Environment and Human Behavior

Respondent behavior is reflex behavior and is elicited by a prior stimulus. Respondent behavior occurs when the environment acts on the organism in a stimulus-response fashion. For example: a doctor must tap (the environment) below a person knee in order for the leg to jerk out (respondent behavior). Operant behaviors are emitted by the organism and must be learned. Operant behavior occurs when the organism acts on the environment to produce a consequence. The stimulus does not elicit a response but instead serves as a cue for the person to respond in a particular fashion. The classical conditioning experiments of Pavlov and Watson helped to explain reflex or respondent behavior.

The key to operant conditioning is what happens as a consequence of the behavior. If the behavior is followed by a positive or reinforcing consequence, the behavior will be strengthened and subsequently increase in frequency. If the behavior is followed by an unpleasant or noxious (punishing) consequence, the behavior will weaken and subsequently decrease in frequency. Thus, according to the theory of operant conditioning, the contingent environment takes on special significance. In this theory, antecedent cues and contingent consequences (both existing in the external environment) largely determine behavior.

Viewed from the external perspective of organizational behavior modification organizational behavior is a result of its contingent consequences. Human-resource management shifts away from managing people to managing the environment in which the people behave. This shift entails not only a new perspective but also a new way of man aging people. It does not have to deal with complex internal causes of behavior but nevertheless effectively accomplishes the goals of understanding and, especially, prediction and control of human behavior in organizations.

The three sequential steps in the model are outlined in the following paragraphs:

1. Identify. The first step: approach is to identify a performance-related behavior problem. This step deals only with observable, measurable behavior. Attitudes, desires, motives, and other inner states are not treated. Moreover, only behaviors related to performance are targeted for change. Many kinds of behavior occur in any work situation, some related to performance and some not. For example, complaining is often identified as a behavior problem, but it may have nothing to do with performance. Therefore, if the behavior has nothing to do with performance, it is not appropriate for organizational behavior model. Conversely, a performance problem due to mechanical failure, lack of knowledge, or lack of training or ability is unsuitable for this technique. Only performance problems that are traced to behavior are appropriate for Observation Models. Examples of such problems in an industrial setting would include productivity, quality, tardiness, absenteeism, and safety.

2. Measure. After the performance-related behavior problem has been identified, a baseline frequency must be obtained. A tailor-made tally is designed to measure how often the targeted behavior is occurring under current conditions. This tally, which permits objective measurement, is then transferred to a graph. The vertical axis represents frequency and the horizontal axis time. The resulting baseline is often quite revealing in and of itself. Sometimes the baseline indicates that the behavior is occurring much more frequently than expected and sometimes much less frequently.