...Define positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, punishment, and extinction, and distinguish between continuous and intermittent schedules of reinforcement. Then give a practical example of one." In Positive Reinforcement a particular behavior is strengthened by the consequence of experiencing a positive condition. For example: My dog will get a treat when he sits on my command. Positive Reinforcement means that the subject is likely to repeat the behavior, or response, because stimulus (e.g. reward) is received directly after response. Negative reinforcement encourages employees to perform better so they can have an unpleasant condition removed from their work environment. Example, Constantly being reminded to be more productive, often seen as nagging or badgering by employees, is a negative reinforcement technique. It may be used intentionally or unintentionally, but it creates a negative condition in which the employees are subjected to an unpleasant situation. When they reach the productivity level desired, the nagging stops, which reinforces the desired behavior. While this type of negative reinforcement may get your employees to improve, it does not encourage them to strive beyond the minimum levels required to make the negative situation stop. A schedule of reinforcement is a rule that establishes the probability that a specific occurrence of a behavior will produce reinforcement. Two schedules of reinforcement—continuous reinforcement and extinction—provide...
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...they are willing to commit to achieve the objectives. The application of employee motivation in a workplace has been well established by management. However, what forces can influence motivation and how they can be employed to be utilised to encourage certain behaviours in the workplace are not so well understood by many corporations. Hence, it is necessary to analyse some common forces which can be used to influence motivation. According to Fishbach et al. (2010), various forces can lead to different consequences. Positive forces can reinforce certain behaviours as those behaviours usually receive a rewarded consequence. On the contrary, negative forces can also develop certain behaviours which can bring a punishable consequence to prevent these behaviours from reoccurring. So in a workplace, positive forces such as verbal encouragement from management to employees’ performance as well as promotion will increase employees’ goal commitment, whereas negative forces for instance, demotion of employees’ job status and reduction on employees’ remuneration will motivate employees to pursuit the sets goals but these forces lesson the desire of ongoing passion on the progress of goal attainment. Therefore, it is vital for management to understand how to utilise these forces to motivate employees by referring a theory in motivation. One of these theories in motivation is reinforcement theory can capture the essence of above forces and relevant...
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...070110354 Özge Özalanyalı Why is positive reinforcement important in the workplace? Reinforcement is a process of strengthening a directly measurable dimension of behavior. When a favorable outcome, event, or reward occurs after an action, that particular response or behavior will be strengthened. In the workplace, each employee’s performance is important in an organization. As employee’s behavior is strengthened or increased based on consequences and purposes such as increasing productivity and improving the morale of an individual or department, supervisors use positive reinforcement. When new employees may have concerns about fitting in with the culture of the workplace, positive reinforcement provide new employees to decrease these concerns and help the employee relax and feel more confident by training or orientation process. Moreover, to facilitate the creation of a profitable program, every feature of the incentive program must be suitable to the participants' interests. Positive reinforcement provide successful incentive program requires clearly defined rules, suitable rewards, efficient communication strategies, and measurable success metrics. Also, positive reinforcement increase the desired behavior reoccurring in the future. If workers receive repeated praise or encouragement for good performance, they continue to do it. For instance, when employee continues to receive positive feedback from his/her supervisor, he/she who receiving praise for arriving at work...
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...Why Managers Need to Understand and Use Different Techniques to Motivate Employees By Student Managers Motivating Employees, September 8, 2014 I. Introduction Managers keeping employees motivated is a problem in most organizations, because not all individuals are motivated in the same way. When individuals lose interest in the workplace this can cause problems for the organization as a whole, then the overall production and morale suffers. There are different techniques that can be used to help managers motivate their employees. Some of the techniques to understand are positive and negative reinforcement, nonmonetary incentive programs, award programs, recognition awards and showing appreciation. Managers can motivate employees by understanding what motivation is and by discovering what drives each individual by using different techniques to motivate each employee. II. Motivation A. Definition of Motivation Motivation is “defined as the psychological processes that arouse and direct goal-directed behavior” (Kinicki, Williams 376). Motivation “is not a one size fits all”, each employee is their own person and what drives them to effectivley perform while on the job is an important factor for managers to be knowledgeable about (Broder). B. Why Motivating Employees is Important Employees within an organization play a key role in how the company runs. Knowing about the different techniques that are used can help managers succeed in keeping...
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...vitality and intensity (Reese, Brandt, and Howie). Having positive energy enables us to make the necessary decisions as far as how we are going to handle unforeseen situations as they present themselves, as well as providing us the “juice” we need in order to perform daunting tasks on a daily basis. Energy can be either positive or negative in terms of how we deal with interpersonal relationships. Positive energy can be achieved through support received from family or colleagues. Negative energy on the other hand can be destructive and divisive which can create havoc in the work place. The authors stated that “it is positive energy that helps us cope with disappointments, uncertainty, and work that is physically and mentally demanding (Reese, Brandt, and Howie). Creating a positive work environment is essential to the success of any business. As the age of adage states “if your employees are happy then your clients will be happy.” Our need for positive reinforcement is critical in how we perform in our daily lives. Few of us have outrageous ego’s to be able to maintain high self-esteem without receiving encouragement or positive feedback from our friends, family, or peers. Without positive experiences in our lives, many people suffer from a deficit of energy. It was interesting to read that in recent years, there have been some researchers who have actually quantified the cost of negativity in the workplace. The results showed that “negative or actively disengaged...
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...formal and informal workplace learning because it can provide best practices for teaching on the job as a trainer or a manager. Here’s an overview of the most popular behavioral learning theories. Reinforcement Theory Reinforcement Theory suggests that behavior is controlled by its consequences and therefore individuals are motivated to perform or avoid behaviors because of past outcomes of those behaviors. Reinforcement comes in several forms: Positive reinforcement involves positively rewarding desirable behaviors. Negative reinforcement means removing an unpleasant outcome to promote desirable behaviors. Extinction involves withdrawing positive or negative reinforcers to eliminate a behavior. Punishment involves decreasing a behavior by presenting an unpleasant outcome after the behavior. Workplace learning implications: The trainer must have a general understanding of which outcomes a learner finds positive or negative and strategically connect those outcomes to the course content, as appropriate. Social Learning Theory Social Learning Theory suggests that people learn by observing other people and attempting to copy their behaviors. Social learning is influenced by self-efficacy, which is an individual’s belief that he/she can successfully learn knowledge and skills. This means that the learner may not be able to adopt the behaviors they see if she doesn’t accept that she will get the same result someone else did. Workplace learning implications:...
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...Leadership University of Phoenix Exercise 15-3 My questionnaire in the end was 40 percent leader and 60% supervisor. This did not come as a surprise to me as I felt from the beginning I would be around half and half of each general area. In driving to lead and create an environment where all respect each other and grow together, I find that even not being in a supervisory position, I still bring people together. There are a lot of things that go into being a good supervisor, one of the most prominent being improving employee relations. The reason for this is many reasons. Developing employee relations requires the respect of your employees. In order to promote these relations you need to also be positive and I feel a perfect mix of leadership and supervisory attributes help this. I believe that being split almost down the middle is a direct reflection of how I see myself in leadership as well. I would promote good employee or relations by first earning respect. No leader in the world can promote a happy and healthy work environment if they do not first have the respect of those employed under him. This is true in every leadership role anywhere you go though. In a church with a crooked pastor without respect of the congregation, the church would eventually fall as you look to the pastor for guidance. In a home without respect for the parent, how would you expect your children to do well and how would you raise them if nothing you say...
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...Motivational Analysis in the Workplace Anonomous University of Phoenix Motivational Analysis in the Workplace Motivation in the workplace has many advantages. Motivation enables managers to encourage workers and employees to attain goals required for organizational missions. Motivation theories have evolved in the past 100 years. Motivation theorist such as Descartes, Darwin, and Hull had many ideas regarding what drives motivation. “When stumped trying to explain why people do what they do, we can turn to theories of motivation…” (Reeves, p. 5, 2001). The goal-setting theory shaped by Edwin Locke explains how organizational goals are used in the workplace to inspire motivation. Two workplace scenarios will be described. The goal-setting theory will be applied to both scenarios. Managers and leaders need to encourage the attainment of workplace goals. “Motive is a general term that identifies the common ground shared by needs, cognitions, and emotions…” (Reeves, p. 7, 2001). When managers cannot motivate employees effectively the environment and the employee suffer. Job satisfaction drops and the employee will no longer value his or her job. When this happens productivity will suffer. Setting goals does not always produce goal attainment. Locke’s theory does have drawbacks. The employee may not value the goal or may not be given enough positive reinforcement to retain his or her goals. Locke’s goal-setting theory states goals...
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...thought of as learning due to the natural consequences of our actions (B.F.Skinner,1904-1990). Like all the learning theories out there, Skinners operant conditioning theory has both positive and negative (reinforcement & punishment) feature. There are various strengths to this theory, as well as weakness. Operant conditioning explains a broad range of phenomena, such as when a person is rewarded for a behaviour, it is more likely for it occur again. Many organisation employ the use of positive reinforcement to builds confidence and helps employees have a more pleasurable experience at work. While, avoid the side-effects of punishment or negative reinforcement, such as frustration, anger, anxiety and depression( Kashdan and Fincham,2004,p 484 as cited in Leslie E, Linsey N, Richard, 2012). Case study, Airbnb.Inc gives all of its employees $2,000 a year to travel anywhere in the world they want to.Besides the awesome travel stipend, Airbnbers allowed to bring their pets to work every day, they go sailing together, have a ping pong table, weekly Yoga classes is provide and get to eat organic lunches on a daily basis(Natalie W,2013). Positive reward will motivates efficient workers to continue to do a good job.In contrast, lack of reinforcement leads to job dissatisfaction. Positive punishment is used to decrease a behaviour and is presenting something unpleasant after the behaviour.First advice him on the negative performance you have noticed about his behaviour in...
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...which one does workplace bullying most closely resembles? Out of the three types of organizational justice, bullying most closely resembles interactional justice in which the individual’s perception of the degree to which he or she is treated with dignity, concern and respect. What one person may see as unfair another may see as perfectly appropriate (Judge, Robbins, 2006). Q2)What aspects of motivation might workplace bullying reduce? For example, are there likely to be effects on employee’s self efficacy? If so, what might those effects be? Workplace bullying may reduce an employee’s esteem, safety and security, and self actualization according to Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. Workplace bullying can also affect one’s self efficacy. An employee with low self efficacy, when bullied, can experience a decline in their already low self efficacy which may decrease his/her need for achievement, need for power, and need for affiliation based on McClelland’s theory of needs. There are not too many people, which if they are being bullied would want to achieve a new position, attain power, or even want to belong to such a company where other employee’s are bullies. Q3) If you were a victim of workplace bullying, what steps would you take to try to reduce its occurrence? What strategies would be most effective? What strategies might be ineffective? What would you do if one of your colleagues was a victim of an abusive supervisor? If I were a victim of workplace bullying, I would...
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...everything they need to perform their work. This includes all supplies required, from what some might seem unimportant items such as office supplies to have access to information necessary to complete specific tasks. Workers are often frustrated when they have to waste time looking for the items they need to get their work done. You must also take steps to ensure workers have easy access to the things they need. For example, if the individual who maintains control of the one and only key to the supply closet acts as though her coworkers are stealing her personal supplies, this will create tensions which can demotivate employees. Even small frustrations such as searching for office supplies can impact motivation in the workplace. By providing training for ongoing career development is a vital element of the...
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...motivation can be divided to explain the behavior and attitude of employees. These include content theories, based on the assumption that people have individual needs which motivate their actions, and theorists such as Maslow [1954], McClelland [1961], Herzberg [1966] and Alderfer [1969] are renowned for their works in this field. In contrast to content theories, process theories identified relations among variables which make up motivation and involve works from Heider [1958], Vroom [1964], Adams [1965], Locke [1976], and Lawler [1973]. In addition, reinforcement theory [B.F.Skinner, 1938] that proposes the consequences of the behaviors that motivate the employees to behave in predetermined ways. 2.1 Process motivation theories Process theory provides a description and analysis of how behavior is energized, directed, sustained and stopped. Its three process theories are as follow; ○ Equity theory – the structure of equity in workplace is based on ratio of inputs [contributions made by employees for the organization] to outcomes. This...
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...Organisational Behaviour and Leadership 1 Index: 1. Executive summary 2. Comparing Maslow’s theory of motivation with Skinner’s reinforcement theory in view of critique of each theory with special reference to the South African workplace. 3. A critical evaluation of the similarities and differences between reinforcement and the expectancy theories of motivation. Motivating a choice as to which one has the mist relevance to explaining the work motivation of employees in South Africa. 4. How managers can encourage effective performance by managing the reward process in their organisations. Applying two motivational theories to effect performance. 5. References 2 Executive Summary: Other than being familiarised with different theories and that all are motivation related; the three assignments led to discoveries that: 1. One theory can be embedded in another when the purpose for a theory is changed, i.e. from a need to a behaviour. 2. By comparing theories, content (need) theories focus on the need as a motivator per se, whereas process/cognitive theories focus on how we are motivated. They differ a lot and similarities are rather superficial. The third assignment revealed that by focusing on a feature like performance one could discover specific motivational theories suited to it and how other can be instrumental to its goal. It is my opinion that companies will really benefit from considering making use of the expectancy model. It is an individual directed...
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...the workplace has been a confounding one. For one thing, it isn't easy to change behavior patterns, because they've been ingrained over time. To correct performance issues, new behaviors have to be introduced and consistently reinforced over the long term. This means following up programs with enough continued learning, feedback, coaching and accountability to stimulate the growth of new neuronal connections that eventually take the place of old ones. Unaware of this reality, organizations have wasted billions of dollars annually investing in learning programs that fail to change behavior. The greater challenge of the quest for this "Holy Grail" is that the solution doesn't involve fixing just one thing. A myriad of variables within an organization influence whether learning is reinforced until new behavior patterns are established. A process I call Train-to-Ingrain was designed to achieve permanent, measurable improvements in performance by optimizing aspects of training and development that impact on learning transfer: - COMMITMENT - Support follow-up reinforcement - COACHING - Prepare direct managers for their development role - FOLLOW-UP - Integrate reinforcement programs with assessment and training programs - ACCOUNTABILITY - Measure performance improvement and calculate ROI - TRAINING FOR TRANSFER - Incorporate learning strategies that promote application and reinforcement of skills - LEARNING NETWORKS - Coordinate support for reinforcement ...
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...contribute to the workplace. We learned that recognition and linking rewards to performance has positive outcomes. Based on our text and other accompanying materials I believe that intrinsic motivation is an integral component when considering employee attitudes. A study by Cho and Perry tests the influence of intrinsic motivation on employee attitudes while exploring three factors that they believe condition the effects of intrinsic motivation. These factors are managerial trustworthiness, goal directness, and extrinsic reward expectancy. According to the research study, “The analysis demonstrates that intrinsic motivation is substantively associated with both employee satisfaction and turnover intention. Managerial trustworthiness and goal directness increase the leverage of intrinsic motivation on employee satisfaction, whereas extrinsic rewards expectancy decreases the leverage (Cho and Perry, 2012, p.19).” I can agree with their findings with regards to manager trustworthiness. In my experience this has been one of the most defining factors when it comes to workplace motivation. If I liked the manager and found him trustworthy, I was more likely to have a better attitude at work that day and would try to accomplish more than what was asked of me. The company did not offer much when it came to pay or bonus incentives, so the managerial trustworthiness was all I had to motivate me. Discussing motivation is difficult without bringing up reinforcement. Reinforcement theory is an...
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