Individual Behavior and Learning

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Individual Behaviorand Learning
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C H A P T E R
T W O
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Assessing Competencies at EMC

• When EMC was about to dramatically expand its
  work force, an executive team at the enterprise
  storage products firm developed an Employee
  Success Profile. This list of generic
  competencies represented the traits of successful
  employees, such as goal-orientation and
  integrity.

Courtesy of EMC Corp.
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Model of Individual Behavior
Individual Behavior and Performance
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Influences on individual behavior

• Abilities physical, intellectual and emotional
• Attitudes
• Values
• Culture and gender
• Learning styles

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Model of Attitudes and Behavior
Feelings
Attitude
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Job Satisfaction and Behavior

• Satisfaction reduces turnover, absenteeism
• Weak association with job performance
• General attitude with specific behaviors
• Performance affects satisfaction through rewards
• Satisfaction affects org. citizenship
• Satisfaction increases customer satisfaction
• Affects moods, positive behaviors
• Less turnover, more consistent service

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Hiring for Attitude at Four Seasons

• Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts hires for
  attitude, trains for skills. Applicants must
  have emotions compatible with the job and possess
  the emotional intelligence needed to serve guests
  effectively.

Courtesy of Four Seasons Hotels Resorts.
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Emotional Labor

• Effort, planning and control needed to express
  organizationally desired emotions during
  interpersonal transactions
• Problems with emotional labor
• True emotions leak out
• Emotional dissonance
• Varied display norms across cultures

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Emotional Intelligence
Self- Awareness
Emotional Intelligence
Self- Regulation
Social Skill
Self- Motivation
Empathy
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Values at Work

• Stable, long-lasting beliefs about what is
  important
• Generalized conceptions of the world
• Terminal vs. instrument values
• Include cross-cultural, ethical, and
  organizational culture values

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Values

• Belief in and acceptance of organizational goals
• Centrality of paid work
• People vs Task orientation
• Measures of success

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Managing diversity

• Managing differences
• Managing attitudes towards differences

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Achievement-Nurturing
Achievement
Japan

• The degree that people value assertiveness,
  competitiveness, and materialism (achievement)
  versus relationships and well-being of others
  (nurturing)

United States
France
Sweden
Nurturing
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Power Distance
High Power Distance
Mexico

• The degree that people accept an unequal
  distribution of power in society

France
Japan
United States
Germany
Low Power Distance
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Uncertainty Avoidance
High U. A.
Japan

• The degree that people tolerate ambiguity (low)
  or feel threatened by ambiguity and uncertainty
  (high uncertainty avoidance).

Germany
United States
HongKong
Low U. A.
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Long/Short-Term Orientation
Long-Term Orientation
China

• The degree that people value thrift, savings, and
  persistence (long-term) versus past and present
  issues (short-term).

Japan
Netherlands
United States
Russia
Short-Term Orientation
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Attitudes towards differences

• Fear of the unknown
• Ethnocentrism
• Stereotyping

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Gender

• Collectivist
• importance of relationships
• nurturing
• emotional labour
• Measures of success
• status
• balance
• personal growth

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Individual differences influence Work-Related
Behaviors

• Vocational choice
• Joining the organization
• Remaining with the organization
• Maintaining work attendance
• Performing required job duties
• Exhibiting organizational citizenship

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Job Satisfaction Model
Outcomes/inputsof others
AmountExpected
Job satisfaction Job dissatisfaction Inequity
feelings
Pastexperience
Perceived amountreceived
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Behavior Modification

• We operate on the environment
• alter behavior to maximize positive and minimize
  adverse consequences.
• Operant versus respondent behaviors
• Law of effect
• likelihood that an operant behavior will be
  repeated depends on its consequences

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A-B-Cs of OB Modification
Example
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Contingencies of Reinforcement
Consequence is Introduced
Consequence is Removed
No Consequence
Behavior Increases/ Maintained
Positive reinforcement
Negative reinforcement
Punishment
Extinction
Punishment
Behavior Decreases
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Schedules of Reinforcement

• Continuous reinforcement
• Fixed interval
• Variable interval
• Fixed ratio
• Variable ratio

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OB Modification Limitations

• Cant reinforce nonobservable behavior
• Reinforcer tends to wear off
• Variable ratio schedule is a form of gambling
• Ethical concerns about perceived manipulation

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Definition of Learning

• A relatively permanent change in behavior (or
  behavior tendency) that occurs as a result of a
  persons interaction with the environment.

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Learning through Feedback

• Any information about consequences of our
  behavior
• Clarifies role perceptions
• Corrective feedback improves ability
• Positive feedback motivates future behavior

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Multi-Source (360 Degree) Feedback
Evaluated Employee
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Giving Feedback Effectively
Specific
Effective Feedback
Frequent
Relevant
Timely
Credible
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Social Learning Theory

• Behavioral modeling
• Observing and modeling behavior of others
• Learning behavior consequences
• Observing consequences that others experience
• Self-reinforcement
• Reinforcing our own behavior with consequences
  within our control

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Learning at International Forest Products

• At International Forest Products Ltd., employees
  receive hands-on, just-in-time learning from
  coworkers on the job site, not just in the
  classroom.

Courtesy of International Forest Products Ltd.
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Learning Through Experience

• Benefits of experiential learning
• Helps acquire tacit knowledge/skills
• Allows implicit learning
• Practicing experiential learning
• Reward experimentation
• Recognize mistakes as part of learning
• Action learning -- investigating a real problem