Hiring

While reading chapter 9, one particular statement caught my attention. “Never compromise on hiring.” The author of this statement went on to explain that compromising will lead to regret. When hiring an employee, you are essentially letting them represent your company and giving them the power to influence your business either positively or negatively. Depending on the level of responsibility, their inabilities and mistakes will not only be frustrating, but also potentially devastating to the business. By not compromising to fill the position, the employer is more likely to find a motivated and talented individual who will represent their company in the desired manner.

Mentioned in the chapter is that employees are motivated more by appreciating and feeling apart of the process than by monetary rewards. This concept is important for managers to consider when hiring and supports the fact that they should not compromise. When hiring, it is important to make sure that the person’s core values and interests line up with the job that they are applying for.

The Goal Setting Process

Goals are something that majority of humans hold to be of priceless value. Some goals start at a young age and carry on until we grow old. Some goals are created at a later age, and continue to be of value as aging continues. Chapter 9 discusses "Individual Behavior in Organizations." Before going into how to manage goals, and the goal-setting process, lets first define the two different types of goals. The first, is a Performance Outcome Goal-targets a specific end-result. The second type of goal, is a learning Goal. A learning goal encourages learning, creativity, and skill development.
Now that we've defined the two types of goals lets go into the Goal-Setting Process.
The first step, is simply to set an initial goal. They're cannot be a process to a goal, without an actual goal to accomplish. A key note to remember is that goals should be SMART. Specific, Measurable, Attainable, and Results Orientated (Rose 1). Goals should be very precise, able to measure in accordance to accomplishment, realistic, and "should focus on desired end results" (Rose 2).
The second step is to Promote Goal Commitment. This is important because employees are more motivated to pursue goals they as reasonable and fair.
The third step is to, Provide Support and Feedback. Without providing support tools for your employees improvement is a difficult achievement. This includes making sure that your employees have all the resources and tools necessary for them to complete their goals.
A last, and undefined step in the process is to give feedback. Feedback, provides value to your employees and can motivate them to work more efficiently, or even make completing goals more fun with the right steps.

Rose, Joni. "SMART Goal Setting." Suite 101.com May 21, 2006. http://trainingpd.suite101.com/article.cfm/smart_goal_setting.

Your reward

In this day and age many people believe that by giving others a reward, or punishment, that it will give a person an incentive to do a better job on a particular task, or goal. Many people receive a reward in the form of a paycheck which is supposed to a physical manifestation of the time and effort a person has exuded in the work place, usually on a weekly basis. Another incentive that many employees are given is the promise of a promotion if they work an enormous amount of time and produce quality work, as deemed by their boss. Yet, others are satisfied by knowing that they have done their work and have done so efficiently. The idea of rewards and positive reinforcement are very mundane and have plagued the workplace for many years, and many employees are tired of such a system. Some of the goals set by companies make employees roll their eyes because it is usually something generic like "sales number" or "customer retention." Most people employees find this not to be a challenge and they want something to challenge them in many different ways. The book calls this learning goals says it is. "strives to improve creativity and develop skills." This is a better method and works better because employees are challenged to come up with new creative things and allows them to find different ways to attack or deal with a problem. A company should make goals on which the employees agree with and have a part in making or contribute to in some way, in order to reduce the hasty attitude and animosity in the workplace, and to increase excitement; the employees will have a renewed vigor for work because they will be able to offer new ideas, discuss ideas, compare them, and be able to present them to their fellow co-workers.

We all love rewards

When you complete a task, you want to be legitimately rewarded, right? For most people, this takes the form of a fat paycheck that you sell you soul and time for. For others, they want the acceptance of their boss (fat chance). Still others simply take their reward from the virtue of their work.

The concept of rewards and positive reinforcement shares a two-way street with proper coaching and goal-setting. How can you be rewarded for not accomplishing a measurable outcome for your organization? This is where things can get hairy, because this dynamic is where that "corporate lemming" atmosphere can be inadvertently constructed.


NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH THE BADASS OLDSCHOOL COMPUTER GAME "LEMMINGS"
(Image courtesy of Tonychor.com)

If you set a number of menial goals for your desk slaves to accomplish, they will simply jump through various organizational hoops toward the inevitable goal of suicide. These kinds of goals are called "performance outcome goals." You simply set some stupid bar like "sales numbers," or, "customer retention," and your employees become frustrated and disengaged, because they aren't being challenged in a meaningful or even enjoyable way. What works better are what Chapter 9 in our book calls, "learning goals." These goals encourage an employee to be creative, attack an interesting problem, and work toward developing new skills for future projects to achieve positive outcomes. If we get challenged in this way, we enjoy our jobs a lot more, and on average, get a lot less stabby with each other. Nobody likes explaining why they're stabby to their kids.


(Image courtesy of idiotpress.com)

There's a process to all this. This process is my focus today. An organization that wants a less stabtastic workforce wants to set good goals which the employees will at least tolerate.

First, you need to set goals. The book says that goals should be SMART (specific, measurable, attainable, results-oriented, and time bound). That's a good point. It's important to lay out goals in a way that makes things simple. Employees need to know what the goals are, what the metrics for success are, how they are attained, what the results of those goals are, and the time frame in which to accomplish them.

Second, an organization needs to sell these goals to the workforce. The best laid plans can quickly unravel without support. The book calls this "Promoting Goal Commitment." According to the book, it's important to do a number of things during this stage in the brain-washing. You need to explain why these goals have been set, what the goals are and how personal goals in the company come into play, get employees to develop personal action plans, get teams and units together to participate in goal-setting sessions, give employees control, and make sure there's an adequate reward. Oh yeah, and don't threaten them with these goals. They get stabby that way.

The last part of this whole equation is very important. There needs to be a system of feedback in place. People like knowing how they're doing. We get mid-term grades in college so we know if we're drinking too much (or not enough). The same can be said about the workplace (not the drinking part, the other part). Letting employees know how they are doing helps to foster a sense of community, and that management has an interest in an employee's contribution rather than the end result.

And now, a real-world example:

My father is a wine maker, and we have a number of goals, most of which involve doing specific things on specific dates within specified amounts of time. Wine is a temperamental beverage that can turn into garbage REALLY quickly. We need to pick grapes, stem and crush them, punch them down in large barrels, press them into juice, add yeast (and sometimes wood chips for flavor), and put the resulting juice into oak casks for two years to ferment. I am personally involved in every aspect of this process. We rack the wine on a consistent time table by moving the wine out of the barrel and cleaning the newly empty cask, then replacing the wine with topping wine from kegs and carboys. Mismanaging this step can leave you with wine full of sediment that ruins the overall product. I don't know how many of you out there are winos like us, but sediment in your wine makes it undrinkable. Imagine getting a mouthful of sand in a sip of beer. Same thing.

We set time-based goals with all those involved, making sure that everyone gives their input and gets on board with the process. We also make sure everyone knows what their job is and what their hourly goals are. We also have a system of rewards for good participation and effort in the form of free bottles of wine (it's like giving away $50 to everyone). My father and the other wine partner, Jay, keeps an eye on everyone, rewarding stellar effort with free wine and other rewards. We make sure that those who work hard toward their specific task get recognized by the group and duly rewarded.

When we're bottling wine every fall, this process of management by objectives is palpable in the air. We bottle about 80 cases of wine in one day. In our GARAGE. Yes, we make award-winning hooch in our garage.

All attendees get together and are given jobs, which rotate over the course of the day. We let everyone know that the primary goal is 80 cases over the course of the day (that's 960 bottles), but there are goals for individual jobs, like corking a certain number of bottles in an hour, or cleaning a certain amount of bottles in a batch. Those that perform well in their present task are rewarded with glasses of wine, and in some cases, bottles. We set goals for every task as well as organizational goals. When those goals are accomplished, we make sure everyone knows how well they are doing and how well others are doing. Goals change on the fly with changing conditions, and the managers (my father and Jay) constantly check on everyone to give them feedback on their performance. Because I've been involved in this process since birth, I can say that my one superpower is my ability to cork bottles. Sometimes, my buddies and I race each other to see who can cork the most bottles with flush corks in 5 minutes. I have never lost to anyone. Ever. I get rewarded with magnums of wine. I love October.

This is an actual picture of my garage. Yes, those are kegs filled with wine. Try a keg stand with one of those.

Chapter 9 - Why isn't extrinsic motivation effective?

As we learned in class, intrinsic motivational proves to be more effective than extrinsic motivation. But what I left thinking was why. The majority of companies use extrinsic motivation with the exception of the overused example that is Google. But still, millions of employees main drive to work is reward. I realize that extrinsic motivation is effective during mundane, robot-like tasks, but it seems as though those aren't the only jobs that extrinsic motivation is used for. My question now is this; why doesn't extrinsic motivation work? Bonuses, incentives, and even a threat to ones job seems to all be an effective way to ensure superior performance.

To find out why, I turn to an article by Alfie Kohn. I found my answer in one simple sentence: "If a reward — money, awards, praise, or winning a contest — comes to be seen as the reason one is engaging in an activity, that activity will be viewed as less enjoyable in its own right." It all seems to make perfect sense now. Perhaps this is why I always hear people saying something along the lines of "Don't let your favorite thing to do become your job, or it won't be fun anymore." If you love traveling yet your job is to continuously travel for work day in and day out, it would probably hinder your enjoyment for it.

Perhaps that is why extrinsic motivation isn't so effective. People just don't get enjoyment out of it. Even the power of money as a reward doesn't counter balance out the lack of enjoyment. Enjoyment seems to always have the upper hand when it comes to productivity.

Another question in life answered.

Kohn, Alfie. "Studies Find Reward Often No Motivator." (1987): 1. Web. 14 Mar 2010.

Goals

Although many people did their post on goals, I feel that it is important enough to elaborate further on. Goals are what drive people to do better and keep reaching. Many people think of goal-setting as an effective way to reach their aspirations and stay on track. Some people however, just think of goals as the destination you are driving to and not also the white lines guiding you there.

When setting a goal, it is best to make sure that they are actually obtainable. Although when setting an unobtainable goal, you may still strive to reach it, thus keeping you one track to bettering yourself in one way or another. The most effective way to succeed and reach your goals is to first set the goal, then it is important to plan out how you can reach your goal and to follow the steps laid out in the plan.

In the reading, there were two types of goal-setting discussed, these were performance-outcome goals, and learning goals. After some further research, I have come to the conclusion that both methods were good, and neither was a better method than the other. I do think that its important to use both though when making goals in the workplace.

Source: "Why Are Goals Important?." ToolKit.com. N.p., Jan. 2010. Web. 28 Feb. 2010.

Chapter 9: Goals

In chapter 9, goal setting is discussed, and two methods of goal setting is introduced: performance outcome goals and learning goals. Goal setting is definitely important in the work world due to meeting deadlines, getting assignments/ projects done, and improving/ moving up on your position. Goal setting helps workers focus on certain tasks and subjects making it easier to achieve and work harder; goal setting helps prioritize. When workers have a goal to reach, it gives them motivation to work towards that goal, and workers tend to work more persistent and harder. Also, through goals, workers may learn to apply knowledge and learn new aspects and work factors. Goal setting is seen as a motivational technique.

There are two methods of goal setting like I mentioned. I researched and found an article arguing that performing outcome goals are better than learning goals in the work world. In the article, it says that learning goals mainly focus on the individual and their use of knowledge and gaining new information and techniques. The article argues that in the work world, if someone is focused on learning goals, the company may deal with lagging of that employee due to their need for learning. On the other hand, the article then says that without learning goals, people involved in performance outcome goals may disregard the learning aspects involved in the job activity.

I think that in order to work efficiently and meaningfully, one must definitely set goals for themselves. Through goal setting, workers must learn in the process in order to reach their goals. I don't think one method is better than the other, and I do think that the methods must intertwine in order to work hard and grow in the work world.

source: http://www.iveybusinessjournal.com/view_article.asp?intArticle_ID=634

Chapter 9: Thorndike's Law of Effect-Favorable Consequences are Repeated

In chapter nine the concept that resonated with me the most was Thorndike’s Law of Effect. In the early 1900’s a psychologist named Edward E. Thorndike created an experiment in his psychology laboratory. The authors of the book which are Kreitner and Knicki explained how Throndiek observed that a cat behaved wildly when placed inside a box (Kreitner and Knicki 263). This box had a secret trip lever which the cat accidently found out about; when placed back into the box the cat would go directly to the lever (Kreitner and Knicki 263). As a result, Thorndike came up with a law which says “behavior with favorable consequences tens to be repeated, while behavior with unfavorable consequences tends to disappear. In many cases this theory is correct because many of us don’t go complete a task unless there is something in it for us. We do not accomplish things unless we are sure we will encounter positive or expected results.

In the TED video, Dan Pink talks about the motivation and excitement that occurs within an individual when they are given rewards. The incentives that individuals are presented with are what move him or her, including a large group of individuals such as companies. An example is an article by Peter F. Eder which talks about the new competitive strategy of businesses to help increase their profit. It explains how companies are using sustainable wealth, “going green”, to help increase their sales. With this strategy companies are able to manipulate consumers into buying their products. As a result, many more companies are beginning to use this method.

Source: Eder, Peter F. "Profit Power Economics: A New Competitive Strategy for Creating Sustainable Wealth." World Future Review 1.5 (2009): 91-93. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

What role have goals played in your life?

I think that you can do nothing if you have no goal in your life. It is important for me to have goals, objectives; they enable me to go ahead. 

There are many ways to reach one goal. But if you decide to do well, you do not have that many options. My main goal is to act fairly and honestly. Therefore, all the objectives I have in my life will have to be fulfilled in fair and honest ways.

This main goal helps me to reach the smaller ones. I know what to do. 

For instance, before entering a business school in France, I did two years of preparatory school, which is very hard, because you hv-ave to study a lot. But I wanted to do that, and to succeed, because my goal was to pass the final exams, and I did not want to fail. I wanted to be fair with myself, not to be disappointed by myself. That's why I worked hard, and I succeeded in my exams. 

This goal I had to manage my studies helped me to work hard without losing hope. Though it was often difficult, I kept tis idea in my mind. The main point when you decide something is not to forge it. It helps you to go ahead.

360 Degree Feedback

In chapter 9, the concept of 360 degree feedback was introduced. 360 degree feedback is made up of anonymous, goal oriented reviews of fellow employees. Trust is the key behind this type of feedback because the work environment must be supportive in writing these types of reviews. The goal of 360 feedback is to review the performance rather than the personality of a person, and having this type of constructive feedback is very effective in any work environment. Another goal is to motivate employees to improve their performance by using the suggestions provided. Sometimes directly telling somebody what you think them or their performance is difficult, especially in a corporate environment and many organizations. 360 degree feedback provides a method of providing feedback which is not only based off of constructive criticism, but also applauding successes.

In another article I found on EBSCO, discussed whether or not 360 degree feedback, or really any type of employee feedback, should be simply used for development of employees, or whether it should be tied to administrative decisions such as compensation or work hours. Recently, the amount of firms which use employee feedback tied to these types of decisions has been increasing. It is questionable whether standard feedback systems are even good; that is, managers who review employees below them, a top down approach, rather than having every mixed level employee revies. One idea is combining the feedback outcomes, making them develop employee performance levels, as well as tying the feedback to salary and other job design factors.

Kreitner, Robert. Organizational Behavior. 9th ed. Vol. 1. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin, 2010.

Maylett, Tracy. "360-Degree Feedback Revisited: The Transition From Development to Appraisal." Compensation & Benefits Review 41.5 (2009): 52-59. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Mar. 2010.

Chpater 9

Chapter 9 talked a bit about goals and motivation like in chapter 8, but went more in depth and talked about positive reinforcement. Being able to work in a friendly/ family environment give an employee excellent motivation to do well for the company. The book said if the company takes care of the employee, then the employee is going to take care of the company which is very true. I believe that it helps employees be more productive when having that trust with their company.Chapter 9 also talked about positive and negative reinforcement. Everyone has a different way of doing well, and sometimes if you give negative reinforcement to a person who needs a positive way of doing better it’s only going to weaken his or hers performance, especially at a young age. This article talked about coaches singling out a player and other teammates also do the same to the same kid, but the kid who’s getting singled out is more often worried what his peers think rather than the coach. The father then helps the son by using the negative feedback and turning it around to make the kid feel better about himself and to use the feedback to make himself work harder. http://www.youthsportspsychology.com/youth_sports_psychology_blog/?p=33

Chapter 9

One of the concepts discussed in this chapter was the difference between intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. Extrinsic rewards are those that we can get from others, such as money or social recognition. Intrinsic rewards, on the other hand, are rewards that we feel inside of us. Examples of this include sense of accomplishment or a feeling of competence. To be honest, it always seemed to me that extrinsic rewards were the ones that motivated us to work harder. After watching that 18 minute video a week ago, though, I realized that intrinsic rewards may play a bigger role than we think.
According to a research study done by Judy Cameron and W. David Pierce, rewards immensely helped motivate teams and people to work harder. In their study, they decided to test how it would be if a team never got a compliment nor rewards for the task they have done. The results showed that the quality of work decreased over time. At the same time, both Cameron and Pierce pointed out, rewards (moreso extrinsic than anything else) could be seen as something else rather than positive. “Promises linked to noncontingent reward may function as bribes rather than positive incentives.” (Cameron and Pierce) In a way, they were basically saying that extrinsic rewards, especially promising them to workers, did not really help bring about more positive energy to the group.
In my opinion, though most extrinsic rewards sound very enticing, it is that feeling of accomplishment that I feel when we finish a job that truly motivates me to work harder.

Source: Cameron, Judy and W. David Pierce. "Reinforcement, Reward, and Intrinsic Motivation: A Meta-Analysis." Review of Educational Research (1994): pp. 362-423.

Chapter 9 Goal Setting

One of the most intriguing sections of chapter 9 was the section about goal setting. I was shocked to learn that 56% of working don't understand what their organizations goal is and 81% don't have clearly defined goals. How on earth are you supposed do work hard and do a job correctly if you're not sure what you are working towards? Employees who clearly understand what their organizations goals are know what strategic actions they need to take in order to be more productive and efficient. I also learned that there are two types of goal-setting methods, performance outcome goals and learning goals. Performance outcome goals target a specific outcome goal i.e. "we need to sell 10,000 reams of paper this quarter." Where as learning goals focus on learning and creativity, i.e. "Lets come up with new ideas on how to sell more paper." In doing more research on the two, I learned that both types of goal setting are used, just in different scenarios. "Outcome goals are used more when confronting a simple task, where as the learning goals are used to face complex tasks." This is mainly because when faced with a complex task, we don't always know what the outcome will be, so we try our best to learn from it.


http://gom.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/21/2/236. Latham, Gary

The Check-In, Check-Out Process

Chapter 9 explores how the feedback loop increases positive communication and promotes betterment in the way a business is run. By listening to employees' concerns and ideas, management can alter the way the business is run in order to increase employee satisfaction and overall job performance. This idea is used in our class as well. John Stayton takes our advice into account and revises the syllabus accordingly. Feedback should not just be a once-in-awhile occurance. It needs to be an ongoing process so that there can be ongoing change and improvement within a firm, or classroom.

An article titled "The Check, Connect, and Expect Program: A Targeted, Tier 2 Intervention in the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Model", the effects of a type of feedback loop are explored. Students who are having difficulty functioning within a school environment or just need some help were introduced to a system called 'Basic' where they met daily with 'coaches' who helped identify the areas they needed and wanted to improve in, supplied feedback and advice, and helped track their progress. One component of the feedback loop they used was: "[students] then rate their own performance on expectations and compare their selfscores with their teacher’s scores. The goal is for students to accurately evaluate their own behavior by scoring themselves within one point of their teacher" (Cheney 4). At the conclusion of the study, they found that students performed better and were more socially and academically responsible. By identifying their own goals and receiving support they needed or by listening to constructive criticsm, students became driven to perform better. Such ongoing, constant communication about what is working, what is not, what other issues need to be addressed, what new goals are being set, etc. lead to positive outcomes in not only schools and classrooms, but in firms as well.

Source:
Cheney, Douglas, et al. "The Check, Connect, and Expect Program: A Targeted, Tier 2 Intervention in the Schoolwide Positive Behavior Support Model." Preventing School Failure 54.3 (2010): 152-158. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.

Building Blocks of Intrinsic Rewards & Motivation

In the TED video, Dan Pink talks about the ineffectiveness of extrinsic motivators in comparison to intrinsic motivators. While he gives us reasons as to why we are usually less prone to exceed expectations with an extrinsic motivator being offered, he doesn't touch base as to why intrinsic motivators serve us better. In Chapter 9, the book partially focuses on this by using Thomas's Building Blocks for Intrinsic Rewards and Motivation.

In "The Effects of Self-Esteem, Task Label, and Performance Feedback on Task Liking and Intrinsic Motivation," Tang and Linda create a study that observes the effects of Self-Esteem on American undergraduates. Results showed that the more positive feedback the students got, the higher their self esteems were, thus leading them to enjoy and complete the task on a higher level.

When looking at the four building blocks (choice, competence, meaningfulness, and progress), it seems as if intrinsic motivators are the only factors in how well you perform in the workplace. What we often forget to take into account, however, is those who control the workplace environment. If managers do not understand this concept, they may stifle the possibility of intrinsic motivation in the workplace. A lot of people believe that extrinsic motivators are the most effective in getting ahead. They may not be able to realize that they have the choice to find something more meaningful in what they do if managers don't realize the meaningfulness in what they, themselves, do.

Source: Thomas Li-ping, Tang, and Linda Sarsfield-Baldwin. "The Effects of Self-Esteem, Task Label, and Performance Feedback on Task Liking and Intrinsic Motivation." Journal of Social Psychology 131.4 (1991): 567-572. Academic Search Complete. EBSCO. Web. 27 Feb. 2010.

Chapter 9

In the chapter, feedback serves the function of being instructional and motivational. Instructional feedback clarifies a role or teaches a new behavior. An example of this would be that my boss instructs me to make the counselors’ projects a priority over Admission’s projects. Therefore, when I check into work, I should ask for projects from the admissions counselors before taking up any jobs or projects from the other Admission’s staff. Motivational feedback gives or promises a reward for work done by pairing specific challenging goals with specific feedback results. A good example would be when I was given a project to arrange IQ cards from hundreds of different students into same-school groups. I was rewarded a week later with praise from the counselor and a treat for completing the task in a short amount of time.

In an online blog, ‘Motivation Booster Shots: 2 Tips on Motivational Feedback,’ it provides two important tips on motivational feedback. First tip is that if you’re giving positive feedback to someone, your feedback should only be positive. If you include something negative in it as well, the negative feedback will stick more than the positive one. Tip number two is to give feedback using descriptive language to avoid sounding patronizing. These two tips are good advice for all us when we’re giving motivational feedback to our peers in school and in our future jobs. By knowing what to do and not to do, we will become more effective people when providing this type of feedback.

Works Cited
Fairweather, Alan. Motivation Booster Shots. 9 October 2009. 26 February 2010 .

"SMART" Goals

“SMART” goals will allow an individual to reach their set goals. “SMART” is an acronym for specific, measurable, attainable, results oriented, and time bound. Goals should be stated precisely, not vague. A measuring device will allow an individual to assess the extent to which the goal is accomplished. Make sure to set attainable goals that are realistic, yet challenging. End-results should support the accomplishment of your goals. In order to make your goals results orientated, start with the word to, followed by a verb such as complete, acquire, or produce. Time bound allows an individual to set a date for completion.

In the article, “Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals”, by Paul J. Meyer, it explores a similar tactic and approach to setting your goals. In order to set specific goals, an individual must answer the six W questions: who, what, when, where, why, and which. The ability to measure your goals allows people to stay on track and reach a sense of exhilaration for being on your way to achieving your goal. When you identify goals that are most important to you, you begin to figure out ways you can make them come true, which become attainable for you. In this article, R represents realistic, not results orientated. A realistic goal is one where an individual believe they can achieve it through willingness and work. Lastly, the article says that T stands for both time and tangible. Time frames are important to get your goals accomplished faster and tangibility lets you experience it with one of the senses, that is, taste, touch, smell, sight or hearing. The importance of setting SMART goals will allow you to advance when you are setting personal goals, job orientated goals, or learning goals.

Meyer, Paul J. "Creating S.M.A.R.T. Goals." Top Achievement Articles. Goal Setting Articles. Web. 26 Feb. 2010. .

Thorndike's Law of Effect/ Skinner's Operant Conditioning Model

Edward L Thorndike observed in his lab that when placed in a small box with a trip lever a cat would behave randomly and wildly. Once the cat accidentally trips the lever and got out, the animal would go right to the lever when placed back in the box. He then came up with the law of effect, which says, " behavior with favorable consequences tends to be repeated, while behavior with unfavorable consequences tends to disappear." Skinner took this law and went further into depth and called it behaviorism because he strictly dealt with observable behavior. He said behavior has two types: respondent and operant behavior. Unlearned reflexes are respondent behavior. Examples of respondent behaviors are things like crying when you peel an onion or putting up your hands when someone yells heads up. Operant behavior is learned when one "operates on" the environment to produce desired consequences. Skinner did an experiment with pigeons, where he had the pigeons learn to fly in a figure-eight and how to bowl. He did this by giving the pigeons food whenever they more closely approximated the behavior he was looking for. Skinner's work has significant implications for organizational behavior because most of organizational behavior is under the operant category.
I found a website that talks about Skinner in more depth and goes into discussion of some of his experiments. Other than pigeons, he also did a lot of experiments with rats. One experiment was that you shock the rat for doing x behavior, the result was that the rat would do x behavior a lot less.

Boeree, George C. "B.F. Skinner" http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/skinner.html

Oh Nasty Stereotypes

There are so many different forms of stereotypes that can occur in the workplace or at school which I am sure most of you have experienced. Many times stereotyping can occur even if you do it unintentionally because of ways you have been affected and captures a specific view in a cognitive sense. Stereotypes can be based on physical or intellectual aspects of a person. Most commonly it refers to your sex, age, ethnic background, and disabilities. Often times these judgments come from unfamiliarity to those different than yourself. Personal opinions that could potentially hurt a person should be set aside from the workplace. This is why standards such as equal opportunity employment as well as certain question regulations were developed to ensure that personal judgments will not interfere with the hiring process.

Even those with the most impressive talents such as Tiger Woods get discriminated throughout their life because of racial stereotypes. It is hard to understand why someone could say or even think such hateful things about someone they have never met. Wherever that hatred comes from it is unnecessary and undeserved by anyone. This stereotype can refer to many other things as well. Just as you might judge a Hummer driver because they affected you in a negative way once or twice in your life, you may develop a cognitive opinion of them which might translate in your behavior towards Hummer drivers. Same goes for racial, gender and ethnic stereotyping. The hatred is within all of us unfortunately whether we react or not it comes with everyday society. More often then not the media will use stereotyping to help you understand the message they are trying to convey.