Organization Behavior – Learning and Decision Making

reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee's knowledge or skills that result from experience.

Assessing and choosing among alternatives.

refers to the knowledge and skills that distinguish experts from novices and less experienced people.

knowledge that is easily communicated and available to everyone

knowledge gained through experience not formal training

There are four specific consequences typically used by organizations to modify employee behavior. It's important to separate them according to what they're designed to do, namely, increase desired behaviors or decrease unwanted behaviors.

Increase desired behaviors:- Positive Reinforcement - Negative ReinforcementDecrease desired behaviors: - Punishment - Extinction

occurs when a positive outcome follows a desired behavior.

occurs when an unwanted outcome is removed following a desired behavior.

occurs when an unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behavior.

occurs when there is the removal of a consequence following an unwanted behavior.

specific patterns that determine when a behavior will be reinforced. Includes five: - Continuous reinforcement- Fixed interval schedule- Variable interval schedules- Fixed Ratio Schedules- Variable Ratio Schedules

happens when specific reinforcement follows each and every occurrence of desired behavior.

An operant conditioning principle in which reinforcements are presented at fixed time periods, provided that the appropriate response is made

In operant conditioning, a reinforcement schedule that reinforces a response at unpredictable time intervals

reinforce behavior after specific number of performaces of that behavior

A schedule in which the reinforcement is presented after a varying number of responses.

when employees observe the actions of others, learn from what they observe, and then repeat the observed behavior.

where building competence is deemed more important than demonstrating competence

focus on demonstrating their competence so that others think favorably of them

focus on demonstrating their competence so that others will not think poorly of them

are decisions that become somewhat automatic because people's knowledge allows them to recognize and identify a situation and the course of action that needs to be taken.

can be described as emotionally charged judgments that arise through quick, non-conscious, and holistic associations.

is a change - whether sudden or evolving - that results in an urgent problem that must be addressed immediately.

Karl Weick, a preeminent scholar on crisis management at the University of Michigan, suggests five steps for communicating intent to others when using intuition: 1. Here's what I think we face.

2. Here's what I think we should do.3. Here's why.

4. Here's what we should keep our eye on.5. Now, talk to me.

A decision made in response to a situation that is unique, is poorly defined and largely unstructured, and has important consequences for the organization.

offers a step-by-step approach to making decisions that maximize outcomes by examining all available alternatives. 1. Identify criteria that are important to making decision.2. Generate a list of all available alternatives that might be potential solutions to a problem. 3.

Evaluation of alternatives4. Select the alternative that will provide the best result.

is the notion that decision makers simply do not have the ability or resources to process all available information and alternatives to make an optimal decision.

Choosing an option that is acceptable, although not necessarily the best or perfect.

____ is the tendency to notice and accept objects and information consistent with our values, beliefs, and expectations while ignoring, screening out, or not accepting inconsistent information.

occurs when we assume others have the same beliefs we do, due to our tendency to look for similarities between ourselves and others

a theory that a person's self-concept and self-esteem derive not only from personal identity and accomplishments but also from the status and accomplishments of the various groups to which the person belongs.

a widely held but fixed and oversimplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.

Sets of strategies, rather than strict rules, that act as guidelines for discovery-oriented problem solving.

occurs when you place more weight and retrieve information that is readily available to you or recent memory.

The tendency to attribute other people's behavior to dispositional (internal) causes rather than situational (external) causes.

People's tendency to ascribe their positive behaviors to their own internal traits, but their failures and shortcomings to external, situational factors.

continuation of a course of action that's not working

the transfer of knowledge from older, experienced workers to younger employees

a formalized method of training in which employees observe and learn from employees with significant amounts of tacit knowledge

Groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems, or a passion about a topic, and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in that area by interacting on an ongoing basis.

Effective and continuing on-the-job application of the knowledge and skills gained during a learning experience.

An environment that can support the use of new skills