Chapter -4

Learning

Concept of Learning:

➔ Learning is a permanent change in behavior due to experience and practices. It is continuing to

change behavior through training and experience. It is need directed, Learning is directly or
indirectly related to organizational behavior in terms of increasing competency, leadership ability,
and motivation at work.

➔ It is necessary in every organization to generate new concepts, ideas, knowledge, strategies and
technology to cope with the changing environment of the society.

➔ Learning is a change in behavior, influenced by previous behavior. The skills, knowledge, habits,
attitudes, interests and other personality characteristics are all the result of learning. From
appointment to retirement, an employee engages in the process of learning.

Factors Influencing Learning:

1. Individual Motive:
➔ A motive is a person's reason for choosing a specific behavior from among several
alternative choices. Motives are derived from needs. Human motives are created
whenever there is a physiological or psychological imbalance and try to fulfill such
imbalances.
➔ It is the reason for the action of individuals which gives purpose and direction to certain
behavior. Motives are drives that encourage people for action and learning.
2. Physiological Factors:
➔ These factors involve both physical condition and mental ability of the person. These
factors are beyond the control of an individual. They are the outcome of genes and
chromosomes constituted from parents.
➔ These factors also provide an impact on learning of individuals. For example, an
individual suffering from health problems cannot think for learning
3. Social Factors:
➔ Social factors involve social needs, incentives, reward and punishment, competition,
suggestion, cooperation etc. Social culture encourages the people to learn new
knowledge having been accepted by the society and discourages the people from gaining
knowledge that is discarded by the society.
4. Environmental Factors:
➔ Natural environmental factors also affect learning. Factors involving light, temperature,
noise, cold etc. people feel more difficult to learn new knowledge in high temperatures
because it affects health.
➔ It is more difficult to maintain patience with people for learning in loud noise. In the
learning process individuals need a proper environment so that they can maintain
patience and care for learning.
 5. Nature of Learning Materials:
➔ The availability of learning materials also affects the learning process of individuals.
People need learning materials on the basis of their area of learning and level of
education.
➔ The area of learning may be management, humanities, education, or science. People
may be illiterate, semi-literate, or educated. For example, illiterate people need basic
learning materials. People can learn properly only when they have proper learning
materials.

6. Process of Learning:
➔ The process of learning also affects learning. The process of learning involves full time or
part time learning, continuous learning or break at the mid. In research it is found that full
time learning is more effective than part time learning. It is because in full time learning,
people can give more time and concentration in learning.
7. Psychological Factors:
➔ Psychological factors of human beings also affect the learning process. Psychology
factors involve interest, mood, level of perception, need to learn, ability, and so on. For
example, when people have self-interest in learning, they devote more time and effort in
the learning process.
➔ All individuals do not have equal mental ability. A person having high mental ability can
catch or tackle new knowledge more quickly than a person having slow mental ability.
8. Reinforcement Factors:
➔ Reinforcement is concerned with encouraging repetition of learning behavior that gives a
positive outcome. Positive reinforcement is the outcome of application of positive
consequence following a desirable behavior. negative reinforcement is the outcome of
negative consequences which needs to be withdrawn.
➔ For example payment of bonus, allowance, share of profit for better performance are the
part of positive reinforcement whereas imposing penalty, charge for ineffective
performance are the part of negative reinforcement.

Principles of Learning:

1. Principle of Reinforcement:
➔ Reinforcement is concerned with encouraging repetition of learning behavior that gives a positive
outcome. When a response is followed by a desirable consequence, it is positive reinforcement.
➔ Similarly, when a response is followed by the withdrawal of an undesirable consequence, it is
negative reinforcement. For example payment of bonus, allowance, share of profit for better
performance are the part of positive reinforcement whereas imposing penalty, charge for
ineffective performance are the part of negative reinforcement.
2. Principle of Punishment:
➔ The concept of reward and punishment initiate learning among the people.
➔ When people have a feeling of reward for good learning then it encourages them to learn new
concepts, ideas, knowledge and experience. when there is the provision of punishment for not
involving in learning it compels them to focus on learning.
3. Principle of Generalization:
➔ Generalization is concerned with getting knowledge of a new concept, process, or technology and
practicing that new innovation with subordinates.
➔ Many professional managers and researchers are involved in generalization of their innovation. It
encourages people to be involved in learning because it helps to maintain their reputation in
occupation and status in the society.
4. Principle of Discrimination:
➔ The principle of discrimination between learning and other individuals encourages learning. When
managers make differences between learning employees and idle employees, it provides an
impact in their learning pattern.
➔ Management can provide additional reward and incentives to employees having intelligence and
dedicated to assigned jobs and discourage idle employees. Idle employees are also
psychologically forced to involve themselves in learning for their existence in the organization.
5. Principle of Motivation:
➔ Management can motivate the employees in learning by providing both extrinsic and intrinsic
reward. When management encourages the employees to learn, they are involved in the
generation of new concepts, ideas, knowledge and skills.
➔ When independence is given to employees for accomplishment of assigned jobs, they do work
with full dedication and dealing with accountability.
6. Principle of Repetition:
➔ Continuous practice makes a person perfect in the sector of knowledge. At the beginning stage of
learning, individuals feel difficult to accomplish new task perfectly but when they practice the task
for many times they become perfect to accomplish that task.
➔ Regular practice helps the people to generate new knowledge and skills in the concerned area of
function.
7. Principle of Active Involvement:
➔ The active involvement in subject matter of learning also affects in learning trend. When people
give full of physical and mental concentration in learning process, they can able to understand the
basic concept of subject matter and procedures of completing it.
➔ For example, in practical lab, teacher demonstrates a concept and procedures of completing it, if
students give full mental concentration on demonstration they can understand the concept.
8. Principle of Learning Curve:
➔ Human psychologists in their research found that human beings have a learning curve. At the
young age people can learn in an increasing trend as they have creative brain and mental skills.
➔ Similarly, the increasing age of people tends to decrease in the learning curve. This is happened
due to the decline memory capacity of people. In research it is found that up to age of thirty five,
learning trend of average people are at straight increasing curve and after that learning curve
increases but in decreasing trend.
Learning theories:

1. Classical Conditioning :

➔ This model is developed by Ivan Pavlov, a Russian psychologist. It is used in organization to

understand how individuals learn to respond only to conditional stimulus when' it is tied with an
unconditional stimulus that shows an unconditional behavior.
➔ Pavlov conducted this experiment on a hungry dog, Pavlov attempted to associate the hungry
dog's salivation and a ringing bell. In this experiment Pavlov associated three elements consisting
of a ringing bell (conditional stimulus), meat (unconditional stimulus) and dog's salivation
(unconditional response.
➔ At the beginning stage, Pavlov just started to ring the bell and no meat was given to dog. Here
dog has no salivation at the ringing bell. It means dog does not provide any response to a ringing
bell. At the second stage, Pavlov maintained link between ringing a bell and giving meat to the
same dog.
➔ He continued this experiment for a week. After a week it was found that the dog started to
salivate merely, when he heard the ringing bell even though meat was not provided.
➔ In this experiment it was found that dog had learned to response a ringing bell through salivation
by expecting meat. The outcome of this experiment is also applicable in organizational
performance.
➔ In organizational performance, people can learn more from this model. For example, manager
develops a rule for all the employees to arrive office at 10 am. Here, all the employees will arrive
in office at 10 am. by considering that manager will be in office at 10 am. Manager's arrival in
office is conditional stimulus, 10 am is unconditional stimulus, employees arrival in Office at 10
am. is unconditional response.

2. Operant Conditioning:
➔ This model is developed by American psychologists B.F. Skinner. This theory of learning
assumes that people learn to behave in certain ways as a result of its consequence,consequence
may be either positive or negative. Skinner Stressed that creating pleasant consequence to follow
specific form of behavior would increase the frequency of that behavior.Skinner made this
experiment on hungry rat and pigeon. A rat is kept in an operant chamber.
➔ In the chamber, a link was made with lever and feeder. After some time rat become hungry and
started to move from here to there in operant chamber.
➔ In the course of moving, by chance rat able to press the lever and a food pellet is delivered from
the feeder. This process was continued for many days and at last rat able to know how to press
lever when suffering from hungry. Same type of practice was also made on pigeon.
➔ This theory puts stress on creating consequences to follow certain behavior.The consequence
may be reward or punishment. People learn to behave to get something they want or to avoid
something they do not want.
➔ In an organization people reflect behavior which is determined, maintained and controlled by its
consequence. The consequences of behavior are used to shape behavior through three
strategies consisting of reinforcement, punishment and extinction.
 3. Cognitive Theory
➔ Cognition refers to an individual's thoughts, knowledge, interpretations, understandings or views
about oneself and his surrounding environment.
➔ Cognition theory stresses that an individual tries to form his cognitive structure in memory, which
preserves and organizes all information relating the events that may arise in learning process.
Such processes involve perceiving, imaging, thinking, reasoning, and decision making.
➔ This theory assumes that learning is purely an outcome of the thinking process. It is an act of
knowing an item of information that provides indication how to response to the expected goals.

➔ This theory is developed by pioneer cognitive theorists Edward Tolman, who did experiment on
rats and found relation between cognitive environmental indications and goals.

➔ Wolfgang Kohler also contributed for recognition of cognitive theory of learning. He did
experiment on chimpanzee where he found that learning is the process of thinking and analyzing.

➔ Cognitive learning is very significant in organizational behavior for changing attitude of

individuals. In organizational functions this theory has great impact on human relation movement
(behavior of people in groups, particularly in workplace groups and other related concepts in
fields such as industrial and organizational psychology)

➔ In organization, training programs are organized to maintain link between cognitive cues such as
instruction, supervision etc. and achievement of individual expectations such as intrinsic and
extrinsic reward.

5. Social learning theory

➔ Albert Bandura was the major motivator behind social learning theory. This theory emphasizes
that people can learn through observation of others behavior and direct practical experience. This
theory explains the effect of the combination of cognitive, behavioral and environmental forces of
learning.
➔ It states that people can learn through watching models such as parents, family, seniors, peers,
teachers, managers, celebrities and other reference group.
➔ The three core concepts at the heart of social learning theory. First idea that people can learn
through observation. Second internal mental states are an essential part of this process. Third, it
recognizes that just because something has been learned, it does not mean that it will result in a
change in behavior

➔ human beings are the social animals. They live in society and enjoy social elements. While
enjoying social elements they learn much knowledge through observing others and also through
direct practice.

➔ For example: A girl is more likely to imitate the behavior of a female teacher than the behaviors of
a male teacher. Children who observed peers successfully solve more problems than children
who observed adults successfully solve problems. A person imitates the behavior of a successful
instead of a less successful peer.
Process of Social Learning:

Social learning theory emphasizes that people can learn by observing others behavior and direct practical
experience. All observed behaviors are not effectively learned. Factors involving both the model and the
learner can play a role in whether social learning is successful.

1. Attention Process:

This is the beginning stage. An individuals need to give more care while observing others. They
must be able to hold attention to the model in order to observe and learn.

They must have active participation in learning process. While observing others, individuals must
have mental and physical attention toward process of accomplishing task. For example, when
supervisor is demonstrating procedures of accomplishment of task, subordinates need to observe
process full of attention.
2. Retention Process:

➔ stage of acquiring knowledge by observing others.

➔ individuals able to know the basic concept of subject matter presented.
➔ An individual needs to understand such information and knowledge in such a way that he must be
able to retain the information for later reference.
➔ individual are able to retain the knowledge about how to accomplish the task by observing
demonstration presented by others.
➔ For example when supervisor is demonstrated procedures of accomplishment of task,
subordinates get knowledge of all the procedures of accomplish of task by observing supervisor.

3. Reproduction Process:

➔ concerned with self practicing the new knowledge gained through observing others.
➔ essential to gain practical knowledge for accomplishment of task by completing necessary
procedures.
➔ practice of the learned behavior leads to improvement and skill advancement.
➔ supportive to develop efficiency for completion of task because practice makes a person perfect.
➔ For example, subordinates able know the procedures for completion of task from supervisor, but
when they involve in practice the same they become perfect to accomplish the task.

4. Reinforcement Process

➔ concerned with encouraging repetition of learning behavior that gives positive outcome. When a
response of accomplishment of task is followed by a desirable consequence, it gives positive
reinforcement.
➔ Similarly, when a response is followed by an undesirable consequence, it gives negative
reinforcement. For example when an individual gets positive response for his service devotion
from customers it gives him positive reinforcement.
Behavior modification:

➔ techniques used to decrease or increase a particular type of behavior.

➔ represents the application of reinforcement theory to individuals in work setting.
➔ based on the operant conditioning approach to learning, which advocates that desirable
behaviors should be reinforced.
➔ powerful means of manager for changing the behavior of employees.
➔ Companies have been forced to change their corporate cultures and their standards of operation.
➔ The change has been forced on them by globalization of markets and competition, growth of the
service-based economy and changes in rules affecting corporate governance and trade
relationships.
➔ Organizational structures have been changed from tall to flat.
➔ plays major role for proper management of such changes by modifying behavior of all the
members of the organization.
➔ developed from classical conditioning and operant conditioning theories because they supported
the idea that just as behaviors can be learned, they also can be unlearned.
➔ many different techniques were developed to either assist in eliciting a behavior or stopping it.
This is how behavior modification was formed.

○ Conisdered more technical, but used very frequently by all of us.

● Parents use this to teach their children right from wrong.

○ Therapists use it to promote healthy behaviors in their patients.

○ Animal trainers use it to develop obedience between a pet and its owner.

● even use it in our relationships with friends and significant others.

○ used by managers to change the behavior of subordinates on the basis of

change in organizational activities to face competition in market and to achieve
economic objectives.

● behavior modification process

1. Identification of Critical behavior:
➔ The primary stage is to identify critical behavior that provides a significant impact on
organizational performance.
➔ The manager needs to identify behavior that is desirable or undesirable for organizational
performance.
➔ The critical behaviors that have significant impact on the employees performance must be given
due attention because such behaviors are repeated time and again.
➔ Critical Behaviors can be identified through discussion with a related employee and his immediate
superior. A behavioral audit (systematic capturing of how a client behaves in a given set of
contexts and situations) can also help to identify such behavior.
➔ The behaviors which have great influence on job performance are absenteeism or attendance,
delay or prompt, and complaints or constructive criticism. If such behavior is modified on time
good results could be expected.
 2. Measurement of behaviors:
➔ manager to develop some base line which allows the manager to determine his success in
changing the subordinates' behavior.
➔ concerned with the collection of performance data, before, during and after introduction of
behavior modification program.
➔ provides insight into the circumstances which are associated with critical behavior.
➔ helps manager to analyze behavior related information in systematic manner.

3. Functional Analysis of behavior:

➔ It is concerned to analyze the patterns of continued behavior that requires modification. It requires
insight and evaluation of individual differences in behavior.
➔ It develops record of positive reinforcement which helps to simplify the intervention process.
➔ Since only contingent consequences of behavior have an impact on subsequent behavior,
functional analysis must make sure that contingent consequences are identified.
4. ABC analysis is performed for functional analysis:
➔ Antecedent indicates release of certain behavior.
➔ The performance behavior of employees is considered as noticeable critical behavior.
➔ The contingent consequences show current behavior.
➔ Functional analysis often reveals there are many competing contingencies for organizational behavior.
5. Development of Intervention Strategy:
➔ For the successful implementation of behavior modification, it is necessary to develop a strategy for
changing the behavior, implement the strategy, and measure the frequency of the resulting behavior.
➔ A record is to be maintained to know how often the problem behavior is repeated.
➔ For this purpose many strategies can be used such as positive reinforcements, negative reinforcement,
extinction and punishment.
➔ The use of a particular strategy will depend upon the type of situation faced by the manager.
6. Evaluating Performance Improvement:
➔ The purpose of evaluation of strategies of behavior modification is to know their effectiveness.
➔ Whether the undesirable behaviors are substituted by desirable behaviors or not. It reveasl if the
employees have undergone a permanent change in behaviors.
➔ The use of behavior modification is to focus on employee productivity, minimize absenteeism,
safety of employees, employee discipline, accident prevention, and job satisfaction.
Techniques of behavior modification:
1. Positive Reinforcement:
➔ Positive reinforcement is pairing a positive stimulus to a behavior. When teachers reward their
students for getting a good grade with stickers.
2. Negative Reinforcement:
➔ Negative reinforcement is the opposite and is the pairing of a behavior to the removal of a
negative stimulus.
➔ A child that shows temper because he doesn't want to eat vegetables and his vegetables taken
away.
3. Punishment:
➔ It is designed to weaken behaviors by pairing an unpleasant stimulus to a behavior. The receiving
a detention for bad behavior
4. Extinction:
➔ This technique is concerned with ignoring some of activities of employees. Manager can modify a
behavior of subordinates through ignoring the act.
➔ By ignoring the behavior he will often reduce its tendency for appearing again.
➔ It is not necessary to give someone attention who is engaging in a behavior that needs to be
avoided.
Attitude formation:
➔ Attitude is a judgmental statement concerning objects, people or events. It may be either
favorable or unfavorable. It reflects how one feels about something. For example when one says
"he likes his job", it means he is expressing his attitude toward work.
➔ Attitude is formed from parents, colleagues, seniors, teachers, professionals, and reference group
members.
➔ Other factors such as personal experience, education, media, knowledge and environmental
factors also affect one's attitude. It affects individual motivation and behavior.
➔ Individuals are more willing to modify their behavior and shape their attitude to align with the
behavior of people whom they take as a model.
➔ This is the reason why companies have their products endorsed by popular personalities such as
leading players and film stars. Such endorsement helps to develop a positive attitude toward their
products among the public.

➔ The following are the three common components of attitude formation:

1. Affective Component:
➔ This component is an emotional or feeling segment of an attitude. The feeling about an object,
event or people may be positive, negative or neutral.
➔ This part of attitude is related to the statement which affects another person. For example, in an
organization a personal report of employees is given to the general manager.
➔ In the report he points out that the sales staff is not performing their due responsibilities. In such
a situation, the general manager forwards a written notice to the marketing manager to negotiate
with the sales staff.
➔ It may develop feelings of responsibility among sales staff. It can help to achieve the sales target
of the organization.
2. Cognitive Component:
➔ This component controls how the person feels, understands and thinks consciously about things.
opinion or belief part of attitude. It also involves information segments of an attitude. It consists of
information and beliefs about objects, people and events. It is related to the general know-how of
a person.
➔ For example, a person says smoking is injurious to health. Such a type of idea of a person is
called the cognitive component of attitude.
➔ It includes beliefs, models, preferences and other aspects that shape how a person interprets the
world.
3. Behavioral Component:
➔ This component is the behavioral component and centers on individuals acting a certain way
towards something. In other words, it shows the intention of an individual to behave in a certain
way toward an object, event or people.
➔ It may be favorable or unfavorable. It reflects the behavioral intention of a person in the short run
or in the long run. For example, before introduction of new products, a report is prepared by the
production department by focusing on their short run and long run intention.
This report is submitted to top management for final decision,each component is very different from one
another, and they can build upon one another to form individual attitudes. That affects how individuals
maintain relation to the society. For example, we can believe teenagers are lazy (cognitive); we do not
have to hate the teenagers for being lazy (affective), but we could still try to keep them out of the library
because of that fact (behavior).