Chapter

2
Foundations of Individual Behavior
Course: Organizational Behavior
Course Code: BBA-210
Book: Organizational Behavior, Stephen P. Robbins,
10th edition

S.M. Misbauddin
Faculty
Business Administration Department
Northern University of Business and
Technology Khulna
Bangladesh
1–1
 Agenda

01 Abilities required for Job

04 Method of shaping
behavior

02 Types of learning

Learning and Behavior

03
Biographical
Biographical Characteristics

Personal characteristics—such as age, gender, and

marital status—that are objective and easily
obtained from personnel records.
--These can be easily found from CV.
Ability
Ability, Intellect, and

Ability:
An individual’s capacity to perform the various
tasks in a job.

Intellectual Ability:
The capacity to do mental activities.

Physical Abilities:
The capacity to do tasks demanding stamina,
dexterity, strength, and similar characteristics.
Intellectual Ability:

1–5
Intellectual Ability:

1–6
 Learning
Learnin
Any relatively permanent change in behavior that
occurs as a result of experience.

Learning
• Involves change
• Is relatively permanent
• Is acquired through experience
 Theories
Learnin of Learning
Classical Conditioning
Operant Conditioning
Social-Learning Theory
 Theories of Learning
Theories of
Classical Conditioning
A type of conditioning learning in which an individual
responds to some stimulus that would not ordinarily produce
such a response.

Key Concepts
• Unconditioned stimulus
• Unconditioned response
• Conditioned response
• Conditioned stimulus
Classical Conditioning (Dog and Meat
Experiment)
Unconditioned Stimulus
The meat was given to dog. It caused the dog to
salivate
Unconditioned Response
The behavior of the dog. The saliva which comes from
dog’s mouth is response.
Conditioned Stimulus
The bell is a conditioned stimulus. The bell rang
immediately before the meat was given.
Conditioned Response
The behavior of the dog. Dog started to salivate by
hearing the bell.
Operant conditioning

A learning process in which the desired voluntary

behavior leads to a reward. If employees do a certain
behavior, they are given rewards. As a result, they
learn such behavior.
If a reinforcement is given after the behavior, people
repeat that bahaviour.
For example: Attendance and gifts

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Social learning theory

A learning process where people learn by

observing other people and direct
experiences.
Example: Employees set a role model of a
famous corporate personality and try to learn
from their behavior.

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How to shape the behavior

Shaping the behaviour means giving people

reinforcement after each successful step of
behavior. If employees are given
reinforcement after each step, they come
closer to the desired behavior or the goal

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Four Methods of shaping the behavior

1. Positive reinforcement
2. Negative reinforcement
3. Punishment
4. Extinction

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Four Methods of shaping the behavior

1. Positive reinforcement: Reinforcement

means a reward or appreciation given to
the employee after they have provided a
successful behavior or result. Example:
Providing dinner coupons after building
software in 15 days.
2. Negative reinforcement: It means
withdrawing the positive reinforcement or
giving nothing. Example: Discontinuing the
sales commission after meeting sales
targets.
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Four Methods of shaping the behavior

3. Punishment: Providing an unpleasant condition in

order to eliminate an undesirable behavior.
Example: Providing an employee 7-day no-pay leave
after a quarreling with colleagues.
4. Extinction: Eliminating a reinforcement that is
maintaining a behavior. When the bahaviour is not
reinforced, it gets extinguished.
Example: In corporate meetings, employees may ask
too many questions and thus kill time. Manager may
ignore the employees. As a result they will never ask
questions and the bahaviour will be extinct.

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Schedule of reinforcement

1. Continuous reinforcement
2. Intermittent reinforcement
1. Continuous reinforcement
A reinforcement schedule which reinforces the desired
behavior each and every time it is demonstrated.
Ex: Bank staff may get 5 points if he opens 10 accounts
every day. Every day point is given.
1.1 Fixed-interval reinforcement:
When the rewards are given at fixed time intervals, such
reinforcement is called fixed intervals.
Ex: Salary is given every month. Or freelancing employees
get salary every week- 1–17
Schedule of reinforcement

2. Intermittent reinforcement
Giving the reinforcement not every time the bahaviour is
demonstrated. Rather reinforcement is given after a
break or sometimes. Ex: Bank staff may get 5 points if he
opens 10 accounts every day. Instead of giving 10 points
every day, after every 2 day, point is given.
2.1 Variable-interval reinforcement
When the rewards are given at random and unfixed time
intervals. For example: Instead of announcing class test
schedule, a teacher may make surprise tests.

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 Thank You!

ধন্যবাদ

Danke Schön

14 September, 2019 19