■ Learning

■ LEARNING

■ Any relatively permanent change in behavior that occurs as a result of experience

• Learning involves a change in an attitude or behavior (positive or negative)

• Change must be relatively permanent
• It involves some form of practice and experience
• Practice and experience must be reinforced over time for learning to occur
• Learning is an inferred process

■ Learning

■ All accept the importance of learning for understanding & effective management of
human resources

■ Behaviour in general is learnt: the way we dress/develop skills & attitudes.

■ The theories, principles of learning and process involved in learning serve as a

foundation for developing appropriate strategies, rewards systems and behaviour
management.

Important concepts
■ DRIVE: when person is aroused because he or she is deprived or stimulated
■ STIMULUS: cue that encourages some type of response
■ REINFORCER: any object or event that increases or sustains the response given by a
person

■ Important theories
■ Classical conditioning
■ Operant conditioning
■ Social learning
■ Contingencies of reinforcement
■ Left brain and right brain
■ Experiential learning

■ CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
■ 1. A process by which individuals learn reflex behavior or automatic responses not
under an individual’s conscious control
■ 2. an unconditioned stimulus brings out a reflexive response
■ 3. managers are more interested in voluntary employee behaviour
e.g. Ivan Pavlov’s experiment

■ Classical conditioning

■ Ivan Pavlov measured the amount of saliva secreted by the dog…….

■ Classical conditioning, therefore, is a process in which a formerly neutral stimulus

(bell) when paired with unconditional stimulus (meat), becomes a conditional stimulus
that elicits a conditional response.
■ Operant conditioning

■ A process by which individuals learn voluntary behavior

■ Voluntary behaviors are operant because they have some influence on the
environment

■ Learning occurs because of the consequences that follow behavior

■ Skinner Box
■ Operant conditioning
B.F. Skinner
Conditioning in which desired voluntary behavior leads to a reward or prevents a punishment
Behavior is assumed to be learned/determined from without, rather than from within—
reflexive
By creating pleasing consequences to follow specific forms of behavior, the frequency of that
behavior will increase
Skinner emphasized the role the consequences play in learning, i.e., (R – S) connections.
Therefore, behaviour is a function of its consequence.
Operant Conditioning

Classical Operant

Change in the stimulus ( from A particular response out of the many

unconditioned stimulus to
conditioned stimulus) will elicit
response
Frequency of the eliciting
stimulus determines the
strength & frequency of
conditional behaviour
(environmental event that
precedes the behaviour)
The uncs stimulus serving as a
reward is presented every time.
occurs in a given stimulus situation –
what happens as a consequence of the
response affects the behaviour. The
stimulus situation serves a cue to emit
a response
It is the consequence that determines
the strength & frequency of behaviour
(the environmental event that follows
the behaviour).
The reward is presented only if the
organism gives the correct response

■ What are the problems in applying this perspective to humans?

■ Cognitive theories
■ Cognitive dissonance
■ Cognitive theories
Edward Toleman

■ Toleman, forerunner of modern social learning theory

■ Cognitive learning consists of relationship between cognitive environmental cues &

expectations.

■ Individuals do more than merely respond to stimuli; they act on beliefs, attitudes,
changing conditions, and they strive toward goals

■ Toleman’s theory

■ Rats run through the maze with purpose and direction toward a goal.

■ At each choice point in the maze, expectations were established: that is, the rat
learned to expect that certain cognitive cues associated with the choice might
eventually lead to food.
■ If the rat actually received the food, the association between the cue and the
expectancy was strengthened and learning occurred.

■ Toleman’s theory

■ Learning through the association between cue and the expectancy

■ Had great impact on the early HR movements.

■ Workers learnt to be productive by building an association between taking orders or

following the directions and expectancies of monetary reward for this effect.

■ Social Learning Theory (Albert Bandura)

■ Combines both behavioural & cognitive concepts

■ Emphasizes the interactive, reciprocal nature of cognitive, behavioral, and

environment determinants

■ Social Learning Theory (Albert Bandura)

■ Most human behaviour is learned observationally through modelling
■ From observing others one forms an idea of how new behaviours are performed
■ This coded information serves as a guide in future
■ Social Learning Theory (Albert Bandura)

■ Social learning theory

■ Observational Learning
learning from other people by means of observing them is an effective way of gaining
knowledge and altering behaviour.

■ Reproduction
the process wherein there is an aim to effectively increase the repeating of a
behaviour by means of putting the individual in a comfortable environment with readily
accessible materials to motivate him to retain the new knowledge and behaviour
learned and practice them.

■ Social learning theory

■ Self-efficacy
the course wherein the learner improves his newly learned knowledge or behaviour by
putting it into practice.

Person
Cognition

Behavior Environment

Model for social learning:

Learning as a process of interaction between person, behaviour and environment

■ Emotional coping
good coping mechanisms against stressful environment and negative personal
characteristics can lead to effective learning, especially in adults.
■ Self-regulatory capability
ability to control behaviour even within an unfavourable environment.
■ SELF EFFICACY
■ High self efficacy
■ Have the ability needed
■ Capable of the effort required
■ No outside events will prevent them from achieving heir goals

■ Low self efficacy; believes that however hard they try, they won’t succeed

■ Learned helplessness: motivation to do a task is so low that the worker simply gives up

■ Application of social learning theory

■ Identify the behaviors that will lead to improved performance.

■ Select the appropriate model for employees to observe.

■ Make sure that employees are capable of meeting the technical skill requirements of
the required new behaviors.

■ Structure a positive learning situation to increase the likelihood that employees will
learn the new behaviors and act in the proper manner.

■ Provide positive consequences (praise or bonuses) for employees who engage in

proper modeling behaviors.

■ Develop management practices that maintain these newly learned behaviors.

■ Kolb’s learning styles

■ Four stages in experiential learning

■ Four types of learners

– Divergers
– Assimilators
– Convergers
– Accommodators
■ Kolb’s Learning Styles

Concrete Experiencers
Excited by new experience, share it with others.
Combine Experiencing and Generalizing

Active Experimenters
Prgmatic and rely on trying thing out in
familiar situations. Applying part of cycle is
more apealing to them
Reflective Observers
learn from observation, reflect on it, discuss,
benefit from processing and Generalizing
parts of cycle

Abstract Conceptualizers
Rely mainly on logic and rational analysis. Tend to
generalize from exposure to logical material.

■ Experiential learning
Kolb’s learning cycle

• Experiencing: learner comes to some concrete experience

• Processing: learner reflects and analyses the experience both individually and in a
group

• Generalizing: learner forms a tentative theory or a way to explain the data

• Applying: learner tries applying the new behaviour

■ Kolb’s Learning Cycle

 Concrete Experiences stage

Perception of the objective world.

Active Experimentation stage Observational and Reflective stage

Check out theories and hunches by Beginning of internalisation.

testing in new situations.

Abstract Conceptualisation stage

Step back from reality and draw

conclusions and generalisations.
■ Rewards and Punishments

■ Principles of Learning

■ Law of Effect (Thorndike) :

– of several responses those behaviours which are accompanied or closely

followed by satisfaction will be more likely to recur

– Those accompanied by discomfort (punishment) will be less likely to recur

– Desirable/ reinforcing consequences will increase the strength of a response

and its probability of being repeated in the future.

– Increase the strength of a response or repetition through reinforcement;

decrease the strength of a response through punishment.
■ Principles of Learning

■ Reinforcement – anything the person finds rewarding. (anything that both increases
the strength of response & tends to induce repetition of the behaviour that preceded
is called reinforcement).

■ Functionally something is reinforcing only if it strengthens the response preceding it &

induces repetition of the response
■ Principles of Learning

■ It must be remembered that reinforcement positive or negative strengthens the

response or increases the probability of repetition.

■ Both positive and negative reinforcers accomplish this impact on behaviour in

completely different ways.

■ Positive reinforcement strengthens and increase behaviour by the presentation of a

desirable consequence “Study well I will give you …”
■ Principles of Learning

■ Negative reinforcement – strengthens and increases behaviour by the termination or

withdrawal of an undesirable consequence (e.g., X behaves well so that he is not
scolded or punished);
■ It’s a kind of social blackmail, because the person will behave in a certain way in order
not to be punished.

■ Note: Negative reinforcement is not punishment. In fact, they have opposite effect on
behaviour.

■ Negative reinforcement strengthens and increases behaviour while punishment

weakens and decreases behaviour.
Positive reinforcement – strengthens
response & increases behaviour by
presentation of a desirable
consequence
Negative reinforcement strengthens &
increases behaviour by the
termination/ withdrawal of an
undesirable consequence – a kind of
blackmail

■ Punishment

■ Anything that weakens behaviour & tends to decrease its subsequent frequency.

■ It is reverse of reinforcement , viz.,

– (a) it is application of undesirable consequence

– (b) also defined as withdrawal of desirable consequence (taking away certain

privileges)

■ Sometimes punishment becomes attention giving/ recognition e.g., shouting in front of

the others makes someone a hero.

■ Punishment to occur there must be a weakening of & decrease in the behaviour

which preceded it.

■ Punished behaviour tends to be only temporarily suppressed rather than permanently

changed and the punished person tends to get anxious and resentful of the punisher.

– Vicious cycle – unless the punishment is severe, the behaviour will reappear
quickly but more severe the punishment greater the side effects such as hate
and revenge.

■ Therefore it is important to provide an alternative to the behaviour that is being

punished.
■ Punishment must be immediate (Hot Stove method—quick response), consistent and
impersonal

■ REWARD: something that the person who presents it deems it desirable; given by the
person who thinks it is desirable.
■ Effective principles of discipline

• Deliver punishment immediately after the undesirable response occurs

• Give moderate levels of punishment appropriate to the undesirable behavior

• Punish the undesirable behavior not the person

• Use punishment consistently – all the time for all employees. Don’t be partial

• Clearly communicate the reasons for punishments given

• Do not follow punishment with non-contingent rewards

Why not use punishment? Why use punishment?

May create distress for the punisher Temporarily stops or lessons

Attention is not focused on desired behavior behavior
May lead to negative side effects – fear, suspicion Quick and easy to use
and revenge
May damage employee emotionally