UNIT III: INDIVIDUAL AT WORKPLACE: LEARNING,

PERSONALITY AND MOTIVATION

LEARNING- THEORIES AND ITS ORGANIZATIONAL APPLICATIONS

Acccording to Steers and Porter, “Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in
behaviour potentially that results from reinforced practice or experience.”
Munn et. Al. defined learning as, “The process of having one’s behaviour modified, more or
less permanently, by what he does and the consequences of his action, or by what he
observes.”
Nature of Learning
 First, the term learning doesnot apply to temporary chnges in behaviour such as hose
stemming from fatigue, drugs or illness
 Second, it does not refer to changes resulting from maturation – the fact that you
change in many ways as you grow and develop.
 Third, learning can result from vicarious as well as from direct experiences, in other
words, you can be affected by observing events and behaviour in your environment as
well as by participating in them. (Bandura).
 Finally, the changes produced by learning are not always positive in nature.
Features or Characteristics of Learning
 Learning involves changes: People acquire new information which is processed in
their cognition. This process produces new knowledge. This new knowledge brings
changes in their existing pattern of behavior.
 Change must be Relatively Permanent: When the information acquired is converted
into knowledge and wisdom, people change their behaviour more or less permanently.

 Behavioural issues: The change in the knowledge and wisdom should produce
different attitudes and values. These new attitudes and values should change the
behaviour.
 Experience-based: Learning is based on experience. Experience may be direct or
indirect, personal or through observation or through reading.
 Reinforcement: The practice and experience must be given due importance for
learning to occur or to be repeated.
Four Theories
There are four theories of learning, viz.,
 Classical Conditioning Theory
 Operant Conditioning Theory
 Cognitive Theories
 Social Learning Theories
Classical Conditioning
Classical Conditioning, a form of learning in which two stimulus events become associated in
such a way that the occurrence of one event reliably predicts the occurrence of the other.
First investigated by lean P. Pavlov
 Reflex: a stimuhis-response pair in which the stimulus automatically elicits the
response
 Unconditioned stimulus: a stimulus that elicits a response without training
 Conditioned stimulus: A stimulus that elicita a response because it has been repeatedly
paired with an unconditioned stimulus
 Unconditioned response: An natural response elicited by an unconditioned stimulua;
usually either a reflex or an emotional response
 Conditioned response: Term used to refer to a reflex response after learning has
occurred to elicit the response by a conditioned stimulus

Classical conditioning is when two stimuli are paired together repeatedly, each stimulus alone
elicits the same response.
When beneficial behaviors occur in the workplace, such as time spent on-task, this stimulus
can be paired with another positive stimulus, such as healthy and delicious snacks.
Classical conditioning associates involuntary behavior with a stimulus while operant
conditioning associates voluntary action with a consequence.
Operant Conditioning
Definition of Operant Conditioning
 This type of conditioning was first investigated by B.F. Skinner (1937).
 Skinner studied occurrence of voluntary responses when an organism operates on the
environment.
 He called them operants.
 Operants are those behaviours or responses, which are Operants emitted (produced)
voluntarily and are by animals and human beings under their control.
 The term operant is used because the organism operates the environment on
conditioning of operant behaviour is called operant conditioning.

 Reinforcers- A reinforcer is defined as any stimulus or event, which increases the

probability of the occurrence of a (desired) response.
 Reinforcers always follow a behavior and could be be pleasant or unpleasant
(noxious) and could be added to or removed from a situation
 The reinforcers may be primary or secondary.
 A primary reinforcer is biologically important since the organism's survival (e.g., food
for it determines a hungry organism).
 A secondary reinforcer is one which has acquired characteristics of the reinforcer
because of the organism's experience with the environment.
  We frequently use mõney, reinforcers. They are called secondary reinforcers

 Procedures that strengthen behavior are reinforcement, termed whereas those that
suppress behavior are termed punishment

Reinforcement and Punishment: An Overview

 In classical conditioning, the goal is to get consumers to associate brands with a

particular feeling or response
 Operant Conditioning might be something like an offer or a reward such as “buy one.
Get one”
 Coca-Cola, for example, has successfully associated their brand with happiness and
satisfaction

REWARD SYSTEMS (PAY, RECOGNITION & FEEDBACK) AND BEHAVIOURAL

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT/OBM
The Theoretical Background on Money as a Reward
Some surveys of employees rank money at the top of their list of motivators and others rank
it lower. It seems to vary widely with the individual and the industry.
Money Can Explain Behaviour
 Money provides a rich basis for studying behaviour at work because it offers
explanations for why people act as they do
 For example, Mitchell and Mickell have noted that money is a prime factor in the
foundation of commerce that is people organize and start business to make money.
 Money is also associated with four of the important symbolic attributes for which
humans strive:
o achievement and recognition,
o status and respect,
o freedom,
o control and power
 In fact, in most of the management literature dealing with money, researchers have
focused on money as pay and the ways in which pay affects motivation, job attitudes,
and retention.
 In particular, money helps people attain both physical (clothing, automobiles, houses)
and psychological (status, self-esteem, a feeling of achievement) objectives.

An Agency Theory Explanation

 Agency theory is concerned with the diverse interests and goals that are held by a
corporation's stakeholders (stockholders, managers, employees) and the methods by
which the enterprise's reward system is used to align these interests and goals.
 Agency theory seeks to explain how managers differ from owners in using pay and
other forms of compensation to effectively run the organization.
 For example, the owners of a corporation might be very interested in increasing their
own personal wealth, and so they would minimize costs and work to increase the
stock value of the enterprise.
 In contrast, their agents, the managers, might be more interested in expending
corporate resources on activities that do not directly contribute to owner wealth.
 Agency Theory also examines the role of risk and how owners and managers may
vary in their approach to risk taking
 Finally, agency theory examines the differences in time horizons between owners and
managers.
 Owners may have longer time horizons because their goal is to maximize their value
over time.
 Managers may have much shorter time horizons because their job tenure may require
good short-term results, in addition to the fact that their bonuses or merit pay may be
tied closely to how well they (or the corporation) performed in the last four quarters
Traditional Methods of Administering Pay
 Traditionally, organizations have used two methods of administering pay: Base Pay
and Merit Pay
  Base Pay Approach
Base wages and salary Base wages and salary is the amount of money that an individual is
paid on an hourly, weekly, monthly, or annual basis. For example, a person working on a part-
time bass may earn $ 120 an hour This is the hourly wage for that position. Most managers
are paid on an annual salary basis, and the sum is broken down into weekly, bi-weekly, or
monthly amounts
As another example, a new college graduate may be bfiered S 36.000, which comes to just
over $ 692 a week before taxes and other deductions
Base pay is often determined by market conditions. For example, graduating engineers may
be paid $55,000 annually whereas engineering managers with 10 years of experience earn
$110,000. If base pay is not in line with the market rate, organizations may find that they are
unable to hire and retain many of their personnel.
At the same time, one of the major problems with base pay forms of compensation is that
they tend to be most competitive at the entry level and are often less competitive thereafter.
 Merit Pay Approach
Merit pay is typically tied to some predetermined criteria. For example, a company may give
all of its employees a cost-of-living allowance and then allocate additional funds for those
who are judged "meritorious."
The intent of merit pays in to reward and thus motivate and retain the star performers.
Pay for Performance
 There are two basic types of "pay-for-performance" plans:
1. Individual incentive plans
2. Group incentive plans.
Individual Incentive Pay Plans: individual incentive plans also pay people based on output
or even quality.
 Drawing account: Another approach is to give the person a "drawing account"
against which the individual can take money and then repay it out of commissions
 The Use of Bonuses: common form of individual incentive pay is bonuses.
 The Use of Stock Options: This plan is typically used with senior-level managers
and gives them the opportunity to buy company stock in the future at a predetermined
fixed price.
 The basic idea behind the plan is that if the executives successful in their efforts to
increase organizational performance, the value of the company's stock will also rise.
 Potential Limitations:
o Attitude will become self-fulfilling.
o A study found that the heads (CEOs) of corporations holding stock options
leads to high levels of investment outlays and brings about extreme corporate
performance (big gains and big losses).
o Pay for performance is a problem: In more subjective areas. most stall support
jobs and general supervision, they are of limited, if any, value.
 o Individual incentive rewards may encourage only a narrow
range of behaviours
Group Incentive Pay Plans: There is increasing evidence that teams and teamwork can lead
in higher productivity, better quality, and higher satisfaction than do individuals. working on
their own.
 Gain-sharing plans: These plans are designed to share with the group or team the net
gains from productivity improvements. The logic behind these plans is that if
everyone works to reduce cost and Increase productivity, the organization will
become more efficient and have more money to reward its personnel.
 Profit sharing:
Employee stock ownership plan: Under an ESOP the employees gradually gain a major
stake in the ownership of the firm. The process typically involves the company taking out a
loan to buy a portion of its own stock in the open market. Over time, profits are then used to
pay off this loan.
New Pay Techniques
New Pay Techniques will be useful when the organizations expect customer satisfaction,
leadership, satisfied employees, quality, teamwork, knowledge sharing, skill development,
new competencies (e.g., technical, cross-cultural and social), and employee growth without
permissions.
1. Commissions beyond sales to customers:
Besides sales volume, the commission is determined by customer satisfaction and sales team
outcomes such as meeting revenue or profit goals.
2. Rewarding leadership effectiveness:
This pay approach is based on factors beyond just financial success of the organization. It
also includes an employee-satisfaction measure to recognize a manager’s people-management
skills. For example, at Nationwide Insurance, management bonuses are tied to their people’s
satisfaction scores.
3. Rewarding new goals
In addition to being based on traditional profit, sales, and productivity goals, rewards under
this approach are aimed
4. Pay for knowledge workers in teams
With increasing use of teams, pay is being linked to the performance of knowledge workers
or professional employees who are organized into virtual, product development, inter-
functional or self-managed teams.
5. Skill pay
This approach recognizes the need for flexibility and change by paying employees based on
their demonstrated skills rather the job they perform
6. Competency pay
This approach goes beyond skill pay by rewarding the more abstract knowledge or
competencies of employees, such as those related to technology, the international business
context, customer service, or social skills.
7. Broad Banding
It is the practice of collapsing the traditional large number of salary levels into a small
number of salary grades with broad pay ranges. E.g., For example, rather than having three
levels of supervisors whose salary ranges are $25,000 to $40,000, $35,000 to $55,000, and
$50,000 to $80,000, the company will have one supervisory salary grade that extends from
$25,000 to $80,000.
[missing notes]
Chapter 4: Organizational Context: Reward Systems (Luthans)
Chapter 12: Behavioural Performance Management (Luthans)

PERSONALITY: PERSONALITY DETERMINANTS, TYPE AND TRAIT

THEORIES (BIG FIVE PERSONALITY TRAITS & MBTI), PERSONALITY- JOB
FIT THEORY, PERSONAL EFFECTIVENESS
Chapter 5: Personality (Luthans Pg. 102-111)
Chapter 5: Personality (Judge Pg. 175-187) [MAJORLY]
[Included Values also from Judge]

MOTIVATION CONCEPTS AND APPLICATIONS: CONTENT, PROCESS AND

CONTEMPORARY THEORIES OF WORK MOTIVATION. MANAGING WORK
MOTIVATION
Chapter 6: Motivational Needs, Processes, and Applications (Luthans; Pg. 131)
Chapter 7: Motivation Concepts (Judge; Pg. 244)
Chapter 8: Motivation: From Concepts to Applications (Pg. 280)

UNIT IV: Group and Social Processes

Foundations Of Group Behaviour- Nature of Groups; Dynamics of Informal Groups,

Dysfunctions Of Groups And Teams
Chapter 11: Groups and Teams (Luthans)
Chapter 9: Foundations of Group Behaviour (Judge)

Understanding Teams and Teamwork: Types of Teams, Team Building, Effectiveness

and Cohesiveness;
Chapter 10: Understanding Work Teams (Robins Pg. 307)
Chapter 11: Groups and Teams (Luthans 317, 321)

Individual And Group Decision Making: Models and Styles of Decision-Making,

Decision-Making Biases, Group DM Techniques, Creative DM Techniques.
Chapter 8: Communication and Decision Making (Luthans; Pg. 231)
Chapter 9: Foundations of Group Behaviour (Robins; Group Decision Making – Pg.
290)

 Decision Making Bias https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-

development/decision-making-biases