Programmed Decisions
Nonprogrammed Decisions
(Rational decision
making model)
(Intuition, “Gut feeling”)

12. Decision Making Nonprogrammed decisions
Rational decision- making model

13. Decision Making Problems
Common reasons for making bad decisions
Limited information
Faulty perceptions
Faulty attributions
Escalation of commitment

14. Limited Information

15. Faulty Perceptions Heuristics and decision-making biases Availability
Anchoring
Framing
Representativeness
Contract
Recency
Ratio Bias

16. Faulty Attributions

17. Escalation of Commitment
The decision to continue to follow a failing course of action
Throwing good money after bad

18. How Important is Learning?

19. Application Training Transfer of training Behavior modeling
Communities of practice
Transfer of training
Climate for transfer