CHAPTER 6

LEARNING AND PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT

Chapter Scan

Learning in organizations is facilitated through reward, punishment, and extinction. In

addition, Bandura's social learning theory describes how individuals model their behavior after
others. The challenge in examining the performance of an individual is in finding accurate tools of
measurement. Goal-setting programs provide one avenue for the link between effort and
achievement. Strategies for rewarding behavior and for dealing with poor behavior are provided.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

After reading this chapter, you should be able to do the following:

1. Define learning, reinforcement, punishment, extinction, and goal setting.

2. Distinguish between classical and operant conditioning.
3. Explain the use of positive and negative consequences of behavior in strategies of reinforcement
and punishment.
4. Identify the purposes of goal setting and five characteristics of effective goals.
5. Describe effective strategies for giving and receiving performance feedback.
6. Compare individual and team-oriented reward systems.
7. Describe strategies for correcting poor performance.

I. LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS

Learning and motivation are related because learning changes behavior as it is acquired through
experience. Henry Ford once said, "anyone who stops learning is old, whether at twenty or eighty.
Anyone who keeps learning stays young. The greatest thing in life is to keep your mind young."

A. Classical Conditioning

The first theory of learning has a long history, dating back to the early 1900s. Classical
conditioning is pairing an unconditioned stimulus with a conditioned stimulus to elicit an
unconditional response. Most students have heard of Pavlov's research with dogs. They may
not be aware that the collaborative efforts between the Russian scientist and Walter Cannon
lead to the application of the ideas in the U.S.

B. Operant Conditioning

The second class of learning uses positive or negative consequences for modification of behavior.
Operant conditioning is based on the notion that behavior is a function of its consequences.

C. The Strategies of Reinforcement, Punishment, and Extinction

1. Reinforcement
Both positive and negative consequences are related to reinforcement. Positive
consequences are results of a behavior that is pleasurable. In contrast, negative
consequences are results that individuals find unattractive or aversive. Schedules for
reinforcement are either continuous or intermittent. Intermittent schedules can be fixed
or variable ratio, or fixed or variable interval.
2. Punishment
There are two approaches to punishment, or the elimination of undesirable
behavior. Either negative consequences or withholding positive consequences can
result in similar outcomes.
3. Extinction

1|Page
 Extinction is the attempt to weaken a behavior by attaching no
consequences to it. Extinction is most successful if combined with positive
reinforcement.

D. Bandura’s Social Learning Theory

Bandura’s social learning theory adds a component of interaction as a learning

approach. This theory states that people learn by modeling their behavior through the
observation of others. Bandura’s theory also emphasizes the importance of self-efficacy, or
the belief in one’s capability regarding a particular task, as a positive force for learning.

E. Learning and Personality Differences

Not all approaches are appropriate for all personalities. For example, introverts perform
better with quiet, concentrated periods of time, while extraverted individuals need to express
and exchange ideas with others.

II. GOAL SETTING AT WORK

The process of establishing desired results that guide and direct behavior is goal setting.

A. Characteristics of Effective Goals

To be effective, goals should be specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-
bound.
B. Increasing Work Motivation and Task Performance
Goals can be used to increase performance, since studies have indicated that challenging
goals, result in higher performance. The three behavioral aspects of enhancing performance
motivation through goal setting are employee participation, supervisory commitment, and useful
performance feedback.
C. Reducing Role Stress of Conflicting and Confusing Expectations
Goal setting reduces stress by clarifying the task-role expectations. This may be
attributable to improved communication between supervisor and employees.
D. Improving the Accuracy and Validity of Performance Evaluation
The third major function of goal setting is to improve the accuracy and validity of
performance evaluation. One of the best known methods is management by objectives, (MBO),
which is a goal setting program based on interaction and negotiation between employees and
managers.

III. PERFORMANCE: A KEY CONSTRUCT

Performance is closely associated with the concept of task accomplishment, which is

an extension of the scientific management school. Performance appraisal is the evaluation
of a person's performance.

A. Defining Performance
Performance must be clearly defined and understood by the employers who are
expected to perform well at work. Performance in most lines of work is multidimensional.
Defining performance is a prerequisite to measuring and evaluating performance on the job.

B. Measuring Performance
The optimal situation is to have the measurements of performance assess actual
performance. This is difficult because of our level of refinement of performance appraisal tools.
Performance appraisal systems should include an analysis of reliability and validity of the
instrument chosen for measurement.

C. Performance Feedback: A Communication Challenge

2|Page
 An equally difficult problem with the measurement of the actual performance is the
challenge of communicating perceptions of performance to the employees, which is referred to
as performance feedback.

D. Developing People and Enhancing Careers

The most important aspect of performance appraisal is the continual development of the
employee. Unfortunately, too many appraisals are used singularly for salary decisions, and only
provided once a year, begrudgingly. Dr. Deming, a leader in the quality movement, advocates the
elimination of performance feedback, in part because of our misuse of the concept.

E. Key Characteristics of an Effective Appraisal System

There are five characteristics related to effectiveness of performance appraisal—
validity, reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, and equity.

IV. REWARDING PERFORMANCE

A. A Key Organizational Decision Process

Individuals observe closely how others are treated in reward and punishment
decisions. This affects the organizational culture, as well as the motivation and performance
of others.

B. Individual versus Team Reward Systems

The United States scores high on Hofstede's individualism scale, yet there is an increase in
the degree of team effort. Many organizations are conscious of the competition between
individual rewards and group efforts.

C. The Power of Earning

When there is little relationship between performance and rewards, people often begin to
believe that they are entitled to rewards regardless of how they perform, through the concept of
entitlement.

V. CORRECTING POOR PERFORMANCE

If poor performance is not attributable to work design or organizational process

problems, then attention should be focused on the employee. The problem may lie in (1)
some aspect of the person's relationship to the organization or supervisor, (2) some area of
the employee's personal life, or (3) a training or developmental deficiency.

A. Attribution and Performance Management

Attribution is related to performance measurement because supervisors attribute behavior and

performance to either internal or external causes.

Kelley proposed that individuals make attributions based on information gathered in the form of
three informational cues: consensus, distinctiveness, and consistency. Consensus is the extent to
which peers in the same situation behave the same way. Distinctiveness is the degree to which the
person behaves the same way in other situations. Consistency refers to the frequency of a particular
behavior over time.

B. Coaching, Counseling, and Mentoring

3|Page
 Two of the mentoring responsibilities for supervisors are coaching and counseling.
Mentoring is a relationship that encourages development and career enhancement for
people moving through the career cycle.

CHAPTER SUMMARY

· Learning is a change in behavior acquired through experience.

· The operant conditioning approach to learning states that behavior is a function of its positive
and negative consequences.
· Reinforcement is used to develop desirable behavior; punishment and extinction are used to
decrease undesirable behavior.
· Bandura's social learning theory suggests that self-efficacy is important to effective learning.
· Goal setting improves work motivation and task performance, reduces role stress, and improves
the accuracy and validity of performance appraisal.
· Performance appraisals help organizations develop employees and make decisions about them.
· Making accurate attributions about the behavior of others is an essential prerequisite to
correcting poor performance.
· High-quality performance should be rewarded and poor performance should be corrected.
· Mentoring is a relationship for encouraging development and career enhancement for people
moving through the career cycle.

4|Page