Unit 4

Learning
Smita Choudhary Faculty HR/OB

Learning is not attained by chance, it

must be sought for with ardor and
attended to with diligence.

Learning 1
 Contents
• Introduction
• Theories of learning
• Shaping behavior
• Behavior modification
• Specific organizational
application

Learning 2
 Introduction
• Learning is not a one time activity or an annual, half yearly,
quarterly or monthly activity. Learning is a continuous process.
It begins right from when a child is born and ends with his
death.
• It is rightly said by Denis Waitley (American motivational speaker), “All of
the top achievers I know are life-long learners... Looking for new skills,
insights, and ideas. If they're not learning, they're not growing... not
moving toward excellence.”
• There is no end to learning.

3
Learning
 Introduction
• Learning is a process that improves the
knowledge, skill and attitude (KSA) of
individuals, increases his/her willingness to
adopt these KSAs and implement them on
the job.
• Learning can be defined as “any relatively
permanent change in behavior that occurs
as a result of experience”.
----- (Robbins, 2003)

Learning 4
 Why Learning is
Important
• Learning is important to ensure that we keep up-to-date with
developments in our particular field.
• It is also an important source of motivation, stimulation and job
satisfaction.
• Learning is therefore important because it helps us to keep in
tune with trends and developments in our own field.
• Learning has the power to change us. Specifically, we can
become more successful.

Learning 5
 Characteristics of Learning
• Changes take place during learning.
• The change must be permanent
• Learning is related to behavior
• Some experience is necessary for learning

Learning 6
 Theories of Learning
Classical conditioning
• It was proposed by Ivan Pavlov in 1927.
• It evolved from the experiments conducted on
dogs by Russian psychologist, Ivan Pavlov.
• In the process of classical conditioning, a neutral
stimulus when paired with an unconditioned
stimulus, becomes a conditioned stimulus that
brings about a conditioned response.

Learning 7
Classical Conditioning Key:
UCS –
Unconditional
Stimulus
UCR –
Only meat given Unconditional
to dog, salivation Response
takes place
CS – Conditional
Stimulus
Only bell is rung, CR – Conditional
no salivation Response

Bell + meat,
salivation takes place

Only bell, no meat, yet

salivation takes place

Learning 8
 Operant Conditioning
• This theory was proposed by B.F. Skinner (1953, 1954).
• It believes that learning depends on change in overt behavior.
• The behavior of an individual changes due to his response to
the stimuli.
• The individual responds, when a particular Stimulus-Response
(S-R) pattern is rewarded.
• Reinforcement is an important part of Skinner’s S-R theory.
• A reinforcer improves the desired response.
• Operant conditioning is more applicable in human learning.

Learning 9
 Principles of Operant
Conditioning
• Behavior is learned.
• Positively rewarded behavior will occur again.
• Information should be presented in small
amounts.
• Rewards are most effective when they are given
immediately after the desired response.

Learning 10
 Social Learning
• It was proposed by Bandura in 1977.
• It gives importance to observing and shaping the
behaviors, attitudes, and emotional reactions of
others.
• According to Bandura, most human behavior is
learned by observation.

Learning 11
Processes of Social Learning
• Attentional processes – People learn from a model only
when they pay attention to its important characteristics.
• Retention processes – A model’s effect depends on how
well an individual remembers the model’s action after the
model is not available.
• Motor reproduction processes – After a person has
observed the model, he/she must do what the model did.
• Reinforcement processes – Individuals are encouraged
to follow the behavior shown by the model if they are
positively rewarded for it.

Learning 12
 Principles of Social
Learning
• The best observational learning is achieved by practicing
the modeled behavior and perform it openly.
• Individuals may implement a modeled behavior, if it
produces results that are important for them.
• There is higher possibility that an individual will implement
modeled behavior, if the model is similar to the individual
and has a good status.

Learning 13
 Shaping Behavior
• It is the process of changing the
individual’s behavior by guiding their
learning in systematic steps.
• The four methods of shaping behavior are-
• 1. Positive reinforcement
• 2. Negative reinforcement
• 3. Punishment
• 4. Extinction

Learning 14
 Meaning of
Reinforcement:
 Reinforce means to strengthen, and reinforcement refers to
a stimulus which strengthens the probability of a particular
response being repeated.
 Positive reinforcement.
 Negative reinforcement.
 Reinforcement is anything that increases the intensity of a
response. It can be negative or positive.
 Commonly used reinforcers in organizations:-
 Appreciating the good work of employees
 Awarding promotions or raises

Learning 15
 Positive reinforcement
• It is the process of getting something nice
after showing a desired behavior. This is
done to repeat the same behavior.
• Example of Positive Reinforcement -
• When a manager praises an employee for successfully completing
a task on schedule, this is positive reinforcement.
• This encourages the employee and increases the possibility of
completing his work on time.

Learning 16
 Negative Reinforcement
• In this, a reward is taken away if an
undesired behavior is displayed.
Example of Negative reinforcement-
• Taking away scholarship from a student, if
he does not perform well in the
examination.
• When a worker is asked to get back to work when he
is noticed talking to his colleagues, this is negative
reinforcement.

Learning 17
 Punishment
1. Punishment is the practice of forcing something unpleasant or on a person, usually in response to disobedient or morally wrong
behavior or undesired behavior.
2. Should be immediate.
3. Has effect on others who are watching
4. Punisher must provide an acceptable
alternative to offender
5. Can have side effects of hate and revenge

Learning 18
 Extinction
• It is removal of any reward (reinforcement)
that is helping to maintain a particular
behavior.
• If a person puts in extra effort but his work
is not being recognized or rewarded, he
will stop doing it.

Learning 19
 Schedules of
Reinforcement
• Reinforcement schedules are of two
types-
– Continuous reinforcement schedule
– Intermittent reinforcement schedule

Learning 20
 Continuous Reinforcement
Schedule
• In this a desired behavior is always
rewarded.
• It is the traditional reinforcement
schedule.

Learning 21
Intermittent Reinforcement
Schedule
• In this schedule, every case of
desired behavior is not rewarded.
• But the frequency of reward is
sufficient to encourage desired
behavior.

Learning 22
 Categories of Intermittent
Techniques
• Fixed interval reinforcement schedule – Rewards are
given at fixed time intervals. E.g. honesty pay
• Variable interval reinforcements – Rewards are given at
time intervals that are not fixed.
• Fixed ratio schedule – Reward is given after a fixed number
of responses. E.g. Piece rate
Generally variable schedules lead to higher performance than fixed schedules.
Continuous reinforcers are appropriate for newly desired, low frequency or unstable
responses.
Intermittent reinforcers are appropriate for stable or high frequency responses.

Learning 23
 Behavior Modification
Identifying critical Critical behaviors have an important
behaviors effect on employee’s job performance.

It determines the number of times

Developing baseline data
identified behavior is occurring in
present conditions
Tells the manager the signals that
Identifying behavior produce the behavior and the results
consequences due to which it is maintained

It involves changing some elements of

Developing and
the performance reward linkage
implementing an
structure to make high level
intervention strategy
performance rewarding.

It is important because it shows that a

Evaluating performance
change took place after the
improvement
intervention strategy.
Learning 24
 Specific Organizational
Application
1) Using lotteries to reduce
absenteeism
• In this method lotteries are used to reduce absenteeism
in organizations.
• This method was used by Continental Airlines to
reward its 40,000 employees for attendance.
• The company holds a draw two times a year and gives
eight new sports utility vehicles.
• For this draw employees who have not taken a single
leave during the last six months are eligible.
• This reduced the company’s absence rate to a great
extent (Robbins 2003).

Learning 25
 2) Well pay vs. sick pay
• Organizations that pay for sick leaves face two times
more absenteeism than organizations who do not
pay for sick leaves.
• One organization in USA implemented a well pay
program.
• It paid bonus to employees who did not take any
leave for a four weak period.
• This program increased organization’s savings,
reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and
improved employee satisfaction.
• Forbes magazine also used this approach to cut its
health care costs.

Learning 26
 3) Employee Discipline
• All managers have to deal with problem behaviors in
the organization.
• To counter this, managers may take disciplinary
action like oral warning, written warning and
temporary suspension. But it is a short term solution
and causes side effects.
• Disciplinary action tells the employees what not to
do but does not teach them what to do.
• Practically, it is used commonly because it can give
fast results in the short run.
• Most organizations have some kind of training
program.

Learning 27
 4) Suggestions of Social
Learning Theory
Social learning theory suggests that training
should------
• Present a model to attract trainee’s attention.
• Provide motivational guidance.
• Give trainee an opportunity to practice new
behaviors.
• Offer positive rewards for completing a task.

Learning 28
 5) Self-Management
• Use of learning concepts allow individuals to
manage their own behavior.
• Self-management requires an individual to
carefully control the stimuli, internal processes
and responses to achieve personal behavioral
results.

Learning 29
Learning 30