Reinforcement Theory

When used properly, rewards motivate and energize employees. But when used incorrectly, they can demotivate, baffle, and even anger them. Goals are supposed to motivate employees. But leaders who focus blindly on meeting goals at all costs often find that they destroy motivation.

Reinforcement theory says that behavior is a function of its consequences, that behaviors followed by positive consequences (that is, reinforced) will occur more frequently, and that behaviors either followed by negative consequences or not followed by positive consequences will occur less frequently.

More specifically, reinforcement is the process of changing behavior by changing the consequences that follow behavior. Reinforcement has two parts: reinforcement contingencies and schedules of reinforcement.

Reinforcement contingencies are the cause-and-effect relationships between the performance of specific behaviors and specific consequences. A schedule of reinforcement is the set of rules regarding reinforcement contingencies such as which behaviors will be reinforced, which consequences will follow those behaviors, and the schedule by which those consequences will be delivered.

Positive reinforcement strengthens behavior (that is, increases its frequency) by following behaviors with desirable consequences. Negative reinforcement strengthens behavior by withholding an unpleasant consequence when employees perform a specific behavior.

Extinction is a reinforcement strategy in which a positive consequence is no longer allowed to follow a previously reinforced behavior. With continuous reinforcement schedules, a consequence follows every instance of a behavior.

By contrast, with intermittent reinforcement schedules, consequences are delivered after a specified or average time has elapsed or after a specified or aver-age number of behaviors has occurred. With fixed interval reinforcement schedules, consequences follow a behavior only after a fixed time has elapsed. For example, most people receive their paychecks on a fixed interval schedule (for example, once or twice per month).

With variable interval reinforcement schedules, consequences follow a behavior after different times, some shorter and some longer, that vary around a specified average time. With fixed ratio reinforcement schedules, consequences are delivered following a specific number of behaviors.

With variable ratio reinforcement schedules, consequences are delivered following a different number of behaviors, sometimes more and sometimes less, that vary around a specified average number of behaviors. There are five steps to motivating workers with reinforcement theory: identify, measure, analyze, intervene, and evaluate critical performance-related behaviors.