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Learning and Decision MakingCopyright © 2013 by The McGraw-Hill
Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.
Learning and
Decision Making
Chapter 8
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
8-*
Is the problem recognized? Has it been dealt with before?
Programmed Decisions
Nonprogrammed Decisions
Limited information
Faulty perceptions
Faulty attributions
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241C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
primarily the consequences of actions that drive behavior. This
entire process of reinforcement is a continuous cycle, and the
repetition of behaviors is strengthened to the degree that
reinforce- ment continues to occur. There are four specific
consequences typically used by organizations to modify employee
behavior, known as the contingencies of reinforcement . 23 Figure
8-2 sum- marizes these contingencies. It’s important to separate
them according to what they’re designed to do, namely, increase
desired behaviors or decrease unwanted behaviors.
Two contingencies of reinforcement are used to increase desired
behaviors. Positive reinforcement occurs when a positive outcome
follows a desired behavior. It’s perhaps the most common type of
reinforcement and the type we think of when an employee receives
some type of “reward.” Increased pay, promotions, praise from a
manager or coworkers, and public recogni- tion would all be
considered positive reinforcement when given as a result of an
employee exhib- iting desired behaviors. For positive reinforcement
to be successful, employees need to see a direct link between their
behaviors and desired outcomes (see Chapter 6 on Motivation for
more discussion of such issues). If the consequences aren’t
realized until long after the specific behav- iors, then the odds
that employees will link the two are minimized. Negative
reinforcement occurs when an unwanted outcome is removed following
a desired behavior. Have you ever performed a task for the specific
reason of not getting yelled at? If so, you learned to perform
certain behaviors through the use of negative reinforcement.
Perhaps there are some tasks your job requires that you don’t
enjoy. If your manager removes these responsibilities specifically
because you perform well at another aspect of your job, then this
could also be seen as negative reinforcement. It’s important to
remember that even though the word “negative” has a sour con-
notation to it, it’s designed to increase desired behaviors.
The next two contingencies of reinforcement are designed to
decrease undesired behaviors. Punishment occurs when an unwanted
outcome follows an unwanted behavior. Punishment is exactly what it
sounds like. In other words, employees are given something they
don’t like as a result of performing behaviors that the
organization doesn’t like. Sus- pending an employee for showing up
to work late, assigning job tasks generally seen as demeaning for
not following safety procedures, or even firing an employee for
gross mis- conduct are all examples of punish- ment. Extinction
occurs when there is the removal of a consequence fol- lowing an
unwanted behavior. The use of extinction to reinforce behav- ior
can be purposeful or accidental. Perhaps employees receive
attention
Wanted outcome
Positive reinforcement, like public recognition, both encourages
employees and helps ensure that desirable behaviors will be
imitated and repeated.
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242 C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
from coworkers when they act in ways that are somewhat childish at
work. Finding a way to remove the attention would be a purposeful
act of extinction. Similarly though, perhaps employ- ees work late
every now and then to finish up job tasks when work gets busy, but
their manager stops acknowledging that hard work. Desired behavior
that’s not reinforced will diminish over time. In this way, a
manager who does nothing to reinforce good behavior is actually
decreasing the odds that it will be repeated!
In general, positive reinforcement and extinction should be the
most common forms of rein- forcement used by managers to create
learning among their employees. Positive reinforcement doesn’t have
to be in the form of material rewards to be effective. There are
many ways for man- agers to encourage wanted behaviors. Offering
praise, providing feedback, public recognition, and small
celebrations are all ways to encourage employees and increase the
chances they will continue to exhibit desired behaviors. At the
same time, extinction is an effective way to stop unwanted
behaviors. Both of these contingencies deliver their intended
results, but perhaps more importantly, they do so without creating
feelings of animosity and conflict. Although punishment and
negative reinforcement will work, they tend to bring other,
detrimental consequences along with them.
Whereas the type of reinforcement used to modify behavior is
important, research also shows that the timing of reinforcement is
equally important. 24 Therefore, it’s important to examine the
timing of when the contingencies are applied, referred to as
schedules of reinforcement . Table 8-2 provides a summary of
the five schedules of reinforcement. Continuous reinforce- ment is
the simplest schedule and happens when a specific consequence
follows each and every occurrence of a desired behavior. New
learning is acquired most rapidly under a continuous schedule. 25
For most jobs, continuous reinforcement is impractical. As a
manager, can you imag- ine providing positive reinforcement every
time someone exhibits a desired behavior? It’s a good thing that
research also shows that under many circumstances, continuous
reinforcement might be considered the least long lasting, because
as soon as the consequence stops, the desired behav- ior stops
along with it. 26 Once a behavior has been acquired, some form of
intermittent schedul- ing is more effective. 27
The other four schedules differ in terms of their variability and
the basis of the consequences. Two schedules are interval based;
that is, they distribute reinforcement based on the amount of time
that passes. A fixed interval schedule is probably the single most
common form of rein- forcement schedule. With this schedule,
workers are rewarded after a certain amount of time, and the length
of time between reinforcement periods stays the same. Every time
employees get a paycheck after a predetermined period of time,
they’re being reinforced on a fixed inter- val schedule. Variable
interval schedules are designed to reinforce behavior at more
random points in time. A supervisor walking around at different
points of time every day is a good example of a variable interval
schedule. If that supervisor walked around at the same exact
TABLE 8-2 Schedules of Reinforcement
REINFORCEMENT SCHEDULE
Continuous Every desired behavior High, but difficult to maintain
Praise
Fixed Interval Fixed time periods Average Paycheck
Variable Interval Variable time periods Moderately high Supervisor
walk-by
Fixed Ratio Fixed number of desired behaviors
High Piece-rate pay
Very high Commission pay
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245C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
For behavioral modeling to occur successfully, a number of
processes have to take place. These steps are shown in Figure 8-3 .
First, the learner must focus attention on an appropriate model and
accurately perceive the critical behavior the model exhibits. That
model might be a supervisor, a coworker, or even a subordinate.
Some organizations go out of their way to sup- ply role models for
newcomers or inexperienced workers to watch and learn from. For
instance, BASF, the German chemical giant, rewards and encourages
older workers to model behavior and share their knowledge. In this
way, not only does explicit knowledge get passed on but also tacit
knowledge. BASF CFO Kurt Bock says, “For the engineers,
transferring knowledge to their successors is easier said than
done.” 32 In fact, because tacit knowledge is so difficult to
communicate, modeling might be the single best way to acquire it.
For that reason, modeling is a continual process that is used at
all levels of many organizations. Ursula Burns’s ascent to CEO of
Xerox was carefully controlled as she was allowed to closely
observe and model former CEO Anne Mulcahy for a number of years
before taking control. 33 Needless to say, choosing a good model is
important, and not all models are good ones. There is a great deal
of evidence that supports the notion that employees will learn to
behave unethically when in the presence of oth- ers who model that
same behavior. 34 Salomon Brothers, the New York–based investment
bank, learned this lesson the hard way when employees began to
model the unethical behaviors of their managers and leaders.
35
Second, the learner needs to remember exactly what the model’s
behavior was and how they did it. This step is very difficult when
watching experts perform their job, because so much of what they do
remains unspoken and can occur at a rapid pace. Third, the learner
must undertake production processes, or actually be able to
reproduce what the model did. Not only must the learner have the
requisite knowledge and physical skills to be able to perform the
task; now he or she must translate what’s been observed into
action. Do you remember the first time
FIGURE 8-3 The Modeling Process
Learner focuses
exhibited by the model
Learner must remember the behaviors of the model once the
model is no longer present
Retention Processes
able to reproduce the
receiving reinforcement for the behavior and
then receive it themselves
Source: Adapted from H.M. Weiss, “Learning Theory and Industrial
and Organizational Psychology,” in Handbook of Industrial and
Organizational Psychology, eds. M.D. Dunnette and L.M. Hough.
(Consulting Psychologists Press: Palo Alto, CA, 1990), pp.
75–169.
Ursula Burns was provided an unusual opportunity to learn by
observation and behavioral modeling before becoming CEO of Xerox.
She essentially co-led with her predeces- sor for two years to gain
insider experience before taking the helm.
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248 C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Programmed Decisions Nonprogrammed Decisions (using rational
decision-making model)
Experts have the ability to recognize patterns and situations that
novices don't
Identify the problem
before?
outcome?
outcome?
Evaluate the alternatives against
Implement appropriate solution
FIGURE 8-4 Programmed and Nonprogrammed Decisions
To experts, programmed decisions sometimes comes across as
intuition or a “gut feeling.” Intuition can be described as
emotionally charged judgments that arise through quick, non-
conscious, and holistic associations. 41 There is almost unanimous
consent among researchers that intuition is largely a function of
learning—tacit knowledge gained through reinforcement, observation,
and experience allow a decision maker to decide more quickly and
confidently. 42 Because of their tacit knowledge, experts sometimes
cannot put into words why they know that a
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254 C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
FAULTY ATTRIBUTIONS. Another category of decision-making problems
centers on how we explain the actions and events that occur around
us. Research on attributions suggests that when people witness a
behavior or outcome, they make a judgment about whether it was
internally or externally caused. For example, when a coworker of
yours named Joe shows up late to work and misses an important group
presentation, you’ll almost certainly make a judgment about why
that happened. You might attribute Joe’s outcome to internal
factors—for example, suggesting that he is lazy or has a poor work
ethic. Or you might attribute Joe’s outcome to external factors—for
example, suggesting that there was unusually bad traffic that day
or that other factors prevented him from arriving on time.
The fundamental attribution error argues that people have a
tendency to judge others’ behaviors as due to internal factors. 60
This error suggests that you would likely judge Joe as hav- ing low
motivation, poor organizational skills, or some other negative
internal attribute. What if you yourself had showed up late? It
turns out that we’re less harsh when judging ourselves. The
self-serving bias occurs when we attribute our own failures to
external factors and our own suc- cesses to internal factors.
Interestingly, evidence suggests that attributions across cultures
don’t always work the same way; see our OB Internationally feature
for more discussion of this issue.
One model of attribution processes suggests that when people have a
level of familiarity with the person being judged, they’ll use a
more detailed decision framework. This model is illus- trated in
Figure 8-5 . 61 To return to our previous example, if we want to
explore why Joe arrived late to work, we can ask three kinds of
questions:
Consensus: Did others act the same way under similar situations? In
other words, did others arrive late on the same day?
Distinctiveness: Does this person tend to act differently in other
circumstances? In other words, is Joe responsible when it comes to
personal appointments, not just work appointments?
Consistency: Does this person always do this when performing this
task? In other words, has Joe arrived late for work before?
The way in which these questions are answered will determine if an
internal or external attri- bution is made. An internal
attribution, such as laziness or low motivation for Joe, will occur
if
Behavior is observed
attitudes are to blame
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257C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
8.6 How does learning affect job performance and organi zational
commitment?
Decision-Making Problems Limited Information Faulty Perceptions
Faulty Attributions Escalation of Commitment
Reinforcement Observation Goal Orientation
Explicit Knowledge
Tacit Knowledge
FIGURE 8-6 Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make Decisions Better
Than Others?
performance focuses on explicit knowledge, which is more practical
to measure. It’s difficult to measure tacit knowledge because of
its unspoken nature, but clearly such knowledge is relevant to task
performance. Learning seems less relevant to citizenship behavior
and counterproduc- tive behavior however, given that those
behaviors are often less dependent on knowledge and
expertise.
Figure 8-7 also reveals that learning is only weakly related to
organizational commitment. 71
In general, having higher levels of job knowledge is associated
with slight increases in emotional attachment to the firm. It’s
true that companies that have a reputation as organizations that
value learning tend to receive higher-quality applicants for jobs.
72 However, there’s an important dis- tinction between
organizations that offer learning opportunities and employees who
take advan- tage of those opportunities to actually gain knowledge.
Moreover, it may be that employees with higher levels of expertise
become more highly valued commodities on the job market, thereby
reducing their levels of continuance commitment.
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258 C H A P T E R 8 Learning and Decision Making
APPLICATION: TRAINING
How can organizations improve learning in an effort to boost
employee expertise and, ultimately, improve decision making? One
approach is to rely on training , which represents a systematic
effort by organizations to facilitate the learning of job-related
knowledge and behavior. Orga- nizations spent $125 billion on
employee learning and development in 2009, or $1,081 per employee.
73 A full discussion of all the types of training companies offer
is beyond the scope of this section, but suffice it to say that
companies are using many different methods to help their employees
acquire explicit and tacit knowledge. Technological changes are
altering the way those methods are delivered, as instructor-led
classroom training has declined while online self- study programs
and other forms of e-learning have increased to 36.5 percent of
learning hours. 74
In addition to traditional training experiences, companies are also
heavily focused on knowledge transfer from their older, experienced
workers to their younger employees. Some companies are using
variations of behavior modeling training to ensure that employees
have the ability to observe and learn from those in the company
with significant amounts of tacit knowledge. For example, Raytheon,
the Waltham, Massachusetts–based defense and aerospace supplier,
has created a train- ing program called “Leave-a-Legacy” that pairs
employees holding vital knowledge with high- potential
subordinates. Raytheon’s program is not one of those “have lunch
once a month” mentor programs; it’s a relatively regimented program
in which younger workers follow older workers around for extended
periods of time, ensuring adequate opportunities for observation.
Each pair of employees is also assigned a third-party coach that
helps the knowledge transfer take place. 75 Such sharing of
information between workers is not always easy, especially in
competitive or political
Job Performance Learning
Represents a strong correlation (around .50 in magnitude).
Represents a moderate correlation (around .30 in magnitude).
Represents a weak correlation (around .10 in magnitude).
Learning has a moderate positive effect on Performance. Employees
who gain more knowledge and skill tend to have higher levels of
Task Performance. Not much is known about the impact of learning on
Citizenship Behavior and Counterproductive Behavior.
Learning has a weak positive effect on Commitment. Employees who
gain more knowledge and skill tend to have slightly higher levels
of Affective Commitment. Not much is known about the impact of
learning on Continuance Commitment or Normative Commitment.
FIGURE 8-7 Effects of Learning on Performance and Commitment
Sources: G.M. Alliger, S.I. Tannenbaum, W. Bennett Jr., H. Traver,
and A. Shotland, “A Meta-Analysis of the Relations among Training
Criteria,” Personnel Psychology 50 (1997), pp. 341–58; J.A.
Colquitt, J.A. LePine, and R.A. Noe, “Toward an Integrative Theory
of Training Motivation: A Meta-Analytic Path Analysis of 20 Years
of Research,” Journal of Applied Psychology 85 (2000), pp. 678–707;
and J.P. Meyer, D.J. Stanley, L. Herscovitch, and L. Topolnytsky,
“Affective, Continuance, and Normative Commitment to the
Organization: A Meta-Analysis of Antecedents, Correlates, and
Consequences,” Journal of Vocational Behavior 61 (2002), pp.
20–52.
8.7 What steps can organi- zations take to foster learning?
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