Management Theories of Training Reinforcement theory emphasizes that people are motivated to perform or avoid certain behaviors because of past outcomes that have resulted from those behaviors. There are several processes included in reinforcement theory. Positive reinforcement is a pleasurable outcome resulting from a behavior (Noe, 2009). Negative reinforcement is the removal of an unpleasant outcome. Social learning theory emphasizes that people learn by observing other people (models) whom they believe are credible and knowledgeable. Social learning theory also recognizes that behavior that is reinforced or rewarded tends to be repeated (Noe, 2009). The models’ behavior or skill that is rewarded is adopted by the observer. Learning new skills or behavior comes from: directly experiencing the consequences of using that behavior or skill or the process of observing others and seeing the consequences of their behavior. Hourly and professiona1 employees should be trained based on social learning theory. Social learning as described by Albert Bandura has four principle components. These components are “attention, retention, motor reproduction and motivation” (Kretchmar, 2008). In Bandura’s theory of social learning, people learn by modeling others through observation. They retain this knowledge and then reproduce it. This is the opposite of the behavioral models, which predict that learning takes place over a period and through a process of rewards and
Each person is a social being and is aware of the environment that they live in. People learn from their experiences as well as from observing others. When children learn about their environment first hand or by observing another, negative and positive behaviors are reinforcement. If a child does a behavior and receives a reward for that behavior, the rewarded behavior is reinforced. Similarly, when someone witnesses negative consequences based on their behavior, they tend to modify that behavior (Schmied & Tully, 2009, p. 9).
There is also the argument between behaviourists to whether behaviour is learnt better through positive or negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement is when someone does something correctly and we reward them with a sweet or chocolate. A strength of this is that the individual will repeat the action again, but a limitation is that the individual will expect the reward every time.
Albert Bandura’s Social Learning Theory describes the process through which people acquire new info, forms of behavior, or attitudes from others firsthand or vicariously. The likelihood of a behavior presenting itself will rely on the amount of reinforcement it receives and the value that the individual associates to it. While some behavior may be rewarded, others may produce unfavorable responses. An individual will learn from the consequences of these actions and when a similar situation arises, they will alter their behavior according to what was most successful in the past.
Classical conditioning is often associated with physiologist Ivan Pavlov’s experiment with the salivating dog (Hutchinson, 2015). This experiment focused on conditioning the dog to associate food with the bell while salivating, and eventually salivates when the bell is rung even without the presence of food. Operant conditioning theory is changed behavior as the result of a reinforcement (Hutchinson, 2015). In our society, we associate positive reinforcements with compliments, smiles, high-fives in order to encourage a behavior more. Negative reinforcement involves jail, detention, and grounding, and this is to stop a behavior from continuing. A cognitive social learning theory states that behavior can be learned through observations, beliefs, expectations, and imitation of others (Hutchinson, 2015). A major difference between cognitive social learning theory and the others, is a lack of manipulation to encourage the individual to follow through with a behavior. Rather, cognitive social learning theories suggest that a change in thinking can ultimately result in a change in behavior (Hutchinson, 2015).
This chapter introduces the literature works relating to training and development and how it has an impact on employee’s performance. It gives detailed explanation and clear idea on previous works by researchers in organizational politics to help in understanding the background information on which this research is based on. The chapter describes the concepts of training and development and the effects on employee performance and the gap in literature.
Social learning theory, developed by Bandura, discusses how people learn from one another through observation, modeling, and imitation bridging an individual’s attention, memory and motivation. Social learning theory identifies the importance of cognition, observable behavior, individual self-efficacy, and the extent of how the events surrounding an individual affect them; their locus of control. Social learning theory also looks at individual problem behavior being influenced by positive or negative reinforcement (Ashford & LeCroy, 2012).
I. Theory I: Social Learning Theory- This is when an individual understands the consequences and receives an award or punishment.
The social learning theory suggests that people learn new behaviors through observation of factors in their environment, by taking note of other’s
Time by time, Day by day each of this able to shows how our behaviour have increased or decreased in positive or in negative way. In the perspective of behavioural and cognitive theories there are three in important theories that can be seen in our everyday life. Firstly, Reinforcement is one of the behavioural and cognitive theories that are always important in our daily situation. Reinforcement is used to help increases the probability of a specific behaviour that would occur in the future by delivering a stimulus immediately after a response in shown. There are two reinforcement, which is positive and negative reinforcement. Positive reinforcement works by exhibiting a motivation or by reinforcing stimulus to the person after the desired behaviour is presented and likely to happen in the future. Example of positive reinforcement that can be seen in the past 24 hour in our everyday situation, by doing chores from washing the dishes to cooking dinner my mother praise me for helping her. Another example of positive reinforcement is when my father increases my privilege
Social Cognitive Theory theorized by Albert Banduar shows that children learn what they observe by observing others, such as children, teachers, parents and other children that they interact with. Observation of learning occurs when a child is paying attention to other individual behaviors and applying them to their own learning. Through observation, children can learn the basics of a concept, but they may need to practice and refine their skills to master a concept. In social cognitive theory, learning can change a child’s environment and this can change their thought processes when dealing with new situations. Values and expectations of reinforcement affect whether the child will engage in behaviors that they observed. Social cognitive theorists believe that children are active and will seek out environments or create environments in which reinforces are available. A child can learn to develop their skills through imitation of someone who is more skilled than themselves. By doing this they are creating an environment with social reinforcement of praise of
Observational learning occurs when a person or an animal uses observation of another’s actions and their consequences to guide their own future actions. The person being observed is referred to as a model. For this reason observational learning is also referred to as modeling. Observational learning involves four stages, attention, retention, reproduction and motivation-reinforcement. Attention is when the learner observers the actions of the model (The higher the status of the model the more attention the learner will pay and the closer their imitations will be to the models actions). Retention is when the learner retains in their memory what they have just observed. Reproduction is when the learner will reproduce or imitate the actions of the model that they have just observed. Reproduction is when the learner reproduces or imitates what they have just observed. Motivation-reinforcement can come in various ways. External reinforcement, through praise for doing something well, self-reinforcement, through the
Researchers thereafter developed interventions that were heavily influenced by the operant learning theory (Matson, Benavidez, Compton, Paclawskyj, & Baglio, 1996). Proponents suggest that the probability of a behaviour occurring in the future is dependent on its consequence (Bachman, 1972). As such, modifying such behaviour involves changing the consequence (i.e., reinforcement, punishment). Reinforcement is a consequence that follows a behaviour and increases the probability of said behaviour occurring in the future (Cooper, Heron, & Heward, 2014). Positive reinforcement involves presenting a desirable stimulus while negative reinforcement involves removing an aversive stimulus. For example, desirable behaviours are positively reinforced with tangibles or negatively reinforced by the termination of demands. Punishment on the other hand is a consequence that follows a behaviour and decreases the future probability of the behaviour occurring (Cooper et al., 2014). Positive punishment involves the presentation of an aversive stimulus while negative punishment is the removal of a desired stimulus. For example, reprimanding the client is a form of positive punishment while ignoring his/her is a form of negative punishment.
Albert Bandura’s social learning theory expresses that people learn best by viewing others. Positive reinforcement such as praise or financial reward encourages repeat behavior while negative reinforcement such as punishment or monetary fines discourages it. Because of such, when training new employees, modeling is the best form of demonstration. The training demands are best suited when observing an experienced employee and then model his or her behavior. This cost-effective method takes place right in the workplace environment.
Akers and Sellers (2013) has stated that social learning theory is an expanded theory of differential association processes and improves it with differential reinforcement and other principles of the behavior theory. They added classical conditioning (the sharpening of involuntary reflex behavior); discriminative stimuli (internal stimuli that lead to signals for behavior); schedules of reinforcement (rewards and punishment ratio following behavioral feedback); and other theories of behavior (Akers & Sellers, 2013).
One of the simplest and most commonly-used methods of conceptualizing learning is that of reinforcement theory (Noe 2010: 142). Every time a parent promises a child a toy for being good during a grocery store trip or threatens a teen with being grounded for bad grades, he or she is using reinforcement theory. Reinforcement theory is based upon the assumption that people want to experience as much pleasure as possible and avoid pain. Thus, businesses offer workers bonuses for good work, and issue reprimands (such as docking pay or denying a promotion) for poor behavior.