In order to shape the behavior of our employees, we can provide reinforcement (rewards) or punishment or, as a third alternative, provide neither. We can break these methods down into a process of applying a reward, removing a reward, applying punishment, removing punishment, or providing no response to the actions of the individual.
If we understand each of the four methods, we can use them to cause workers to act in ways that are conducive to the improvement and ultimate success of the organization.
These tools allow you to cause your employees to act in ways you want them to and avoid acting in ways that are detrimental to themselves, their division or department, or the organization as a whole.
If we want to cause the behavior to increase, then we want to use positive or negative reinforcement. If, on the other hand, we want to cause a particular behavior to decrease, we would use punishment (in either of its forms) or extinction.
Punishment and extinction are designed to cause a targeted behavior to decrease over time. Reinforcement, whether positive or negative, is designed to cause an increase in the targeted behavior.
