Assignment 5 (8% of your final mark)
Exercise Assessment
In the process of doing the exercises in the workbook, you will have completed the work needed for Assignment 5. It is recommended you review your work before submitting. Make sure you save your final work with the following naming convention: MNGT2131_AF5_firstname_lastname.docx. Use the Assignment Submission Tool to submit to your Open Learning Faculty Member.
Exercise 5-1: The Behaviour Problem
Step 1: Think of a friend or co-worker’s behaviour that you feel uncomfortable with or simply don’t like. It may be a behaviour that is done too frequently and you wish it would decrease or one that is not done frequently enough and you wish it would increase.
The person should be someone you know well and whose behaviour directly affects you. This can be a family member, a friend, a co-worker or a subordinate. Don’t select someone you strongly dislike or have written off as an associate.
As examples, students who have done this exercise before have selected the following behaviours:
- I’d like my subordinate, Mark, to make more decisions without asking for my advice.
- I would like my son, John, to watch less TV. (Or: My son John should do his homework before he watches TV.)
- I’d like my husband to be ready on time when we have a social engagement.
Be sure to select a behaviour that you really care about. Don’t select one where it really doesn’t matter all that much to you whether the person’s behaviour changes or not.
Step 2: Write a description of the behaviour you would like to see increase or decrease on the space provided on the next page.
Step 3: List what you feel are the main reasons why the person behaves as she or he does.
Step 4: Describe the ways, if any, that you typically respond to the person’s behaviour (or lack of behaviour). Also, describe the things, if any, that you have tried in the past to get the person to change his or her behaviour.
Step 5: Describe how the person’s behaviour affects you personally. Do you get frustrated, angry? You might also mention what, if anything, might happen in your relationship in the future if the other person doesn’t change the behaviour. Will you ignore it, discuss it, nag, have a fight over it, see the person less, end the relationship, or try to get the person fired, transferred, disciplined, or demoted?
Step 6: Suppose that in the near future, you were going to try something to get the person to change his or her behaviour. Even though you may have given up on it or decided that you don’t really have the right to try to change the other person, describe one or two things you might try.
Keep in mind that asking you to do this does not imply that you should actually try to change the person’s behaviour. Some people feel very strongly that they should accept others as they are. Nor does this step imply that you are selecting a tactic that would necessarily work. It’s possible that nothing would work in this situation. With this in mind, and for purposes of learning, give it your best shot.
| Step 1: What is the person’s relationship to you?
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| Step 2: Describe the behaviour you’d like to see increased or decreased.
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| Step 3: State your beliefs as to why the person is behaving the way he or she is that you find objectionable.
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| Step 4: Describe the ways you’ve responded to the person or things you have tried in the past to get the person to change the behaviour.
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| Step 5: Describe the impact of the person’s behaviour on you.
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| Step 6: Describe what you might do to change the person’s behaviour.
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Exercise 5-2: Miller’s Malady
Step 1: Read the news article that follows.
Step 2: List what you feel are the causes of the problem. That is, make your best guess as to why Miller and his co-workers are behaving as they are.
In producing your analysis, follow your own inclinations. Do not try to take a Reinforcement Theory approach because you know that will be the focus later on in this instructional unit. You will learn more if you produce your own analysis that you can later compare and contrast with that of Reinforcement Theory. In short, the main idea with these initial exercises is to maximize your learning and not to produce a “correct” analysis from the perspective of Reinforcement Theory.
Step 3: State what you would do to remedy the situation. Assume you have unlimited power.
Step 4: State what you would do to remedy the situation if something akin to it occurred in your organization. Assume you are the supervisor, but that your power is limited by the kinds of constraints that supervisors in your organization face.
Space has been provided on the Exercise 5-2 worksheets that follow the news story for you to record your analysis and remedies.
Step 1 Read the following article.
KEEN U.K. WORKER SUSPENDED, SNUBBED BY BOSS, “BUDDIES”
By Nicholas Hills
Southam News Services
Edmonton Journal
October 12, 1978
LONDON
Michael Miller is a strange kind of Englishman. He works too hard.
What is not strange—just disgusting—is that his brothers on the shop floor are deliberately trying to eliminate him by driving him round the bend.
For his energy and his output, this 42-year-old machine operator is likely to lose his job, if not his sanity.
Already, he has served a three-month suspension for working too industriously.
On returning to his job last week, he was immediately sent to Coventry again by his 31 fellow workers. Wednesday, he collapsed from the mental pressure being exerted on him and had to be taken home by ambulance.
“My health won’t stand it any longer,” he says now. “I feel that eventually the management will have to give way to the majority.”
This is the most unacceptable fact of worker power—a kind of inhuman anarchy which it is difficult to believe could actually exist in a so-called civilized society.
Miller, the father of two children, is being terrorized by his colleagues because his weekly take-home pay from his workplace in Frome, Somerset, averages between $200 and $220 a week. His fellow workers are so incensed by the amount he is bringing in through piecework that they want a company ceiling put on earnings in the machine shop. They usually manage to earn only about $160 a week.
Says Miller: “This is simply a conflict about the British way of working. I break no rules. If the money is there to be earned, then I earn it.
“I have the incentive of a nice home, a perfect wife and my children. I work as hard as I can to give them the best I can.”
Yet, instead of this extra effort producing a perfect life it has given the Millers a lot of misery. Incredibly, the dispute has been going on for twelve years, and it has now got to the point where they cannot go out for an evening together in Frome because of the animosity.
Says Miller: “I am sandwiched between the management and the men. I can’t stand the atmosphere any longer. One man who has just left didn’t speak to me for four years, unless it was to utter a threat.”
Miller doesn’t even receive much sympathy from management who view him as a special kind of troublemaker.
Says works manager Eric Coles: “He is the type of man who comes in at ten to eight for an eight a.m. start. At two minutes to eight he is waiting to start going and works right through until the last minute. I feel he has brought it on himself.”
Such is the state of work ethic in Britain today.
| Step 2: List what you feel are the causes of the problem.
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| Step 3: State what you would do to remedy the situation, assuming unlimited power.
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| Step 4: State what you would do to remedy the situation, assuming you are the supervisor and that you face constraints similar to those operating in your organization.
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Exercise 5-3: The Problem School
The situation described in this case appeared in the press. At that time, the principal of the high school was taken to task because of the solution he adopted. You will read about his solution later. Meanwhile, this case affords you an opportunity to analyze the situation and come up with your own solution.
After you tackle the case, we will examine the case from the perspective of Reinforcement Theory. This doesn’t mean that Reinforcement Theory is the only perspective that can be taken. In fact, your original analysis of the situation will likely be quite different, but it may be equally as useful.
As a final step, you will compare both your solution and the Reinforcement Theory approach to the one actually implemented by the principal, which received so much criticism in the press.
Knowing in advance that you will use Reinforcement Theory to analyze this case does not mean that you should try to use it for your own analysis. To maximize your learning it is best for you to follow your own inclinations.
Step 1: Read the situation which follows.
Bob Amparan is principal of a high school located in an area where the people are generally poor and from minority ethnic groups. His school receives a fixed amount of money from the school board for each student in attendance per day. Lately, the students’ average daily absenteeism rate has been around 15%. This represents a loss to the school of approximately $123,000 per school year.
| Step 2: List what you feel are the causes of the absentee problem. Assume that the school board’s decision to pay each child in attendance is a fixed constant. This may cause a financial problem for the principal and school. Focus on the causes and solutions to the problem. Space has been provided on the next page.
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| Step 3: Describe what you would do to remedy the situation if you were the high-school principal. Be specific and assume you have the normal authority of a high-school principal.
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Exercise 5-4: Organizational Behaviour Survey
The purpose of this survey is to develop a description of how job holders experience certain aspects of their life. Circle your answers.
Part I
- Are you male or female? Male Female
Think back to the last specific time you can recall your supervisor complimenting you (directly or indirectly) for some aspect of your work.
- To your best recollection how long ago did this happen?
Today Yesterday This week Last Week
Last Month Last year Can’t recall one
- How strongly did the compliment affect you?
Very Very
Positive 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Negative
Impact Impact
- Is your supervisor male or female? Male Female
- Briefly explain what the compliment was about.
- Briefly explain why it had the impact (or lack of impact) that it did.
Part II
Think back to the last specific time that you can recall your supervisor criticizing (constructively or otherwise) some aspect of your work.
- To your best recollection how long ago did this happen?
Today Yesterday This Week Last Week
Last Month Last Year Can’t Recall one
- Was the criticism delivered:
Constructively Non-Constructively Not Sure
- Explain why you thought so.
- How strongly did the criticism affect you?
Very Very
Positive 5 4 3 2 1 0 1 2 3 4 5 Negative
Impact Impact
- Briefly explain what the criticism was about.
- Briefly explain why it had the impact (or lack of impact) that it did?
- At the time did you feel that the criticism was valid? Yes No
- Do you now feel the criticism was valid? Yes No
- Have you received criticism of this particular behaviour before? Yes No
- Do you plan to change your behaviour? Yes No
- Have you already changed your behaviour? Yes No
Exercise 5-5: Log of Positive and Negative Events
Exercise 5-5 should be done for the next three days at work, beginning with whenever you start work tomorrow. Because you will complete the exercise over a three-day period, you may wish to continue work on this unit before you complete the exercise.
Go ahead and continue beyond this exercise if that is your wish. However, you should read over the complete instructions for this exercise before moving on.
The purpose of this exercise is to keep an accurate record of rewarding and sanctioning events for a three-day period. By doing so, you will get a “picture” of the operational structure of rewards and sanctions in your organization. You will also be able to compare this with the structures of other local government agencies.
On the next three pages are logs for you to record your experience in your organization with respect to rewards and sanctions over the next three days.
A reward is any event that you find personally rewarding and positive. This can be something material like a paycheque or an award, or something formal like a written evaluation from a supervisor, or something informal like being taken out for coffee because you have done a good job or like having someone say “thank you.” Sometimes a person may feel negatively about a reward that is meant to be positive by the person transmitting it. For example, a person receiving a “pin” for twenty-five years of service may think of it as an insult and would consider it to be a sanction, and not a reward. Since you are the one who is affected, you are the one who can best judge whether something is positive or negative.
A sanction is any event that you find punishing or negative. Like rewards, sanctions can be formal or informal, material or social in nature, of large magnitude or quick and fleeting in nature.
Tomorrow, use the log on the next page. At the end of every hour, record all rewards or sanctions that you remember experiencing, no matter how small, trivial, or insignificant!
Each event you record should be different. For example, suppose a citizen comes in and complains about your service at 10:00 a.m. and then, later, at 11:15, after doing something else, reinitiates a discussion of the complaint. Treat this as a single event. In short, when an event is from the same source and about the same issue, do not record it twice.
Do not make the recording intervals longer than one hour because you are likely to forget some of the events. If you can manage to do so, record rewards and sanctions immediately after they occur, but when you have a private moment. In addition, for each rewarding or sanctioning event, record the source and the other details as outlined on the forms.
During the workday, if you reach eight recorded events, do not record any further events. Simply note the number of hours over which the eight events occurred and quit recording. However, many of you may not record a single event even in a full day.
Day 1: Record of Events
| Day of Week: Sun M T W Th F S | No. of hours log was kept: | ||
| Description of Event 1:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 2:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 3:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
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Description of Event 4:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 5:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 6:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 7:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 8:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
Day 2: Record of Events
| Day of Week: Sun M T W Th F S | No. of hours log was kept: | ||
| Description of Event 1:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 2:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 3:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
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Description of Event 4:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 5:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 6:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 7:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 8:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
Day 3: Record of Events
| Day of Week: Sun M T W Th F S | No. of hours log was kept: | ||
| Description of Event 1:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 2:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 3:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 4:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
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Description of Event 5:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 6:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 7:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
| Description of Event 8:
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| Reward or Sanction (circle one) | Person involved (supervisor, co-worker, citizen, etc.): | Person involved was (circle one): male female | |
Exercise 5-6: Analyzing Your Response Style
Your goal in doing Exercise 5-6 is to put everything together that you’ve learned about Reinforcement Theory. Up to now, you’ve concentrated on analyzing simplified situations for purposes of learning the theory. In this exercise, you will analyze a real situation.
There are several reasons for doing this exercise. Firstly, psychologists claim that Reinforcement Theory is a useful model for gaining perspective on everyday situations. The exercise will help you to assess whether their claim is true. Secondly, your knowledge of Reinforcement Theory will increase. Thirdly, you will learn that a behaviour analysis allows you to understand what motivates people to behave as they do and to determine what you can do to change another person’s behaviour.
Exercise 5-6 is divided into ten steps. After reading the instructions for each step, fill out the behaviour analysis worksheet on the next page. Then move to the next step in the exercise.
Procedure
Your main goal in doing this exercise is to complete the “behaviour analysis worksheets” found on the following pages. To assist you in reaching this goal, there are ten steps to be followed.
Step 1: Select a Behaviour to Analyze
In Exercise 5-1 you were asked to think of a situation in which you would like to see an increase in someone else’s behaviour. For example, you might want your secretary to type more accurately or to come to the office on time, or you might want two managers to co-operate more, a councillor to stop interrupting your meetings, your receptionist to greet people more cheerfully, or your managers to listen to each other more in meetings.
Use the behaviour that you selected for Exercise 5-1 for this exercise unless you believe that your previous selection will not lead to a fruitful analysis, select a new behaviour to analyze keeping in mind the same considerations that were stated for Exercise 5-1.
When you have chosen a situation, record the behaviour in the space provided on the following behaviour analysis worksheet. Then go past the worksheet and read the instructions for Step 2.
Behaviour Analysis Worksheet
| BEHAVIOUR (ORIGINAL STATEMENT): (see Step 1)
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| BEHAVIOUR (STATED AS DESIRED): (see Step 2)
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| BEHAVIOUR (OPERATIONAL TERMS & AS DESIRED): (see Step 3)
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RESPONSES:
| (Step 8) | When the behaviour occurs
(Step 4) |
F/U
(Step 5) |
P/W
(Step 6) |
RESP
(Step 7) |
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| (Step 8) | When the behaviour doesn’t occur
(Step 4) |
F/U
(Step 5) |
P/W
(Step 6) |
RESP
(Step 7) |
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Step 2: Write the Behaviour as Desired (if necessary)
Often people will select a behaviour that is undesirable and that should be decreased (e.g., Bob should quit arriving at work late). A behaviour analysis will produce a correct and consistent analysis only when the behaviour is written as one that is to increase (e.g., Bob should arrive at work on time).
If you selected a behaviour that is undesirable and that you would like to see decreased, rewrite it as one to be increased. In some cases, such as one above, the conversion is easy and obvious. In others, such as the ones shown below, it is not possible to restate the behaviour as one that is desired and that should increase in frequency. In such cases, an incompatible behaviour should be selected. An incompatible behaviour is one that, if performed frequently by the person, will make it less likely that they will perform the undesirable behaviour.
Example 1
Original Statement: Mary should interrupt the children in her class less often.
Incompatible Behaviour: Mary should listen to her children more.
Explanation: If Mary listens more, she likely will interrupt less.
Example 2
Original Statement: Bobby (a three-year old) should not eat with his hands.
Incompatible Behaviour: Bobby should eat with a utensil.
Explanation: If Bobby eats more frequently with a utensil, he will necessarily eat less frequently with his hands.
Example 3
Original Statement: Mike should quit eating junk food.
Incompatible Behaviour: Mike should eat more salads.
Explanation: Here the relationship isn’t as clear as in the other steps. However, it is somewhat more likely that if Mike increases his intake of “healthy” foods, he will decrease his intake of “junk” food.
At this point, if your original choice of a behaviour was one that was to be decreased, you should restate it as one to be increased, or you should restate it as an incompatible behaviour. If you cannot come up with what you feel is a reasonable incompatible behaviour, you should select a different behaviour or consult the instructor.
If necessary, use the designated line on the worksheet to rewrite the behaviour as one that is to increase in frequency.
Step 3: Rewrite the Behaviour in Operational Terms
The goal of this step is to produce a description of the behaviour in what is called operational terms. To learn how to describe a behaviour in operational terms, you will have to go through the following short learning program. When you have competed the exercise on the next page, rewrite the behaviour you have selected for this exercise in operational terms on the behaviour analysis worksheet.
Definition: Describing behaviour in operational terms means
- Describing a single behaviour or a single result of a set of behaviours.
- Describing it as it is actually seen or heard.
- Describing it in a way that it may be measured precisely.
| Operational Example | Nonoperational Example |
| The reports typed by your secretary contain no errors. | The secretary is accurate. |
An error is a single behaviour. It can be seen, and the number of times the secretary makes errors can be counted or measured. In contrast, accuracy is a general term that might include numerous unspecified behaviours. Thus, until it is further specified, it might not be seen, heard or measured.
| Operational Example | Nonoperational Example |
| The alderman makes appointments to see you. | The alderman behaves responsibly. |
Making appointments is the final or single result of a set of behaviours. When the appointment is made, the result can be seen and the number of times the appointments are made, rather than random interruptions, can be counted or measured. In contrast, behaving responsibly is a general term. It might refer to attending Council meetings, arriving at meetings on time, listening carefully, etc. Before one could measure “responsible behaviour,” one would have to specify the behaviour more precisely.
Another good test as to whether you’ve described a behaviour in operational terms is to ask yourself whether someone you are speaking to would be able to observe the specific behaviour if you described it to them. For example, if you said “My secretary is accurate” they might look for many things, but if you said “My secretary types reports without errors” they would be able to observe exactly the behaviour you have in mind.
This distinction is important because the more precisely you describe a behaviour or result of a behaviour, the more easily you will be able to identify the responses that are made to it.
For example, if you write “John is a good employee” as a behaviour, you will have to identify responses whenever John is a good employee. The problem is that “good employee” can mean many things, including that John arrives at work early, that he takes on tasks beyond his normal responsibilities, or that he writes good reports. Therefore, in order to describe the responses to this general term, you will have to describe all the responses to each specific behaviour associated with it. This would be an overwhelming task.
In summary, if you use general terms to describe a behaviour, you will have a hard time identifying the responses made to it. In contrast, if you use specific terms to describe a single behaviour or a single result of a set of behaviours, you will have an easier time identifying the response set.
Practice in the use of Operational Terms
Indicate whether the following descriptions of behaviours use operational terms by placing “O” for operational or “N” for not operational in the space provided.
- _______ Margaret prepares her lessons.
- _______ Bruce is tidy.
- _______ Jack complains about his work.
- _______ Frances is very sociable.
- _______ Len is an aggressive librarian.
- _______ Bob tries hard in the graphics section.
- _______ Albert lets other children use his equipment.
- _______ Britt takes her job seriously.
Comments on Practice
- O Preparing lessons is the single result of a set of behaviours that can be seen and measured.
- N Tidiness is a general term that is open to different interpretations. For example, it might mean that Bruce wears a tie or that his desk is orderly.
- O Complaining is specific enough.
- N Sociable describes a trait that cannot be directly observed and, hence, can be interpreted in many ways. For example, it might mean that Frances smiles, that she asks people questions, that she gives them relevant information, and so on.
- N Being aggressive is a general term that could mean a lot of things.
- N We do not know what constitutes trying hard. It might mean that he is quicker than others in reproducing materials, or that he is slower than others but is getting faster than he was, or that he asks questions when he is unsure.
- O This statement describes Albert’s behaviour in terms that can be observed and measured.
- N This statement is ambiguous. For example, it could mean that Britt doesn’t take a lot of sick leave, or that she makes few errors in her work.
Step 3: Worksheet Procedure
On the behaviour analysis worksheet rewrite in operational terms the behaviour you have already written in Step 1. Be sure to keep the behaviour in the “AS DESIRED” form when you do so.
If your first description of behaviour was very general and referred to many behaviours, select a single, specific behaviour or the specific result of a set of behaviours on which to focus for purposes of this exercise.
If you have trouble describing a behaviour in operational terms, ask yourself what it is that the person actually does (or does not do) or says (or does not say) or produces (or does not produce) that has led to you to describe him as you have. For example, one might ask, “What does Ned not do or not say or not produce that makes me feel that he should be more responsible?” One answer is that “He does not attend committee meetings and I feel he should be doing so more often.” Thus, the behaviour that you would like to see increase is “Ned attending committee meetings.”
Step 4: Describe the Responses made to the Behaviour
The goal of this step is to describe all of the responses that are made when the behaviour occurs and when it does not occur.
- On the behaviour analysis worksheet list as many responses as you can think of that are made when the behaviour occurs.
- When you finish writing the responses made when the behaviour occurs, write the pair response for each of them for when the behaviour doesn’t occur
- Then list as many responses as you can think of that are made when the behaviour doesn’t occur and that have not yet been listed as a result of Steps 2 and 3. This may seem repetitive, but it isn’t. Sometimes a response won’t come to mind until you examine what happens when the behaviour does not occur. For example, when one thinks of the responses made when Ned does the dishes, one may not recall that he doesn’t get nagged, because nagging isn’t happening. However, when one examines what happens when he doesn’t do the dishes, one will probably recall that his parents nag him.
- For each response that is made when the desired behaviour is not performed, you should also write its pair (or when the behaviour does occur.)
As you list the responses, keep in mind that responses can include the following kinds of things:
- Something someone says, e.g., “Thanks”, “You look silly,” “I really appreciate your help” or “Why don’t you ever help out around here?”
- Something someone does, e.g., taking someone to lunch, giving someone a raise.
- Emotional states, e.g., anger, frustration, happiness, boredom, excitement.
- Physical states, e.g., feeling fatigued or tired.
- The absence of an expected response. For example, suppose you expected to be thanked for something you have done. However, because you weren’t you felt slighted, as if you were being taken for granted. Thus, you would view this as a negative response even though the other person made no response.
Also keep in mind that responses must be perceived or experienced by the person whose behaviour is being studied and that responses as well as behaviours should be described in operational or concrete terms. For example it is better to write “The secretary’s boss is no longer unpleasant toward her” rather than “The atmosphere around the office is more pleasant.”
Step 5: Indicate Whether Each Response is Likely to be Perceived as Favourable or Unfavourable
The goal of this step is to indicate whether responses are likely to be perceived favourably or unfavourably by the person performing the behaviour. As you do so keep in mind the following things:
- The response must be perceived as favourable or unfavourable by the person whose behaviour is being examined, not by the person making the response to the behaviour. For example, if as a consequence of keeping the office files up-to-date, the office is tidier (response), the secretary may not feel that this response is favourable. He or she may not care whether the office is tidy or not. Yet because the office manager believes that an up-to-date filing system is a good thing, he or she might mistakenly list it as a favourable response.
- Your guesses may be completely wrong when you try to estimate whether a response would be received favourably or unfavourably by another person.
Write “F” or “U” (for favourable or unfavourable) in the F/U column on the worksheet to indicate whether you believe the response will be perceived favourably or unfavourably by the person performing the behaviour.
Step 6: Determine Whether the Response is Presented or Withdrawn
The goal of this step is to determine whether the responses are presented or withdrawn. Keep in mind that it is sometimes difficult to make this distinction.
Write “P” or “W” (for presented or withdrawn) in the P/W column on the behaviour analysis worksheet.
Step 7: Identify the Response Types
The goal of this step is to classify each response as one of four response types. The following table will help you to identify the response types.
F/U P/W = RESP
F P PR
F W NR
U P PCP
U W PCW
List the response types in the RESP column on the behaviour analysis worksheet.
Step 8: Identify your Responses
Some of the responses made to the behaviour will have been made by you, but others will have been made by other persons or by the person whose behaviour you are analyzing, or they will be environmental responses.
On the worksheet, indicate your responses by putting a star (*) next to them in the left-hand column.
Step 9: Identify your Response Style
People typically lean towards using either positive reinforcement or negative reinforcement when they respond to another person’s behaviour. On the bottom of the worksheet, identify your approach to the person and behaviour you selected. Of course, this does not mean that this is your approach in every, or most, situations.
( ) PR 100% (practically all PR)
( ) PR > NR (PR greater than NR)
( ) PR = NR (PR about the same as NR)
( ) PR < NR
( ) NR 100%
Step 10: Re-examine Causes
A behaviour analysis based on Reinforcement Theory often brings a radically different insight into the causes of a behaviour problem than the original analysis of the causes done in Exercise 5-1. This does not mean that your original thoughts are invalid and that the behaviour analysis is correct. You may still feel that your original analysis was more insightful than the one you have just produced.
Indicate your present feelings about the analysis:
( ) My original analysis was a lot different than the behaviour analysis.
( ) My original analysis was somewhat different than the behaviour analysis.
( ) My original analysis was a little different than the behaviour analysis.
( ) My original analysis was practically the same as the behaviour analysis.
( ) My original analysis was a lot better than the behaviour analysis.
( ) My original analysis was better than the behaviour analysis.
( ) My original analysis was a little better than the behaviour analysis.
( ) Both analyses were about the same.
( ) The behaviour analysis was a little better than my original analysis.
( ) The behaviour analysis was better than my original analysis.
( ) The behaviour analysis was a lot better than my original analysis.
Exercise 5-7: Determining Whether To Use a Positive or Negative Strategy
In Exercise 5-1, Step 4, you wrote what you typically do when the other person behaves in a way that from your perspective is undesirable. This exercise is designed to help you to master the concept of positive and negative strategy by re-examining Exercise 5-1.
Step 1: Refer to Exercises 5-1 and 5-6, and in the space on the worksheet on the next page, write the behaviour as you would desire it to be and in operational terms.
Step 2: Refer to Exercise 5-1, Step 4 and write what you typically do when the person behaves as he or she does either as a response to when the desired behaviour occurs or to when the desired behaviour does not occur.
Step 3: Determine whether the response is favourable or unfavourable, presented or withdrawn, and list the response type.
Step 4: Indicate whether you were following a positive or negative strategy.
Step 5: If you used a negative strategy, were there negative side effects? If so, describe them and indicate which of the six types they conform to.
| BEHAVIOUR (STATED AS DESIRED AND IN OPERATIONAL TERMS):
|
RESPONSES:
| When the behaviour occurs | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. |
RESPONSES:
| When the behaviour doesn’t occur | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. |
| STRATEGY:
|
| SIDE EFFECTS (IF ANY):
|
Exercise 5-8: Behaviour Analysis of the Miller Case
For Exercise 5-2 (“Miller’s Malady”), you did an analysis of the causes of the problem and suggested a solution. In this exercise, the goal is to turn to the Miller case and approach it from the particular analytical framework of Reinforcement Theory. In doing so, you will have to make some assumptions about the Miller case, namely that many of the same factors operating in Roy’s study of machinists apply to Miller and his co-workers.
In asking you to reanalyze the case from the perspective of Reinforcement Theory, we are not suggesting that this is the only framework from which one can productively analyze the case. Instead, we are merely providing an opportunity to test how a Reinforcement Theory approach differs from typical approaches to such problems and to use Reinforcement Theory to analyze a real problem.
For now, the exercise is to produce a behaviour analysis for the behaviour “working hard enough to earn a substantial bonus.” The behaviour analysis worksheets follow on the next pages.
Step 1: Using the information presented in the article about Miller and the one by Donald Roy, list the responses to the behaviour of working at a rate that is well above the quota.
Step 2: Fill in the other columns. Make your best guesses given the facts of the situation.
Step 3: Based on the behaviour analysis that you have just completed, suggest some solutions to the problem or changes that could be made to improve the situation. This doesn’t have to be a single, definitive solution. Just list your ideas. Be sure they follow from the behaviour analysis.
Step 4: State whether the causes and ideas for solutions derived from the behaviour analysis you have just completed differ significantly from your initial ideas about the case as stated in Exercise 5-2. Which causes and solution ideas do you now prefer? Do you still hold to your original solution proposal?
Behaviour Analysis Worksheet
| OPERATIONAL BEHAVIOUR TO BE INCREASED:
|
RESPONSES:
| When the behaviour does occur | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
| When the behaviour doesn’t occur | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
| Step 3:
|
| Step 4:
|
Exercise 5-9: A Behaviour Analysis of a Worker’s Behaviour
For Exercise 1-1 (in Workbook I: Causes of Motivational Problems) you identified a “less than fully motivated” worker and stated the probable causes of his or her level of performance. Now you will return to that case and identify the motivational properties of the reward system attached to the person’s job. The perspective you will take is that of Reinforcement Theory.
Step 1: Select one of the person’s behaviours that you identified in Step 3 of Exercise A1 and that you feel would be amenable to a behaviour analysis. If none of the behaviours mentioned seems appropriate, select an appropriate (desired) behaviour for purposes of this analysis.
For example, if you said that “the person comes to work late,” write this in on the worksheet on the next page.
Step 2: Restate the behaviour as one that is desired or as one that is incompatible with the behaviour selected in Step 1 (e.g., you might now write “coming to work on time” as the desired behaviour).
Step 3: Guess what the likely responses of supervisors and co-workers would be if the person did the desired behaviour (e.g., coming to work on time) and ceased doing the undesired behaviour (e.g., coming late). Use this information to fill out the responses on the worksheet.
Then write the likely responses into the behaviour analysis worksheet and classify them as best you can with the information you have gathered.
You should also add those responses that make sense to you, even if they are not observed by you. For example, getting to work on time means getting up earlier and going to bed earlier (missing the late movie or prime-time TV — both probable unfavourable responses).
Step 4: Using this information from the behaviour analysis, comment as to whether Reinforcement Theory sheds any light on the person’s behaviour. Was he or she treated correctly according to Reinforcement Theory?
If you can, also add information about issues like frequency, immediacy, contingency and appropriateness.
Step 5: Comment as to whether the Reinforcement Theory Analysis leads to different solution ideas than the ones proposed by you on your initial analysis in Exercise 1-1.
Behaviour Analysis Worksheet
| BEHAVIOUR (1-1 STATEMENT):
|
| OPERATIONAL BEHAVIOUR TO BE INCREASED:
|
RESPONSES:
| When the behaviour occurs | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
RESPONSES:
| When the behaviour doesn’t occur | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
| Discussion (Step 4):
|
| Discussion (Step 5):
|
Exercise 5-10: A Behaviour Analysis of the Problem School Case
The Problem School was introduced in Exercise 5-3. You were asked to analyze the causes of the situation and to propose solutions.
In this exercise, you are to do a behaviour analysis of the same situation and to use that analysis as a platform from which to suggest solutions.
The purpose of the exercise is to give you some practice using Reinforcement Theory to analyze a real organizational problem. The case will be used in class to help you gain a better sense of how Reinforcement Theory is used to analyze real problems. But first, you should do the behaviour analysis on your own.
In doing the analysis you will have to make some assumptions about what is going on in the case. You have been given very few facts. Thus, your behaviour analysis will reflect those assumptions. So long as you are aware that you are making assumptions and that they might not be accurate, you will be on reasonable grounds.
Step 1: Do the behaviour analysis on the worksheet on the following page.
Step 2: Based on your analysis, use the space on the back side of the behaviour analysis worksheet to list your ideas about things you could do to correct the problem. You can generate ideas in several ways: 1) correct the incorrect responses; 2) reduce the negative strategy responses; 3) improve the positive strategy responses; and 4) add new positive strategy responses.
Step 3: State whether the proposals you have generated in Step 2 (above) differ significantly from your original ideas for rectifying the situation (as stated in Exercise 5-3). Which proposals do you now prefer?
Behaviour Analysis Worksheet
| OPERATIONAL BEHAVIOUR TO BE INCREASED:
|
RESPONSES:
| When the behaviour occurs | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
| When the behaviour doesn’t occur | F/U | P/W | RESP |
| 1. | |||
| 2. | |||
| 3. | |||
| 4. | |||
| 5. | |||
| 6. | |||
| 7. | |||
| 8. | |||
| 9. | |||
| 10. |
Step 2:
| 1. Ways to increase or incorporate positive responses:
|
| 2. Ways to decrease or eliminate negative responses:
|
| 3. Ways to correct or eliminate incorrect responses:
|
Step 3:
| Examples:
|
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