Learning in Organisational Behaviour

• Learning is a process by which new behaviors are

acquired.
• It is generally agreed that learning involves changes in
behavior, practicing new behaviors and establishing
permanency in the change.
• Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior as
a result of practice and experience.
• Learning has taken place if an individual behaves, reacts,
respondents as a result of experience in a manner
different from the way he formerly behaved.
• Since learning changes the behaviour of person, it comes
to have a great importance in organisational behaviour.
There are two primary elements to the meaning of learning in Organisational Behaviour

1.The change must be relatively permanent:

– this means that our behaviour after “learning” must
be better or worse than our behaviour before this
learning experience.
– This comes after some kind of experience and
practise.
– For example, you learn to drive a car or use a
computer.
1.This learning is caused by biological maturation.
– For example, we do not learn to eat or drink, it is a
natural biological phenomenon.
 Modes of learning

There are three main ways of learning.

1. Learning by trial and error: This type of learning is a random attempt to learn a new
problem. Some of these attempts may result in success but others may not.
• In such types of learning the right response to a situation is arrived at by chance, by
constant trial and by making repeated errors.
• It is very common mode of learning for slow, wasteful and unintelligent.
1.Learning by conditioning: it is the simplest form of learning in which a response or action
due to some original stimulus.
2. Learning by observation and insight: This type of learning involves mental exploration
and understanding of what is being learned.
– It requires the ability to find out relationships.

– Here, the learner uses his past experiences and his ability to generate new ideas.
 What are the factors affecting learning in
organisational behaviour?
The major elements or major factors influencing learning are
motivation, practice, environment and mental group.
1.Motivation: – The encouragement, support that is given to
complete a task, is known as motivation to achieve the
goal.
– This is a very important aspect of learning as it gives us positive
energy to complete the task.
– Example – The coach motivates the players to win the match.
2.Practice: – We all know that “practice makes us perfect”.
– To be a perfectionist or at least complete the task, it is very
important to practice what we have learned.
– Example – We can become a programmer only if we execute the
codes we have written.
 factors affecting learning …
3.Environment: – We learn from our surroundings; we learn
from the people around us.
– They are of two types of environments – ​Internal and External.
– Example – A child when at home learns from the family which is an
internal environment, but when he is sent to school it is an external
environment.
4.Mental Group: – This describes our thinking by the group of
people we have chosen to hang out with.
– In simple words, we make a group of people with whom we connect.
– This may be for a social cause where people with similar mindsets
work in the same direction. Example – group of readers, travellers
etc.
 factors affecting learning …
5. Intelligence: It enables us to understand things and to see the relationships
between things. It also enables us to reason and judge correctly and critically. 
6. Maturation: Neuro-muscular coordination is important for learning a given
task. Example- The child has to be physically mature before he is able to walk or
run. 
7. Physical condition of the learner: The learner should be in a good health
status. Example- Sensory defects, malnutrition, toxic conditions of the body, loss
of sleep and fatigue hinder effective learning.
8. Mental health of the learner: Example- Worries, fears, feelings of loneliness
and inferiority hinders learning. Self-respect, self-reliance, and self-confidence
Example- Length of the working period: Learning periods should neither be too
short nor too long. Long learning time sets fatigue and reduces effectiveness in
learning.
Learning Theories In Organizational
Behaviour
 1.Classical Conditioning
•Ivan Pavlov (1849-1936) who is the Russian Psychologist propounded the theory of classical conditioning in learning.

•Classical conditioning theory explains how an organism’s behavior becomes paired with some stimuli/factors in
the environment.
•This theory, sometimes referred to as “stimulus-substitution”, represents a condition
where through contiguity and repetition in a presentation of a stimulus, a learner generalizes an existing stimulus-
response connection to some new stimuli.
•The focus of this theory is on a pattern of learning where the catalyst for behavior change is, what precedes
behavior.
•The theory was based on the fact that unconditioned stimulus would originally produce unconditioned response.
– For example, Pavlov believed that the food (US) would naturally produce salivation (UR) in dog. This kind of reaction or
response was referred to as unlearnt reflex action.
– He went further to say that when US (food) is paired with the sound of bell (CS) i.e. conditioned stimulus, the dog would
produce salivation (UR).
– This is what he called the conditioning stage. At another stage, US was removed leaving CS alone. After the
experiment, the dog produced conditioned response (CR) salivation.
•This stage of learning could be referred to as manifestation of conditioned response (learnt behavior).

Thus, the experiment is summarized below:

Classical Conditioning
 Implications of the Theory to Classroom Situations
 

•The theory believed that one must be able to practice and master a task
effectively before embarking on another one.
•This means that an employee needs to be able to respond to a particular
stimulus (information) before he/she can be associated with a new one.
•Manager should know how to motivate their employees to work. They should
be versatile with various strategies that can enhance effective participation of
the employee in the world of work
•Most of the emotional responses can be learned through classical
conditioning.
•A negative or positive response comes through the stimulus being paired
with. For example, providing the necessary material for employees will
develop good feelings about their organization, while, punishment will
discourage them
 2.Operant Conditioning

•Operant/Instrumental conditioning theory of learning was formulated by the

American Psychologist B.F. Skinner.
•His theory came based on the gaps discovered in the classical conditioning
theory.
•Skinner believed that classical conditioning explained only how behavior
that has already been acquired can occur in the presence of a new stimulus.
•He believed that behavior is an outcome of response that follows the action.
• The learner will possibly repeat the action or a particular behavior if it is
followed/ rewarded with a pleasant consequence (positive reinforcement).
 Operant…
• Skinner explained the two types of responses in his
theory.
– One can be elicited only by the stimulus or information an
individual acquires at a particular period (reflex response).
– For example, stepping on a sharp object or touching a hot
metal will originally make someone to produce reflex response.
– The second type is the response that an individual elicits
following his/her own decision.
• This type of response is called operant conditioning.
• It is based on the fact that behavior operates upon the environment to
generate its own response. This operant behavior emits voluntary
response.
– Operant conditioning believes that behavioural responses
become connected to environmental stimuli largely as a result
of what happens after the response occurs
 Operant…
To establish his claims, Skinner performed many experiments with pigeons and
white rats in the laboratory. He constructed a box (Skinner box) with a small
lever inside it. The lever releases food to the animals whenever the lever is
pressed. In one of the experiments, a hungry rat is placed in the box and if the
rat presses the lever, the food would drop for it. The lever in this box is
mechanically connected to a device that automatically records every attempt
the rat made In the box the rat moved around tirelessly and each time the lever
is pressed, the food falls for the rat. The rat becomes persistent in pressingthe
lever so that the food could fall. The food that comes down for the rat
reinforces its action; this lever pressing becomes a conditioned response for
the rat. In contrast, if the food is not accompanied with the pressing of lever,
the number of presses would fall gradually to the lowest point. In this type of
theory, it is the result or consequence of a behavior that makes that behavior
more likely to be repeated on learned. If the result of behavior is gratifying, one
is likely to respondthe same way the next time one encounters that stimulus. In
the above experiment, the pressing of lever becomes instrument
(instrumental).
Operant…
Implications of Operant Conditioning Theory

• The manager should know that the environment or the

conditions in which the employee works are very significant to
the outcomes, hence, the manager should provide conducive
working environment and conditions for his/her employee.
•Reinforcement is an essential factor if the employee must perform
well in a given task.
•To this end, the manager should not neglect the use of motivation
that can adequately push the employee into actions.
 3.Social Learning Theory
• Albert Bandura is noted as one of the exponents of theory of social
learning and observational learning.
• Social learning theory explains human behavior from the point of
continuous reciprocal interaction between cognitive, behavioral and
environmental influences
•For social learning theory to take place, there are four factors which must
be present.
•These are observers (learners), teacher (model), learners’ attention and
proximity or nearness.
•The process of learning is influenced by the extent of identifications and
imitations by the learners to the other three factors.
 Social Learning…
•In most cases, an individual will like to emulate a model who
is perceived to be competent, powerful, and attractive, as well
as someone whose behavior is relevant to the observer. This
means that we learn by observing the behavior of others.
•In social learning theory, reinforcement is not a prerequisite
for a learning to occur, but this increases the chance that what
has been learnt will definitely be performed avior of others.
 4.Cognitive Learning Theory
•In cognitive theory learning and changing in behavior is the
individual’s cognition (perception, thought, memory, and ways of
processing and structuring information).
•According to this theory, in order to learn, individuals must
change their cognitions.
• In this theory Learning involves: perceiving information;
interpreting the information based on what is already known and;
reorganizing information into new insights or understanding.
• The Gestalt perspective of cognitive
learning:
– The views of many theorists were collected by
Gestalt to formulate a cognitive field theory.
Notable among them were Max Wertheimer