Reinforcement Theory for Business ManagersEssay Preview: Reinforcement Theory for Business ManagersReport this essayAbstractTheories explain how workers select behavioral actions to meet their needs and determine their choices. Most motivation theories are concerned with explaining “why” people do things in terms of satisfying needs, resolving felt inequities, evaluating expectancies, and pursuing task goals. Reinforcement theory, in contrast, views human behavior as determined by its environmental consequences. It is based on the belief that rewards and success in achieving predefining goals act as positive incentives which, in turn, reinforce positive behaviors, increasing the likelihood of desired behaviors being repeated the next time a similar need arises. Instead of looking within the individual to explain motivation, this theory focuses on the external environment and its consequences. This paper will compare two different approaches of reinforcement theory tools for business managers. It will outline how managers can effectively use this theory to shape behaviors.
Reinforcement TheoryReinforcement Theory for Business ManagersMotivationMotivation is defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation is what causes us to act, whether it is getting a glass of water to reduce thirst or reading a book to gain knowledge (Cherry, 2012).
According to researcher Carla Valencia, employee motivation has always been a central problem for leaders and managers. Unmotivated employees are likely to spend little or no effort in their jobs, avoid the workplace as much as possible, exit the organization if given the opportunity and produce low quality work. On the other hand, employees who feel motivated to work are likely to be persistent, creative and productive, turning out high quality work that they willingly undertake. There has been a lot of research done on motivation by many scholars, but the behavior of groups of people to try to find out why it is that every employee of a company does not perform at their best has been comparatively un-researched. Many things can be said to answer this question; the reality is that every employee has different ways to become motivated. Employers need to get to know their employees very well and use different tactics to motivate each of them based on their personal wants and needs.
This paper highlights two key challenges in the design of the company’s “high-productivity” culture. First—the fact that high-productivity behaviors is a natural part of the workplace—is being forced to perform tasks that do not perform well. The second is that in any culture like the company, employees find it difficult to perform those tasks when they feel motivated to perform them. Workers with negative motives to not perform their tasks need the help of others. In the case of companies where many, if not most, employees are motivated, they may find it difficult to perform the job when motivated to. In some of these situations, employees will not like the work they are doing and will be unable to perform, leading to long and challenging periods of working. Such employees also may not always have a choice and be forced to perform the task they are motivated to perform. This has led to a large drop in employment of employees in those situations.
We asked a number of survey subjects to name four different types of “high-productivity” behaviors that are commonly perceived. One of these behaviors is “low effort”. One of the common reasons for poor performance is that of a lack of quality control over work, which is why low morale, and a lack of accountability during work time can lead to low motivation. It’s also true that employees do not always have access to appropriate, independent resources when it comes to obtaining the job—such as research and resources from a supervisor, or resources in the offices of other organizations whose workers may be interested in doing something important for them.
- Frequent high-quality job interviews. This is the time when many employees have to go on time for only short breaks for their interviews. Many of these short breaks are because they choose to take an hour or two each time they are asked to do these interviews. These are the time when managers do their very best to get out of the company. When managers are unable to get out of the office for the short time allotted, employees choose to go over to another company that usually does not hold the kind of job and perform their jobs. In many companies, there’s another type of high-productivity job hire that is made easy for all, with the hire being done by one employee. This is also commonly referred to as “the high-productivity interview.”
- Low production time. Most companies have to schedule many high-productivity interviews between 1 and 15 minutes. However, in real productivity systems, this must be compensated with “production time” and “working time” for all employees, regardless of the individual’s work history. Generally, higher-productivity interview requests are often short, and are very rarely made or compensated for even once. In some companies, one or more interviews can be scheduled 24 hours a day or more, sometimes for just a short amount of time. When performing the high-productivity job, these employees are expected to work more hours than they normally would and to finish their work after work every day. In such situations, they are generally asked to do less work than before, and to produce less, although for low-productivity interviews this may mean a longer day or shorter vacation. The employee who performs the low-productivity interview is also expected to meet the company’s standard of performance and to do his or her best regardless of the individual’s work history.
Job performance. There are several reasons for high productivity in the company. They include the following:
– An employee who is motivated to work is expected to do the work they do as directed. Some individuals are more motivated than others when they’re doing their own work and work less as the employer wants they can get paid more. Some employees are motivated to keep up and continue doing what they are being told they need to do.
– The employees who are highly motivated to do something worthwhile for
The dictionary Websters defines motivation as something inside people that drives them to action. This motivation varies in different people. We can also say that motivation is the willingness to work at a certain level of effort. Motivation emerges, in current theories, out of needs, values, goals, intentions, and expectation. Because motivation comes from within, managers need to cultivate and direct the motivation that their employees already have.
Reinforcement TheoryMotivation comes from within us such as thoughts, beliefs, ambitions, and goals. The people who are most interested in motivation studies are managers of people because they may provide insights into why people perform at work as they do, and as a result provide managers with techniques to improve worker productivity (Valencia, 2012).
Reinforcement theories have two main components: Contingency, where the occurrence of the reinforce depends on the occurrence of the learners response and rate of responding where the reinforce serves to increase the learners rate of responding. This abstract will attempt to compare some thoughts and beliefs of three authors.
Overview of Both ArticlesIn Sebhendu Garuds article, Reinforcement Theory of Motivation, he reinforces B.F. Skinners theory by expounding on the schedules of reinforcement. He explains that schedules of reinforcement are the precise rules that are used to present (or to remove) reinforces (or punishers) following a specified operant behavior. These rules are defined in terms of the time and/or the number of responses required in order to present (or to remove) a reinforce (or a punisher). Different schedules of reinforcement produce distinctive effects on operant behavior.
On the other hand, the researcher and author, Meredyth Glass, who in her article, How Can Managers Use Reinforcement Theory to Motivate Employees?” delves into B.F. Skinners observation of targeted behaviors both positive and negative and whether they eventually foster resentment more so than a punitive approach.
Reinforcement TheoryMain Issues of Both ArticlesGaruds key point in his article is that managers who are trying to motivate their employees must ensure that they do not reward their employees simultaneously. They must tell the employees what they are not doing correct and must tell the employees how they can achieve positive reinforcement. He stresses that both positive and negative reinforcement strengthen a response and increase the probability of repetition and both punishment and extinction weaken behavior or tend to decrease its frequency.
He defines the schedules of reinforcement as being the speed in which learning takes place and the permanence of its effects will be determined by the timing of reinforcement. The major types of reinforcement schedules are continuous and intermittent. A continuous reinforcement schedule reinforces the desired behavior each and every time it is demonstrated. For example, an employee who has historically had trouble arriving to work on time, every time he is not late his manager might compliment him on his desirable behavior. This may not be practical in an organizational setting. Therefore, intermittent schedules are usually employed. In an intermittent schedule, not every instance of the desirable behavior is reinforced, but reinforcement is given often enough to make the behavior worth repeating (Garud, 2012).
Glass approach to B.F. Skinners reinforcement theory asks, “What would happen if you rewarded on-time behavior and ignored late arrivals instead of punishing them? She claims he suggests that on-time arrivals would significantly increase and late arrivals would become very rare (Glass, 2012).
Reinforcement TheoryImplied / Factual