MARS MODEL OF INDIVIDUAL BEHAVIOR AND PERFORMANCE

Individual behavior influenced by motivation, ability, role perceptions, and

situational factors (M.A.R.S.)
Need to understand all four factors to diagnose and change individual behavior

[Note: One colleague (Chris Perryer) coined the term MARS BAR to help students
remember that motivation, ability, role perceptions, and situational factors (MARS)
are drivers of individual Behavior And Results (BAR).]

1. Motivation
Internal forces that affect the direction, intensity, and persistence of a persons
voluntary choice of behavior
-

direction -- directed by goals

intensity -- amount of effort allocated

persistence -- amount of time that effort is exerted

2. Ability
Natural aptitudes and learned capabilities required to successfully complete a
task
Aptitudes -- natural talents that help people learn more quickly and perform
better
Learned capabilities -- acquired skills and knowledge
Competencies -- abilities, individual values, personality traits and other
characteristics of people that lead to superior performance
Person-job matching -- three ways to match people with jobs
-

select qualified people

develop employee abilities through training

redesign job to fit person's existing abilities

3. Role perceptions
Beliefs about what behavior is required to achieve the desired results
-

understanding what tasks to perform

understanding relative importance of tasks

understanding preferred behaviors to accomplish tasks

Clarifying role perceptions

-

Provide information about tasks and priorities

Provide frequent and meaningful performance feedback.

Provide training on preferred work processes

4. Situational factors
Environmental conditions (e.g. time, people, budget, and work facilities) that
constrain or facilitate behavior
-

Beyond the individuals control in the short run

FIVE TYPES OF WORK-RELATED BEHAVIOR

1. Joining the organization
Need qualified people to perform tasks
war for Talent -- organizations acquire knowledge by hiring the best employees
Successful firms attract talent by applying many OB topics
2. Remaining with the organization
Hold onto valuable knowledge by keeping knowledgeable employees
Job dissatisfaction leads to motivation to quit
3. Maintaining work attendance
Caused by:
-

situational factors -- weather, traffic

motivation -- job dissatisfaction, sick leave

4. Performing required tasks

 Task performance -- goal-directed activities under persons control

Jobs have several performance dimensions, each requiring specific skills and
knowledge
5. Exhibiting organizational citizenship
Performance beyond the required job duties -- e.g., Avoiding unnecessary
conflicts, helping others, tolerating impositions, being involved, performing beyond
normal role requirements
Improving org citizenship through:
-- Rewarding extra-role behavior and performance
-- perceived fairness minimizing perceptions of injustice in org. decisions
-

hire employees with a social responsibility norm

LEARNING IN ORGANIZATIONS
Learning -- relatively permanent change in behavior (or behavior tendency) that
occurs as a result of a persons interaction with the environment
Behavior change is evidence of learning
Due to interaction with environment -- study, practice, experience (not instinct)
Influences ability, role perceptions and motivation
Relatively permanent change -- not due to situation
Learning affects behavior/performance through:
Ability -- developing competencies
Role perceptions -- clarifying duties, priorities
Motivation -- linking behavior to rewards, feedback, feelings of accomplishment
Learning also important for knowledge management
Learning explicit and tacit knowledge
Explicit Knowledge -- can be organized and communicated from one person to
another
Tacit Knowledge -- subtle info acquired through observation and experience -cant be explicitly communicated -- only through observation and experience
Challenge of knowledge management is to make more tacit knowledge explicit

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION: LEARNING THROUGH REINFORCEMENT

We learn how to operate on the environment -- alter our behavior to maximize
positive consequences and minimize adverse consequences.
Operant behaviors -- make the environment respond in ways that we want
Respondent behaviors -- uncontrollable responses to the environment -- taking
hand away from hot stove
A-B-Cs OF BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION
Central objective of behavior modification is to change behavior (B) by managing its
antecedents (A) and consequences (C).
1. Antecedents
Events preceding the behavior
Provide cues that certain behaviors will have particular consequences -- e.g.
supervisor instructions, alarm signals
2. Behavior
What people say or do ---e.g. improving attendance
3. Consequences
Events following behavior that influence its future occurrence
Law of effect -- likelihood that an operant behavior will be repeated depends on
its consequences
Includes contingencies and schedules of reinforcement
CONTINGENCIES OF REINFORCEMENT
1. Positive reinforcement
Introducing a desirable consequence -- increases or maintains future behavior
-

e.g. receiving a bonus after successfully completing an important project

2. Negative reinforcement
Removing or avoiding a consequence increases or maintains future behavior
(avoidance learning)
-- e.g. manager stops criticizing employee when performance improves

3. Punishment
A consequence decreases chance of future behavior
a. introducing an unpleasant consequence - e.g. threat
b. removing a pleasant consequence - e.g. losing bonus
Punishment differs from negative reinforcement
4. Extinction
No consequence follows the target behavior
-

e.g. employee receives no praise for good performance

Comparing reinforcement contingencies

Fewest adverse consequences when positive reinforcement follows desired
behaviors; extinction follows undesirable behaviors
Risks involved with using punishment and negative reinforcement, but may be
necessary to maintain equity and justice in the workplace
SCHEDULES OF REINFORCEMENT
Reinforcement schedule may have a greater effect than the size of the reinforcer on
learning and behavior management
1. Continuous reinforcement
Reinforce every occurrence of the desired behavior
-

more rapid learning than intermittent schedules

faster extinction when reinforcer removed

2. Fixed interval
Behavior is reinforced after a fixed time
-

e.g. employees paid every two weeks

3. Variable interval
Reinforcer administered after a varying length of time
-

e.g. receiving promotions after an average of 18 months of good performance

4. Fixed ratio
Reinforce behavior after it has occurred a fixed number of times
-

e.g. piece rate -- paid after produce a fixed number of units completed

5. Variable ratio
Reinforce desired behavior after it occurs a varying number of times
-

e.g. making one successful sales call after an average of five calls

BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION IN PRACTICE

Everyone practices behavior modification
Electric Boat uses behavior modification principles to minimize sick time among
salaried employees at the Groton, Rhode Island, shipyard
Dana Corp. -- safety bingo reinforces safe work behaviors
Behavior Modification at Nova Chemicals
Introduced a million dollar Recruitment and Retention Program to reinforce
good attendance and continued employment at its Canadian construction site -- cut
absenteeism rates by 25 percent
BEHAVIOR MODIFICATION LIMITATIONS
Cant reinforce nonobservable behavior
Reward inflation -- reinforcer tends to wear off
Ethical concerns
-- Variable ratio schedule viewed as a form of gambling
-- Perceived manipulation -- sounds as if employees have no control
LEARNING THROUGH FEEDBACK
Information received about the consequences of our behavior - can be an
antecedent or a consequence
Improves role perceptions, ability and motivation
Corrective Feedback -- identifies performance errors and helps to correct them
Positive feedback motivates future behavior
Social feedback sources

 Supervisors, clients, co-workers etc.

multi-source (360-degree) feedback
-

received from a full circle of people around the employee

provides more complete and accurate information than from a supervisor alone

-- lower level employees feel a greater sense of fairness and open communication
360-degree feedback challenges
-- expensive and time consuming
-- potentially ambiguous and conflicting feedback
-- may be inflated feedback from peers
-- emotional consequences of giving and receiving critical feedback involving
people who work with you
Non-social feedback sources - the job itself or results
-

corrective feedback better through non-social sources

considered more accurate, protects self-esteem

positive feedback better through social sources

Giving feedback effectively

Specific
-- redirects effort/behavior more precisely
Frequent
-- optimal frequency depends on job cycle
-- continuously available from non-social sources
Timely
-- available as soon as possible
-- clearer association between behavior and consequences
Credible
-- more accepted from trustworthy sources
Relevant

-- relate to individuals behavior and goals

Seeking feedback
Monitoring - looking for information cues
-

more efficient; avoids face saving problems

Direct inquiry - asking others for feedback

- problems: awkward and often inaccurate with negative feedback from social
sources
Ethics of employee monitoring

Many employers monitor employee performance

critics says it is an invasion of privacy and symbolizes a lack of trust

- advocates say it protects company assets, provides a safer work environment,

gives employees more accurate feedback about their performance others argue it
gives employees more accurate feedback

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY

Learning by observing others, then modeling the behaviors that lead to favorable
outcomes and avoiding behaviors that lead to punishing consequences
1) Behavioral modeling
a. observe models behavior
b. remember important actions
c. try to reproduce actions through practice

Model should be respected and reinforced

Good for learning tacit knowledge and skills
Enhances self-efficacy
-- - belief that you have the ability, motivation, and resources to complete a task
successfully
-- behavioral modeling makes environment predictable, thereby increasing selfefficacy

2) Learning behavior consequences

We learn to anticipate the consequences of future actions through logic and by
observing the experiences of others
3) Self-reinforcement
Employee controls a reinforcer (e.g. having a break), but doesnt take the
reinforcer until a self-set goal is done
Increasingly important as employees manage themselves
LEARNING THROUGH EXPERIENCE
Kolbs Experiential learning model
Concrete experience -- sensory and emotional engagement in some activity
Reflective observation -- listening, watching, recording, and elaborating on the
experience
Abstract conceptualization -- developing concepts and integrating observations
into logically sound theories
Active experimentation testing previous experience, reflection, and
conceptualization in a particular context

Experiential Learning at Michigans CREST

Combined Regional Emergency Services Training (CREST) center in Michigan
transfers tacit knowledge to police, fire, and emergency medical personnel through
experiential learning at a mock city designed to provide real-life instruction
Developing a learning orientation critical for experiential learning
Value the generation of new knowledge
Reward experimentation
Recognize mistakes as part of learning process
Encourage employees to take reasonable risks
Action learning
Experiential learning -- employees involved in a real, complex, and stressful
problem, usually in teams, with immediate relevance to the company

 concrete experience with a real organizational problem

learning meetings -- participants reflect on their observations regarding the
problem or opportunity
Team conceptualizes and applies a solution to a problem