Achieving business objectives by developing employees

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Introduction

Learning is important in organisations looking to develop employees as a means of achieving business objectives.

This paper aims to explore the two main approaches to learning and explain how each approach can be applied in the effective management of tams.

Learning “is the process of acquiring knowledge through experience which leads to a change in behaviour” (Huczynski & Buchanan, 1996, 92).

There are two approaches to learning linked to psychology:

• Behaviourist
• Cognitive

Each will be looked at in turn in terms of explaining each school and applying to the effective management of teams.

Behaviourist approach to learning

Researchers from the behaviourist school of psychology were interested in action that could be observed, measured and controlled. This school believes that there is an association between stimulus and response and that learning is the development of associations between both through the benefit of experience.

Mullins (1996, 122) identified four leading behaviourists:

• JB Watson – Law of exercise and association
• I Pavlov’s theory of classical conditioning
• E Thorndike’s work on the outcomes of learning
• B F Skinner’s thesis of operant conditioning

Watson’s law of exercise and association

This involved Watson connecting two responses together and repeatedly exercising these responses. Watson carried out this exercise to study habits and routines.

Pavlovian conditioning

Pavlovian conditioning is also regarded as classical conditioning. Pavlov’s experiments revealed how reflexes or reactions could respond to a new situation and new environment. For example, Pavlov’s dog salivated to a bell when this was repeatedly associated with food. The dog learnt to associate the sound of the bell with the food and through conditioning had been learned to salivate. The learning process occurred as follows:

• Stage 1: No learning
  • A plate of food was presented to the dog. The dog responds in a natural way by salivating
• Stage 2: Learning process
  • The plate of food arrives with the sound of a bell on numerous occasions. The dog salivates as it is in a learning situation of associating the bell with food
• Stage 3: Learning complete
  • The dog salivates just by hearing the sound of a bell. The dog has been conditioned to respond to the sound of a bell.

Thorndike’s outcomes of learning

Thorndike watched animals in new learning situations and noticed that they learned by trial and error. In other words, the animals’ behaviour was influenced by outcomes, i.e. an action was more likely to be repeated if it was rewarded and vice versa.

Skinner’s operant conditioning

Skinner’s experiments on animals showed the effects of rewards and punishment on leaning (Mullins, 1996). Skinner proved that a response would be leaned when the response is linked to a reward. He used the following process to prove his thesis:

• A hungry animal is place in an empty ‘Skinner Box’. The box is empty except for a food container and lever
• Through trial and error the animal presses the lever which releases a pellet of food
• The animal then associates pressing the lever for the food reward and would press it subsequently as required

Applications of the behaviourist approach to the effective management of teams

The behaviourist theories of learning can be applied to the effective management of teams. It is important for managers to apply these approaches. This is because different people working in an organisation have their routines, habits, values and beliefs which could influence their actions and ultimately the results that they achieve. However, it is likely that not all these actions taken or results achieved are in the best interests of the team or organisation that an employee works in.

One example is to consider operant conditioning as a means of modifying the behaviour of a new team member who is new to the organisation. Behaviour modification involves the gradual shaping of behaviour and reinforcement through rewards as the behaviour is shaped to an acceptable standard. Applying this to the new team member, the objective is to modify his behaviour to fit the culture of the organisation on the one hand and to help him achieve his objectives relating to his tasks.

Ways in which this can occur include an induction programme, observation of supervisor to see how tasks are done and training workshops. Learning will occur incrementally and the main task of getting the employee up to speed with organisation and task requirements would be divided into sub-tasks with each having their own reward. For example, in completing the main task, entitled say ‘successfully complete your probation period’, the employee will be rewarded with a full-time role at the end of the probationary period. A sub-task of achieving a level of sales within a certain period will be rewarded with a bonus. As the new team member’s behaviour becomes modified, expectations would normally rise and reward less.

It is an important role of management under this behaviourist school to condition their employees to react in ways that will make teams fore effective. If the new employee acts inappropriately, it is likely due to the fact that she had not been shown the ‘right’ way of doing things. However, if after the employee had been shown in a systematic way, appropriate ways of behaviour and still behaves inappropriately, then the manager could employ disciplinary procedures.

Cognitive Approach to learning

The cognitive approach to learning challenges the idea of looking at only observable stimuli and responses in the study of human psychology. Instead, they are based on the ability to process information and generally comprise the following stages:

• An active perception stage which gives attention to stimuli from the environment
• A second mentally active stage which makes sense of the information
• A restructuring and storage phase

Cognitive theories of learning consider the mind state concerning motivation and perception. They demand that the things going on inside the mind can be studied and used effectively. They believe rewards or reinforcement is feedback on how successful past behaviour has been and is the information that can be sued to modify or maintain previous behaviours. This information needs to be perceived, interpreted, given meaning and used in making decisions about future behaviours (Huczynski & Buchanan, 1996).

People can resolve problems or react in certain ways using insight. For example, the cognitive theorist Kohler argued his point by placing fruit out of reach of chimpanzees while placing a stick within reach of the primates. He was convinced that the chimpanzees had worked out how to obtain the fruit through a more complex process of learning than behaviourists suggest.

The nature of learning

Cognitive theorists believe that learning is cyclical and active. Kolb’s learning cycle below is a good example.

Figure 1: Kolb’s Learning Cycle

This approach emphasises the importance of the synthesis between individual’s behaviour and actions and the evaluation of their experiences (Mullins, 1996).

With Kolb’s learning cycle, learners reflect and evaluate their actions, implying that people are lifelong learners. Kolb believes people learn in different ways, recognising that people have a preference for learning using one of the following styles:

• Convergent
• Divergent
• Assimilative
• Accommodative

Application of the cognitive approach to the effective management of teams

Managers need to apply, where appropriate, the most effective style to each individual to enhance learning. Therefore, each individual within the team must be analysed with a view of improving individual talent and contribution to meet team objectives.

Managers also need to learn self awareness and self development in order to appreciate the diverse personalities in a team and thus to help resolve inter-group and intra-group conflicts. For example, personality or insight assessment techniques (Myers Briggs for instance) have been heralded as important tools of self management and building team understanding.

A manager who mentors an individual team member’s development will better understand their behaviour and past experiences and will inform both parties in terms of future planning.

The cognitive theory of learning helps to dispel incorrect assumptions and beliefs about colleagues in the same team. Without such learning, ineffective management decisions may occur which could be bad for the employee, team morale and in extreme circumstances may damage the reputation of the organisation as a whole through negative publicity, for instance if employee takes organisation to an employment tribunal.

Managers must encourage a culture of learning within organisations. It is one of the most effective measures of dealing with resistance to change in organisations.

Conclusion

This paper has examined the behaviourist and cognitive approaches to learning in terms of explaining the schools of thought under each and how each approach could be applied in organisations to ensure the effective management of teams.

The behaviourist approach believes that learning is centred the experience gained from the relationship between stimulus and response. The cognitive theorists believe that the key to learning is the ability of people to process information based on past behaviour. Although the approaches are fundamentally different, they each offer complementary perspectives from which to analyse individual behaviour as a means of improving performance or influencing future behaviour.

REFERENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

Publications

• Boone, L & Kurtz, D 1992, ‘Management’ 4^th edition, McGraw-Hill, New York
• Butel, L et al. 2005, ‘Business Functions: An Active Learning Approach’ The Open Learning Foundation
• Cole, G A 1990, ‘Management Theory and Practice’, 3^rd edition, DP Publications Ltd, London
• Huczynski, A & Buchanan, D 1996 ‘Organisational Behaviour: An Introductory Text’, 2^nd edition, Prentice Hall Europe, Hertfordshire
• McLaney, E 2006, ‘Business Finance, Theory and Practice’, 7^th edition, Pearson Education Limited, Essex
• Mullins, 1996, ‘Management and Organisational Behaviour’, 4th Edition, Pitman, London
• ‘Organisations and Individuals’, 2005, Institute of Financial Services, Kent
• Pugh & Hickson, 1996, ‘Writers on Organisations’, 5^th edition, Penguin

Internet Sources

• www.bized.ac.uk
• www.bp.com
• www.investopedia.com