Organizational

Behavior Module
III
LEARNING
LEARNING
Learning is one of the important psychological processes that determine the human
behaviour. All human behaviours either directly or indirectly are affected by learning
process. Learning can be conceptualised as acquiring new behaviour in an
interactional environment. It is the process of acquiring, assimilating and
internalizing cognitive, motor or behavioural inputs for their varied uses as and
when required.
 Definitions of Learning
With every new experience and every new event or situation, we learn something new. But, this concept of
learning is purely theoretical. In real terms, learning can be described as the modification of one’s
behaviour through practice, training and experience. A few definitions of learning are given below to
understand the nature of learning.
“Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of prior experience.”
“Learning has taken place if an individual behaves, reacts, and responds as a result of experience in a
manner different from the way he formerly behaved.”
“Learning can be defined as relatively permanent change in behaviour potentiality that results from
reinforced practice or experience.”
Theories of Learning
 1. Classical conditioning theory of
learning
Classical conditioning is defined as association of one event with another desired event resulting in a behaviour. The most
popular experiment on the classical conditioning was conducted by a famous Russian psychologist Ivan Pavlov.
Pavlov conducted an experiment on dogs and tried to establish a stimulus-response connection amongst them. Pavolv was
honored with a Nobel Prize for his experiment on this subject. In his experiment on dogs, Pavlov made an attempt to
relate salivation of dogs with ringing of bell. The amount of saliva secretions were measured with the help of a surgical
procedure.
In the first stage of experiment, Pavlov presented a piece of meat in front of the dog. The dog secreted increased amount of
saliva in response to the meat. This response was unconditional. Then, he withheld the presentation of meat and rang a bell
in front of dog at the same time when meat was presented to him. The dog did not exhibit any salivation or we can say that
there was no response.
In the next stage of the experiment, he started ringing the bell at the same time when meat was presented to him. By doing
so he linked meat with ringing of the bell. Thus an association between two stimuli viz. the bell and meat was established.
He continued with this process for some time. After some time, he found that the ringing of bell alone elicited the saliva of
dog even without presentation of meat. Hence, the bell became conditioned stimulus resulting into conditioned or learned
response. The experiment is shown in the following exhibit:
As given in the exhibit, following observations can be drawn from this experiment:
Salivation in response to food was unlearned and natural response or reflex. This response was called unconditioned response.

As the food elicited unconditioned response, it was called unconditioned stimulus.

•When Pavlov presented the food after ringing the bell, the dog responded by salivating and after conditioning, the bell
alone resulted into salivation. Thus the bell became conditioned stimulus and salivation was conditioned response.
•We can also see many examples of classical conditioning in an organizational setting. For example, in an organization,
departmental heads used to ask the executives and others staff members to update their files and other records,
whenever some senior officer of top management was about to visit the department for the purpose of auditing the
documents and necessary records. This practice was continued for many years. Eventually, the employees would turn
on their best behaviors and look prim whenever they were asked to update their files and records even when this was
not paired with visit of senior officer. This was because employees of that department learnt to associate updating of
files with visit of senior officer for audit.
•Despite of receiving the wide appreciation theoretically, the theory of classical conditioning was criticized by many
psychologists on the ground that it represents only a little part of total human learning. Particularly Skinner realized
that classical conditioning explains only reflexive behaviors. In reality, the behavior of people in organizations is voluntary
rather than being reflexive. This voluntary behavior is not a response of specific stimulus. Such behaviors are more
complex. The complex behavior can be understood by operant conditioning theory of learning.
 Operant Conditioning theory of
learning
Theory of operant conditioning argues that behaviour is the function of its consequences.
•B. F. Skinner who practiced the theory of operant conditioning advocated that individuals emit the behaviours which are
rewarded and do not emit the behaviours which are not rewarded or punished. In the simple words, it can be said that
behaviour is likely to be repeated when the consequences are favourable and is not likely to be repeated when the
consequences are not favourable. Therefore, the essence of operant conditioning is the relationship between behaviour
and its consequences. The word ‘operant’ explains that relationship between behavior and consequences is a learning process
which is developed over a period of time, in which a person changes his behaviour based on his favorable or unfavorable
past experiences.
•Based on this theory, management can identify this relationship and control the behaviour of employees. Certain consequences
can be increased and certain consequences can be decreased to increase the occurrence of the desired behaviour. Various
examples of operant conditioning can be seen in the organizations.
•For example, a boss assures his subordinate that he would be compensated for his overtime in the next appraisal
but, he fails to fulfil his assurance during the next evaluation. Consequently, the subordinate will never agree to work
overtime whenever the boss will request him to do so. Thus it can be concluded that rewarding consequences increase the
response and aversive consequences decrease the same.
Operant conditioning, sometimes called instrumental conditioning or Skinnerian conditioning, is a
method of learning that uses rewards and punishment to modify behavior. Through operant
conditioning, behavior that is rewarded is likely to be repeated, while behavior that is punished is
prone to happen less.
For example, when you are rewarded at work with a performance bonus for exceptional work, you will
want to continue performing at a higher level in hopes of receiving another bonus in the future.
Because this behavior was followed by a positive outcome, the behavior will likely be repeated.
Operant Conditioning theory of learning
 Operant Conditioning theory of learning

Operant conditioning was first described by psychologist B.F. Skinner. His theory was based on two
assumptions. First, the cause of human behavior is something in a person’s environment. Second, the
consequences of a behavior determine the possibility of it being repeated. Behaviors followed by a
pleasant consequence are likely to be repeated and those followed by an unpleasant consequence are
less likely to be repeated.
Through his experiments, Skinner identified three types of responses that followed behavior:
• Neutral responses. They are responses from the environment that produce no stimulus other than
focusing attention. They neither increase nor decrease the probability of a behavior being repeated.
• Reinforcers. They are responses from the environment that increase the likelihood of a behavior being
repeated. They can either be positive or negative.
• Punishers. These are negative operants that decrease the likelihood of a behavior. Punishment weakens
behavior.
 Types of operant behaviors
B.F. Skinner divided behavior into two different types: respondent and operant.
Respondent behavior. This is the type of behavior that you can’t control. It’s Skinner’s term for what
happened with Pavlov’s dogs -- when they heard a bell, they responded by salivating. It was a reflex, not a
choice. People have respondent behaviors, too. If someone puts your favorite food in front of you, you
likely will start salivating, just like Pavlov’s dogs.
Operant behavior. These are voluntary behaviors that you choose to do based on previous consequences.
You choose to behave in a certain way to get an expected result. For example, you study hard in
anticipation of a reward from your parents. Or if you get punished for talking back to your parents, you are
more likely to choose not to do that in the future.
 Positive Reinforcement
Positive reinforcement involves providing a pleasant stimulus to increase the likelihood of a
behavior happening in the future. For example, if your child does chores without being asked,
you can reward them by taking them to a park or giving them a treat.
Skinner used a hungry rat in a Skinner box to show how positive reinforcement works. The box
contained a lever on the side, and as the rat moved about the box, it would accidentally knock
the lever. Immediately after it did so, a food pellet would drop into a container next to the lever.
The consequence of receiving food every time the rat hit the lever ensured that the animal
repeated the action again and again.
Negative Reinforcement

In negative reinforcement, something unpleasant happens in response to a stimulus. Over time,

the behavior increases with the expectation that the aversive stimulant will be taken away. If,
for example, a child refuses to eat vegetables at dinner time and a parent responds by taking
the vegetables away, the removal of the vegetables is negative reinforcement.
 Punishment
Punishment is the opposite of reinforcement since it is designed to weaken or eliminate a
response rather than increase it. It is an aversive event that decreases the behavior that it
follows.
Like reinforcement, punishment can work either by directly applying an unpleasant stimulus
like a shock after a response or by removing a potentially rewarding stimulus, for instance,
deducting someone’s pocket money to punish undesirable behavior.
1. Positive Punishment:

• Positive punishment involves adding an aversive stimulus or

something unpleasant immediately
following a behavior to decrease the likelihood of that behavior happening in the future.
• It aims to weaken the target behavior by associating it with an undesirable consequence.
• Example: A child receives a scolding (an aversive stimulus) from their parent immediately
after hitting
their sibling. This is intended to decrease the likelihood of the child hitting their sibling
again.
2. Negative Punishment:
• Negative punishment involves removing a desirable stimulus or something
rewarding immediately following a behavior to decrease the likelihood of that
behavior happening in the future.
• It aims to weaken the target behavior by taking away something the individual
values or enjoys.
• Example: A teenager loses their video game privileges (a desirable stimulus)
for not completing their chores. This is intended to decrease the likelihood of
the teenager neglecting their chores in the future.
 Cognitive Theory of learning
Cognitive theory of learning refers to an individual’s knowledge, thoughts and understandings about himself
and his environment. This theory assumes that individuals learn the meaning of various objects and events
and also the learned responses on the basis of meaning assigned to the stimuli. A cognitive structure is
formed in the memory of an individual which preserves and organizes the information about various events
that occurred in a learning process. Whenever the individual faces some situation or an event, he scans it
against his memory to determine appropriate action. Therefore, the action taken by the individual depends
upon the cognitive structure retrieved from the memory. Finally, it can be said that an individual’s
response is a decision process that varies from situation to situation and the individual’s memory for
prior such events.
The pioneer of cognitive theory of learning is Edward Tolman who developed this theory through
controlled experiments. He conducted a laboratory experiment using rats. He showed that rats learned to run
through a complicated maze to reach to their goal of obtaining the food. Rats developed expectations at
every choice point in the maze. Thus they learnt to expect that certain cognitive cues related to the
choice point ultimately lead to the food. Finally, when the relationship between cues and expectancy
was strengthened, learning took place because cues led to expected goals.
Cognitive theory is different from stimulus-response theories. Stimulus-response theories assume
that learning is the function of stimulus-response relationship and ignored the role of individual
himself in the learning process. On the other hand, cognitive theory recognizes the role of an
individual in receiving, memorizing, retrieving and interpreting the stimulus and reacting
to it. Today, the cognitive approach of learning is very much relevant and in OB this approach is
mainly applied to the theories of motivation.
Social Learning theory
The most popular social learning theory is Bandura’s Modelling theory. This theory emphasizes on
the importance of observing and modelling the attitudes, behaviors and emotional reactions of
others. The theory explains that much of what we learn is the result of observing and imitating
our role models such as parents, teachers, peers or celebrities. The theory assumes that
learning is not only the result of environmental determinism (classical and operant conditioning
view) or individualism determinism (cognitive theory) but, it is combination of both. In
observational learning, the influence of the role model is the centre of learning. According to this
theory, the influence of role model on the individual is determined by four processes:
 Social Learning theory
1. Attention process: This process explains that people learn from the role model when they pay
attention to their critical behaviors. Therefore, individuals tend to be influenced by the models
that are more attractive and appear similar to them.
2. Retention process: This process explains that learning from the model will depend upon how
well the individual retains model’s actions and behaviors even after the model is not available to
the individual.
3. Production process: This process involves recalling model’s behavior and performing own
actions by matching them with the actions performed by the role model.
4. Reinforcement process: This process explains that individuals will repeat the modelled
behavior if it is rewarding. Behaviors that are reinforced receive more attention and are
performed more often.
Principles of Learning

Reinforcement

Positive
Avoidance Extinction Punishment
reinforcement
 Principles of Learning
Principles of learning help the managers gain maximum efficiency in a learning situation. However, blind
observance to these principles can cause damaging effects than the gain. Therefore, each principle should be
carefully interpreted and applied after considering the nature of task being learned and the context in which it is
being learned. Some important principles of learning are explained as below:
i. Motivation: Without motivation learning cannot take place. Motivation is the basic principle of learning.
Motivation can be seen at different levels of complexity in different situations. In an experiment conducted by
Edward Tolman, the hungry rat learnt the path through a complex maze to the food. In the experiment
conducted by Thorndike, desire to escape from the puzzle box motivated the animals to learn the way to escape
from the box.
ii. Knowledge of Results: It is a common fact that knowledge of one’s own performance is essential for learning.
Feedback of the performance stimulates the individual to take corrective action if there is any deviation in his
performance.
iii. Reinforcement: Reinforcement is the most important principle of learning. Reinforcement can be defined as
anything that both increases the strength of response and tends to induce repetitions of the behaviour that preceded
the reinforcement. In simple words, reinforcement refers to the consequences of behaviour. Reinforcement is
external environment based. It is described as external environmental events that follow a response. There are
four basic forms of reinforcement viz. positive reinforcement, avoidance, punishment and extinction.
a. Positive reinforcement: Positive reinforcement strengthens and increases the behavior by offering desirable
consequences. In simple words, positive reinforcement is the reward for a desired behavior. The reward should
be such that which stimulates individual’s desired behavior. For example, if an employee performs extremely well in the
organization and receives awards for the same, the probability of repeating the same behavior will increase.
b. Avoidance: It is also known as negative reinforcement. It is another alternative of increasing the desired
behavior. In this, instead of associating a reward with the desired behavior, the individual gets an opportunity to
avoid the punishment by displaying the desired behavior. For example, a manager usually criticizes his subordinates
for not achieving their targets. The employees will achieve their targets to avoid the criticism.
c. Extinction: Whereas positive reinforcement and negative reinforcement are the ways to increase the occurrence
of desired behavior, extinction refers to decreasing the frequency of undesirable behavior. When the rewards are
withdrawn from the behaviors which were earlier associated with the rewards, frequency of such behaviors
will tend to decrease or eventually extinct.
d. Punishment: It is also used to decrease the occurrence of undesired behavior. Punishment refers to the
presentation of an unpleasant or an aversive consequence of undesirable behavior. For example, in an
organization written warnings, pay cuts or terminations are given for the undesirable behaviors like theft,
financial embezzlement, damaging the property and coming late consistently etc.
iv. Schedules of Learning: Reinforcement does not always follow a particular response. An employee, who
always finishes his assignment on time, sometimes receives recognition and appreciation and sometimes is
ignored. Schedules of reinforcement refer to the pattern or timing of administering the reinforcers for the desired
behavior. Schedules of reinforcement are of two types: Continuous and partial.

Schedules of
reinforcement

Continuous Partial

Variable
Fixed ratio Variable ratio Fixed interval
interval
 Schedules of Reinforcement

• Continuous schedule: Continuous schedule reinforces the desired behavior every time it is displayed. The reinforcement
is
immediate.
• Partial schedule: In partial or intermittent schedule, the behavior is not reinforced every time it is displayed but,
reinforcement is often enough to make the behavior worth repeating.
 Fixed interval schedule: When reinforcement is given at fixed time intervals.
 Variable interval schedule: When reinforcement is given at variable times. In other words, reinforcement is given at random
times so that nobody can predict the timing of reinforcement.
 Fixed ratio schedule: In this method, reward is given after the fixed number of desired responses is displayed by the
employee.
 Variable ratio schedule: In this method, rewards are offered after variable amount of desired responses.