Consequences of Behavior
Jane just finished her degree in business administration and landed a great job as manager in a well-known organization. As she begins her first week on the job, it becomes very clear that many of the staff for whom she has oversight are not completing their job duties as assigned, appear to be unmotivated, and do not seem to welcome her management. She has reviewed organizational data and is concerned about the organizations viability. Jane is struggling to understand why the staff is not meeting expectations. She decides to reach out to ACME Behavior Consulting for guidance.
Fundamental Principles and Organizational Behavior
For your discussion, you will answer Janes questions related to operant conditioning by describing concepts of reinforcement and punishment. Additionally, you will provide a brief overview of an antecedent-behavior-consequence (ABC) analysis that Jane could begin using to gather more information regarding staff behavior.
Jane wants to know more about reinforcement and why a pay check is not enough to motivate employees to meet job expectations. Explain the following concepts:
Positive Reinforcement
Negative Reinforcement
Punishment
Discuss the effective use of consequences, as well as the strengths and weakness of each of the above.
Jane also remembers something about ABCs from a psychology class that she took in college. Provide an overview of how ABCs and the PIC/NIC analysis can be used in an organizational environment. Describe the following:
ABC analysis
PIC/NIC analysis
Discuss the types of consequences available for behavior and the effectiveness of each.
Guided Response Posts Instructions
Students will review two of their classmates posts to assess the following:
Are the concepts explained clearly and thoroughly?
Does the post clearly explain the importance and impact of consequences in the work place? If not, ask follow-up questions that Jane might ask to further understand these concepts.
Marjani Muhammad posted Jul 8, 2020 7:16 PM
Fundamental Principles and Organizational Behavior
1. Jane wants to know more about reinforcement and why a paycheck is not enough to motivate employees to meet job expectations. Explain the following concepts:
Typically, paydays are every two weeks but if you are lucky, paydays can come at the end of every week. Regardless if weekly or bi-weekly, a paycheck for work is always expected; furthermore, a paycheck would be considered a delayed reward, not a reinforcer. Although positive and negative reinforcement both increase behavior, the most effective type of reinforcement is immediate positive reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is the presentation of a desired stimulus and negative reinforcement is the removal of an aversive stimulus. According to Daniels (2016), simple yet immediate reinforcement such as praise is more effective than a larger delayed reward. Additionally, only efficient, and regular positive reinforcement can maximize performance. Negative reinforcement typically will not maximize performance. Instead, negative reinforcement produces the bare minimal of behavior that results in escaping or avoiding an aversive stimulus.
In contrast, punishment is the addition of an aversive stimulus or the removal of a preferred stimulus to decrease behavior. Although sometimes necessary, most punishment that occurs in the workplace is unintentional (Daniels, 2016). Because punishment decreases a behavior, the risk of implementing it is that the replacement behavior can be unpredictable, meaning that a preferred alternative behavior is not guaranteed. Simply said, punishment lacks guidance. Punishment fails to teach an employee what they should do, it only tells them what they should not be doing (Daniels, 2016).
2. Jane also remembers something about ABCs from a psychology class that she took in college. Provide an overview of how ABCs and the PIC/NIC analysis can be used in an organizational environment. Describe the following:
The PIC/NIC analysis is an expansion of ABC analysis. An ABC analysis collects data and patterns regarding the antecedent, behavior, and consequence through direct observation. Here, an observer records everything that occurs immediately before the behavior, and everything that occurs immediately after the behavior is displayed. PIC/NIC analysis applies this same concept while classifying the combination of its consequences. PIC/NIC can quickly inform the individual as to what type of reinforcement was used, positive or negative (P or N), if the consequence was immediate or future (I or F), and if the consequence was certain or uncertain (C or U). An important factor with PIC/NIC is being able to identify a pattern with the data. A work environment that incorporates the combination positive-immediate-certain (PIC) when a desired behavior is displayed will most likely maximize performance from employees all while creating an encouraging and motivating work environment (Daniels, 2016).