REINFORCEMENT


Meaning of REINFORCEMENT in English

[organizational behavior] rewards and punishment

Note: two critical aspects of reinforcement are:

1. behavior is a function of its consequences.

If a manager wants people to work hard, he should give his motivated(=effortful) employees good consequences like saying "thank you" or "great"; and vice versa

But there are often some exceptions: the manager thinks an idea is good and gives his employee a pleasant consequence, while the employee may think this idea is poor, so to him the consequence is unpleasant.

2. timing: Give intermittent, unpredictable reinforcement to employees

eg1: Gambling offers the best demonstration: If one wins every fifth time(a fixed reinforcement), he may not find gambling as exciting as winning occasionally and unpredictably.

eg2: Every time a manager gives his employees thank-yous and well-dones, if he constantly reinforces, such reinforcement will lose its power.

Sean Woo's Finance, GIS and real estate English glossary.      Английский глоссарий по ГИС(Географическая информационная система) и недвижимости Sean Woo's Finance.