...The Manager Who Doubled Productivity 1. Cliff took advantage of the principles of operant conditioning to modify his staff’s behavior by reinforcement. Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus increases the probability that a preceding behavior will be repeated. Implementing this behavior allowed his employees to enjoy going to work and meeting the goals set for them. 2. Cliff’s predecessor’s strategy of punishing undesirable behavior did not work very well because putting someone down over and over again does not boost confidence. Even though they probably want to do better, it is harder to want to get the job done because they are so used to the demeaning behavior and probably don’t know how the boss will react to a job well done. They probably think he will find something wrong anyways. That’s why positive reinforcement works better in most situations. 3. Cliff made use of partial reinforcement schedules when he set daily production goals and only the staff that met all the goals for that week did he buy lunch for which would in turn teach them that when they do good work they will get rewarded and for those who didn’t meet the all the goals, they will want to work harder the following week for that same reward. Cliff uses a fixed-ratio schedule when he sets a goal a everyday for the staff to complete and he also uses variable-interval schedules when he conducts random check ups on what the staff members are doing. 4. Cliff could use his technique to train his...
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...bad behavior all of the time. 2. The use of punishment didn't work well for Cliff's predecessor because he frequently used it and never reinforced or rewarded good behavior. Reinforcement is a presentation of something that is pleasant and rewarding which will produce a more effective outcome. 3. Cliff utilized a partial reinforcement schedule by setting a daily production goal and for those who met their goals every day that week he rewarded them with lunch on Fridays. He also, conducted random spot checks on employees and when found hard at work are rewarded them. It is apparent that Cliff used a fixed-interval, variable-interval and fixed-ratio schedule. 4. Cliff could integrate the process of shaping to train his staff a complex new task. As the employee masters each step he would require they move to the next one in order to receive a reward or reinforcement. 5. In cognitive learning the individual learns by listening, watching, reading, touching or experiencing and then processing and remembering the information. He could increase the productivity more by making work and environment more interesting, challenge the employees more and increase responsibility. This would fulfill the employees need for growth and achievement which is good for both employee and...
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...to modify his staff’s behavior? Cliff’s took advantage of the principles of operant conditioning to modify his staff’s behavior in a few different rewarding and positive ways. Cliff noticed when he accepted the position of manager, that there was a high turnover rate in the company and employees were “unproductive and insufficient.” Many past employees quit because the prior manager was very negative, and often criticized when work was not done properly. Cliff decided to not criticize or punish his employees unless it was absolutely necessary. Some approaches of operant conditioning Cliff took were complimenting employees often for their hard work. He set goals for them to reach, for example every Friday afternoon he would buy lunch for all staff members that met their goals everyday that week. Cliff also incorporated spot checks on what staff members were accomplishing, and if they were working hard and meeting goals he would reward them with things like, acquiring a few more extra minutes for lunch. 2. Why did Cliff’s predecessor’s strategy of punishing undesirable behavior not work very well? Even if punishment and reinforcement strategies were equally effective at controlling behavior, why would reinforcement remain preferable? The previous managers strategy of punishing undesirable behavior did not work well because the staff felt demoralized and some even quit. When the staff is being constantly criticized for every move they make it makes for a stressful environment...
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...that follows this form. ------------------------------------------------- Submit the required retake assignment to the school with this form. If submitting your retake online, copy and paste this form as the first page of the document containing your exam. If you do not include this form, ten additional points may be deducted from your retake score. *Retake Grade: Date: Instructor: *Please note the highest score that can be posted for this retake assignment is a 70% Essentials of Psychology Case Studies Project Evaluation of 250630 Name: Mya LangStudent Id: 22256483 | Skill Realized | Skill Developing | Skill Emerging | Skill Not Evident | CONTENT: The student responded to each question fully. *The Case of the Manager Who Doubled Productivity, page 195 Question 1 8 Question 2 6 Question 3 4 Question 4 1 Question 5 1CONTENT: The...
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...Case Study 1: “The case of the manager who doubled productivity” In order for Cliff to take advantage of principles of operant conditioning to modify his staff’s behavior, he would have to be begin rewarding his employees and complimenting them on a job well done once he would see an employee working hard and well enough. It would boost up the employees confidence to continue to work hard and do a good job. Cliff’s predecessor’s strategy of punishing undesirable behavior not work very well because that just made the best employees in the staff quit and leave and make the remaining employees feel as if even if they would work there hardest the manager still wouldn’t be happy with them. In order to get someone you need to give something in return. Punishing the staff would just be them giving you the productivity you need but they get so positive advantage in return. Cliff made a lot of use of partial reinforcements schedules were he would set dates and times where he would go out of his way to show his employees how grateful he is for all their hard work. For example, he set daily production goals. Each time that goal was met he would buy each employee lunch every Friday. In order for Cliff to use his own technique to train his staff to complete a complex new task they had never done before, he would set goals and spot checks to make sure what the staff members were doing and if they needed any assistance. Cliff can make use of principles of cognitive learning theory...
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...especially when it comes to growing vegetables as is mentioned in the case. Pakistan has a large population of 159,196,336 (“Pakistan- Language, Religion, Culture, Customs and Etiquette”), and referring to the data, the minimum wage in Pakistan is only $1.23 per hour (“Pakistan Labor Stats”). It could be inferred that with the availability to such a large number of labor forces and cheap labor price, Modern Agricultural Farm can easily control the labor expenses and therefore efficiently increase the potential profitability. Environmental Agriculture relies largely on the environment and natural conditions, especially in developing countries. Problems like soil degradation will definitely influences crops, and eventually result in low crop productivity. In the center of the province of Sindh, which the Modern Agricultural Farm is located in, there is a fertile plain around the Indus River, and it is a great...
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...Marginal productivity determines the amount of revenue that worker brings their employer per hour of work. Because companies compete with each other for workers, a worker's wage will be close to that marginal productivity. If a worker is making significantly less than their marginal productivity, another person can make a profit by hiring them for slightly more than they're making, and so on until the wage is approximately the marginal productivity. When Ford employed the high wage policy and provided workers with “the $5-a-day wage” he had doubled the amount of wages that were being paid to the average worker at the time. By increasing the wages Ford managed to accomplish several things. He managed to establish a solid-middle class with these wages which increased the buying power of those he employed. He also managed to decrease high turnover and excessive abdenteeism rates by making jobs more attractive with higher wages. Hiring replacement workers and training them were very costly, therefore increasing wages insured that employees would be eager to keep their jobs. Higher wages decreased employee turnover and also increased productivity since employees were more eager to work hard to keep their jobs. Asymmetry of information occurs when one person in a transaction knows more about what is going on than the other person. With Ford's model he knew by doubling wages he would increase profits because he was increasing the buying power of his employees. Therefore he was paying...
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...Case Study Number One: THE MANAGER WHO DOUBLED PRODUCTIVITY 1. Cliff was able to take advantage of the staff’s behavior by providing rewards or positive consequences for a specific behavior, providing lunch on Friday for the employees that met weekly production goals, and randomly gave small rewards for those who where hard at work 2. Cliff’s predecessor’s strategy made the employees feel belittled or scared that they are always going to get into trouble for doing something wrong and he never rewarded good behavior. Reinforcement strategies will always remain preferable because it gives the person a goal to work toward, knowing that they are going to get rewarded in the end. 3. Cliff used partial reinforcement schedule by setting daily goals and rewarded with lunch on Friday for the employees who met the goals set. Cliff three reinforcement schedules such as: fixed ratio schedule, fixed interval, and variable interval. 4. Cliff could train his employees with shaping. Shaping can build behavior in stages and reward those who complete each step. 5. Cognitive learning is: reading, listening, watching, and experiencing. Cliff could improve his staff’s productivity even further by, make the work area more enjoyable as well as increase the work load for the staff. Case Study Number Two: MIKE AND MARTY SCANLON, THE UNLIKELY TWINS 1. Freud would explain the different personalities between Mike and Marty would be motivated by unconscious, the part that contains memories, feelings...
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...Submitted for Course SSC 130 Essentials of Psychology April 12, 2013 Case Study Number One: The Case of Confusion 1. The subfield of psychology that will be of greatest relevance is the cognitive perspective. It focuses on how people think, understand and know about the world. Its emphasis is on how thinking about the worlds influence on our behavior. 2. The cognitive perspective would be most helpful. The focus of this perspective is how people think, understand, and know about the world. The common emphasis is on how people understand and think about the world. 3. Personally, I think Alexis surfing the web and looking at self-help books is a bad idea, she could be looking into all the wrong things and make herself believe she’s worse than she really is, she could end up self-diagnosing. The dangers of this approach are making herself believe she’s worse than she really is. 4. The advice I’d give to Alexis is that she needs to see a therapist and talking things out so she doesn’t get angry anymore. If she saw a therapist, she could be put on medicine and it would control her moods. Case Study Number Two: The Case of the Cautious Pilot 1. Captain Mueller and his co-pilot sat in the dark cockpit to get their eyes adjusted to the night time before they took off for flight to Dallas from Boston. 2. The ‘rods’ are thin, cylindrical receptor cells that are highly sensitive to light, they also play a key role in peripheral vision. Since the pilots...
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...In the case study “The Manager who doubled Productivity” Cliff took advantage of the principles of operant conditioning to modify his staff behavior by reinforcement. By using positive reinforcement with his staff it better motivates them to work harder and get more done. Reinforcement is the process by which a stimulus is created to increase the probability that a preceding behavior will continue. Cliffs predecssors strategy of punishing undesirable behavior did not work because it was putting the staff members down and not making them feel good about their work. Their confidence is low because they don’t know how the new boss will react to a job well done. Positive reinforcement is the best solution in that kind of situation. Cliff made use of partial reinforcement schedule when he set daily goals and the staff members that met their daily goals. Every Friday he would buy the members who met their goals lunch, so that taught them if they worked hard than it is appreciated. The staff members who didn’t reach their goal for the week just made them work harder for the next week. Cliff uses two types of schedules with his staff, Fixed-Ratio and variable-interval schedules. He uses the fixed-ratio schedule when he sets a goal for the staff to complete everyday and then uses the variable-interval schedule when he does random checkups on the workers. If Cliff wanted the staff to complete a more complex task, than he would have a better chance of the staff succeeding if he used the...
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...KREBS STRAYER UNIVERSITY October 25, 2011 1. Discuss how human resource professionals can ensure that top organizational leaders encourage managers and employees to follow laws and guidelines. Human Resource professionals needs to continually make human resource assessment of the companies staff and send reports to top organizational leaders encouraging managers to abide to effective equal employment, workplace discrimination, and occupational safety laws. Human resources managers need to persuade managers that their company can generate more profit by following the equal employment and safety laws and guidelines. The human resource mangers need to stress how the company can lose profits by not following the employment laws. Human resource professionals need to educate management on the laws and how the laws can affect the company’s profits if not followed. Equal employment laws encourage companies to open up their employment resources by expanding their labor pool to include employees of all races, gender, ages, etc. The larger labor pool can bring more talent into the organization which makes the company more productive and gives the company an edge over their competitors. The employees with disabilities can be productive in areas that do not challenge their disability. The older employees can provide productivity through experience. Xerox took advantage of that by putting women and minorities in their labor pool. Organizations with work place discrimination...
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...“The Case of the Manager Who Doubled Productivity,” page 195 Case Study 2: “The Case of Mike and Marty Scanlon, the Unlikely Twins,” page 383 Essentials of Psychology SSC130n Assignment 25063000 Case Study 1 1 One way that Cliff could take advantage of principles of operant conditioning to change his staff’s behavior is to give them punishments for bad behavior. Some people need punishments so they will not have bad behavior all of the time. 2. The use of punishment didn't work for Cliff's predecessor because he used it often and never rewarded good behavior. Reinforcement would control behavior because it is a presentation of something that is pleasant which will produce a more positive outcome. 3. Cliff used a partial reinforcement schedule by setting daily production goals. For those who met their goals every day that week their reward was lunch on Fridays. He also conducted random spot checks on employees, the ones at work were rewarded. Cliff used a fixed-interval, variable-interval and fixed-ratio schedule. 4. Cliff was good at training his staff a complex new task. Shaping builds the desired behavior in steps and rewards those behaviors that get closer to the final goal. As the employee finishes each step they move to the next one in order to receive a reward. 5. In cognitive learning the person learns by listening, watching, reading, touching or experiencing and remembering the information. He could increase the productivity by making work more...
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...Manufacturing Innovation: Lessons from the Japanese Auto Industry SEVERAL STUDIES published in the 1980s indicated that Japanese firms, led by Toyota, have achieved the highest levels of manufacturing efficiency in the world automobile industry. Physical productivity, which reflects the “throughput” speed for completing products and the amount of labor required, has been significantly higher than in most U.S. plants (although differences vary by company and U.S. firms have made improvements in recent years).1 Japanese auto producers have also demonstrated rates of inventory turnover (sales divided by work-in-process and finished goods, or the cost of goods sold divided by work-in-process) several times those of U.S. firms.2 (Inventory turnover is a useful measure of efficiency, since it reflects how well firms manufacture to meet market needs rather than production schedules. It also reflects how effectively they reduce the number of parts and semifinished goods; these add to operating costs and often cover up inefficient practices or process errors.) High productivity and other aspects of process efficiency, such as rapid inventory turnover, help solve a problem as old as mass production itself: that the conventional factory tends to produce huge lots of standardized components, while consumer markets demand a variety of products at low prices. Looking for the reasons Japanese companies have managed this problem so well, many authors cite the contributions of Japanese workers...
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...observable artifact that Chrysler had and was the way manager Fong doubled rebates in order to make sales. This is not a good strategy, because it did not make any profits. Another observable artifact came with the changes that Mr. Marchionne implemented such as his weekly meetings with his staff. Espoused values can defined as the normal standards in which a company conducts business. A couple of espoused values that mentioned are the “margins and vehicle quality needed to improve and better control over pricing was imperative” (Kreitner, Kinicki, 2013). Mr. Marchionne went Chrysler to change these values to make the company profitable again. Basic assumptions are the values of a company that have not been followed and begin to represent a company’s behavior. For Chrysler, Mr. Marchionne made major changes to the company by expelling executives, removing its bureaucracy and adding fear to the workforce. PE fit is defined as the compatibility between an individual and a work environment that occurs when their characteristics are well matched. Mr. Marchionne felt that he needed to take drastic measures in order to pull Chrysler out of its downward spiral. In trying to improve the PE fit he held a dozen interviews with Chrysler executives to promote them to a management position. “Sources who have worked for Marchionne at Fiat say he swept out many executives when he took over that company in 2004 and even fired some managers during meetings” (Kiley, 2009). He felt his old management...
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...April 23, 2012 Instructor: Alicia Smith A new challenge faces businesses throughout the United States in today’s economy; it has a powerful impact on our workforce to be productive, competitive and successful. This challenge is diversity in the workplace and how human resources are training and preparing, not only potential future employees, but human resource managers as well, to face this challenge head on. It is important to understand how age, ethnicity, race, gender, religious belief, physical ability, sexual orientation, geographic location and educational background impact the performance and success of any business. The number of women in the workforce has doubled since 1970; the number of white men in the workplace accounts for only 40%, the age of employees has increased; physical disability is no longer a valid reason to deny employment; educational background has become more important to the hiring and retaining process. The issue of diversity is very important; it has a very real impact on productivity and profit. Diversity has the ability to improve or hinder the success of teamwork. Human resource has to improve the efficiency of the diverse work environment. Human resource has to provide procedures and policies to positively influence the diversity in the company. If it is applied successfully it will become a powerful tool in the future of the company. Managing diversity is defined as “planning and implementing...
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