Submitted by:Divyang JainTanaya

MishraSurbhi BatraSooraj SinghShubhanshu SinghUdit Sharma

LEARNING

TABLE OF CONTENTSConcept Of Learning

Components Of Learning Process Factors Affecting Learning

Theories Of Learning Conditioning Theory Cognitive Learning Theory Social Learning Theory

Reinforcement Types Of Reinforcement Administering Reinforcement

Organizational Behavior ModificationLearning OrganizationKnowledge Management

CONCEPT OF LEARNING

According to Dictionary Of Psychology, learning means, “the process of acquiring the ability to respond adequately to a situation which may or may not have been previously encountered, the favorable modification of response tendencies consequent upon previous experience, particularly the building of a new series of complex coordinated motor response; the fixation of items in memory so that they can be recalled or organized; the process of acquiring insight into a situation.”

Mitchell has defined learning as follows-“Learning is the process by which new behaviors are acquired. It is generally agreed that learning involves changes in behaviors, practicing new behaviors and establishing permanency in the change.”

COMPONENTS OF LEARNING PROCESS

1. Drive: Learning frequently occurs in the presence of drive. Without drive, learning does not take place or, at least, is not noticeable.

2. Cue stimuli: Cue stimuli are any objects existing in the environment as perceived by the individual. The idea here is to discover the conditions under which a stimulus will increase the probability of eliciting a specific response. Two types of stimuli:• Generalisation• Discrimination

3. Responses: Stimulus results into responses. Responses may be in the physical form or may be in terms of attitudes, familiarity, perception, or other complex phenomena.

4. Reinforcement: Without reinforcement, no measurable modification of behavior takes place. The term reinforcement is very closely related to the psychological process of motivation. Reinforcement may be defined as environmental events affecting the probability of occurrence of responses with which they are associated.

5. Retention: The stability of learned behavior over time is defined as retention and the converse is forgetting.

FACTORS AFFECTING LEARNING

Motivation: Moves a person to action and continues him in the

course of action already initiated.

Mental Set: Refers to preparation for an

action.

Nature Of Learning Materials: Affects

learning by providing the clue for

understanding.

Practice: The more a person practices, more

he absorbs learning contents.

Environment: Environment in which

learning process occurs, affects

learning.

THEORIES OF LEARNING

Classical Conditioning

Operant Conditioning

Cognitive Learning

Social Learning

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Behavior is learned by a repetitive association between a stimulus and a response(S-R association).

4 Elements Of Classical

Conditioning

Unconditioned Stimulus

Unconditioned Response

Conditioned Stimulus

Conditioned Response

IMPLICATIONS OF CLASSICAL CONDITIONING

Classical conditioning does not explain total behavior of human beings.

Classical conditioning is passive, i.e., something happens and we behave in a specific way.

It explains simple and reflective behavior whereas human behavior is voluntary rather than reflective.

OPERANT CONDITIONINGOperant conditioning suggests that people emit responses that are

rewarded and will not emit responses that are either not rewarded or punished.

Behavior is voluntary and it is determined, maintained and controlled by its consequences.

Stimulus Behavior Consequence Future Behavior

PROCESS OF OPERANT CONDITIONING

SKINNER BOX EXPERIMENT

Classical and Operant.mp4

CLASSICAL CONDITIONING OPERANT CONDITIONING

Response is Involuntary(reflective)

Response is Voluntary

Change in stimulus will elicit a particular response

One particular response out of many possible ones occurs in a given stimulus situation

Stimulus is presented every time for response to occur

Reward is presented only if the organism gives the correct response

COGNITIVE LEARNING Outcome of deliberate thinking about the problem or situation both

intuitively and based upon known facts and responding in a goal oriented manner.

Cognition is the act of knowing an item of information and this affects the behaviour of the person so the information provides cognitive cues towards the expected goals.

In this category, two important theories are: Cognitive Dissonance- By Festinger Theory Of Lateral Thinking- By De Bono

COGNITIVE DISSONANCEAccording to this theory, individuals tend to seek consistency among

their cognitions (i.e. knowledge, beliefs and opinions).Two factors affect the strength of dissonance:

Number of dissonant beliefs Importance attached to each belief.

Three ways to eliminate dissonance: Reduce the importance of the dissonant beliefs. Add more consonant beliefs that outway the dissonant beliefs. Change the dissonant beliefs so that they are no longer inconsistent.

Dissonance occurs most often in situations where an individual must choose between two incompatible beliefs or actions.

THEORY OF LATERAL THINKINGBased on the premise that many problems require a different perspective to

solve successfully.Main principle is that breaking up the elements and recombining them,

perhaps randomly in a different way can achieve a different perspective on a problem.

4 critical factors associated with lateral thinking: Recognizing dominant ideas that polarize perception of a problem. Searching for different ways of looking at things. Relaxation of rigid control of thinking. Use of chance to encourage other ideas.

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORY Combines and integrates both behavioristic and cognitive concepts. Learning can take place via modelling.MODELLING PROCESSo Involves observational learning.o Learning occurs in two steps:

Person observes how others act and then acquires a mental picture of the act and its consequences.

Person acts out the acquired image and if the consequences are positive he will tend to do it again. If consequences are negative the person will not do it again.

Bandura - bobo doll experiment.mp4

REINFORCEMENT

Definition: It can be defined as anything that increases the strength of response and tends to induce repetitions of the behaviour that preceded the reinforcement. Though it plays an important role in Motivation, it is different from the latter.

Reinforcement is important because behavioural response is conditioned by reinforcement.

Some learning theorists like Mendick comments that “all that is necessary for an association to develop between a stimulus and a response is that they occur together frequently. Reward does not seem to be necessary. When reward is used, however, conditioning proceeds far more rapidly and with greater vigour.” This suggests that though reinforcement is not necessary for learning, its presence increases the learning.

Stimulus Event Behavioral Response Consequences Of Behavioral Response

New Behavioral Response

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN REINFORCEMENT AND BEHAVIOUR

Positive

Negative

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT1. Positive and Negative Reinforcement

•Positive and Negative reinforcement accomplish the impact on response on different ways. The former strengthens and increases behaviour by the presentation of a desirable consequence while the latter strengthens and increases behaviour by termination or withdrawal of an undesirable consequence.

•Positive reinforcement increases the probability of desirable behaviour for getting for getting desirable consequence, negative reinforcement increases the probability of desirable behaviour to avoid undesirable consequence; negative reinforcement is also called avoidance.

•Withdrawal of positive reinforcement is sometimes used to weaken particular behaviour of employees which was desirable at one point. This is known as extinction.

2. Extrinsic and Intrinsic Reinforcement•An extrinsic reinforce has no direct relationship with the behaviour

itself. It is artificial and often arbitrary. Intrinsic rewards, on the other hand, are natural consequences of behaviour. Both are related closely to motivation.

3. Primary and Secondary Reinforcement•A primary reinforce is innately satisfying to the person and directly

reduces his primary motivational drive. Secondary reinforcement depends on the individual and his past reinforcement history. Thus, these are primarily learned ones.

ADMINISTERING REINFORCEMENT

Since reinforcement is necessary for learning, a manager must administer it in such a way that it has its maximum effects. Costello and Zaldkind have summarised the nature of reinforcement as follows:

1. Some type of reinforcement is necessary to produce change.2. Some types of rewards are more effective for use in the

organisation than others.3. The speed with which learning takes place and how lasting its

effects will be is determined by the timing of reinforcement.

Aspects For Administering Reinforcement

1. Selection of Reinforcement: The first step is to select reinforcers that are sufficiently powerful to maintain responsiveness while complex patterns of behaviour are being established and strengthened.

2. Contingent Designing of Reinforcement: Reinforcement must be designed in such a way that reinforcing events are made contingent upon the desired behaviour. Rewards must result from performance.

3. Reinforcement Scheduling: The reinforcement must be designed in such a way that a reliable procedure for eliciting the desired response pattern is established.

Fixed Ratio Schedule: Under this schedule, a reinforcer is administered only after certain number of responses. If the schedule is in fixed ratio, the exact number of responses is specified. Administering reward under a fixed ratio schedule tends to produce significantly higher rate of responses.

Fixed Interval Schedule: Under this schedule, a reinforcement is given only when the desired response occurs after the passage of a specific time since the previous reinforcement.

Variable Ratio Schedule: Under this schedule, a reward is given only after a number of desired responses, with the number of responses changing from the occurrence of one reinforcer to the next.

Variable Interval Schedule: Under this schedule, the reward is given after a randomly distributed length of time rather than after a number of responses.

ADMINISTERING PUNISHMENT

Punishment may be defined as presenting an aversive or noxious consequence contingent upon a response. It is a method for reducing the frequency of undesired behaviour.

Punishment becomes complex, in a sense that many times, a punishment may become reward to the person concerned and his undesirable behaviour may be reinforced.

Understanding the nature of Punishment is very important. Kendler has observed the following nature of punishment.

1. Punishment is effective in modifying behaviour if it forces the person to select a desirable alternative behaviour that is then reinforced.

2. If the above does not occur, then the behaviour will be only temporarily suppressed and will reappear when the punishment is removed.

3. Punishment must be administered with extreme care so that it does not become reward for undesirable behaviour. The termination of punishment is reinforcing just as the termination of reinforcement is punishing.

ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR MODIFICATION

Organizational Behavior Modification is a sophisticated tool used for improving the organizational effectiveness.

It is derived & developed from the concept of Skinner’s operant conditioning.

This technique is used to modify or eliminate undesirable behavior and replace it with behavior that is more compatible with goal attainment.

STEPS IN OB MOD

Desirable Behaviours

Identification Of Critical Behaviours

Measurement of Behaviours

Functional AnalysisInterventionSystematic

Evaluation

Feedback

Feedback

CONTRIBUTIONS OF OB MOD

OB Mod has been applied successfully in many organizations starting from service organizations to manufacturing organizations.

It deals with observed behaviors.It presents a set of tools by which people can learn new behaviors and

skills.The understanding of OB Mod techniques is comparatively easy.

CRITICISM OF OB MODIFICATION

Some people criticize it on the grounds that it is unethical and manipulative in character.

It should not be used by the managers to regulate the behavior of others.

Such criticism can be divided into three categories :1. Metaphysical & Ethical,2. Theoretical & General,3. Practical

The Main Objections Raised Against OB Mod Are As Follows:

The basic criticism against OB Mod is that Skinner’s operant conditioning principles were developed after a series of experiments with white rats.

The critics suggest that this technique is an applied rat morphism and tends to equate human beings with rats, but organizations are more complex than Skinner’s boxes.

OB Mod techniques restrict freedom of choice of behavior. OB Mod is based on the assumption that individual behavior is a function or is

controlled by his environment and that forces internal to the individual have little effect on operant behavior

 OB Mod is an exercise in over simplification. It cannot be considered as an innovative and new technique of management. 

LEARNING ORGANISATION

A learning organization is the term given to a company that facilitates the learning of its members and continuously transforms itself.

The Learning organization concept was coined through the work and research of Peter Senge and his colleagues.

It encourages organizations to shift to a more interconnected way of thinking. Organizations should become more like communities that employees can feel a commitment to. They will work harder for an organization they are committed to.

CHARACTERISTICS OF LEARNING ORGANISATION

A LEARNING ORGANIZATION HAS FIVE MAIN FEATURES:

Systems Thinking

Personal Mastery

Mental Models

Shared Vision

Team Learning

SYSTEM THINKING-The idea of the learning organization developed from a body of work called systems thinking. This is a conceptual framework that allows people to study businesses as bounded objects.

PERSONAL MASTERY-The commitment by an individual to the process of learning is known as personal mastery.

MENTAL MODELS-The assumptions held by individuals and organizations are called mental models.

SHARED VISION-The development of a shared vision is important in motivating the staff to learn, as it creates a common identity that provides focus and energy for learning.

TEAM LEARNING-The accumulation of individual learning constitutes Team learning.

BENEFITS OF LEARNING ORGANISATION• Maintaining levels of innovation and remaining

competitive.• Being better placed to respond to external pressures.• Having the knowledge to better link resources to

customer needs.• Improving quality of outputs at all levels.• Improving Corporate image by becoming more

people oriented.• Increasing the pace of change within the

organization.

CREATING LEARNING ORGANISATIONBuild a Vision & awareness that learning is necessary at all levels; not just management level; and

communicate these, and get buy-in of all members for the new vision.

Build a facilitative Organizational Structure, which should be flexible and flatter structure; should also remove organizational silos & boundaries.

Leadership should encourage learning to help the individuals and the organization, and secure resources from mgt.: money, personnel, time, etc.

Encourage and participation at all levels; the new philosophy should be Openness, reflectivity, accepting error, etc.

Actions for building learning culture necessitates freeing up employee time; training in brainstorming, problem solving, etc.; encouraging members to question the decisions without fear; and establishing recognition & rewards.

KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENTIn recent years, knowledge management has emerged as one of the prime concerns in the area of organisational behaviour because it has been recognised that the fundamental sources of wealth creation are no longer natural resources and physical labour but it is the knowledge that has become the pre eminent resource and has come to play dominant role in any type of organisation.What is knowledge?In defining knowledge, there is a basic problem in that there is no common definition that captures the essence of knowledge. Dictionary meaning of knowledge is “that which is known, information, enlightenment, practical skill, acquaintance, etc.”

WHAT IS KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT?It is creation, distribution, and utilisation of knowledge at the

individual, group, and community level through harnessing of people, process, and technology for the benefits of those involved and affected by it.

THREE BASIC ELEMENTS OF KM:-1. Knowledge Creation2. Knowledge Sharing3. Knowledge Utilisation

KNOWLEDGE CREATION

Knowledge creation involves generating facts, information, and techniques that are relevant to an organisation and those associated with it.

Knowledge creation discovers new knowledge through several avenues- R&D department, experimentation, creative thinking and automated knowledge discovery, benchmarking best in class practices, process improvement projects, feedback from customers, observing customers and so on.

KNOWLEDGE SHARINGKnowledge sharing involves communication and distribution of knowledge organisation wide. When a new knowledge is created in the organisation, it is stored in organisation’s database for its wider dissemination.

Primary tools:- Information technology Process engineering Organisational dynamics

KNOWLEDGE UTILISATION

It means using knowledge to solve problem for which it has been acquired.

Unlike other resources that deplete when used ,knowledge can be shared and used and grows through this process.

BENEFITS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Reduces time-to-market.New products are designed and commercialization more quickly and successfully.

Resulting inIncreased revenueRetained market shareExpanding profit margins

BENEFITS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT

Chevron reduced its operating cost structure by more than 2 billion.

Texas instruments generated 1.5 billion in annual increased fabrication capacity.

Scandia reduced start-up time for new ventures to seven months.

Arthur Anderson (Accenture) has improved their quality of service, helped lower research costs, and shortened delivery time.

Implementing Knowledge Management ProgrammeKnowledge management is a continuous process; knowledge creation, sharing and use are not one short action.

A knowledge management programme has the following elements: Defining KM Strategy Organising KM Programme Reinforcement For KM

DEFINING KM STRATEGYIt is better that such a strategy is defined with the active involvement of top management so that its commitment and support are ensured.

KM Strategy contains why, what, whom, and how of knowledge sharing. The contents of each of these are as follows: Why To Share Knowledge What To Share With Whom To Share How To Share

ORGANISING KM PROGRAMME

For this programme, a KM unit should be established. This unit may be located either as independent or may function as a part of any other department of the organisation, preferably with information systems department.

Besides constituting KM unit, the organisation should undertake the following steps to implement the KM programme:- Providing budget for knowledge sharing Choosing technology for knowledge sharing Communicating the value of knowledge sharing Adopting methods of knowledge sharing Measuring performance

REINFORCEMENT FOR KM

Reinforcement is anything that increases the strength of a new behaviour and tends to induce repetition of that behaviour.

To provide reinforcement for KM, the organisation can do the following things:- Introducing new incentives Providing support for knowledge sharing

MAKING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT EFFECTIVE

The organisation should create a culture that stimulates knowledge sharing and learning.

It ensures that the users need matches the type of knowledge.It must ensures that the users believe that knowledge sharing is useful for

them.Users must be motivated to be willing to travel and share knowledge

with others.Experts must be made available and helps team to solve tough and

complex problems.

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