We are all superheroes in our own way. We have the features to try and change the world for the better in some way. But, where does this inspiration come from?

How organisational learning and behaviour can help you in your career

It comes from our family perhaps. Or from the faults we see in the world. Although we are exposed in other external ways it seems.

An associate and myself were indulging ourselves in another world, an inorganic one. In that different place, you can be whomever you wish. But as you progress challenges arose and you have to solve them.

We are exposed to the behavioural structures since we are born

These decisions we have to make could save the world by stopping deforestation or even saving races from genocide.

Getting to the meat of the material, we are exposed to these reinforcements as we grow from our physical friends and families, or even the media and entertainment we consume on a regular basis

What is learning?

Under the consumer behaviour curtain, the definition of learning is not simply attaining new knowledge. Instead, it is the changing a behaviour.

We go through experiences of structural learning in our lives, biting our tongue trying to talk while eating or even grabbing food when it is hot without oven mitts on.

These are examples of experiences we learn from and without the positive reinforcement within them. You will not attempt again in most cases.

Anyway, this learning affects us in our personal life, as well as in our professional career.

Positive reinforcement vs negative reinforcement

Positive reinforcement is such a vital role in our daily lives. It is the satisfaction of getting an incentive for completing a task, complex or simple. 

We are all workers and in some form receive compensation for the work we complete. The compensation (Paycheck) is the positive reinforcement in the equation of employer and employee relationship.

On the other end of the spectrum is negative reinforcement which should not be confused with punishment in any way.

Negative reinforcement is simply the removal of a negative or an unpleasant consequence

In most cases, we will go through learning and remove the negative consequence by changing our behaviour.

Negative reinforcement is not a punishment in any way. The only presence of unwanted consequence is the deciding factor if the behaviour will change from the individual.

Negative reinforcement vs. punishment

Punishment and negative reinforcement sound alike, right? Dead wrong, unfortunately. 

Like we read earlier, negative reinforcement is simply removing the negative consequence out of decisions.

On its side, punishment has severe negative repercussions like failing a class or getting a paper cut from being careless.

Negative reinforcement has no side effects of its usage. It simply deters or teaches the participant the downside of performing a bad behaviour.

In negative reinforcement they suffer the negative consequence until they perform good behaviour receiving the praise of positive reinforcement.

While there are no downsides to negative reinforcement, there can be downsides to punishment.

This is that being reprimanded does not feel too great and can cause hostile feeling between the victim and the chastiser.

Styles of learning

Vicarious modelling

Is one we often use. We gain the traits that our parents have as we grow and we tend to replicate them.

Beyond that, how about the celebrities we all know and love, they act a certain way and we reward them doing so: monkey sees monkey do.

Moreover, if you have been new to a job, then you have had a shadowing, an on-site day(s) following around another co-worker learning the ropes and do’s and dont’s for that organisation.

Operant conditioning

This is another style where behaviour(s) have their responding consequences, positive or negative,  and the likelihood of that behaviour to repeat itself increases or decreases.

This change in behaviour is what learning is, the alteration of a behaviour for better or for worse.

What is the use of this?

These methods help our families raising us, the employers who pay for our labour, or even the friends we surround ourselves with to provide us experiences of learning.

With learning comes the positive and negative reinforcement that provides the consequences to change how we respond to stimuli.

These tools serve the future to shape us into the individual’s our families and those around us want us to be.

What do you think about the article? How do you apply organizational learning to the  Let us know by leaving the comments below!

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