Learning and Decision Making

1. LEARNING AND DECISION MAKING

A. Learning reflects relatively permanent changes in an employee’s knowledge or skill that

result from experience

B. Decision making is the process of generating and choosing from a set of alternatives to
solve a problem

2. WHY DO SOME EMPLOYEES LEARN TO MAKE DECISIONS BETTER

THAN OTHERS?

A. Expertise refers to the knowledge an skills that distinguish experts from novices and less
experienced people – these differences are almost always a function of learning

B. Types of Knowledge

1. Explicit Knowledge – information that can be communicated verbally or in

writing

2. Tacit Knowledge – information that is gained from experience

C. Methods of Learning

1. Reinforcement – people learn by observing the link between voluntary

behaviour and the consequences that follow it

a. Operant Conditioning Components

i. Antecedent – condition that precedes behaviour

ii. Behaviour – action performed by employee
iii. Consequence – result that occurs after behavior

b. Contingencies of Reinforcement

i. Positive Reinforcement – positive outcome follows a desired

behaviour, increasing the likelihood that the behaviour will
appear again

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 a.) To be successful, employee must see direct link between
behaviour and reward

ii. Negative Reinforcement – unwanted outcome is removed

following a desired behaviour, increasing the likelihood that the
behaviour will appear again

iii. Punishment – unwanted outcome follows an unwanted behaviour,

decreasing the likelihood that the behaviour will appear again

iv. Extinction – no consequence (either positive or negative) to a

behaviour, which decreases the likelihood that the behaviour will
appear again.

2. Observation

a. Social learning theory says that people in organizations learn by

watching others

b. Behavioural modeling involves observing the actions of others, learning

from what is observed, and then repeating the observed behaviour
(Figure 9-3)

c. our steps are involved in behavioural modeling:

i. Attentional processes – learner must notice critical behaviours

ii. Retention processes – learner must remember critical behaviours
iii. Production processes – learner must reproduce critical behaviours
iv. Reinforcement processes – learner must be rewarded for
exhibiting critical behaviours

3. Goal Orientations – affect learning behaviours and outcomes

a. Learning orientation – building competence is seen as more important

than demonstrating competence

i. Improves self-confidence, feedback-seeking behaviour, learning

strategy development, and learning performance

b. Performance-prove orientation – focus is on demonstrating competence

so others will think favorably of the performer

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 c. Performance-avoid orientation – focus is on demonstrating competence
so other will not think unfavorably of the performer

D. Methods of Decision Making

1. Programmed Decisions

a. Decisions that become somewhat automatic because a person’s

knowledge allows him or her to recognize and identify a situation and the
course of action that needs to be taken

i. Often made using intuition – an emotionally charged judgment

that arises through quick, unconscious, and holistic associations

2. Non-Programmed Decisions

a. Decisions made in situations that are new, complex, and not recognized

b. Non-programmed decisions are best made using the rational decision-

making model

i. Determine the appropriate criteria for making a decision

ii. Generate a list of available alternatives
iii. Evaluate the alternatives against criteria
iv. Choose the solution that maximizes value
v. Implement appropriate solution
vi. Determine whether or not the solution delivers the expected
outcome

c. Rational decision-making model does not take into account that people
are not always rational

E. Decision-Making Problems

1. Limited Information

a. Bounded rationality – decision makers do not have the ability or

resources to process all available information and alternatives to make an
optimal decision

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 b. Satisficing – decision makers often use the first acceptable alternative
they encounter, rather than evaluating all alternatives to see which one is
best

2. Faulty Perceptions

a. Selective perception – people see only those things in the environment

which affect them and are consistent with their expectations

b. Projection bias – people project their own thoughts, attitudes, and

motives onto other people

c. Social identity theory – people identify themselves by the groups to

which they belong and perceive and judge others by their group
memberships

d. Stereotypes – occur when people make assumptions about others on the

basis of their membership in a social group

e. Heuristics – simple, efficient, rules of thumb that allow people to make

decisions more easily

i. Availability bias – the tendency for people to base their judgments on

information that is easier to recall

3. Faulty Attributions

a. Fundamental Attribution Error – people have a tendency to judge others’

behaviours as due to internal factors

i. Self-serving bias suggests that people attribute their own failures

to external factors, and their own successes to internal factors

ii. Decisions about the causes of behaviour are linked to three

judgments:

a.) Consensus – Did others act the same way under similar situations?
b.) Distinctiveness – Does this person tend to act differently in other
circumstances?
c.) Consistency – Does this person always do this when performing
the task?

4. Escalation of Commitment

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 a. Refers to the decision to continue to follow a failing course of action

F. Summary: Why Do Some Employees Learn to Make Decisions Better Than Others?

G. Group Decision Making: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/some-challenges-

solutions-decision-making-groups-ashish-thapliyal/
1. Time - Group decision making process need more time
2. Conflict - Group decision making process leads to conflicting situations because the group
embers may want to implement different suggestions
3. Domination/Conformity- Members may experience dominance and may confirm to a specific
person in the group decision making process
4. Group Think - Covered in the link posted above.

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