CASE ANAYLSIS

Case Analysis

Case Analysis

Rick's New Job: Case Analysis

Question 1

In this situation of the case we found that Rick tried to implement his creative ideas to increase the sales of department but process he had chosen was not matching the process of company. It actually had conflict with rules of company and disturbing for seniors. However his idea was great but he couldn't explain them to others in a proper way. So keeping this situation in view management decided to let go Rick, hence we can reinforcement theory apply in this situation from the perception of punishment and extinction (Feinberg, 1998, 49-51). The most important principle of reinforcement theory is, of course, reinforcement. Generally speaking, there are two types of reinforcement: positive and negative. Positive reinforcement results when the occurrence of a valued behavioral consequence has the effect of strengthening the probability of the behavior being repeated. The specific behavioral consequence is called a reinforcer. An example of positive reinforcement might be a salesperson that exerts extra effort to meet a sales quota (behavior) and is then rewarded with a bonus (positive reinforcer). The administration of the positive reinforcer should make it more likely that the salesperson will continue to exert the necessary effort in the future (MacMillan, 2005, 48-9).

Negative reinforcement results when an undesirable behavioral consequence is withheld, with the effect of strengthening the probability of the behavior being repeated. Negative reinforcement is often confused with punishment, but they are not the same. Punishment attempts to decrease the probability of specific behaviors; negative reinforcement attempts to increase desired behavior. Thus, both positive and negative reinforcement have the effect of increasing the probability that a particular behavior will be learned and repeated. An example of negative reinforcement might be a salesperson that exerts effort to increase sales in his or her sales territory (behavior), which is followed by a decision not to reassign the salesperson to an undesirable sales route (negative reinforcer) (MacMillan, 2005, 48-9). The administration of the negative reinforcer should make it more likely that the salesperson will continue to exert the necessary effort in the future (Raymond, 1998, 41-2).

As mentioned above, punishment attempts to decrease the probability of specific behaviors being exhibited. Punishment is the administration of an undesirable behavioral consequence in order to reduce the occurrence of the unwanted behavior. Punishment is one of the more commonly used reinforcement-theory strategies, but many learning experts suggest that it should be used only if positive and negative reinforcement cannot be used or have previously failed, because of the potentially negative side effects of punishment. An example of punishment might be demoting an employee who does not meet performance goals or suspending an employee without pay for violating work rules.

Extinction is similar to punishment in that its purpose is to reduce unwanted behavior (Heskett, 1994, 164-170). The process of extinction begins when a valued behavioral consequence is withheld in order to decrease the probability that a learned behavior will continue. Over time, this is likely to result in ...