Organisational Behaviour: A Case Study Essay

Question one. Learning is a process of adapting to a revision of behavior or the ability to alter ones way of acting as a result of influence from constant take in out or experiences (Michas and Berry, 2000). Learning arouse either be viewed as a process or as a product of an already completed process. As a process, tuition is viewed as a transformation of conduct or a change in the mental state of an individual while as a product, learning is canvas under the basis of various learning theories.The learning theory seeks to explain how and to what extent such a change is bound to occur. This theory is very meaty in organisations because it dishs to create mettlesome level professionals at the tapplace. Depending on the situation and the willingness of the establishers, different organisations can apply different learning theories at different times. iii main perspectives of this theory argon known. This include deportmentism, cognitivism and constructivism. Behaviourism focuses mainly on the physical aspects of learning.According to Miller and Pace (2006), a change in behavior is not influenced by the individuals emotions or personal motives but rather, it is a lasting change in behaviour which occurs when triggered by a change in the surrounding environment. This betterment has been found to yield changes such as discrimination, associations among some other skills which do not require in depth internal processes. For instance, from the model think given, Dianes behaviour changed when she started working at La Maison where the environmental factors taught her to be hard working and efficient in her work.Cognitivism perspective deals with matters linked to the brain-system. In this case, a learning process involves the internal processes which includes how the mind receives, organises, stores and retrieves data or any information received. It concent evaluate on the mental aspect of the the leaners thoughts, beliefs, ideas and carriages towar ds the organisation. This approach of the learning theory has been in very helpful in explaining the intricate forms of behaviour which involve reasoning, solving problems and processing data to alter ones behaviour (Niederhausler et al, 2002).In the case study, this kind of learning theory is seen when a workers behaviour in an organisation are influenced by factors such as buss attitude, organisational husbandry among other factors which are not visible physically. The constructivism approach on the other hand views learning as a process of constructing brisk ideas and concepts. It is more or little the opposite of behaviorism in that it focuses on how an individual molds a certain form of behaviour emanating from past knowledge or experiences.From the case study, the constructivism kind of learning approach is evident where we see that Diane had learnt from previous experience how to give fast and quality services to the customers by balancing several(prenominal) plates on he r arms. This was a positive kind of behaviour which ensured faster delivery much to the satisfaction of her customers. In an organisational concept, there are specific qualities associated with learning or change of behaviour in organisations. This depends on what is learned, how and when it is learned.Different organisations differ in their methods of learning mainly due to the fact that every organisation represents a corporal combination of individuals from different backgrounds and more so, it consists of a units which have different roles and values which they use to achieve their future remainders (Billett, 2007). According to Prange (1999), it is the individuals who learns and not the organisations which they work for. In this case, he argues that learning is a process which primarily takes place in the human brain.Another argument put forward by Perkins (1997) says that compensate though learning may take place in organisations, it is not always positive. That is, not al l organisations learn well and in a way which is bound to prompt their future goals into the right direction. For instance, different workers in an organisation may hold different views concerning the organisations future success depending on the kind of leaders style deployed in the organisation by its leaders.The three perspectives of the learning theory, behaviorism, cognitivism and constructivism have several strengths as well as weakness on the workers of an organisation as observed from the case study given. The behaviourism concept of the learning theory has an advantage in that, every worker has a gull and concise goal which he or she is set to achieve and thus any change in the environment can stimulate its achievement automatically. However, this approach has been criticized in that the workers may at times encounter a situation in which the right stimulus do not occur thus hindering the achievement of the coveted goals.For instance, if the workers in a hotel are used t o responding to a certain stimulus such as tips in order to work effectively, the efficacy would sharply expend ones the tips cease to exist. For the cognitivism approach, the learners are trained to work in a certain way consistently with or without a stimuli. This is advantageous in that it avoids inconsistencies in the work place and ensures customer satisfaction t all times. On the other hand, this may be disadvantageous in that the workers mind may become prone to doing the same thing such that it may be very difficult for them to adapt to any slight change in the organisation.The constructivism approach is useful in that the leaner is able to adapt to many changes which may occur in the organisation based on previous situations. However, this approach has a major drawback in that it in some situations, divergent thinking may cause problems in the organisation. From the case study given, Diane the learner has a change of behaviour which is affected by the change in the enviro nment or the climate created by her boss which makes her strive to do every thing in a perfect way. However, when she is quarreled, her attitude changes and she starts to do things in a slow inefficient manner.In this case study, a positive aspect of cognitive learning theory is also seen whereby, Dianes behaviour is influenced by the high tips she gets from the customers and this motivates her to work harder even when the motivation she is getting from her boss is very minimal. In addition, it can also be deduced from the case study that all the workers at the La Maison where Diane works are taught how to work under pressure and work with excellence. This behaviour has been shaped by the workplace culture of practice from the instructions given by Godot their manager.This reflects a constructive learning approach. Question two. From the case study, the environment and the authoritarian leadership style exercised by Godot the manager of La Maison has a great impact on the behaviour of the workers and Diana in particular. From the organisational culture which emphasises on excellence and team-work, Diane behaviour was immediately inclined towards working to her best potence since the beginning which ensured that she did a good job. However, her behaviour changed when she was quarreled by the boss and she decided to work slowly and her efficiency was greatly reduced.Other factors which helped to shape Dianes behaviour include the tips she got from the customers which motivated her to work more in order to get more tips. This forced her to go back to her efficient working pace even when her morale had really been put down by her boss. Many positive and negative reinforcements, punishments and extinction forces which may be used by Godot and his customers may be identified from the case study. Among the positive reinforcements used by Godot include his dedicate and industrious attitude towards his work which motivated the workers to put more effort in their work. His vision and the culture of team-work which he emphasised on also made the employees to work together to satisfy all the customers. However, Godot had very bad emotional outbursts and tempers which negatively affected the workers efficiency. For instance, after putting so much effort, Diane felt discouraged due to the fact that her boss did not even notice her hard work but instead, he was very quick to quarrel her when she committed a simple mistake. The insults he hauled towards the workers when the restaurant was crowded and they were unable to keep pace with the high number of customers also lowered the workers morale.In terms of punishments, Godot believed in punishing the workers when they went wrong by imposing fines to fall in the price of their mistakes. This made the workers to feel furious and disappointed thus become less efficient in their work. As a good manager, Godot can improve the workers efficiency with complimenting them for their hard work and correcting the m in the right way where they go wrong instead of insulting them. In addition, he should strive to improve his relationship with his workers in order to motivate them.The positive reinforcements acquired from the restaurant customers include good compliments to the workers and tips in terms of money for their efficient services. Negative responses such as less tips when the services were less efficient also helped to motivate Diane to work harder in order to please them and get more tips. Thus, by being appreciative, the customers helped to shape the behaviour of the workers in a positive way. Question three. The various reinforcements and punishments discussed above had a positive as well as a negative impact on Dianes behaviour.For instance, when Diane dropped a bowl of bouillabaisse, she was fined the price of the bouillabaisse and the cost of cleaning the carpet she stained, as a punishment for her mistake. This made Diane feel very angry, disappointed and worried and as a resu lt, there was a visible decline in her performance. This was a very negative impact on Dianes behaviour. On the other hand, Godots industrious and dedicated type of attitude helped to shape Dianes behaviour in a positive way in that she became very dedicated and efficient in her work much to the satisfaction of the customers and this conferred an overall benefit to the restaurant.The customers appreciative nature and the compliments they gave to Diane helped to motivate her more to work with greater efficacy. When the customers tips dropped, she was forced to go back to her original working pace in order to please the customers. This positively shaped her behaviour as it taught her to be hardworking and committed in her work at all times regardless of her bosss attitude. Question four. Hourly pay evaluate and tips from customers especially in restaurants have proved to be very effective in reinforcing positive behaviour in workers.The periodical pay rates motivate the workers to w ork for long in order to maximise their pays and thus ensuring that high productivity at the workplace is achieved. The tips on the other hand recommend the workers to work extra hard in order to satisfy the customers who will in return give them larger tips. If the services are of poor quality, the customers are unsatisfied and they thus do not feel obliged to give tips to the workers. In the case of La Maison restaurant studied above, the hourly pay rates of $15. 0 offered plus the tips from the customers proved to be very effective in shaping Dianes behaviour as well as that of other workers.The tips averaging around 20 percent per day motivated Diane to work harder because she knew that better the services meant more tips for her. When her efficiency in services declined, her tips also went down by or so half and this forced her to step up her pace in order to get back to where she originally was. In this case, it can be deduced that the use of hourly pay rates and tips can h elp an organisation to make more money because of the high quality services delivered by its workers.Conclusion. From the case study above, it is clear that every organisations has a great role to play in shaping the behaviour of its workers. An organisation can either have a positive or a negative impact on the attitude and behaviour of its workers depending on the kind of leadership style practiced by the leader and also the culture of that particular organisation. It is therefore upon the leaders to adopt the right kind of leadership which is geared towards cultivating a positive attitude in their workers as this will help them to work harder and maximise the profits incurred by the organisation.