Learning theories in management

LEARNING THEORIES

T R A I N I N G & D E V E LO P M E N T

GROUP MEMBERS

• Bimal Roy• Catherine Francis• Daisy Daniel• Jasmine Sebastian• Meera P. Nair• Shency S

Learning Theories Reinforcement Theory Social Learning Theory

Goal Theories Goal Setting Theory Goal Orientation Theory

Need Theories Expectancy Theory Adult Learning Theory Information Processing Theory

REINFORCEMENT THEORY

& SOCIAL LEARNING

THEORYC AT H E R I N E

REINFORCEMENT THEORY • Reinforcement theory proposes that you

can change someone’s behavior using reinforcements.

• Rewards – Reinforces\ Strengthens Behavior• Punishments – Prevents the Behavior

REINFORCEMENT THEORY

Add to environment

Remove from environment

Strengthens Behaviour

+ve Reinforcement -ve Reinforcement

Reduces Behaviour

+ve Punishment -ve Punishment

TYPES OF REINFORCEMENT• Positive Reinforcement• Negative Reinforcement• Positive Punishment• Negative Punishment

POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT• Strengthens behavior by adding a Positive reward to the

environment.

• E.g. Mother praises son for doing homework – Boy does the homework everyday

• Positive reward – Praise• Behavior - doing homework

NEGATIVE REINFORCEMENT• Strengthens behavior by removing a negative reward

from the environment.

• E.g.. Neha hates it when her mom shouts at her not cleaning the dishes, in order to avoid from mothers nagging she washes the dishes as soon as she finishes the meal.

• Negative reward – mothers nagging• behavior – cleaning dishes

POSITIVE PUNISHMENT• Weakens behavior by adding a negative reward to the

environment.

• E.g.. Neha violates the college dress code , She gets scolded - she makes sure that she comes in the proper dress code from then on.

• Negative reward – getting scolded• Behavior – violating dress code

NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT• Weakens behavior by removing a positive reward from

the environment.

• E.g. Rose fights with her brother about the new toy , her mother takes away the toy – fight ends.

• Positive reward – new toy• Behavior - Fight

SOCIAL LEARNING THEORYA. People learn by observing other people whom they

believe are credible and knowledgeable.B. According to SLT, learning new skills or behavior

comes from one among the following – o Directly experiencing the consequences of using that skill

or behavior. E.g. we do exercise – we become fit.o The process of observing others and finding the

consequences of their behavior. E.g. Parvathy studies well – scores marks.

o Learning is influenced by the persons self efficacy . Self efficacy – A persons judgment about whether he or she can successfully learn knowledge and skills.

C. Process of social learning theory1. Attention – It is the influenced by the characteristics

of the model and the learner.model – The one who we are observing and learning from.Must be clearly identified and credible.learner - The one who learns.Must be aware of the skills that they should observe

2. Retention – Remember in an organized manner whatever they have observed, so they recall it when needed.

3. Motivational process – Trying out the observed skill or behavior – to check if it gives the same result as the model received

4. Motor reproduction – learners are more likely to adopt a model behavior if the results are positive.

GOAL SETTING THEORY

J A S M I N E

WHAT IS A GOAL?A Goal is a desired result or outcome that

a person or system plans and commits to achieve.

TYPES OF GOALSThere are mainly two types of goals. They

are:• Long term goal• short term goal Long term goals consist of plans you make

for your future typically more than a year.

EXAMPLES Become a mechanical engineerOwn my own companyRetire at age 55  Short term goals are ones that a person

will achieve in the near future, typically in less than one year.

EXAMPLESGet an A grade in BiologyGet a 3.2 GPA or above this semester

GOAL ORIENTATION

S H E N C Y

GOAL ORIENTATION Goal orientation refers to whether

individuals primarily strive to enhance their knowledge, skills, and competence, referred

to as a learning orientation, or generally attempt to demonstrate their abilities and

expertise, referred to as a performance orientation. Goal orientation helps to predict

sales performance, goal setting, learning and adaptive behaviours in training,

and leadership.

GOAL ORIENTATION: MASTERY

Mastery: Goal is to truly understand or master the task at hand; employees who are mastery-oriented are:1. Interested in self-improvement 2. Tend to compare their current level of

performance to their own prior performance

GOAL ORIENTATION: PERFORMANCE

Performance: Goal is to demonstrate their ability compared to others. employees who are performance-oriented: 1. Are interested in competition2. Are interested in demonstrating their

competence, and outperforming others3. Tend to use other employees as points of

comparison, rather than themselves.

GOAL ORIENTATION: MASTERY/PERFORMANCE Mastery Performance

Approach Interested in truly mastering an academic task

Interested in demonstrating that they are more competent than other employees(i.e., have more ability than others)

Avoidance Interested in avoiding misunderstanding the task

Interested in avoiding appearing incompetent or stupid

GOAL ORIENTATION: EFFECT ON LEARNING (I)• Performance-avoidance goals result in few benefits• Performance-approach goals may have adaptive value

(positively associated with task value, academic self-concept, effort, and achievement)

EXPECTANCY THEORY

D A I S Y

• Victor Vroom (1964) was the first to develop an expectancy theory with direct application to work settings, which was later expanded and refined by Porter and Lawler (1968) and others ( Pinder, 1987).

ASSUMPTIONSBASED ON 4 ASSUMPTIONS• People join organizations with expectations about

their needs, motivations, and past experiences.• An individual’s behavior is a result of conscious

choice. • People want different things from the organization.• people will choose among alternatives so as to

optimize outcomes for them personally.

EXPECTANCY THEORY

• Expectancy theory is a cognitive process of motivation that is based on the idea that people believe there are relationships between the effort they put forth at work, the performance they achieve from that effort, and the rewards they receive from their effort and performance.

• people will be motivated if they believe that strong effort will lead to good performance and good performance will lead to desired rewards.

• Vroom’s expectancy theory differs from the content theories of Maslow, Alderfer, Herzberg, and McClelland in that Vroom’s expectancy theory does not provide specific suggestions on what motivates organization members.

ADULT LEARNING

THEORYB I M A L

ADULT LEARNING THEORY - ANDRAGOGY

Introduced by Malcolm Knowles

Theory and practice of education of adults.

The entire range of formal and informal learning activities

which are undertaken by adults after a break since leaving initial

education and training, and which results in the acquisition of

new knowledge and skills.

Andragogy – Man Leading

Six assumptions related to motivation of adult learning;

• Need to know: Adults need to know the reason for learning something.

• Foundation:  Experience (including error) provides the basis for learning activities.

• Self-concept:  Adults need to be responsible for their decisions on education; involvement in the planning and evaluation of their instruction.

• Readiness:  Adults are most interested in learning subjects having immediate relevance to their work and/or personal lives.

• Orientation:  Adult learning is problem-centered rather than content-oriented.

• Motivation:  Adults respond better to internal versus external motivators.

Knowles suggested 4 principles that are applied to adult learning;

Example used to apply the principles to personal computer training:

• Explain why certain skills are taught (functions, commands).

• Task oriented instead of memorizing. Tasks should be common tasks .

• Take diversity into play. Acknowledge different learning levels and experience.

• Allow adults to learn on their own and from their mistakes.

INFORMATION PROCESSING

THEORYM E E R A

INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY

• Seeks to understand how people acquire new information , how they

store information and recall it from memory , and how what they already

know guides and determines what and how they will learn .

• People process information in stages and there are limitations to how

much information can be processed at each stage.

• It explains how stimuli that enter memory systems are selected and

organized for storage and retrieval from memory.

INFORMATION PROCESSING THEORY INCLUDES THREE COMPONENTS:

•SENSORY MEMORY

•WORKING MEMORY/SHORT TERM MEMORY

•LONG TERM MEMORY

SENSORY MEMORY

•  A temporary storage that holds information as a person processes it.

• Lets in only those things which we can see, hear, taste, smell, and/or touch.

• These memories, usually unconscious, last for a very short amount of time,

ranging up to three seconds.

• Sensory information catches our attention, and thus progresses into

working memory, only if it is seen as relevant, or is familiar.

• Initial processing.

WORKING MEMORY\SHORT TERM MEMORY

• A temporary storage that holds information as a person processes it.

• The stuffs we encode from sensory memory goes to short term memory.

• Storage capacity is limited and can only hold a limited number of pieces of

information at a time.

• activity, including selection of information, method of processing, meaning, and

finally deciding whether to transfer it to long term memory or forget it.

• Information is maintained in working memory through maintenance (repetition)

or elaborative rehearsal (the organization of information).

LONG TERM MEMORY

• Unlimited store house of information.

• Permanent store house of knowledge.

• LTM includes- Declarative knowledge, Procedural Knowledge, Conditional

Knowledge.

• The crucial factor of long term memory is how well organized the information is.

This is affected by proper encoding (elaboration processes in transferring to long

term memory) and retrieval processes (scanning memory for the information and

transferring into working memory so that it could e used).

Information processing skills can be enhanced by developing;

• Focusing skills : involve the determination of a situation and the establishment of the appropriate ways to address it.

• Information gathering skills : involve the collection of information around the situation and the formulation of questions that will clarify it.

• Remembering skills : involve encoding and recalling.

• Organizing skills : include comparisons, categorization, sequencing and visual, verbal or symbolic representations.