LEARNING

INTRODUCTION

If a manager wants to explain and predict human behaviour, he/she needs to understand how
learning occurs or how people learn. So it is extremely necessary to know the nature, process
and principles of learning.

According to S.P. Robbins, “Learning is any relatively permanent change in behaviour that
occurs as a result of experience.”

LEARNING PROCESS/NATURE

Whenever any change occurs, learning is taking place in the individual. If an individual
behaves, reacts and responds as a result of experience, which is different from others, the
person has encountered some new learning experience in his/her life. This theory consists of
the following four key elements:

i) Change process
Learning involves some change in oneself, in terms of observable actions explicitly shown to
others or change in one’s attitude or thought process, occurring within oneself implicitly.
Change may be good or bad and positive or negative from an organization point of view. If a
person experiences some negative incidents, that person will hold prejudices or bias, or to
restrict their output. On the contrary, if a person encounters some good incidents, that person
is likely to hold positive attitude.

ii) Permanent change

Due to whatever exposure a person encounters, the impact what it generates may be long-
lasting and permanent. Hence, the change must be relatively permanent. If a change occurs
due to fatigue or alcohol consumption, or due to temporary adaptation, it may disappear once
the goal is achieved.

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iii) Setting behavioural actions
Explicit changes occurring in behaviour, is the main goal of learning process. A change in an
individual’s thought process or attitudes, without any changes in explicit behaviour, will not
be considered as learning process.

iv) Need for meaningful experiences

Some form of experiences is necessary for learning. Experience may be acquired directly
through observation or practice. If an experience results in a relatively permanent change in
behaviour, one can confidently say that learning has taken place.

THEORIES OF LEARNING

There are three types of learning theories – Conditioning Theory, Cognitive Learning
Theory and Social Learning Theory.

FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING

 Motivation of the learner

 Mental set of the learner

 Nature of Learning Material

 Practice

 Environment

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 CLASSICAL CONDITIONING THEORY

Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov developed the Classical Conditioning Theory. When he
was doing a research on the chemical properties of saliva of dog, he noticed accidentally that
the dog started salivating the moment hearing the sound of a door of cupboard clinging.
Based on his observation, he wanted to do some experiment whether the dog can be
conditioned to respond to any neutral stimuli. He used a simple surgical procedure to operate
the salivary glands of a dog to measure accurately the amount of saliva.

Pavlov’s Experiment: Pavlov conducted his experiment in three stages.

Stage I: When Pavlov presented the dog with a piece of meat, the dog exhibited a noticeable
increase in salivation. The meat is unconditional stimulus and salivation is unconditional
response.

Stage II: In this stage, the dog was not given a piece of meat, but only exposed to a sound of
ringing bell. The dog did not salivate to the mere sound of a ringing bell.

Stage III: Pavlov decided to link both the presentation of meat and the ringing of a bell one
after the other with an interval of 5 minutes. After repeatedly hearing the bell before getting
the meat, the dog began to salivate as soon the bell rang. There is an association or link
between meat and ringing a bell. After repeating the association between meat and ringing a
bell, the dog started salivating merely at the sound of the bell, even if no food was offered.
The dog is now conditioned to respond to a sound of a bell and started salivating. This is
called classical conditioning process.

Thus, classical condition is defined as the formation of S-R link (Stimulus-Response) or habit
between a conditioned stimulus and a conditioned response through the repeated paring of
conditioned stimulus with an unconditioned stimulus. In this experiment, the meat is
unconditioned stimulus and the expected response that is, salivating to the meat is called as
unconditioned response. The sound of a bell is a neutral stimulus, which does not have any
property to elicit salivation, is called as conditioned stimulus.

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Although it was originally neutral, if the bell was paired with meat (unconditioned stimulus)
it acquired the same property as meat eliciting the salivation. The sound of a bell produced
salivation when presented alone. This is called conditioned response, that is, now the dog is
conditioned to respond to the sound of a bell. Learning conditioned response involves
building up an association between a conditioned stimulus and unconditioned stimulus. When
the stimuli, one is natural and the other one neutral are paired, the neutral one becomes a
conditioned stimulus and hence takes on the properties of the unconditioned stimulus.

OPERANT CONDITIONING THEORY

Operant Conditioning principle was proposed by B.F. Skinner, an American

Psychologist. It is a type of conditioning in which desired voluntary behaviour leads to a
reward or prevent a punishment. Operant conditioning principle emphasizes strongly that,
the behaviour of an individual is a function of its consequences. If the consequences are
pleasant, the behaviour associated with such consequences will be repeated again and
again. If the consequences are unpleasant, the behaviour will be in extinct. The rationale
behind this theory is that, people learn to behave in order to get something they want or to
avoid something they don’t want.

Operant Conditioning is learned process. The tendency to repeat such behaviour is

influenced by the reinforcement or lack of reinforcement brought about by the
consequences of the behaviour. The proper reinforcement strengthens a behaviour and
increases the likelihood that it will be repeated.

Skinner’s Experiment: Skinner developed an apparatus to conduct a series of learning

experiment using rats. He named that apparatus as Skinner’s Box which has certain
features such as a lever, bowl, light, water container etc. A highly deprived rat is placed in
the box. Once a rat nudges, touches or hits the lever attached in the corner of the box, a
piece of food pellet is dropped in the bowl. By trial and error, the rat learns that hitting the
lever is followed by getting a food pellet in the bowl. Skinner coined the term operant
response to any behavioural act, such as pressing or hitting or nudging the lever that has
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some effect on the environment. Thus, in a typical experiment with a skinner box, hitting
or pressing the lever is an operant response, and the increased rate of lever hitting or
pressing that occurs when the response is followed by a pellet of food exemplifies operant
conditioning.

COGNITIVE LEARNING THEORY

The pioneer of Cognitive Learning Theory is Edward Tolman. The cognitive theory
recognizes the role of an organism in receiving, memorizing, retrieving and interpreting the
stimulus and reacting to it. According to Tolman, cognitive approach could be termed as
stimulus approach i.e. one stimulus leads to another.

Cognitive learning is achieved by thinking about the perceived relationship between events
and individual goals and expectations. Cognitive theory of learning assumes that the
organism learns the meaning of various objects and events and learned responses depend
upon the meaning assigned to stimuli.

Cognitive theorists argue that the learner forms a cognitive structure in memory, which
preserves and organizes information about the various events which occur in a learning
situation. When a test is conducted to determine how much has been learned, the subject must
encode the test stimulus and scan it against his memory to determine an appropriate action.
What is done will depend upon the cognitive structure retrieved from memory.

Today, the cognitive theory is very much alive and relevant. In organizational behaviour the
cognitive approach has been applied mainly to motivation theories. Expectations, attributions,
locus of control and goal setting are all cognitive concepts and represent the purposefulness
of organizational behaviour. Many researchers are currently concerned about the relationship
or connection between cognition and organizational behaviour.

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 SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Individuals can learn by observing what happens to other people and just by being told about
something, as well as by direct experiences. Much of what we have learned comes from
observing and imitating models - parents, teachers, peers, superiors, film stars etc. This view,
that we can learn through both observation and direct experience, is called Social Learning
Theory.

This theory emphasizes the interactive nature of cognitive, behavioural and environmental
determinants. The influence of model is central to the social learning view point. The
following four processes are vital to determine the influence that a model will have on an
individual:

i) Attention Process: People learn from a model only when they recognize and pay attention
to its critical features. People tend to be most influenced by models that are attractive,
repeatedly available similar to us in our estimation.

ii) Retention Process: A model’s influence will depend on how well the individual
remembers the model’s action, after the model is no longer readily available.

iii) Motor Reproduction Process: After a person has seen a new behaviour by observing the
model, the observation must be converted to action. This process then demonstrates that, the
individual can perform the modelled activities.

iv) Reinforcement Process: Individual will be motivated to exhibit they modelled behaviour
if positive incentives or rewards are provided. Behaviour that is positively reinforced will be
given more attention, learned better and performed more often.

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 ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION (briefly known as OB Mod)

According to Stephen P. Robbins:

“OB Mod is a programme where managers identify performance related employee
behaviours and then implement an intervention strategy to strengthen desirable behaviour and
weaken undesirable behaviours.”

Steps in OB Modification:
Fred Luthans and R. Kreitner developed and used OB Mod to represent a behavioural
approach to the management of human resources for performance improvement.

The steps given by them in applying the OB Mod are summarized in the following
figure:

These steps are discussed as follows:

1. Identification:
The first step in the OB Mod is identification of performance related behaviours. First of all,
the behaviour should be identified as desirable or undesirable from the point of view of the
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organization. Then in the next stage, critical behaviours, that have significant impact on the
employees’ performance, should be given due attention. The critical behaviours can be
identified through discussions with the particular employee and his immediate superior, as
both are closely intimated with the job behaviours.

Some of the critical behaviours which affect job performance are absenteeism or attendance,
tardiness or promptness, complaints or constructive criticism, listening to or not listening to
the instructions, etc. If such behaviours are modified, good results could be expected. Due
attention should be given to the critical behaviour because they get repeated again and again.

2. Measurement:
After the critical behaviours of the employees have been identified, the next step for the
manager is to measure the frequency of the critical behaviour over time. The measurement
can be done by observation and by extraction of information from records. If the frequency is
within the acceptable limit, it will require no action, but if it exceeds the acceptable limit,
it will need immediate attention. The measurement of behaviour will also help the managers
in determining the success in changing the employees’ behaviour.

3. Analysis:
At the next step, the managers will have to do a functional analysis of the behaviour that
requires modification. This analysis will determine what circumstances lead to a particular
type of behaviour, what are the consequences of such behaviour etc. Contingent
consequences of behaviour should be identified because these consequences have impact on
subsequent behaviour. Moreover, some contingent consequences appear to be affecting the
critical behaviour on the surface only, the functional analysis should try to find out the
competing contingencies for every behaviour also.

4. Intervention:
Once the critical behaviours have been identified and the circumstances which cause such
behaviours have been determined, the next step will be to develop an effective intervention
strategy. There are several strategies that can be used at this stage. These include positive or
negative reinforcement, extinction or punishment.

The use of a particular strategy will depend upon the type of situation faced. After developing
and implementing a particular strategy, the frequency of resulting behaviour is measured. If a

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behaviour change has occurred in the right direction, the manager will select a reinforcement
schedule that will maintain the desired behaviour.

5. Evaluation:
The last stage in OB Mod is the evaluation whether the intervention strategies are working
properly or not. The basic purpose of OB Mod is to bring change in undesirable behaviours
so as to improve performance. Evaluation will reveal whether the undesirable behaviours
have been substituted by desirable behaviour or not. If there has been a change in behaviour,
whether it is permanent or just temporary.

Further, the evaluation will also show whether there is improvement in the performance or
not. If there is a positive change, it suggests that the interventions are successful. However, if
the change is not significant, it may call for adoption of alternate and more appropriate
strategies.

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT

The managers use the following methods for controlling the behaviour of the employees:

1. Positive Reinforcement- This implies giving a positive response, when an individual

shows positive and required behaviour. For example - Immediately praising an employee
for coming early for job. This will increase probability of outstanding behaviour occurring
again. Reward is a positive reinforce, but not necessarily. If the employees’ behaviour
improves, reward can said to be a positive reinforcer. Positive reinforcement stimulates
occurrence of a behaviour. It must be noted that more spontaneous is the giving of reward,
the greater reinforcement value it has.

2. Negative Reinforcement- This implies rewarding an employee by removing negative /

undesirable consequences. Both positive and negative reinforcement can be used for
increasing desirable / required behaviour.

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3. Punishment- It implies removing positive consequences, so as to lower the probability
of repeating undesirable behaviour in future. In other words, punishment means applying
undesirable consequence for showing undesirable behaviour. For instance - Suspending an
employee for breaking the organizational rules. Punishment can be equalized by positive
reinforcement from alternative source.

4. Extinction- It implies absence of reinforcements. In other words, extinction implies

lowering the probability of undesired behaviour by removing reward for that kind of
behaviour. For instance - If an employee no longer receives praise and admiration for his
good work, he may feel that his behaviour is generating no fruitful consequence. Extinction
may unintentionally lower desirable behaviour.

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