Learning

The concept of learning is very important to understand the subject of Organisational Behaviour. It is included in this lessons for obvious reasons that almost all complex behaviour is learned one. When you want to explain and predict behaviour, you need to understand how Individuals learn in the process of Organisational life.

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour that occurs as a result of experience. We may say that learning is a change in behaviour, and change is relatively permanent and the practice of it will be reinforced. If the reinforcement does not accompany the practice the behaviour will eventually disappear.

Learning is therefore, acquisition of knowledge, skills and expertise etc, and reinforcement strengthens and intensifies certain aspects of ensuring behaviour. The process of learning is very important when we study the individuals and often it is perceived as a conditioning process. There are two types of conditioning viz, 1) Classical and 2) Operant. Now, let us see the process in detail.

Process of Learning

Reinforcement is an important concept in the process of learning. Reinforcement generates a reproducible behaviour process in time and usually it intensifies and enhances that behaviour afterwards. Individuals learn new behaviour through one or more of the four learning process;

1) Classical Conditioning

2) Operant Conditioning

3) Observational learning

4) Cognitive learning

1) Classical Conditioning Process :-

This process of learning was demonstrated by Ivan Pavlov, a famous Rassian Physiologist. He proved the conditioned learning by presenting a piece of meat to a dog, by inducing the stimuli- rang a bell. He termed the food an unconditioned stimulus, ( food automatically caused salivation) and the salivation an un-conditioned response. When the dog saw the meat, it salivated. Pavlov merely rang a bell (neutral stimulus), the dog did not salivate. Then, he rang the bell and gave the meat to the dog. The dog learned to salivate in response to the ringing of the bell, even without meat. He called this as a Conditioning in the process of learning.

But the classical conditioning has a limited value in the study of Organisational Behaviour. It is a passive process, and insignificant part of human learning. The process of learning is better explained in operant Conditioning.

2) Operant Conditioning:

It is defined as behaviour that produces effects. The school of thought is a product of Skineerian psychology. It suggests that individuals emit responses that are rewarded and will not emit responses that are either not rewarded or are punished.

Operant Conditioning is a voluntary behaviour and it is determined, and controlled by its consequences. In this process, it is assumed that individuals behaviour is determined by environment and individuals learn by producing alteration in their environment.

It is a tool for managing people in Organisations. Most of the Organisational Behaviour are learned, controlled and altered by the consequences i.e the operant behaviours. The management of an organisation by using this process, may influence the employees by manipulating it’s reward system.

We may simply say that the operant Conditioning stipulates that the rewarding system increase the rate of response, while the aversive system decrease the rate of response of individual.

3) Observational Learning :

The Observational learning process results in as a inference of watching the behaviour of other individual by adopting the consequences of that behaviour. It will not require an overt response. It plays a crucial role in altering the behaviour of individual in Organizations.

4) Cognitive Learning :

Cognitive learning lays much emphasis on identifying how events and objects are related to each other. Most of the learning which are taking place in the class room is Cognitive Learning. It is an important process because it increases the change that the learner will do the right thing first time without going through a lengthy process of operant learning.

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Regards

Bapi Sarkar.