1. Arjan is an employee who is never on time for work or meetings.

He has been issued several warning

memos but in vain. The management is not able to take stringent action against him as he is very good
at his work and is one of the top performers. As his reporting authority you still feel that he should
respect time and be disciplined. From the different elements of reinforcement which one should his
manager choose to get the desired behaviour? Conclude by giving why it (the one which you chose) is
the best suited.

Answer:-

Introduction: - The reinforcement theory was developed by B.F. Skinner and his associates and it is
applicable to motivate the employees. When it comes to learning the concept of reinforcement is very
important in Organizational Behavior. Reinforcement is the application of a consequence as a result of a
behavior. Managing reinforcement properly can change the direction, level and persistence of an
individual’s behavior. In reinforcement theory a combination of rewards and/or punishments is used to
reinforce desired behavior or extinguish unwanted behavior. Extinction refers to diminishing the
probability of undesirable behavior.

The reinforcement theory holds that as an employer you can influence and change the behavior of
employees by reinforcement, punishment or extinction. It aims at achieving the desired level of
motivation among the employees by means of reinforcement, punishment and extinction.
Reinforcement approach, which can be both positive and negative, is used to reinforce the desired
behavior. Punishment acts as a deterrent to undesirable behaviors of the employees.

Now let’s discuss about the four different elements of the reinforcement theory which are listed below;

i) Positive Reinforcement: - First reinforcement strategy is positive reinforcement. The

application of positive reinforcement is that tend to increase the likelihood of repeating the
desirable behavior in similar settings. It happens when you as an employer gives a positive
response to an employee’s behavior that is likely to impact the organization well. For
example, a team leader greeting a team member to express approval after she makes a
useful comment during sales meeting. The increase the likelihood of future useful
comments from the team member, just as the leader would hope.
This form of reinforcement can also include giving the individual a bonus or some sort of
reward. Positive reinforcement is likely to encourage employees to keep doing the desired
behavior. It has been noted that employees are more likely to be receptive to change,
excited about their job, team players etc. When they are positively reinforced for good work
done by management.

ii) Negative Reinforcement: - A second reinforcement strategy used in operant conditioning is

negative reinforcement. It uses the withdrawal of negative consequences to increase the
likelihood of desirable behavior being repeated. It can be used to motivate employees to
behave how you desire so that they don’t have to suffer the negative consequences of not
doing so. Here a negative consequence is withheld should the employees behave as you
wish. Let’s say an employee has not been meeting deadlines. For example, the manager
 regularly nags a worker about being late for the work and then doesn’t nag when the
worker next shows up on time. Its intent is for the person to avoid the negative
consequence by performing the desired behavior.

iii) Punishment: - A third reinforcement strategy is punishment. Unlike positive reinforcement

and negative reinforcement, it is intended not to encourage desired behavior but to
discourage undesirable behavior. Punishment refers to imposing negative consequences or
removing positive consequences with a view to preventing employee(s) from repeating
undesirable and uncalled for behaviors. Punishment applied for poor performance can lead
to better performance without a significant effect or satisfaction. This happens when you
impose a negative consequence to stop or reduce behaviors you don’t want at the work
place. For, example getting a warning for reporting late to work is punishment that is
imposed on staff who don’t come to work on time. To discourage them from being late
again, a behavior that is not desired. Another example would be suspending an employee
found stealing from work. It can, therefore, be both positive and negative.

iv) Extinction: - The final reinforcement strategy is extinction that withdrawal of reinforcing
consequences in order to weaken undesirable behavior. This is done to bring to an end a
behavior employees have learnt over a given period of time. When business slows down the
manager stops approving overtime a move aimed at dissuading employees from working
extra hours and weekends. So, that behavior will be forgotten after some time because the
positive reinforcement that encouraged it has been withdrawn. You should be careful how
you do this because when an employee is no longer receiving positive reinforcement they
might feel unappreciated and they morale and productivity could go down which will
definitely impact your business negatively.

In the situation of Arjan’s I would suggest his Manager to use negative reinforcement with him as he is a
good worker, As I mentioned in the example of negative reinforcement don’t nag when the worker
shows up on time. He use his good work to withdrawal of negative consequences to increase the
likelihood of desirable behavior being repeated.

Conclusion: - For managers the reinforcement theory can be an effective tool to give positive
reinforcement to their star performers and negative reinforcement to poor performers. Also it may
come in hand to punish bad behavior and extinguish unwanted behavior. Since it is difficult to find a
motivation system that works for all employee this theory due to its focus on employee’s behavior and
performance is good for managing a diverse group to achieve the desired results.

2. Choose one Asian and one European country. Compare and contrast communication in their cultures.

Introduction: - To understand the cultures of two countries we should first understand what
International HRM is, International Human Resource Management (IHRM) can be defined as a set of
activities targeting human resource management at the international level. It strives to meet
organizational objectives and achieve competitive advantage over competitors at national and
international level. International Human Resource Management includes the firm’s work systems and its
employment practices. It embraces both individual and collective aspects of people management. It is
not restricted to any one style or ideology. It is concerned with the human resource problems of
multinational firms in foreign subsidiaries (such as expatriate management) or more broadly, with the
unfolding HRM issues that are associated with the various stages of the internationalization process.

IHRM comprises of typical HRM functions such as recruitment, selection, training and development,
performance appraisal and dismissal done at the international level and additional exercises such as
global skills management, expatriate management and so on.

In short, IHRM is concerned with handling the human resources at Multinational Companies (MNCs) and
it includes managing three types of employees −

Home country employees − Employees residing in the home country of the company where the
corporate head quarter is situated, for example, an Indian working in India for some company whose
headquarters are in India itself.

Host country employees − Employees residing in the nation in which the subsidiary is located, for
example, an Indian working as an NRI in some foreign country.

Third country employees − These are the employees who are not from home country or host country
but are employed at the additional or corporate headquarters.

Trend in international Business