Page 308 - Fundamentals of Management Myths Debunked (2017)_Flat

Four ways to shape behavior:
1 Positive reinforcement: Follow a desired Both positive and

behavior with something pleasant—a manager
praising an employee for a job well done. negative reinforcement
result in learning.
negative reinforcement: Follow a desired They strengthen a desired

2 behavior by terminating or withdrawing response and increase the
something unpleasant—a manager telling an probability of repetition.
employee he won’t dock her pay if she starts
coming to work on time. The only way for the

employee to not have her pay docked is to
come to work on time, which is the behavior
the manager wants.

Punishment penalizes undesirable behavior— Both punishment and
3 suspending an employee for two days without extinction also result

pay for showing up drunk. in learning; however,
they weaken behavior
Extinction is not reinforcing (ignoring) a and tend to decrease its

4 behavior, making it gradually disappear. subsequent frequency.

How Can an Understanding of Learning Help

Managers Be More Effective?

Manage Employees’ Learning
Employees are going to learn on the job. Are managers going

to manage their learning through (1) the rewards they allocate
and the examples they set, or (2) allow it to occur haphazardly?

Watch What You Reward:

If managers want behavior A, but reward behavior B, they shouldn’t
be surprised to find employees learning to engage in behavior B.

Watch What You Do:
Carlos’s Premium Images/Alamy
Managers should expect that employees will look to them as

models and do what they do.

307