Human Learning Learning is a relatively permanent change in behavior based on practice or experience.

. Unless learning takes place, few employees would be able to perform their jobs satisfactorily. Two Key Learning Processes Modeling and shaping Modeling occurs through imitating someone. Shaping occurs through rewarding small steps. Cognitive Learning It assumes that learning is complicated including motivations and hunches. Informal learning organization does not determine or design the learning process. It includes intrapersonal, interpersonal skills, and cultural awareness. Cognitive Learning The learners orientation influences the amount of cognitive learning. A mastery orientation related to a dedication to increasing ones competence on a job. With performance orientation, learners focus on how they perform on a task and making comparison with others. Natural Human Learning Process by Rita Smilkstein Stage 1: MOTIVATION/Responding to stimulus in the environment: watching, observing, having a need or an interest in learning a particular skill or concept, being curious Stage 2: BEGINNING PRACTICE/Doing it: practicing, practicing, practicing; trying and making mistakes; learning from mistakes; asking questions; consulting others; understanding the basics; making mistakes; taking lessons; achieving some success Stage 3: ADVANCED PRACTICE/Increasing in skill and confidence: practicing, practicing, practicing; more trying and more mistakes; more learning from mistakes; gaining some control; reading; becoming encouraged; experimenting; trying new ways; getting positive feedback; enjoying the learning; taking more lessons; getting feedback; gaining more confidence; achieving more success; beginning to share skill with others Stage 4: SKILLFULNESS/Becoming creative: more practicing, doing it one's own way, feeling good about oneself, receiving positive reinforcement, sharing knowledge with other, achieving more success, increasing in self-confidence Stage 5: REFINEMENT/Making further improvement: learning new methods, skill becoming second nature, continuing to develop skill, becoming different from anyone else, becoming creative, gaining independence, receiving validation from others, forming habits, teaching others Stage 6: MASTERY/Applying skills in broader ways: taking on greater challenges, teaching, continuing to improve or else dropping the skill, going to higher levels that feed other interests, getting better and better Types of Learning Styles Visual Learners Auditory Learners Tactile Learners (Kinesthetics) Learning Styles Learning styles have also been divided into four (4) orientations based on four stages of the learning cycle. Concrete experience Observations and reflections Formation of abstractions and generalizations Hypotheses to be tested, leading to new experiences Individual Differences Related to Skill Acquisition People with high mental ability and ability to concentrate learn better. Perception Perception is the process through which people receive and interpret information from the environment. - Perception is a way of forming impressions about oneself, other people, and daily life experiences. It also serves as a screen or filter through which information passes before it has an effect on people. - since people behave according to their perceptions, the consequences of these differences can be quite substantial in terms of what happens next. Factors Affecting the Perceptual Process The Perceiver A persons past experiences, needs or motives, personality, values, and attitudes may all influence the perceptual process.

The Setting The physical, social, and organizational context of the setting also can influence the perceptual process. The Perceived Characteristics of the perceived person, object, or eventsuch as contrast, intensity, figure-ground separation, size, motion, and repetition or noveltyare also important in the perceptual process.

Attention and Selection Our senses are constantly bombarded with so much information that if we dont screen it, we quickly become incapacitated with information overload. Selective screening lets in only a tiny proportion of all the information available. Some of the selectivity comes from controlled processingconsciously deciding what information to pay attention to and what to ignore. Organization *Even though selective screening takes place in the attention stage, it is still necessary to find ways to organize the information efficiently. Schemas help us do this. Schemas these are cognitive frameworks that represent organized knowledge developed through experience about a given concept or stimulus. A script schema is defined as a knowledge framework that describes the appropriate sequence of events in a given situation. A self schema contains information about a persons own appearance, behavior, and personality. Person schemas refer to the way individuals sort others into categories, such as types or groups, in terms of similar perceived features. The terms prototype and stereotype are often used in this regard. person-in-situation schemas combine schemas built around persons (self and person schemas) and events (script schemas). Interpretation Once your attention has been drawn to certain stimuli and you have grouped or organized this information, the next step is to uncover the reasons behind the actions. Retrieval Each of the previous stages forms part of that memory and contributes to the stimuli or information stored there. The information stored in our memory must be retrieved if it is to be used. Impression Management - the systematic attempt to behave in ways that will create and maintain desired impressions in the eyes of others. Common Perceptual Distortions Stereotypes - A stereotype assigns attributes commonly associated with a group to an individual. Gender stereotypes Age Stereotypes Ability Stereotypes Halo Effect A halo effect occurs when one attribute of a person or situation is used to develop an overall impression of the individual or situation. Selective perception It is the tendency to single out those aspects of a situation, person, or object that are consistent with ones needs, values, or attitudes. Its strongest impact occurs in the attention stage of the perceptual process. Projection This is the assignment of ones personal attributes to other individuals; it is especially likely to occur in the interpretation stage of perception. Contrast Effect A contrast effect occurs when the meaning of something that takes place is based on a contrast with another recent event or situation. Self-fulfilling prophecy the tendency to create or find in another situation or individual that which you expected to find in the first place. A self-fulfilling prophecy is sometimes referred to as the Pygmalion effect, named for a mythical Greek sculptor who created a statue of his ideal mate and then made her come to life.

Attributions This is the process of developing explanations or assigning perceived causes for events. Attribution theory suggests that when we observe an individuals behavior, we attempt to determine whether it was internally or externally caused. According to attribution theory three factors influence this internal or external determination of causality: distinctiveness, consensus, and consistency. Distinctiveness considers how consistent a persons behaviour is across different situations. Consensus takes into account how likely all those facing a similar situation are to respond in the same way. Consistency concerns whether an individual responds the same way across time. Fundamental attribution error Overestimates internal factors and underestimates external factors as influences on someones behavior. Self-serving bias underestimates internal factors and overestimates external factors as influences on someones behavior. Attribution and Social Learning Social learning theory describes how learning occurs through interactions among people, behavior, and environment.

Self-efficacy is a persons belief that she or he is capable of performing a task. Closely associated with the concept of self-efficacy are such terms as confidence, competence, and ability. *** People with high self-efficacy believe that they have the necessary abilities for a given job, that they are capable of the effort required, and that no outside events will hinder them from attaining their desired performance level. *** In contrast, people with low self-efficacy believe that no matter how hard they try, they cannot manage their environment well enough to be successful. Four Ways of Building or Enhancing Self-Efficacy 1. Enactive masterygaining confidence through positive experience. The more you work at a task, so to speak, the more your experience builds and the more confident you become at doing it. 2. Vicarious modellinggaining confidence by observing others. When someone else is good at a task and we are able to observe how they do it, we gain confidence in being able to do it ourselves. 3. Verbal persuasiongaining confidence from someone telling us or encouraging us that we can perform the task. Hearing others praise our efforts and link those efforts with performance successes is often very motivational. 4. Emotional arousalgaining confidence when we are highly stimulated or energized to perform well in a situation. A good analogy for arousal is how athletes get psyched up and highly motivated to perform in key competitions.

COMMUNICATION Defined as the transfer of information including feelings, and ideas, from one person to another. The goal of communication is to have the receiver understand the message as it was intended. The Importance of Communication It is through communication that an organization will know important concerns such as: 1. What their Organization is 2. What objectives their organization wants to achieve 3. What their roles are in achieving the organizations objective 4. How they will achieve those objectives 5. Who the individual members of the organization are The Communication Process Communication is a Two-way Process in which a sender reaches a receiver with message. There are six components of an effective communication

1. A communication source or Sender Person who makes the attempt to send message which could be spoken, written, in a sign language, or non verbal to another person or a group. It involves the degree of attention the message will receive which depends on perceived authority and experience of the sender. 2. The Message Is a purpose or an idea to be conveyed in communication event. It is the physical product as a result of encoding. Thus, when speaking, the speech is the message, when written, the document is the message, when making gestures, the movement of the arms and the expressions on the face are the messages. How the message received is influenced by the following factors: Clarity of the message Alertness of the receiver Complexity and length of the message How the information is organized The message has two components The thought or conceptual components of the message. This is contained in the words, ideas, symbols and concepts chosen to relay the message The feeling or emotional components of the message this is contained in the intensity, force, demeanor and sometimes the gesture of the communicator or sender. this enriches and clarifies the message and its effect is to give the message its FULL meaning. 3. Channel The channel is the medium through which the message travels. It consists of various Type which is as follows: Face-to-face Telephone and cellphones Email Written memos and letters Posted notices Bulletins Channels may be classified as Formal recognized as authoritative Policies, procedures and other Official Announcement Informal do not follow of chain of command in a faster pace. Grapevine information through networks of friendships and acquaintances. It is fast but the transmission maybe incorrect or untimely information. 4. The Receiver Person who receiving the message but can be influenced by factors like age, gender, beliefs, past experiences, cultural influences and his individual needs. 5. The Feedback This refers the process of communication how one feels about something another person has done or said. It is difficult to know whether the message was received and understood without feedback. A feedback provides a clue to the sender of information whether the message he sent was received as intended. 6. The Environment Refers to the circumstances in which messages are transmitted and received. The Noise Refers to anything that disrupts communication, including the attitude and emotions of the receiver. Basic Methods of Interpersonal Communication 1. Verbal Communication o Major means of sending messages e.g. one-on-one meeting, speeches, grapevine, telephone, departmental or interdepartmental meetings and presentation o Verbal communication is the appropriate method if the sender Wants to appear informal Wants to invite suggestions and ideas which are more likely to spark off a discussion. Is explaining something complex and people might need to ask for clarification as he goes along Has important news to impact such as retrenchment Needs to be very diplomatic and feels he will be more effective face-to-face than writing and Has something highly confidential to say and putting it in writing is risky. o Verbal communication is NOT the appropriate method if the sender Wants to maintain formality or distance from the other person or group of people

Wants a permanent record of what has been said Needs receivers comments to be in writing for legal reasons and Wants to avoid further discussion of the subject by signaling that the matter closed.

2. Written Communication o Advantages It is formal and authoritative It provides a permanent record of what have been said It provides a document useful for legal purposes A number of people will receive exactly the same information It is useful in communicating something complicated It is sometimes quicker (e.g. fax is faster the phone call) It avoids a lightly discussion and Words can be chosen carefully. o Written communication is not appropriate when The receiver needs to ask question or seek clarification More discussion is needed before facts are established A friendly and informal atmosphere is needed The message is very important The message is confidential The information may be upsetting to the receiver 3. Non-verbal communication o Communication that takes place through facial expression, body movements, eye contact and other physical gesture. Functions of Communication 1. Information function Communication provides information needed in decision making. 2. Motivation Function Communication is a means used to encourage commitment to organizational objectives. 3. Control Function Communication clarifies duties, authority, and responsibilities, thereby permitting control 4. Emotive Function Communication permits the expression of feelings and the satisfaction of social needs. Basic Goals of Effective Communication 1. To gain goodwill 2. To inquire 3. To inform 4. To persuade Barriers to Communication 1. Filtering This pertains to the manipulation of information so that it will be seen more favourably by the receiver. 2. Selective Perception Receivers selectively see and hear messages based on their needs, motivations, experience, background, and other personal characteristics. 3. Information Overload Information overload refers to the condition in which information inflow exceeds an individuals processing capacity. 4. Emotions The receivers feelings affect his ability to understand any message sent to him. 5. Language Words do not always mean the same thing to different people. This poses a barrier to communication. 6. Communication Apprehension this refers to the undue tension and anxiety about oral communication, written communication, or both. 7. Absence of Feedback The absence of feedback does not provide the sender the opportunity to correct misimpressions about the message sent. 8. Physical Separation This refers to interferences to effective communication occurring in the environment where communication is undertaken. 9. Lack of Credibility of the Sender If the sender has low credibility, the message, even if it gets through, will likely be ignored. Kinds of Communication Flow 1. Downward Downward communication refers to message flows from higher levels to lower levels.

Purposes: a. To give instructions b. To provide information about policies and procedures c. To give feedback about performances d. To indoctrinate or motivate 2. Upward Communication this refers to messages from persons in lower level positions to persons in higher positions Purposes: a. To provide feedback to higher-ups b. To inform higher-ups of progress towards goals c. To relay current problems 3. Horizontal communication refers to messages sent to individuals or groups from another of the same organizational level position. Purposes: a. To coordinate activities between departments b. To persuade others at the same level c. To pass on information about activities or feelings Improving Communication in Organizations 1. Improve the message, make it more understandable 2. The receiver must improve his listening and understanding skills