Learning and Creativity

Learning and Creativity
Understanding and Managing Organizational Behavior Chapter 5 Sixth Edition Jennifer M. George & Gareth R. Jones Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 5-1

Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall
Learning Objectives Describe what learning is and why it is so important for all kinds of jobs and organizations Understand how to effectively use reinforcement, extinction, and punishment to promote the learning of desired behaviors and curtail ineffective behaviors Describe the conditions necessary to determine if vicarious learning has taken place Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Learning Objectives Appreciate the importance of self-control and self- efficacy for learning on your own Describe how learning takes place continuously through creativity, the nature of the creative process, and the determinants of creativity Understand what it means to be a learning organization Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

UPS Serious about Learning
Why is learning of utmost importance in organizations? Extensive training is done so employees learn everything they need to know to provide excellent customer service. Learning is taken very seriously at the United Parcel Service, Inc. For drivers, UPS has developed highly specialized and detailed procedures describing the motions, behaviors, and actions drivers should perform for efficient and high quality customer service that minimizes strains and injuries. To ensure that new drivers learn all the procedures correctly, UPS has a hands-on type of learning technique that includes, but not limited to, driving a UPS truck in a fake mini city to practice what they have learned. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Learning in Organizations
Learning is a relatively permanent change in knowledge or behavior that results from practice or experience With learning comes change Change must be relatively permanent Learning takes place as a result of practice or through experience Learning is an ongoing process in everyone’s life, both on and off the job. Employees must learn how to perform tasks and duties, how to effectively interact with others, and how things work. This chapter covers multiple ways that employees learn. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Operant Conditioning Operant conditioning describes how learning takes place when the learner recognizes the connection between a behavior and its consequences One of the most fundamental ways in which people learn throughout their lives is through the consequences they receive for their behaviors and actions. Psychologist B. F. Skinner was fascinated by the power of consequences to influence behavior, and his operant conditioning approach describes how learning takes place through consequences. Operant conditioning is learning that takes place when the learner recognizes the connection between a behavior and its consequences (see Exhibit 5.1). An individual learns to engage in specific behaviors (such as being responsive to customers’ needs) in order to receive certain consequences (such as a bonus). This type of learning is called operant conditioning because individuals learn to operate in their environment in a certain way to achieve certain consequences. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Operant Conditioning Exhibit 5.1 Antecedents are instructions, rules, goals, and advice from other members of the organization that help employees realize what behaviors they should and should not perform and lets them know the likely consequences for different behaviors. Operant conditioning focuses on how organizations can use consequences to achieve two outcomes. One is increasing the probability that employees perform desired behaviors such as satisfying customers and coming to work on time. The other is decreasing the probability that employees perform undesired behaviors such as excessive Web surfing on company time and making lengthy personal telephone calls at work. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3

Reinforcement in Operant Conditioning
The process by which the probability that a desired behavior will occur is increased by applying consequences that depend on the behavior in question Step 1: Identify desired behaviors to be encouraged Step 2: Decide how to reinforce the behavior Step One is not always as easy as it might seem. For instance, a sales manager might offer commission or bonuses for his or her sales people. The hope is that employees will be more likely to satisfy customers in order to receive more follow-up sales. However, the salespeople may adopt a hard sell approach with little or no customer service in order to speed up receipt of commissions. In this case, the sales manager’s goal would not be met. Rather, the desired behavior is to satisfy customers. In the second step, the reinforcement behavior is chosen to accurately match the desired behavior. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Learning Desired Behaviors
Positive Reinforcement Negative Reinforcement Positive reinforcement increases the probability that a behavior will occur by administering positive consequences to employees who perform the behavior. These positive consequences are known as positive reinforcers. To use positive reinforcement to facilitate the learning of desired behaviors, managers need to determine what consequences a given employee considers to be positive. Potential positive reinforcers include rewards such as higher pay, bonuses, promotions, job titles, interesting work, verbal praise, time off from work, and awards. Managers can determine whether these rewards are positively reinforcing for any given employee by seeing if that employee performs desired behaviors in order to obtain them. Negative reinforcement increases the probability that a desired behavior will occur by removing, or rescinding, a negative consequence when an employee performs the behavior desired. The negative consequence that is removed is called a negative reinforcer. . Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Positive Reinforcement
Increases the probability that a behavior will occur by administering positive consequences to employees who perform the behavior Pay Bonuses Promotions Job titles Verbal praise Awards Managers must determine what consequences a given employee considers to be positive. Individuals differ in terms of what they consider to be a positive reinforcer. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Reinforcement Schedules
Continuous Partial Fixed-interval Variable-interval Fixed-ratio Variable-ratio Managers must choose whether to use continuous or partial reinforcement. Continuous reinforcement can result in faster learning, but may be difficult to maintain. Partial reinforcement occurs only a portion of the time that the behavior occurs. Behaviors learned using partial reinforcement are likely to last longer. Managers who choose partial reinforcement can choose from four schedules of partial reinforcement. With a fixed-interval schedule, the period of time between the occurrence of each instance of reinforcement is fixed or set. With variable-interval schedule, the amount of time between reinforcements varies around a constant average. For instance, a manager may praise those who do a good job once a week, once a month, or once every three weeks, but over a six-month period, the average amount of time between reinforcements is two weeks. With a fixed ratio schedule, a certain number of desired behaviors must occur before reinforcement is provided. Many piece-rate plans follow a fixed-ratio schedule. With a variable-ratio schedule, the number of desired behaviors that must occur before reinforcement varies around a constant average. The choice of which schedule to use often depends upon practical considerations such as the particular behavior being encouraged, the type of reinforcer, and the type of job. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Shaping Shaping is the reinforcement of successive and closer approximations to a desired behavior Powerful for complicated sequences Gradual acquisition of skills Shaping is important when a desired behavior is unlikely to occur on its own or at any given point in time because an individual does not have the skills and knowledge necessary to perform the behavior or because the behavior can only evolve out of practice or experience. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Discouraging Undesired Behaviors
Extinction Punishment Extinction and punishment are used to ensure that employees learn not to perform undesired behaviors. Some examples of undesired behaviors are excessive Web surfing on company time, dangerous operation of heavy equipment, sexual harassment, and excessive absenteeism. Extinction refers to removing a consequence that is currently reinforcing an undesirable behavior in an effort to decrease the probability that the behavior will occur again in the future. Punishment refers to administering negative consequences to workers who perform undesirable behaviors in an effort to decrease the probability that the behavior will occur again in the future. When using punishment, try to downplay the emotional element (punish the performance of the behavior not the person). Punish the undesired behavior immediately and make sure employees know why they are being punished. Avoid punishing in front of others. Provide employees with a desired behavior to be performed in place of the undesired behavior that is being punished. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Negative Reinforcement vs. Punishment
Punishment reduces the probability of an undesired behavior Negative reinforcement increases the probability of a desired behavior Punishment involves administering a negative consequence when an undesired behavior occurs Negative reinforcement entails removing a negative consequence when a desired behavior occurs Punishment and negative reinforcement are often confused. They differ in these important ways. Exhibit 5.2 reviews each operant conditioning technique, provides the method by which each consequence is administered, explains the effect on behavior, and provides an example. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Organizational Behavior Modification
Organizational behavior modification (OB MOD) is the systematic application of the principles of operant conditioning for teaching and managing organizational behavior OB Mod has been used successfully to improve productivity, attendance, punctuality, safe work practices, and customer service. It can be used to encourage desired behaviors and discourage undesired behaviors. Proponents rightfully claim that OB Mod is useful for managing important behaviors. Research shows that it can be successful in increasing productivity and cutting down on accidents, waste, and absenteeism. Critics say that it is overly manipulative. The steps for using OB Mod are on the next slide. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

The Basic Steps of OB Mod
Identify the behavior to be learned Measure the frequency of the behavior Analyze antecedents and consequences Intervene Evaluate the performance improvement OB Mod should be used to encourage behaviors that can be observed by others (and can therefore be reinforced) and measured, and are task-related and critical to the task. Measures of the frequency of behavior should be based on direct observation, archival data, or historical data. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Steps in OB Mod Identify important organizational behavior
Measure the frequency of the behavior Analyze antecedents and consequences Intervene Evaluate for performance improvement Problem solved? Once the behavior is identified and its frequency has been determined, it is important to identify the current antecedents and consequences of the behavior. Interventions can include introducing antecedents and applying operant conditioning techniques including positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction. When possible, positive reinforcement is preferred to negative reinforcement and extinction is preferred to punishment. In the last step of evaluation, the frequency of the behavior is measured again to determine if the intervention was successful. If so, then all that has to be done is to maintain the intervention by continuing to use the antecedents and positive reinforcers from the prior step. If not, then managers need to reconsider the behavior and cycle through the process again until the behavior has been successfully identified and modified. No Yes Maintain Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Measure Frequency of Behavior
Before this restaurant could correct the problem with employee tardiness, it had to gauge how frequently tardiness occurred. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Social Cognitive Theory
A learning theory that takes into account the fact that thoughts and feelings influence learning Necessary components include Vicarious learning Self-control Self-efficacy This is also called social learning theory and was developed by Albert Bandura. It suggests that any attempt to understand how people learn must take into account the impact on learning not only of reinforcement and punishment but also of a person’s feelings and thoughts (i.e., cognitions) and their observations of the world around them (i.e., social environment). Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Social Cognitive Theory
Exhibit 5.3 Information Vicarious Learning Behavior Control Learner Self-Efficacy Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall 3

Vicarious Learning Learning that occurs when one person (the learner) learns a behavior by watching another person (the model) perform the behavior Examples Role playing Demonstrations Training films Shadowing A substantial amount of the learning that takes place in organizations occurs vicariously. Examples of training based on vicarious learning are listed above. In addition, organizational members continually observe each other and often remember behaviors that resulted in reinforcement. The behaviors range from relatively routine matters such as when to arrive at work to the best way to conduct oneself at a business meeting. Several conditions must be met for vicarious learning to take place. These are identified on the next slide. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Conditions Required for Vicarious Learning
Learner observes the model when the model is performing the behavior Learner accurately perceives model’s behavior Learner must remember the behavior Learner must have the skills and abilities to perform the behavior Learner must see that the model receive reinforcement for the behavior in question To take advantage of vicarious learning in organizations, managers should ensure that good performer models are available for others to learn from. Models that are most likely to be imitated by others tend to be 1) organizational members who are highly competent in the behavior and may even have a reputation as an expert, 2) individuals with high status in the organization, 3) models who receive reinforcers that the learner desires, and 4) models who engage in desired behaviors in a friendly manner. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Use of Self-Control Low-probability behavior Available self-reinforcers Goals determine self-reinforcement schedule Reinforcement occurs upon goal achievement Social cognitive theory acknowledges that people can learn on their own by using self-control. In other words, they learn to perform a behavior even though there is no external pressure to do so. The items in the slide refer to the conditions that indicate that a person is using self-control. A low-probability behavior is a behavior that a person would not ordinarily want to perform. This condition distinguishes individuals exhibiting self-control from those engaging in activities they enjoy. Self-reinforcers are any consequences or rewards that individuals give to themselves. Potential self-reinforcers include buying oneself a present, eating a favorite food, and so on. The reward cannot be indiscriminately applied but rather applies to a specific goal. Once the goal is achieved, the reward must be applied. If not, future self-reinforcement will not be successful. Employees who manager their own behavior through self-control are said to be self-managing. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Self-Efficacy Self-efficacy is a person’s belief about his or her ability to perform a particular behavior successfully Social cognitive theory also emphasizes the importance of self-efficacy. Self-efficacy influences the activities and goals that individuals choose for themselves. Employees with a low level of self-efficacy may never try to learn how to perform challenging tasks because they think they will fail at them. Self-efficacy affects learning by influencing the effort that individuals exert on the job. Employees with high self-efficacy generally work hard to learn how to perform new behaviors because they are confident that their efforts will be successful. Self-efficacy affects the persistence with which a person tries to master new and difficult tasks. Employees with high self-efficacy are likely to persist in their efforts even in the face of problems. Employees with low self-efficacy are likely to give us as soon as an obstacle appears. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Sources of Self-Efficacy
Past performance Vicarious experience Verbal persuasion Individuals’ readings of their internal physiological states Bandura has identified these principal sources of self-efficacy. Past performance is a very powerful source of self-efficacy. Small successes boost self-efficacy and enable more substantial accomplishments in the future. Seeing coworkers succeed at a particular task may heighten the observer’s self-efficacy. Conversely, seeing others fail can discourage the observer. Trying to convince people that they have the ability to learn and succeed at a particular task can give rise to self-efficacy. Research has shown that when managers are confident that their subordinates can succeed at a particular task, the subordinates actually perform at a higher level. The fourth source of self-efficacy is individuals’ reading of their own internal physiological states. A person who expects to fail at some task or to find something too demanding is likely to experience certain physiological symptoms: a pounding or racing heart, headaches, and so on. Over time, these symptoms become associated with doing poorly. If the symptoms start to occur, self-efficacy for dealing with that situation may plummet. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Learning by Doing Experiential learning Direct involvement in subject matter Hands-on training Learning by doing is important for many types of jobs as well as for technical and interpersonal skills. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

The Creative Process Exhibit 5.4 Recognition of a problem or opportunity Information gathering Production of creative ideas Selection of creative ideas Implementation of creative ideas Creativity is the generation of novel and useful ideas. By novel, we mean that ideas represent a new way of thinking. Useful means that the ideas have the potential to contribute to the performance and well-being of individuals, groups, and organizations. When people are creative, they are engaged in continuous learning. Innovation is the successful implementation of creative ideas. The creative process entails a number of learning steps. Although the steps in Exhibit 5.5 are shown in a certain sequence, the order in which they occur is not fixed, nor does each step have to take place for creativity to occur. The text includes an example of the creative process at Hewlett-Packard. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Determinants of Creativity
Exhibit 5.5 Many characteristics of employees have been linked to creativity but the ones that seem to be the most relevant are personal characteristics or individual differences, task-relevant knowledge, and intrinsic motivation. Ultimately, though, creativity is determined by the interaction or joint effects of a number of factors. The individual differences likely to contribute to creativity are locus of control, self-esteem, and intelligence. Task-relevant knowledge is all of the information, skills, and expertise that an individual or group has about the kind of work being performed. The high level of involvement in the work that intrinsic motivation brings seems to spur creativity. Creativity is more likely to occur in certain situations than in others. Four situational characteristics are likely to affect creativity: level of autonomy, form of evaluation, reward system, and importance of the task or problem. A high degree of autonomy is good for creativity. Creative people like to know how they are doing and to receive feedback and encouragement. Criticism can make employees afraid to take risks. People who come up with creative ideas like to be rewarded for them. Note that OB Mod should not be used for behaviors that involve creativity. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

The Learning Organization
Organizational Learning Knowledge Management Organization learning is the process through which managers instill a desire to find new ways to improve organizational effectiveness. Knowledge management is the ability to capitalize on the knowledge possessed by organizational members which is not necessarily written down anywhere or codified in formal documents. Learning organizations make sure their members actually have the knowledge and skills to continuously learn. Learning organizations take steps to make sure that new ideas acted upon and knowledge is shared throughout the organization. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

Central Activities in a Learning Organization
Encouragement of personal mastery or high self- efficacy Development of complex schemas to understand work activities Encouragement of learning in groups and teams Communication of a shared vision for the organization as a whole Encouragement of systematic thinking Peter Senge identified these activities as central to a learning organization. These are especially important for organizations in environments that are rapidly changing. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

This work is protected by United States copyright laws and is provided solely for the use of instructors in teaching their courses and assessing student learning Dissemination or sale of any part of this work (including on the WorldWideWeb) will destroy the integrity of the work and is not permitted. The work and materials from it should never be made available to students except by instructors using the accompanying text in their classes. All recipients of this work are expected to abide by these restrictions and to honor the intended pedagogical purposes and the needs of other instructors who rely on these materials. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Printed in the United States of America. Copyright © 2012 Pearson Education, Inc. Publishing as Prentice Hall

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