Leading Employees to Productive Behaviours
Photo by DISRUPTIVO on Unsplash
The Theory/Science
Operant Conditioning Theory describes how individuals learn productive behaviours in an organization. The theory explains that an individual is encouraged or reinforced to behave productively and discouraged or punished to behave unproductively, based on the introduction or removal of conditions (stimuli).
Positive Reinforcement: When an employee receives an email from their manager praising their teamwork in solving a problem it is a form of positive reinforcement. Receiving an email from their manager is a good stimulus intended to encourage teamwork i.e., productive behaviour. In this example, positive refers to the introduction, or addition of a pleasant stimulus i.e., the email praising the employee’s teamwork.
Negative Reinforcement: When an employee starts a new job, their work may need to be reviewed by another employee. Once the employee has become proficient at the job the review process can be removed by the manager. Eliminating the review process encourages the employee to continue working proficiently. In this scenario, negative refers to the removal, or subtraction of an unpleasant stimulus i.e., work being reviewed by another employee.
Punishment: When an employee demonstrates unproductive behaviour, managers can apply positive or negative punishment to discourage the bad behaviour. Positive punishment refers to adding something unpleasant e.g., working extra time for being late, and negative punishment describes the removal of something pleasant e.g., removing the option to work remotely once a week for a decline in performance at the University of Central Florida. There is also the option to ‘do nothing’, expecting the bad behaviour to stop. While this alternative, Extinction, may be effective it is often problematic as the behaviour is left unchecked.
Applying Operant Conditioning
The effectiveness of using Operant Conditioning can be increased by intentionally vs. casually applying these approaches, and tailoring the reinforcement or punishment based on individual preferences.
When an employee is behaving productively, a typical reaction may be to reward that employee with praise or money. However, before acting, managers should consider if there are aspects of the job that may be considered ‘unpleasant’ and could be removed e.g., removing, or raising the limits of an employee’s decision rights. Using negative reinforcement could be equally effective as awarding them a bonus. There is the option to use both positive and negative reinforcement. By using an intentional approach, managers will have a broader range of options to encourage productive behaviours.
It is important to understand how the reinforcement or punishment will be perceived by the employee. An employee that appreciates money instead of praise, will not respond well to an email praising their work. The employee may believe their work is not valued and start to disengage from work. An employee who is not bothered by working extra time, will not be discouraged from being late if working extra time is used as a form of punishment.
Managers can lead employees to demonstrate productive behaviours and achieve higher levels of performance by taking a more intentional and personalized approach to manage employee behaviour.