Organizational Learning & Behavior

• Learning is a continuous, lifelong process crucial for organizational competitiveness.
• Workplace behavior and perceptions are shaped by individual learning experiences and observations.
• Effective managers cultivate talents open to learning and growth.
• Perception, which involves processing sensory input to make decisions and guide behavior, is closely related to learning.
• The goal is to explore conditions and theories that aid in learning, examine varying perceptions, and address challenges related to both.

Learning: A Formula

• Organizational behavior views learning as: Situation + Behavioral Response + Consequence of Response = Learning
• Learning is defined as a change in behavior resulting from positive or negative experiences.
• Behavioral change must be evident, relatively permanent, and stem from practice or experience to qualify as learning.
• Feelings significantly influence learning, boosting confidence or causing frustration.
• Learning is powerful and occurs through formal education, experiences, and observation.
• Workplace learning arises through daily tasks, problem-solving, and client interactions.

Models of Learning: Theories and Conditions

• Behavioral learning theory has four stages of development.
• Operant conditioning explains how behavior is influenced by its consequences (rewards/punishments).
  • Positive reinforcement involves applying pleasant consequences following desired behaviors, increasing repetition.
  • Negative reinforcement involves removing unpleasant consequences following desired behaviors, leading to increased repetition.
  • Punishment involves introducing negative consequences to decrease undesirable behaviors.
  • Extinction involves withdrawing pleasant consequences to reduce undesirable behavior repetition.
• Reinforcement schedules control how often a desired behavior is reinforced.
  • Continuous reinforcement rewards every instance of a behavior.
  • Intermittent reinforcement rewards behavior only after certain ratios or intervals.
    • Ratio schedules are response-contingent.
    • Interval schedules are time-contingent.
    • Rewards tied to time may weaken desired behaviors.

Social Learning Theory

• Individuals learn through observation and interaction, not necessarily direct experience.
• Learning occurs by watching others, leading to imitation.
• Social learning theory acknowledges the importance of cognitive processes in learning.

Knowledge Management

• Knowledge can be defined as "justified true belief".
• Knowledge is defined as "information in action, information focused on results."
• Knowledge is vital for organizations and provides business value.
• Knowledge needs to be managed properly because it is acquired and transmitted by individuals and groups within organizations.
• Knowledge is classified as explicit, tacit, and implicit.
• Explicit knowledge is documented and easily shared (e.g., policies).
• Tacit knowledge is experiential and hard to articulate (e.g., know-how).
• Implicit knowledge is the application of explicit knowledge.
• Companies must retain and utilize knowledge found in individuals, groups, systems, and structures.
• Knowledge management is capturing, distributing, and using knowledge effectively.
• Knowledge management enhances organizational performance.
• Management ensures employee participation in achieving knowledge management goals.
• Knowledge is a lasting competitive advantage.
• Human resources are key assets connected to knowledge.
• Team learning is supported by mental models and personal mastery.
• Implementing these five principles leads to continuous learning and a competitive organization.

Learning Styles

• Learning styles vary from person to person.
• Individuals have personal preferences for learning methods and approaches.

David Kolb's Model of Learning Style

• Learning is a four-stage cycle.
• There are four independent learning styles.
• The four stages are:
  • Concrete Experience: A new experience or reinterpretation.
  • Reflective Observation: Reflecting on the experience.
  • Abstract Conceptualization: Concluding with a new idea or concept.
  • Active Experimentation: Applying the new concept.
• Kolb's learning involves experiencing, reflecting, conceptualizing, and testing.
• The learning styles are:
  • Accommodating (Doing and Feeling): Hands-on learners who rely on intuition.
  • Diverging (Feeling and Watching): Imaginative, good at brainstorming.
  • Converging (Thinking and Doing): Problem solvers, prefer practical solutions.
  • Assimilating (Thinking and Watching): Logical, focus on ideas and concepts.
• The Memletic Learning Styles Inventory includes seven learning styles.

Basic Concepts of Perception

• Perceptions create first impressions and influence judgements and behaviors.
• Human perception must be understood and analyzed.
• Perception errors occur when senses are used without full data.
• Perception is how individuals sense, interpret, and transform inputs into meaningful information.
• Perceptual process includes receiving, selecting, organizing, and interpreting inputs.
• Understanding perception's role is vital in organizational behavior.
• Perception comprises the perceiver, target, and situation.

Selective Attention

• Selective attention is filtering and focusing on specific environmental objects.
• It leads to what a person chooses to learn and remember.
• Selective attention allows focus to achieve target learning.
• Limited attention capacity restricts information flow.

Factors Affecting Perception

• Perception is personal and impacted by different factors.
• Factors affecting perception:
  • Sensory Limits or Thresholds: Varying sensory capabilities.
  • Psychological Factors: Personality, motivation, needs, expectations, interests.
  • Perceptual Learning: Enhanced ability to sense stimuli through experience.
  • Cultural Differences: Can lead to stereotyping.

Perceptual Distortion and Errors

• Social perception interprets sensory data to form impressions of others.
• Misjudgements and biases persist due to selectivity in perception.
• Perceptual distortions and errors need to be addressed to reduce inaccurate judgements.
  • Attribution Theory: Explanations of event and behavior causes.
    • Can be internal or dispositional (related to individual traits).
  • Attributional biases include:
    • Fundamental Attribution Error: Over-attributing behavior to internal causes.
    • Self-serving bias: Attributing success to internal factors, failure to external.
  • Selective Perception: Interpreting based on needs or interests, ignoring other viewpoints.
  • Halo Effect: Assessing based on one positive/negative trait, overlooking other characteristics.
    • Physical attributes contribute to the halo effect.